Barn Rules Over Time

Mine too, but with insulated (double wall) construction, white on the outside, and fans, it can be a LOT cooler in the trailer than outside in the sun. It is trailer dependent though.

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Barn rule I had to regularly enforce: shut off the water when youā€™re finished. Do not leave it running all day and all night long.

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I would like to think that very few people would leave the water running ā€“ and yet some people will do it. They must think water is free. Overnight and/or all day, even at less than full hose strength, is many, many gallons. Where I live, that would cost between $500 and $1,000, maybe more. As I know due to an incident at my own place.

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I saw a not-turning-off-hose happen when away at a show with two overnights. The teenagers with the large group stabled next to ours would. not. shut off the water at the wash area, which was on grass.

It was quickly a muddy mess. There was some natural draining of the water, keeping it from being worse. But gradually a pseudo frog pond developed. Horses stood in hoof-deep water to be hosed off.

Some of us politely and briefly spoke to a teenager or two, who happened to be at the hose when we were. ā€œHey just checking, are you guys shutting off the water after you are finished using it?ā€ They mumbled ā€œnoā€ or shook their heads negatively, meaning they were leaving the water running as we had suspected. Then the young person would shuffle quickly away before anything more could be said.

Of course all of the adults were shutting off the water when we noticed it running unattended. But the adults in their group seemed clueless. It was clear that it was a program, and they were trying to leave ā€˜barn managementā€™ to the youngsters, as a learning experience.

Finally after the water was left running overnight, creating a large fetlock-deep frog pond by the next morning, a few of us went to speak to the adults in their group. Politely.

I have to give them credit, they took it seriously. Especially when it was brought to their attention that the huge mess at the hose area was due to their own group. They seemed very uncomfortable with that assessment, but as the youngsters had admitted it, they couldnā€™t deny it. And mentioned the enormous water bill that would be coming to the property owners who were hosting the show, well over and above whatever they normally incurred for a show.

A little bit later we saw that they had a round up of their teenage ā€˜barn managersā€™ and serious talk with the group.

After that the water was turned off after use, by everyone.

A good learning outcome in the end, IMO. But I always wondered with concern about the cost to the property owners, who would not have been able to determine exactly how/why it was so much more than usual.

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The water thing absolutely boggles my mind. Do these folks leave their showers and sinks running at home non stop?

I do understand about forgetting a hose in a trough once in a blue moon, weā€™ve probably all done that once, but just walking away from a wash stall leaving it running? Crazy.

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Right?! I hate leaving it running even long enough to go shut it off after a bath or filling a tank

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Seriously WTF? Were they just so busy walking away with their horses they didnā€™t bother. That is mind-boggling. I mean, even scraping the horse after youā€™re done in the wash stall is more pleasant if the water is off.

The ā€œno smokingā€ thing also boggles my mind, but I guess when some people are addicted enough, common sense leaves the brain.

I was once at a barn with a different issue. The water couldnā€™t be shut off at the immediate source because the spigot was broken and barn owner never bothered to fix it. So to wash your horse, youā€™d have to lead your horse over to the barn owner and wait for her to find a break to turn on the water to the wash stall, which would then immediately surge with water (not fun with a spooky horse, when the hose suddenly comes to life). Youā€™d wash the horse, sweat-scrape, trying to keep the gushing water to the side, then find the barn owner to tell her to turn the water off at the source.

It was so annoying. And the hose didnā€™t have a sprayer (you had to bring your own, or just use your finger in the hose).

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Nobody thought to spend a few bucks and get something to put at the end of the hose?

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And that is a great, cheap, readily accessible little gadget found at any home improvement store. Nice to keep a few around for discoveries of an outside faucet dribbling. :smile:

Memory triggered. Last year, a friend living in a rental house with a yard had an insanely ridiculous water bill. I came over with my property management experience to look at all of the water outlets, inside and outside of the house.

The 1960ā€™s era house had four outside spigots on the house for watering the yard. Every single one was old (might have been the originals) and was dribbling. So, fastened those shut-off gadgets on all of the outside faucets. They stopped the dribbling. The water bills went down to normal.

An unbelievable amount of water can be lost/wasted on a constantly dribbling faucet. It is well worth maintaining / replacing dribbling water faucets ā€“ or just sticking these gadgets on them to stop the dribble.

Plus, a clue to the creative ā€“ you can get these gadgets with multiple outlet prongs, to create more than one hose attachment from one connection. You can put them on the end of a hose as well as on a faucet. Iā€™ve used them to create a branching lawn watering system to make it much easier and faster to water just certain parts, without a lot of walking back and forth to the faucet, or even moving sprinklers around. I just go to the faucet, set the knobs and turn it on. Even easier, add a timer. Even made a diagram so that next summer I donā€™t forget how it works! :slightly_smiling_face:

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lol Iā€™m with you. Definitely rode horses in the paddock loose with others ā€“ including grabbing whatever horse was closest to the gate to ride out to my horse who was farther from the gate then switching halters and hpoping on my horse to ride it back to the gate. And definitely rode the pony with a halter (sometimes no leadropeā€¦just grabbing the headstall) up the road while double with (horsey) friends.

OOPS!

Somehowā€¦never got seriously hurt in any of these endeavors?

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Just replace the faucets - if these are put on outside bibbs and the owner forgets to blow out the lines before the first freeze, youā€™re in for a real treat! :slight_smile:

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I think the point at a boarding barn is that rules exist to keep everyone safe. You might have been fine. But rules are there so someone not able to be fine doing it will not do it. As far as riding in the pasture with loose horses, this also keeps the other horses, likely not owned by the person riding thru them, safe.

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My earlier post about this was meant to be a bit more light-hearted, as in, ā€œIt made me chuckle to read some of these rules considering many of them are things I did back in the day as a semi-feral horse-crazy teen.ā€

I totally understand why a boarding barn would have rules like these in place, to protect themselves and to keep horses and humans safe. That said, in all seriousness, as with all things horses, thereā€™s an element of ā€œit dependsā€ involved in a lot of scenarios. As an adult, I have ridden bareback in a halter in a field with horses turned out, at a boarding barn. More details: This was a 85 acre rectangular pasture, with a herd that was turned out 24/7 together, so all the horses were used to each other and got along well. When the herd was at the very far end of the pasture, it was quite a walk to get back to the barnā€¦ so I would hop on and ride my mare in bareback in a halter. Never a problem. It was a rope halter, and I had ridden her in a rope halter in the arena plenty of times before to confirm that she was soft, responsive and controllable without a bit. Iā€™m also very comfortable riding bareback, at all gaits, and can stick a spook or bolt pretty well without a saddle. I donā€™t feel like I was being reckless or unsafe in my particular situation. The barn owner didnā€™t mind, nor did any of the other owners out there that saw me do this.

Of course I understand that in many cases, it would be unsafe to enter a field with horses turned out and ride in that field, especially bareback and/or in a halter.

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Yep, and I think boarding barns NEED to have these kinds of rules in place.

I grew up as a feral teen in a time where you/your insurance was less likely to sue for horse related injuries on other peopleā€™s property. I got to do a lot of semi-dangerous things, and lived and learned. Now, you almost have to own the horse and the property to get that same experience - but itā€™s because of people that end up being the reason for these rules.

Oh well. The need for the water rule blows my mind. Then again, people who donā€™t pay the bill seem to be much less aware of the results of their actions.

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I got hit by a car while driving my pony. It was my own pony, on my own landā€¦and it was my own freaking car. Long story; short version is DH didnā€™t leave the car in gear at the top of the driveway, and it rolled down on its own. My insurance company was so sure that there was someone to sue for this. I had to tell them multiple times that there was no outside party involved. I just told them it was an equestrian accident on my land with my own horse. After a while, they stopped contacting me about it.

Rebecca

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This brings up a funny memory that should read, ā€œDonā€™t hand the manic cow to the non-cattle husbandā€ā€¦I guess? My cousin tried to get a new dairy cow. They brought her home the day before, which was the same day her calf was weaned and she was ANGRY. She was running through every fence they had. We showed up to say hi and my cousin hands the lead rope of said angry cow to my husband, no gloves, slippery muddy day, and said, ā€œCan you hold her for a minute while we move some panels?ā€ The man hung on somehow and went mud skiing around a bit until I convinced he and my cousin to wrap the lead around a solid tree trunk. --And I just stayed out of it from there. She was rehomed the next day.

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hahahaha, I had a couple of Gypsey Vanners that a client imported from Ireland like thatā€¦I had to tether them to keep them from shimmying under the fences.

The ā€œno riding in the pasture with loose horsesā€ rule was specifically created for this kid. We had asked and told her many times before not to do it. Her ā€œgeldingā€ was aggressive to other horses over the fence line and in the pasture. This kid also came off (MULTIPLE TIMES) a calm horse at a walk in a western saddle so she had no business riding bareback in the pasture.

We ride in the pastures with loose horses but weā€™ve all been riding before we could walk. We also know which horses to avoid going near, how to bail off safely, and that any crap that happens is our fault.

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Right, this is a great example.

Rules are for people in groups, not so much for individuals, unless an individual just wants to live by some rules. Honoring the group rules, in that group, is respectful of the welfare of the group. Even if you donā€™t necessarily do it that way at home.

One aspect of ā€˜rulesā€™ that annoys the bejesus out of many adults (and children) is that children and some young people must do everything they see done. No how matter how inexperienced and clueless they are about it. So ā€“ pooey fooey, at a particular property, thereā€™s a rule that stops g-you from doing something you do competently. Such as riding your horse bareback with a halter across a field with horses in it.

Because if you do it, so will some number of barn youngsters, and likely sneaking it when adults donā€™t know. But if the youngsters donā€™t see anyone else doing it, they arenā€™t likely to do it.

I totally agree that ā€œkids todayā€ are missing out on the feral equine experience. That self-taught many of us. But where I am, at least, there are good reasons for that. They come from a different world and just donā€™t have the kind of experience that would teach them how to keep themselves safe.

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But how do you GET the experience without the horror of falling off your horse off property while wearing shorts, rubber boots, no helmet, bareback in a halter and lead, and watching her gallop across a public road to get back to the barn?!

In all seriousness, sometimes you have to fall off and make mistakes to learn. And those are the lessons that stick with you. šŸ¤· (To be clear, I have no tolerance for things that are dangerous to the horses, just things that are dangerous to me. :blush:)

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