My sister and I often look after each others horses, who are at different barns, and it’s never been a problem. I told my barn manager in advance and he asked that my sister sign a waiver. Of course unless we’re both there together sometimes people mistake us for each other!
Does you friend have have a signed contract between the exercise rider and the BO that permits the activity suggested and does the contract protect the BO in the event of a injury to the exercise rider?
If not, BO is wise to protect her/himself and ask that the rides be supervised. A waiver is fine, but it doesn’t provide complete protection to the BO.
Liability is a huge concern when you are a BO. The cost to defend one claim can put a BO out of business. There is no upside to taking on unnecessary risks.
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An easier way around it is if your friend leases the horse to the other friend. BO gets a copy, butts are covered.
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Never had this at any barn I’ve boarded at but did once get a bollocking for riding a friend’s horse (while friend was standing right there) at her barn. That was fun. Since I’d only ever boarded at places where no one cared, especially if the owner was present, I was well taken aback.
I’ve been riding other peoples’ horses for 30 years and have never run into this. I’ve always signed a waiver, generally take lessons at said barn in addition to schooling the horse several days a week. I can see it as a tactic to weed out unsafe situations that I do observe where I am now, though generally the horses take care of those themselves and scare the riders away.
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I read the OP as though both persons in this arrangement board at the same barn.
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Yes, this is correct. I guess I found it surprising because I often read on this forum posts related to exercising other peoples horses, and there are a lot of people of this forum that, it seems, ride horses that they don’t own. That’s why I inquired if this rule was odd or if it’s common. Like I said, the rule at this particular barn wasn’t ever made plain and I happen to know that other people there ride others’ horses, so it made me wonder. I’m not disputing the BO’s right to run the barn how they wish and make any rules they’d like, and I don’t know all the ins and outs of waivers and insurance issues, which is why I posed the question.
Well, it kind of depends on the relationship between your friend and the BO and the other boarder and the BO. Might be things you don’t know and your friend is not going to share. There might be a very good reason BO doesn’t want that rider on friends horse in their property.
Friend has to take this up with BO, we don’t know all the details and only friend knows what was actually said by whom to who. Might be more to the story then was shared with OP.
Somebody upthread said they boarded only in barns that didn’t care who rode? I care who rides mine because it’s mine and I want a BO that can keep track of exactly what’s going on all day every day via posted rules and firm policies.
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@ChasPonyCat I’d find it odd too. It’s not like some random person coming from outside the barn to ride a horse that’s boarded there.
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I think it is quite impossible for us to even guess since we do not know your friend and your friend’s friend.
Maybe the BO has seen some riding by the friend’s friend that makes them worry about them riding your friend’s horse so they decided to say no to this situation unless the person takes lessons.
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I had a former boarder agree to let an outside party exercise her horse. She was always there when he rode. Then she went on vacation and said nothing to be about his riding in her absence. He turned up, I was surprised and said I needed to hear from her about his riding in her absence. She could phone, email, text, whatever. Except she never did and he never got to ride as a result.
As a BO, I am fine with non-owner riders if they sign the appropriate release, wear a helmet, have parameters set by the owner on what they will do, and are capable of riding IMO. My nightmare is some non-owner decides that exercising the horse entails some form of “yee-haw” riding which may result in an injury to the horse and or third parties. If, for example, a non-owner decides to ride on our trails or fields, it is possible that the horse could end up on an open road if the rider fell off. Not every inch of my farm is fenced. Generally, I will only agree to riding in the ring unless the non-owner is supervised by the owner.
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This is exactly what I was going to say.
I’ve never been at a barn that didn’t allow it, but I don’t find it that unreasonable.
Not only “drama” but excess paperwork. Now we have multiple, perhaps different, release forms. And, I presume, written authorizations, which the BO must get and maintain a copy of. And ensuring the non-owner is familiar with the barn, facilities, trails, whatever. This is not a small imposition on the BO.
If the barn is a small one with the BO in routine presence then maybe it could work out. But if the barn is larger where the BO might not always know exactly who someone is then you’ve got an issue. Or if the BO goes out of town (show, hauling a horse, vacation, day off, etc.) then they have to train their representative in procedure, practice, identification, etc.
I can understand if a BO wants to say “no.” I can understand a boarder wanting to “negotiate” a way to make it happen. If they can come to an agreement I say “God Bless 'Em.” If they can’t, I say the same thing.
G.
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Good point Findeight. Reminds me of a barn where I boarded once over the winter before we built our indoor. Very laid back barn, with laid-back rules. A fellow boarder could ask another boarder to ride Dobbin while they were away and the BO didn’t care. No waiver. No paperwork. No problem. Sounds like bliss doesn’t it?
It all worked, until one day I arrived at an unexpected time and saw the BO riding another boarder’s expensive import. The BO and the expensive import were arguing with each other and it didn’t look like a good situation. I thought what I was observing was odd, because the HO had the gelding in a professional program and the HO was not a fan of the BO’s riding abilities. I shrugged my shoulders and went about my business.
A few days later when I saw the HO I happened to mention what I observed and her jawed dropped to the ground. Turns out, the BO had not asked for permission to ride or jump the HO’s import. HO was completely speechless and totally shocked.
I quickly realized if BO was riding one boarder’s horse without permission, it could be happening to any boarder including me. I found the exit door pretty quickly and took my horses with me.
Point being, a farm with loosey-goosey rules can work for you, but it can also work against you.
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I can see it being an issue if the person is from outside the barn, not someone the BO knows. That could be a liability issue or they could be trying to circumvent a policy of in-house trainers only.'But certainly if I’m sick or away and ask one of the other boarders to ride my horse while I’m gone, my BO doesn’t care. I do always let her know in advance though.
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It’s weird to me. Also weird in a non-show barn.
A friend of mine travels a lot for work. A lot. She has lessons 2x a week, and on the weeks she is traveling, her instructor rides her horses on those days in lieu of lessons. But 2x a week riding sometimes for weeks on end is not really all that great.
Anyway, she often asks me to help exercise the horse a day or two, which is a hold over from previous trainer at another barn who didn’t ride and who used to help me find some free saddle time. I’ve also had such a hard time with my current horse that several other people have offered me rides now and then just because they feel badly that I’m not getting to ride my own horse much.
In general, this has never been a problem or created any drama. Everyone knows who I am and I am not just getting on any horse I want without a specific request from the owner. I appreciate having some uncomplicated horses to sit on now and then.
However, there was one barn where I was briefly where the BO had a problem with me exercising a different friend’s horse. She said it looked too much like horse training, regardless of whether my friend was paying me anything. Now mind you, BO knew me because I did a lot of exercising for the previous resident trainer–I was new to the area and found this trainer to let me sit on some project OTTBs for free to get back into riding. I didn’t have any drama with BO during any of that time. Resident trainer left when other friend asked me to help exercise her OTTB because she was busy, and he needed a specific exercise protocol following a stifle injury. At first, BO was ok with us signing extra releases. And then she still didn’t like it because a couple other people started to inquire about me riding their horses. BO demanded I get insurance. But I can’t get commercial liability insurance without taking in any income. So, that was the end of that, and my friend moved her horse shortly thereafter where she could get someone else to exercise the horse when she was too busy.
Assume it might be a liability issue if a stranger came to ride a boarder’s horse, but at our barn boarders riding each other’s horses is pretty routine. My horse is on limited exercise due to an injury, and I can only ride him at a walk. At least once a week I ride another boarder’s horse for her, since she can no longer ride. He’s walk/trot only (he’s 25, has some issues), so at least I haven’t forgotten how to post/sit the trot because of my going on 15 months of walk-only (bad suspensory injury). Sigh. When my horse was healthy, however, the only one I would let ride him was the trainer. He’s a hot number and if anyone’s going to get hurt, it’ll be me. ;0) Another boarder’s horse is also on limited exercise (older mare with arthritis) and she rides another boarder’s horse a couple of times a week when owner can’t get out due to work or is out of town. It’s actually pretty nice that BO/Trainer are flexible about this, when you consider the trainer could demand that she ride the horses and be paid.
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It may be that the BO has named owners/riders on her insurance policy. In that case she would have a problem. A larger barn with a commercial policy would not have the same issue.
All about liability and protecting one’s business •
Never heard of this, especially since both riders are from the same barn and both have signed releases. It’s not like some random person showed up saying they had permission and the BO hadn’t heard from the horse owner. I could see it happened in a show barn where the trainer had a very rigid hand and wanted to control their client by charging for schooling rides.
