I’d love to hear input from fellow barn owners on how you would handle this situation? I had a lady inquire about winter boarding because the barn she’s been boardng at is for sale. We’re mostly a Traning barn, but have a few stalls available for boarders that will mesh well with our training program. I was hesitant, but set up a time for her to come view the farm.
So, she shows up and I start giving her a tour and first thing she says wth a bit of an attitude is “is all your fencing wire?”. I answered yes, it is it’s all high tensile done by a professional fencing company and we love it. She then goes on to tell me how her horse kicked at a wire fence at another barn and cut his leg, so she won’t put him in wire etc etc. At that point I was kind of just like ok, and figured she would leave since she didn’t like our fence. Nope, she stayed for AN HOUR AND A HALF! Would not let me get a word in, was basically leading herself wherever she wanted through the barn, not really giving me a chance to let her know how our barn runs (clearly on purpose).
Then She says “well I’d like to bring my horses but I’d need you to change the fencing out to woven”. And also adds that in addition to the two full horses she also has a pony and the other barn gave her such a great deal on it. So, she asks about the board price and I tell her it’s $430 for full stall board. THEN she says “well at the other barn we paid $750 for all 3 and id like to stay with that price, can you do that.” It took all I had not to scream are you crazy!!! That’s a $540 difference and you also want me to pay to change a perfectly good fence?
My dilemma is this - I could really use the money, but i generally hate boarders because they interrupt my Traning program and this one seems especially crazy. I have a rule that I do not do deals because I always get screwed. So, I absolutely will not discount my board, but my Pasture board is $250 and adds up exactly to the $750 she wants to spend. She actually did mention that she is perfectly fine with her horses living outside with a run if they can come in if its really bad. My options are tell her to screw off, or offer her pasture board only-no stall (the run in they would have is actually a 20x30 sheet metal barn). The horses would be here from nov-April and the owner will be in Florida for 6 weeks out of that. Is the money worth the hassle? And if I did take her should she pay the cost of the fence replacement, since she is the one that wants it?
