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Barn Rules on Riding Other People's Horses

Off Course
#61

Actually, no, I don’t think that seems excessive at all. I fall into the camp of if a person has owner and barn owner permission, signs waiver, etc., they should be able to ride the horse. However, in this case the second person didn’t have permission, hadn’t signed a waiver, etc. Just as some owners might get their hides a little chapped being told who can or can’t ride their horses, my hide would get REALLY chapped if some person that I never gave permission to came out to ride my horse. Actually, I’d be really annoyed with the person who had permission that they even thought that was acceptable and reconsider using her as a rider.

Does that seem excessive? Maybe. But I really am bugged when people think they can just do whatever they want. I mean that situation is way different than the situation described in the OP. (I’m sure some would beg to differ, but that’s how I see it anyway).

5 Likes
#62

No, not excessive at all. It is never okay for random people to ride your horse without permission. The friend’s friend counts as a random person.

2 Likes
#63

I am late to this party (but interested in this topic). I don’t think this got mentioned: A barn owner with this policy is frankly a godsend to the “hey, can I ride your horse?” question. Ultimately, the answer to this question is almost always no as far as I am concerned, because the liability aspect really is terrifying. The few times I’ve said yes were very stressful, even though my horses were well-behaved (and were in hard work at the time), they’re still pretty normal horses. A policy like this relieves almost all of the pressure, because you “can’t” unless you were to literally trailer for them. This is a really nice dynamic in situations where you might be under a lot of social pressure to do something that is very much against your best interest, and letting people ride your horses in 2017 definitely falls into that category. It is unfortunate, but even when I was growing up as a poor, horse crazy girl in the early 80s, you were starting to see the chilling effect of lawsuits.

2 Likes
#64

Do people really get bugged that much by randoms and non-horsey friends to come riding? Cause I can’t ever remember having a non-horsey friend just ask to borrow a horse.

I have had a horsey friend ask to use my mare not too long ago because they were coming back from an injury gotten on their own high strung horse and they needed to sit on something solid for a few weeks to get their seat and courage back in line. But I knew how they rode, I knew how their instructor taught (they wanted to do a few lessons on Ms. Mare) and I knew Ms. Mare would take care of them. Other people were kind enough to do the same for me in the past and as long as I feel the match is suitable and Ms. Mare is healthy, I’m fine with it.

As far as the BO is concerned, I did do a courtesy call to tell her that X had my permission to ride Ms. Mare in and outside lessons for a few weeks. We were both clients, nothing in our contract disallowed it (in fact, we had a couple of lease type situations there in the past) and BO thanked me for the heads up and that was that. T

#65

I’ve seen different types of barns do this for different reasons:

  1. Potential income lost:
    The trainer wants the income from training rides when the owner is not around. Some places don’t care about this, particularly if they are super busy. I’ve seen trainers in smaller operations get upset about this because of the lost income from friends riding each others’ horses.

  2. Liability:
    Some farms don’t have the time or resources (i.e. staff) to keep track of who is riding what, who has signed which documents, etc. and don’t want the hassle.

The farms I’ve been at that don’t seem to mind the riding arrangements that the OP describes have tended to be the smaller ones. In those farms, the BO is more focused on having a small number of happy boarders and is less concerned with liability from knowing everyone who is coming and going.

1 Like
#66

I would suspect that the BO had previously been “burned” by something bad happening in a similar arrangement in the past.

2 Likes
#67

Same. A related situation recently happened to me. I don’t have a problem with a barn having strict rules about who can ride and when. I fully understand and support the reasoning behind them. I do have a problem when I follow every written rule in my contract (and IMO then some, just to be safe) but am then spoken harshly to about not following unwritten rules :eek:

1 Like
#68

What was the BO’s justification for complaining about something that was an unwritten rule?
No place is perfect, but seeing how people handle something when things go wrong tells you a lot about them.

#69

None :lol:

I tiptoe around BO, because BO has a reputation. I do not have to interact often, and so live with it to keep my horse where he is.

#70

Maybe it’s that the BO realizes that rider shouldn’t be riding that horse. Maybe because the BO is familiar with the rider it means she has more insight into why this rider won’t fit with this horse.

1 Like
#71

Maybe, maybe, maybe, there are a lot of different scenarios and with little information the OP provided it’s hard to speculate on what the OP’s BO policies are. Again, my post stated that I could see it as “a little" unusual”.My post was based on my own personal experience (as most of us do) where at my barn and other barns where I know folks it is not unusual at all for boarders to hop on another boarder’s horse without BO "permission. Sometimes it’s done for kicks while we’re riding around “oh lets switch horses today” or more often the case when someone is out of town or can’t get to the barn for one reason or another, or horse is lame etc.

#72

As a BO, I don’t write down every little thing that you can and can’t do at my barn. For example, I don’t have a specific rule that says that I will ask you to get off of your horse if I see a situation that is dangerous to you, the people around you, or the horse. I am not talking about “something might happen” but serious situation that most horse people would agree was dangerous. And I have had to do that at least once with a boarder.

I don’t care if a boarder allows someone else to ride her horse I do want several things done beforehand. I want to be presented with a written agreement that provides permission to the specific rider, details frequency of rides, what can be done on the rides and contact information for the owner while he or she are gone. I want a liability release to my barn. I want a copy of the liability release to the owner. I want to see evidence that the owner has liability insurance coverage (home owners, equine liability, etc.) as I do not want to be a deep pocket. I also insist a rider to agree to all barn rules.

I had a boarder who was pretty laissez faire about letting others ride her horses. She just neglected to tell me about the arrangements. She was surprised when I would not let people ride because I had no notice from her and she seemed to think it was my responsibility to track her down for permission. No, my responsibility is to care for your horse and that includes not letting anyone just showing up at my barn saying they had permission to ride.

1 Like
#73

I wasn’t coming down on you or disagreeing with what you wrote, I just used your post to illustrate that sometimes there are other reasons for a BO saying no - other than insurance/legalities. Sorry if my message was taken in another context.

And my use of ‘maybe’ twice was a simple grammatical error when trying to get my thought across. I didn’t notice until I read your ‘maybe, maybe, maybe’ comment.

1 Like
#74

If someone asks an outsider to ride their horse, they have to sign a liability waiver. Beyond that, we have no restrictions. Most of the riding of “other people’s horses” is in-barn, i.e., people who already board there and have signed appropriate releases. I ride my horse, and once or twice a week, I ride the horse of a boarder who is no longer able to ride. Another boarder rides a horse belonging to another boarder because the owner of the horse has physical restrictions - she can ride, but not enough to keep the horse properly exercise/trained, etc. Small quiet barn (maybe 20 horses, several semi-retirees like the old boy I rode for his owner). All adults, too, no kiddies or teens.

1 Like
#75

Yeah, it definitely happens from time to time. And worse… people truly don’t get that even “good” horses could easily do bad things to a novice rider, or really, even a so-called “intermediate” rider. I’m not overly fussed about the occasional novice riding my horse, per se… like some people are (zomg they will ruin his perfect trainings). I really just find the liability scary. Liability is the worst for people who aren’t rich, and who aren’t destitute… So basically almost everyone.

Of course, sometimes, horsey friends who don’t have the best seat, and just… aren’t aware of their surroundings, want to ride too. I caved and let one of these ride one of my horses. She was yammering away not paying attention, and my pretty solid black gelding dumped her, because well, sometimes he’s a troll. She had to go to the hospital and it wasn’t THAT serious of an injury and she’s not an actual horrible person, but when it comes right down to it, if people REALLY get hurt, they’re going to cave and sue. It was a wakeup call. The only kind of person I’d let ride my horses are people who are way better in the saddle than I am, and just all around solid horsemen/horsewomen and that I know really well, and who are probably well-insured. And I am no super rider, but you know, I get by. But yeah, that’s my bar for “reasonably low risk”.

#76

I just want to point out that in this situation, the horse owner could get sued even if the injured friend isn’t a horrible person and doesn’t “cave.” The friend’s health insurance company can sue on her behalf, whether your friend wants them to or not (this is called subrogation, and it is something we agree to when we accept the benefits of health insurance).

When you are treated for an injury, your insurance company will often send some paperwork afterwards asking how the injury happened, where you were, etc. This is them looking for someone else to pay your medical bills! If you do not respond, they may deny your claim.

The moral of the story is that even if you are 100% confident that your dear old friend will not sue you if she gets hurt riding your horse, her insurance company still might.

3 Likes
#77

We’re both right though.:slight_smile: I recall a fellow boarder having a “crush” on another boarder’s horse, and always wanted to ride him. He was no way suitable for her; the owner casually said" sure anytime" once and after that the boarder was always going on about riding him. That BO would never ever let her ride that horse or a few others in the barn LOL

#78

Absolutely, all of the above. I didn’t know about this particular angle/aspect of the whole liability thing until this happened, actually. Basically, the law around horses is not on your side. People think horses are super gentle and bombproof, and at the same time the law has that same expectation, all the while framing them as, I don’t know, wild tigers or something… all at once.

#79

OR the BO recognizes the horse doesn’t suit the rider.

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