Barn Staff Not Latching Stalls

[FjordBCRF]

Asking for some advice here. I came to the barn this evening and it is now the third time in a year that my geldings stall has not been latched, thankfully he was none the wiser. I’ve also come to the barn when one of the other horses stall wasn’t latched and he was parked at the hay pile munching away.

The barn is within 10-15 feet of a road that isn’t terribly busy but people drive FAST. The barn door is is usually roped off, but not always which concerns me as well.

In all cases both with my horse and with the other boarders, I have sent the BM texts/pictures when it’s been on her watch and the one instance it was another staff member, I texted her and let her know.

Short of making them aware which I have done each time. I don’t know what else to do but I’m not happy about it and think that it’s unacceptable.

Im looking into installing a gravity latch like this as an extra precaution so as long as the door is closed, that will fall into place. https://youtu.be/3Aa4MbbuIog

Any other ideas? I’m not one to rant to the BM but this is getting me close to wanting to.

[lorilu]

It is time to rant.

[ladyj79]

It’s not acceptable, of course, but it is an accident.

If you feel that this accident is so egregious, probably time to move on.

But accidents happen.

[luvmyhackney]

Accidents happen. I’ve forgotten to latch one of mines stalls before. Nothing nefarious, I was distracted by a sick kid.

I would talk to BO and let her know your concerns. Might be worth getting a sign for his door. I currently have a checklist for myself to run through and check off daily. So easy to know I closed a gate cause I checked it off.

[FjordBCRF]

Appreciate the opinions! I totally get that accidents happen. 4 in a year, 3 with mine in particular, that I personally observed, seems like it’s approaching the line of needing to pay attention better. It makes me wonder how often it happens around the whole farm. I ordered that gravity latch tonight and will be putting it in. If nothing else having that as an extra failsafe should help in the case of future accidents.

[2DogsFarm]

While the gravity latch seems like a good idea, is BO willing to let you cut that recessed opening in her stall?
If so, I hope you realize you should leave it there if you move.

[walktrot]

Our barn changed hands a year ago and the new owner has money but no experience managing a boarding barn. There are Dutch doors on either side of the grain room. They were usually left open overnight. I told her they should be closed so horses can’t access bagged grain. How could that happen? Someone leaves stall latch open and horse gets out.

[FjordBCRF]

They don’t care as long as you don’t ask them to do it or pay for it. Unfortunately this type of stuff is typically done the boarders expense. For example, a boarder paid, Im guessing a good amount of money, to add fencing for her mare to improve the her pasture situation. Not too long after they had to shift the horses and her horse isn’t in that pasture anymore.

Two of the pastures connect via gates and recently one of the gates got knocked down and one of the horses got cut up, had to have the emergency vet out, and get some staples. That pasture was being held together by baling twine in some places and the horse owners are the ones who are repairing it. Not ideal. The BO is incredibly frugal which is fine provided things are safe, which has recently (to me anyways) started to go downhill.

Securely closing stall doors is a bit different than the fencing stuff since it doesn’t cost anyone more to latch the darn doors, but the mentality about safety in general isn’t very strong.

[FjordBCRF]

Ugh. We are a laminitis risk and while the feed room isn’t in our barn, there are generally several bales of first and second cut hay out. If he had access to that overnight in particular, he would gorge.

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

Is it all stall latches or just yours?

New horse came to the barn and they kept finding him out in the barn aisle or grazing outside the barn.

The barn worker is extremely conscientious about checking the barn before leaving for the night

Turns out new horse figured out how to open the latch although it is supposed to be horse proof. They have to tie the stall shut. They still haven’t figured out how he does it.

[JB]

“Accidents” that repeatedly happen, especially in a pattern (3 times her horse), in relatively short timeframes, is a problem. That’s straight up carelessness, assuming it really is due to the worker not doing it.

The rule is - if you put a horse in a stall, the stall door/gate gets latched. Make it a habit. My rule is - if I’m opening a gate and not immediately coming back out, I close and latch it back. And even then, depending on what’s going on, I might close it anyway because of an easy potential distraction

Yes, accidents still do happen. I have forgotten to latch something for sure. More than once even. But it’s typically several years in between, because I make it a habit that happens automatically.

@AnastasiaBeaverhousen

Is it all stall latches or just yours?

“I’ve also come to the barn when one of the other horses stall wasn’t latched and he was parked at the hay pile munching away.”

However

@AnastasiaBeaverhousen

Turns out new horse figured out how to open the latch

is a very good point! I had one who definitely learned to open his regular sliding latch, and I did put a snap on it.

[clanter]

@AnastasiaBeaverhousen

They still haven’t figured out how he does it.

horses can do the impossible, came home one day to find this

[ladyj79]

I don’t think three times in a year is a pattern 🤷 but others might.

[2DogsFarm]

Sounds like BO is pretty lax about more things than I’d be comfortable with if I was boarding
If you are allowed to cut into the stalls, by all means go for it.

[FjordBCRF]

It’s others too. The first time he was also in a different stall that he couldn’t reach his short little neck over to even reach the latch. He doesn’t fiddle with is lock at all nor is it an easy one to undo. I have known a few Houdini’s over the years but think we’re in the clear on that end.

Yeah. The thing that makes it bearable is the couple I mentioned doing the fence work. They also do a ton of trail work/improvements as a side business and a lot of cheaper maintenance type work when needed in our barn and have a good relationship with BO. If they were to leave, I’d consider going too at that point. The barn has a lot of positives, but without the extra stuff being done on their time and sometimes dime, it would be a different story.

[moonlitoaksranch]

Perimeter fencing would be a good idea. Yeah, it’s pain to get out and open the gate, but better that than loose horses on the road. The owner can be liable for a horse killing someone by going through a windshield.

[FjordBCRF]

This is shocking to me. As a young kid taking lessons, this was like the first thing that got hammered into our heads. Always lock the stall. If you didn’t, you’d get your head chewed off.

[JB]

@ladyj79

I don’t think three times in a year is a pattern 🤷 but others might.

I 100% think it’s an unacceptable pattern (assuming of course it’s human error, not equine ingenuity

Once in a year is an accident. Twice is the start of a habit even if it’s not twice in a row. 3 times? That’s flat out inattention or appreciation of a critical safety task.

At best, you have a horse who makes a mess of things, but otherwise is fine, and things can be replaced. At worst, especially in the situation the OP describes, you have a dead human because the horse went galloping down the road.

The barn is within 10-15 feet of a road that isn’t terribly busy but people drive FAST. The barn door is is usually roped off, but not always which concerns me as well.

In my situation, which is part of why I designed things this way, the barn is enclosed in perimeter fencing. Both ends of the aisle have bars across them, fastened with screw eyes and eye bolts. So, any horse who escape inside (which has been 3-4 times in the 17 years here, always my fault) can’t get out of the barn, and any escape through the outside doors (never because I forgot to latch, (always and only because the the above mentioned horse Rio, learned how to slide his latch open) still has a fence containing him.

When I boarded at a big barn, that barn too was maybe 50’ from a road. Not horribly busy for most of the time I was there, but busy enough. There was a 2x6 bar across the front doorway that also had 2 big sliding doors. You NEVER took that bar down unless you were needing to bring a horse in or out (very very rare), or the vet was there and it was removed so she wasn’t constantly ducking.

As a board, we ducked. Everyone, no matter how old. Because the potential consequences of a horse being led around, not even loose out of his stall, escaping out that way was too great.

[Cat_Tap]

I had one very clever horse that knew how to open the latch. Took me a while to figure this out because after the first couple of times I knew I made sure his stall was latched when I left. The third time he got out he also opened his buddies stall. Clever guy was at the hay but the friend (whose owner keeps him on crossties for grooming etc. forever) pretended to be on the cross ties. “it wasn’t me”

Can’t blame anyone but me. I ended up putting a snap on the latch.

[Libby2563]

I have to agree that three times (that you know of!) is a pattern of carelessness. I’ve had one escape in 8 years of having my horses at home and I’m sure it was my fault for not closing the sliding door far enough for it to latch. After that I immediately added a chain and snap to every door as well. The last thing I do before I leave the barn if the horses are inside is eyeball the snaps to make sure they’re latched. They’re all silver against the black powder coated doors, which makes it easy.

@Cat_Tap

Clever guy was at the hay but the friend (whose owner keeps him on crossties for grooming etc. forever) pretended to be on the cross ties. “it wasn’t me”

That’s hilarious!