Odd question (without being too specific), but does your city Animal Control hold inspections for boarding barns? And if they do, what has your experience been with the stipulations they may have?
You mean scheduled routine type inspections?
I have never heard of such a thing in my area. Animal control only comes around when there is an issue (or a perceived issue). They are too busy to do a walk thru just for the fun of it.
[QUOTE=trubandloki;8662004]
You mean scheduled routine type inspections?
I have never heard of such a thing in my area. Animal control only comes around when there is an issue (or a perceived issue). They are too busy to do a walk thru just for the fun of it.[/QUOTE]
In my city currently, and keep in mind they just started doing these this month (my barn had our inspection yesterday), they are ordering barns to get permits from the city in order to be boarding barns AND in order for that to happen they have to have an inspection done by Animal Control.
[QUOTE=trubandloki;8662004]
You mean scheduled routine type inspections?
I have never heard of such a thing in my area. Animal control only comes around when there is an issue (or a perceived issue). They are too busy to do a walk thru just for the fun of it.[/QUOTE]
Also, you have a PM.
In Massachusetts, the local Borad of Health appoints an Animal Inspector, who actually reports to MDAR.
The AI is required to do an annual inspection/census of domestic livestock in town, and send the results on to MDAR.
This is mainly for the purpose of having info on hand in the event of an outbreak of some reportable disease, for example, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza or EIA.
MA resident here as well and I see that Ghazzu beat me to it!
Just wanted to add that I was at the barn few months ago when the inspector stopped by…the barn owner was ready to pull out her files but the inspector just looked around, asked how many horses were on the property, and said “nice horse” as my TB had an epic melt down in the wash stall…he was on site for all of five minutes!
I think we have a state stable inspector in MD.
Yes Maryland commercial facilities who offer boarding and/or lessons/training must be inspected annually.
[QUOTE=Jumper_Princess1988;8664443]
MA resident here as well and I see that Ghazzu beat me to it!
Just wanted to add that I was at the barn few months ago when the inspector stopped by…the barn owner was ready to pull out her files but the inspector just looked around, asked how many horses were on the property, and said “nice horse” as my TB had an epic melt down in the wash stall…he was on site for all of five minutes![/QUOTE]
Jumper_Princess, you have a PM.
Here is what Florida requires. http://www.freshfromflorida.com/content/download/35263/830148/EquineRequirements.pdf
My understanding is an inspector may enter a boarding stable at any time and request documentation. At one point when I was in south Florida they were checking up on boarding barns.
[QUOTE=Ghazzu;8662189]
In Massachusetts, the local Borad of Health appoints an Animal Inspector, who actually reports to MDAR.
The AI is required to do an annual inspection/census of domestic livestock in town, and send the results on to MDAR.
This is mainly for the purpose of having info on hand in the event of an outbreak of some reportable disease, for example, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza or EIA.[/QUOTE]
Ma is ahead of most of the country. They also certify riding instructors and have for years.
Where I am even if you call about a neglect case, seldom is anything done locally.
I am in So MD, Charles County, and the barn I work at has to have a license for some of it’s “events”. Issuing the license requires an inspection - local animal control officer came out, toured barn & pastures, took a ton of pictures.
Not sure if every local barn falls under the licensing requirement, but ours does.
Edited to add that last year was the 1st year we were ever inspected, and the barn has been around for ~20 years now. VERY public barn, not like we were “slipping thru the cracks”. I am guessing the licensing program may have been in place on the books, but just never enforced for whatever reason.
[QUOTE=ladyj79;8665162]
Yes Maryland commercial facilities who offer boarding and/or lessons/training must be inspected annually.[/QUOTE]
Yep. The last farm I managed in MD got inspected while I was there. I think we opened that facility just as they started doing it. It was pretty much NBD, but I also ran a very tight ship, and the owners had the $$$ to develop it into a stellar facility.
I remember it happening at barns I worked at in Maryland. It was no big thing, but then these were nice farms in good order.
I never recall it happening in PA where I grew up. And it definitely doesn’t happen in TN.
Do the areas that have inspections for boarding barns have a published list of requirements? Or are you at the whim of the inspector you have that day?
[QUOTE=trubandloki;8666281]
Do the areas that have inspections for boarding barns have a published list of requirements? Or are you at the whim of the inspector you have that day?[/QUOTE]
I don’t know the answer, but in MD I don’t ever remember the inspector really inspecting anything. She was a very nice woman who spent about 5 or 10 minutes chit chatting. She’d ask if there were any issues or big changes, I think she’d ask about the number of horses, but I think she could tell pretty quickly when things were on the up and up. She never once asked to see anything in particular at the farms where I worked. Very low pressure and friendly.
I recall seeing one public lesson barn being inspected, but I think it was a city code type thing. I remember him checking to see that the fire extinguisher was charged.
[QUOTE=trubandloki;8666281]
Do the areas that have inspections for boarding barns have a published list of requirements? Or are you at the whim of the inspector you have that day?[/QUOTE]
In my case, there was no published list of requirements. And unfortunately for us, we were at the whim of the inspectors and more so because on our Animal Control staff, they’re all dog people. They don’t have any knowledgeable or specialized horse people doing inspections for the horse stables. To write down violations, they use a form they use for dogs and cats. :no::no:
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8666304]
I don’t know the answer, but in MD I don’t ever remember the inspector really inspecting anything. She was a very nice woman who spent about 5 or 10 minutes chit chatting. She’d ask if there were any issues or big changes, I think she’d ask about the number of horses, but I think she could tell pretty quickly when things were on the up and up. She never once asked to see anything in particular at the farms where I worked. Very low pressure and friendly.[/QUOTE]
Our inspection definitely was NOT low pressure and it took an hour and a half.
[QUOTE=SparklyBlueAlter;8667185]
Our inspection definitely was NOT low pressure and it took an hour and a half.[/QUOTE]
I’m sorry you went through this. Obviously, you’re trying to keep some anonymity… but are you also in MD? Or is this a different state?
The inspections I went through were a decade ago and all done by the same inspector who was indeed someone with horse knowledge. Many things could have changed since then.
Where I live now, the only time something gets inspected is if there are complaints. And they unfortunately send out either a dog/cat AC officer or someone from the mounted police squad… neither of which truly know what they’re looking at. You’d think the latter would, but not really-- all they know is what they’ve learned at the mounted academy, most have not been around horses that long.
