I’ve slowly come to realise why so many instructors get themselves a small livery yard and base themselves there to teach.
It’s so that they have a place to call home. Somewhere to make their mark.
As a freelance groom, instructor, dogsbody; you flit between yards. Being welcomed, but not included. Yes, yard politics can be a nightmare, but equally not getting involved can be … isolating.
I know now how gypsies and nomads feel, hovering on the fringe of society.
However if you get involved in yard gossip, you make friends but get a reputation for meddling and always having an opinion. But if you keep yourself to yourself, act like a chameleon, then you become known as stand-offish and anti-social.
My conclusion. You can’t please everyone and the best position to be in from a professional point of view is to be as impartial and independent as possible.
