Finding a boarding facility that makes both you and your horse happy can be a real challenge but it can make a huge difference in how much you enjoy your horse experience. Here are 12 common sense tips that will make you and your horse welcome at any boarding facility.

1. Learn the barn rules and follow them
Ignorance is no excuse for the law and it isn’t one at boarding facilities either. Many boarding barns provide new boarders with a list of rules including policies, hours of operation, feeding schedules, etc. BEFORE the horse even arrives so if you don’t agree – it might be best to keep looking. These rules usually are set for a reason and getting the owner or manager to change the rules AFTER you arrive is unlikely and constant nagging or debating will result in you being asked to leave.

2. Clean up after yourself or your horse.
This one sounds like a no brainer until you step into a fresh pile of manure that someone (no where to be seen of course!) has left standing in the middle of the aisle. If you picked a facility because it is clean, do your best to help keep it that way.

3. Don’t take extra feed, hay, bedding or anything else without permission.
You might like having a big pile of hay in front of your horse at all times but most boarding barns have specific feeding schedules because that is what works best for them and that is how they priced their service. Feeding an extra flake to your horse can upset the other horses that are near by, getting them so agitated they damage themselves or their surroundings. Understand the feeding schedule before you sign the boarding contract and leave the feeding to the barn manager. Ditto for the barn’s bedding choice and policy. A deep bed of straw or shavings may seem like horse heaven to you but you don’t have to pay for it or dispose of it.

4. Don’t feed treats to other people’s horses without permission.
Yes, those eyes are gazing at you longingly and are very hard to resist but the horse may have special dietary needs or allergies, or there may be other issues you are not aware of. Always ask permission first and respect the owner’s decision.

5. Put your toys away.
Horse owners seem to end up with more paraphernalia than the first-time parents of a new baby. This is fine because everyone enjoys seeing the endless supply of halters, fly spray, boots, wraps, etc. But no one likes tripping over them in the aisle or having to pass by a mountain of stuff hanging off the front of a stall door.

6. Play well with others.
Boarding barns are a notorious breeding ground for cliques but you can help inoculate against an infection by treating everyone with respect and kindness. Sure – all you may have in common is that you love horses and you don’t have to love your fellow boarders. Just treat them as you want to be treated. Many of us see the barn as a place to relax and this is hard to do if you feel like you have to constantly be looking for a fight or trying to avoid one.

7- Treat the barn support staff with respect.
These are the people who take care of your horse every single day and the good ones know your horse as well, if not better than you do. A few simple words like “hello, good-bye, and most important, thank you” go a long way. An occasional monetary tip for birthdays, Christmas or even just because can go even further.

8- Don’t call the barn manager/owner every day.
Yes, you are normal - you want to know if your horse was turned out or not but if every boarder at even a 12-stall facility called every day that is a LOT of time spent answering phone calls. This is a situation where you need to trust that the barn owner or manager has your horse’s best interests at heart. He or she knows if the footing is safe for turnout, how badly the wind is blowing at the barn or if it is raining there or not. Trust them. And if you can’t, then be prepared to look for another barn or even buy your own!

9- A sick horse is ultimately your responsibility.
Most barn owners will bend over backward—and then some to help out a horse (or boarder!) in distress. But if the vet says the horse needs to be watched for two hours and it is midnight- grab a blanket and a chair because YOU need to be sitting there watching – not the barn owner. Yes, you have to get up and go to work tomorrow, but so does she.

10. If it isn’t working, don’t burn bridges.
If something about a facility isn’t working for you for whatever reason, then move on. Complaining about the barn manager or the other boarders isn’t going to change a thing and will only make you unhappy. Sometimes what is a great fit for one person doesn’t work for another at all. That’s ok – just find other accommodations, give the notice you agreed to in your contract, stay civil and preferably cheerful, and leave on good terms. It is a small world and your paths may cross again.

11. Pay your bills on time.
Despite our best intentions we all occasionally trip up – after all we are human.—but these trips are likely to be overlooked at least occasionally if we keep our accounts in good standing. Boarding is not a high income business, the margins are slim and become even slimmer when the barn owner must pay interest because board bills are late. And keep current with the vet and farrier, too. A barn owner who is trying to get emergency care for a sick or injured horse can be in bad spot if the owner isn’t available to guarantee payment and is already on the vet’s late-pay list.

12. Be reachable.
Keep your contact information current. If you are out of town leave your contact information and insurance information. Better yet, leave instructions for what to do in case of an emergency, including an advance directive with a current credit card number. The advance directive gives your barn owner permission to make decisions on your behalf and backs those decisions with your dollars. Emergency colic surgery can run into thousands of dollars and if you can’t be reached to guarantee payment, your horse will be the one to suffer.

Editor’s note:
Susan Armitage has been a boarder for all of her 12 horse-owning years. It took her three tries but the third one was the charm and she has been at Gateway Riding Center in Oswego, Ill. for over 10 years. She does wish she had known right from the start what she knows now about being a better boarder!

 

Sidebar:
Planning Ahead for the Unthinkable
What happens to your horse if an emergency situation that requires an immediate decision arises and you are not reachable? As someone who regularly travels overseas I know how hard it can be for anyone to reach me in an emergency. US cell phones often don’t work in other parts of the world and traveling on business means a lot of time is spent in airports and on airplanes where cell phone connections can be iffy even if they are allowed. Add in the time differences and it can be a real challenge to reach someone in the event of an emergency. With some colic situations the window of opportunity for a successful outcome can be a few short hours. And while many emergencies aren’t life threatening, immediate action can mean the difference between a career ending injury and one that is not.

To avoid this I am using the Advance Directive for Health Care below that is modeled on one used for people. I am not an attorney and make no claims that this would hold up in court. If you want a document that will do that then you need to seek professional legal advice. In most situations a spouse or other relative can be designated as the agent(s) to make these decisions and can guarantee payment. In my case, the barn manager is authorized to make these decisions on my behalf since she is a knowledgeable horsewoman with my sensibilities when it comes to animals. I trust her enough to know she will make the right decision for my horses and she trusts me enough to know I will pay for any care she orders. I didn’t want to put my husband in the difficult position of trying to decide if colic surgery is the right decision or not since these decisions can be as much –or even more-- about quality of life as they are about dollars. There are approximately 20 boarders at our barn and all have agreed that it is ok to call a vet in the case of an emergency when the owner can’t be reached. We discuss this every year at our semi-annual barn meetings and no one has ever chosen to opt out of this agreement. There have been three occasions in the approximately 10 years I have been at the barn where the owner couldn’t be reached, the barn manager wasn’t available, and one of the boarders ended up calling the vet. In each case the horse’s owner was extremely grateful that the vet had been called and was fine with the charges even though in two situations an emergency call ended up not being necessary. Without having this discussion up front many people would be reluctant to risk a call. And, of course, it does help if the boarders have cooperative relationships.

The bottom line is that it is important to think about how you want an emergency with your horse handled BEFORE it happens. No one wants to think about the unthinkable. But a little planning – whether it is with your lawyer, your spouse or another relative, or your barn owner/manager – will give you a huge pay-off in peace-of mind. And having your wishes in writing can go a long way in doing this.