Guess so 🤷
Carelessness causes accidents.
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When I boarded at a farm on a busy road, the property was totally fenced with the barn inside. The gate was never left open.
When I boarded at a barn on a back road, my horse’s turnout was across the road. One day he wiggled the middle rail out of a barway, squeezed out, and came trotting down the road. I was told and also told how they had replaced the bar with a longer one. Stinker horse then removed the top rail and jumped out! They then secured the rails so they could not be moved!
On a sadder note, I know of two escapees who met their end on the road. One was part of a group breakout during night turnout and he traveled quite a way to a busy street. The fencing was not great but I dont know if the horses had ever been loose before. The other was a horse kept up the road from my parents in a rough board situation at an old farm. While visiting I heard hooves on pavement at night and ran out to catch the horse (dark bay) and did my best to secure him in the questionable fencing. I saw the owner the next day and told her and her response was “Oh, yeah, he does that sometimes.” A few months later my parents told me the horse was hit and killed by a car. 
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My husband regularly forgets to fully latch stall gates and ends up chasing horses around the neighborhood. Luckily we live in a very quiet area and not near any major roads. The horses know where they live and usually they beat him back to the barn after they’ve had their little jaunt putting hoofprints in the neighbors lawns. 
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Took me two escapes to figure out my goats were letting out the horses. They figured out to slide the latch over. Had to add a snap.
My other horse figured out the snap clips so I use a bull snap on his door.
Thank heavens for perimeter fences.
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The vet and dentist were here yesterday. Our dentist does hand floats, no sedation, and he’s been doing my horse since 2009. When he came out last fall the horse, age 27, was sunning himself in the middle of his runout. I went to get his halter to put him in his stall. Dentist said “don’t bother, I’ll do him right here.” Put the speculum on the naked horse without disrupting the sunbathing. Yesterday we did the same thing in a slightly different location in the runout. Then the vet jabbed him and that was that. BO came out . I wanted to have her talk with both of them. She doesn’t have enough experience taking care of older horses. I headed to the car to write a check and all four of us stood there talking. At least 5 minutes passed and the BO says “I didn’t close the door!!!” He was standing where we left him, of course. Very chill, no reason to take off.
The property is fenced so they can’t get out on the road.
Same for me. I learned as a child that gates and stalls were closed. Always. It became automatic due to the seriousness of the consequences of being careless.
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Another rule ingrained in my mind forever since childhood, is that the first thing done after dismounting is to run your stirrups up. Always. First thing.
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I don’t understand how anyone can “forget” to latch a stall door or gate. Do they also forget to flush the toilet? Turn off the stove?
Latching doors and gates is just second nature.
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Not that it helps this particular situation, but I am absolutely obsessed with stall closures and gait latches at our yard.
Prior to leaving the barn or paddocks all, including me, my wife and staff must take a moment and look at each stall door and/or gate to make certain they are latched and shut securely. Every time. No exceptions.
I ask that boarders double check their stall latches and gates if they’ve had their horses out, but ultimately the responsibility is on management and staff here. I don’t take it for granted that someone has double checked the latches.
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Stress is often the catalyst, more than once when I was a military combat air traffic controller I would have pilots just confuse Left vs Right or other simple things… a few were returning from hot LZs others had wounded on board… I would just hold them in a turn until their heading was correct.
In today’s world I suspect some low paid barn worker might be more focused on where they are going scrounge up their next meal or dollars for gas purchase might be coming from
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Houses burn down because someone forgot to turn off the stove or unplug the curling iron (though thankfully most if not all the current ones automatically turn off after a while, but still…) and YES, sometimes people forget to flush the toilet. I was at my Dad’s a few weeks ago and went to use the bathroom. When I came out, my stepmom apologized for the unflushed toilet - she had gotten distracted by an important phone call that came in, ran to get that without flushing, and forgot to go back to do it.
There is zero task that is completed 100% of the time from Day 1. Well, maybe someone doesn’t forget to feed themselves, or feed their kids. Oh wait, that happens too.
Every now and then I get into bed and realize I simply forgot to brush my teeth, or put in my night guard. I have forgotten to turn off the water to the water tub, and forgotten to close the chickens in at night. Surgeons have forgotten to remove clamps and towels from inside people.
There’s a reason that critical tasks in the world get checklists, and you work with a buddy or team to ensure everything on the checklist has been acknowledged. Some of the worst disasters happened because someone forgot a critical step in flying or landing or taking off in a plane, and that gave rise to some of the above mentioned checklists and a system for ensuring everything is at least acknowledged.
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If anyone wants some really cool insight into checklists, The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande is really interesting.
Not so hard to do I guess, since it seems people tend to forget their pets and children in the car when they go to work or the store?
I see the sign on Wal -Marts entry door reminding people to look in the car to see who they might have left in there…
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While it is only human to forget, the repeated nature of the “forgetting” to latch a stall is concerning.
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Latch is in, we actually had to add wood and not cut into the stall at all. If anyone has a Houdini, one of these I think would be worth a shot!
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Nice!
That gravity latch looks super awesome.
I have owned two Houdinis. My mare could undo one of those u shaped latches faster than I could. She could also open doorknobs and eyehooks. We had to tie her stall door shut.
My gelding figured out how to pull up the “horse proof” pull up latches on his sliding door. I got yelled at by the barn owner for leaving his door open (I didn’t) then they discovered it was him after finding him loose in the barn again after they double checked it.
Good luck - I hope the gravity latch works!!
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Seeing the stall set up- I really am not convinced someone forgot to latch the stall as much as lips with nothing to do could reach around and fiddle with it. JMO.
One of mine can undo latches as long as he can get his lips around it. I’d be more concerned about the open face of the stall allowing him to perfect his Alcatraz escape plan.
I hope the gravity latch works but honestly- I can see what the issue is and would not have first thought a barn person didn’t latch the stall.
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