Samuel (believes) he is responsible for the day to day running of the yard. His duties include assisting and advising vets, physios, saddlers etc, showing round visitors, managing the cats that need regular chasing, tidying up any items lying around into his pond and generally ensuring his clients all have a smile on their faces by entertaining them with his antics! He has his own 'office' and is always available to offer advice and help in any aspect of horse care, management and riding!
Samuel sadly passed away in April 2016.
Esmae joined the yard in June 2016 and has just completed her training to become a fully qualified Head Stable Goose. She has already accompanied one of her clients to a number of hunter trials and shows over the summer as part of her travelling module. She believes she is now fully able to run the yard and advise on all aspects of horse care, management and riding. Her other duties include weeding the yard and keeping it tidy by eating everything left lying around as a reminder it should be put away (she's the goose equivalent of a Labrador!) She has her own Facebook and Twitter page to keep everyone updated on daily yard life.
Although not quite fitting the 16hh tb x image I had in mind when looking for a horse I got Jazz as a very green and naughty 4yr old and brought her on myself to compete at local dressage and show jumping. She is the yard walking medical dictionary after suffering many weird and wonderful ailments over the years including an allergy to grass! I retired her at 10yrs old when she was diagnosed with arthritis in her neck and since retiring she has been a fantastic nanny for my foal, acts as a companion to those in the weight watchers paddock and currently ensures Sherman has a gentle companion to enjoy his retirement.
Sherman (our oldest herd member at 29!) lives out all year round due to his arthritis. He lives with a couple of quiet mares including Jazz (much to the envy of all the other geldings!) Despite his age he will still round up and protect his ladies from any gelding with a flirtasous look in their eyes!! He is also one of our lawn mowers and to keep his figure perfect for the girls he has his own field next door for a few hours of extra grass (and a break from their nagging!)
My old horse Sherman is now 29yrs old. I cannot praise enough all the care and love he gets from Sarah at her livery yard, I could not ask for more. In the past I had another pony that had a big health problem at the end. Sarah stayed all night with me and her and when the time came she was with her when they put her to sleep so as she was with someone she knew until the end. The yard is lovely with lots of help if needed for both horse and rider. I have been with Sarah for a number of years and would not ever think of going anywhere else. We are a very happy group, have coffee together as well as meals and days out - it's a real home from home.
— Jan Mart
Owner of Sherman, Megan and Oliver
Megan is blind in one eye due to an injury she suffered as a foal. She is always getting into mischief and is the Houdini of the yard. When she feels that she requires more grass than we do she always manages to find a way out of her field into the lovely green field next door being very careful to leave all fencing intact so as there is no evidence of where she made her escape! She lives out on restricted grazing with Jazz and Sherman who she adores and is often found grooming him and tugging on his beard to get him to play!
Oliver has successfully competed at prelim dressage in the past but his real love is show jumping and in his younger days I regularly competed him in open classes on the local circuit. He is now 24 and is taking life slightly easier but still hacks and has regular lessons with his owner Jan to keep him fit and supple. Despite his age he has a slightly nervous disposition (have you seen how many horses get attacked by leaves every year?!) but is a great fun all round pony. He lives out with his best mate Dylan and is very envious of Sherman as he has rather a soft spot for Jazz.
Dylan is one of the real characters of the yard. At 24 he still enjoys gentle schooling, jumping and hacking with his owner Lynda and they like nothing more than making use of the lovely riding around the yard and going for a good canter. He hates man eating pheasants with a passion so I often accompany them on foot for bird scaring duties and at his age he has now decided that he can't possibly be expected to work in the heat so Lynda is one of the few people I know who enjoys riding in the wind and rain! Dylan lives out all the time with his best friend Oliver due to his respiratory allergy which he loves. Unfortunately he enjoys nothing more than a good wallow in the mud so requires lots of grooming to keep him in a rideable condition!
My horse Dylan and I love our livery home, it has excellent facilities and great riding. I have had my boy for over 10 years and we have been together through thick and thin. When I lost my confidence after a bad fall a few years ago Sarah was brilliant, got me back in the saddle, came out with me and generally got me to enjoy riding again and have fun. I have known Sarah for a long time and she is a very kind, caring, trustworthy person. I really recommend our yard.
— Lynda Midwinter
Owner of Dylan
Dave is our biggest herd member at 17.1hh but believes he never grew past 12hh. He is a very helpful yard member and often helps rearrange the electric fencing posts (they look much tidier on the ground!) He empties his water bucket in the field to ensure its kept clean and removes the hose from the trough when its being filled to water the grass. He enjoys hacking and schooling with his owner Rachel and takes his duty as 'Brave Dave' very seriously as he often required to accompany younger or more nervous herd members out hacking. Dave has his own twitter page so check out @dave_the_horse for more updates from him.
Mimi is a very flirtatious young lady and finds it hard to concentrate on anything (well other than eating!) when there are attractive geldings in the vicinity. With careful management she can now control herself around most of our boys and focus on other things in life! She always believes the grass is greener next door so spends a lot of time doing interesting ballet moves under the fence which demonstrates incredible suppleness and bend something she is less keen to display when required in the school. She competes in local show jumping, dressage and her owner Sue has just started taking her to some x-country events.
After working with horses most of my life I found myself the owner of a very hormonal heavyweight 3yr old gypsy cob called Mimi. She was a Jekyll and Hyde to ride and dumped me on a regular basis. I lost my confidence to canter her in open spaces and my dream to do cross country again was fading fast. I approached Sarah for lessons and advice on Mimi’s management and after 6 months I moved her to Sarah’s yard and haven’t looked back. From the moment I arrived Sarah organised a field and yard management regime tailored to help with Mimi’s hormones and I can only say Mimi is a new horse. She can now be turned out with or near most geldings with few exceptions.
On the riding front Sarah always tailors her lessons to the individual personality of both horse and rider and will change her lesson plan to deal with whatever is the issue that day if needs be. I can proudly say I now take Mimi cantering everywhere and I am doing mini one day events and cross country. Sarah always gives up her day to come too, walking the course, offering help with the warm up and generally being there for moral support. Thanks to Sarah's time and patience I am thoroughly enjoying myself and Mimi and bring home a rosette most of the time.
On a last but important note for any horse owner I know if something happened to Mimi and Sarah was unable to contact me I trust her 100% to make that difficult decision and know it would be the right one for my horse.— Sue Riley
Owner of Mimi
Bumpkin is an ex racehorse who has now retired from ridden work. He used to be a very anxious chap but thrives on the quiet atmosphere and one to one relationship the yard offers and is now much more relaxed and loves nothing more than a nice scratch and cuddle from me. He is our resident weather forecaster as you can always tell when its likely to rain as he has to canter around the field! Bumpy lives out as much as possible as he has suffered from stomach ulcers in his past.
Aviv joined us in May 2016. She suffers from a combination of muscle problems (PSSM) and arthritis so requires careful management to keep her in the best possible shape. She is very sensitive to sugars but also needs to keep moving as much as possible. By gradually increasing her turnout time she now lives out happily 24hrs a day which is really suiting her. She lives with Jazz, Megan and Mimi on well grazed paddocks during the day for company and has her own fenced pen area at night so she can have access to additional hay as required. Aviv and her owner Henrietta are very well known in the Western and Quarter Horse world having competed to a very high level. They now enjoy hacking and pleasure rides. She is definitely the boss of the field and likes to make sure everyone is just where she wants them to be doing exactly as they are told!
Rosie came with us to New Barn Stables when we moved from our old yard where we'd adopted her as a skinny looking stray. She is now far more portly and has retired from pest control as feels it is no longer necessary when food comes with much less effort from a tin! Her main yard duty these days is ensuring that she is available to provide anyone requiring her services with plenty of cuddles - it's a hard life but someone has to do it apparently!
Saphie and Rupert joined the yard in August 2016 as their owners could no longer keep them. They are responsible for controlling slugs and any other insects found wandering around their area - you know when they've caught one from the excited quacking and running around! Their other duties include welcoming visitors and clients with a loud quack hello and entertaining everyone with their comical ways. They live with the Flower Girls who are very good at keeping order!
The girls have recently arrived and are enjoying the freedom of the great outdoors. Their yard duties will include keeping the weeds down in their fenced paddock, slug and other bug control and providing eggs as and when required.