My point is that it’s sort of not relevant in this thread - I don’t see how this would help the majority of small boarding barns.
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Hmm, none of the barns I’ve ever seen have this; the commercial boarding barns anyway…especially the ones with busy lesson programs. Although I suppose they could opt for the gate to be unlocked during business hours and locked after that. I’m sure there are various methods in private barns. I’d love something like this if I had full perimeter fencing.
That said, our “suburban horse properties” might be more what you would call rural.
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my point is this being an open forum we have no idea of what any one here has … I had one client when I was reflecting my concern about how much he was spending on his access system was met with his reply of “last year I made $180,000,000 so I can afford it”.
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I’m sure if anyone here made $180M last year they already have a security system.
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Lol, our backwater barn recently got cameras, partly to watch the horses, partly to watch for unwanted visitors. It felt very odd getting a text from the BO, saying “I see you are here visiting Mellow, can I ask a favour?”
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I wish our BO would get cameras. A new subdivision is going in on what used to be the corn field next door and I’m a bit worried about all the new neighbors we will have soon.
yes he did, my company installed the complete system, he was wanting to update the primary gate operator to operate at six feet per second… he wanted the gate opened as he approached. There was no need to spend $45,000 for that specific operator as all I needed to do was convert some existing ground loops from safety to sequential directional which had his 2,2 ft/sec gate opened before he got to it… altering the existing installation to his desires was done for less than $1500.
So I gave him the option spend $45,000 or $1500… either provided the same result. He went with the $1500 solution.
But there are many ways to monitor who wants to gain access to your property and maintain a audit trail of who was there and when. This record would give the owner a list who was there and when if something occurred. (also you can time zone that use of an access device or code… and if they fail to pay the monthly board their access could be denied similar to that of mini warehouse revenue system)
The cost of the equipment has fallen dramatically, what was once only for the super rich is commonly available to most anyone these days
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Well one of them might steal your $100 in an envelope you pinned to the door of your horse’s stall 
I have cameras and an electric gate that requires a pin or a remote clicker. I monitor my cameras on an app on my phone that sends alerts when they detect motion (I don’t check every time depending on which camera it is (I can move them around very easily)).
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I just spit out my drink.
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Obviously it’s up to the barn owner, even if she did make it up on the spot.
It wouldn’t be a rule I would be willing to accept though so I would be out the door.
Really? You think a barn owner should let you bring anyone to their property and let them ride your horse?
I 100% disagree that a barn owner should have to take on that risk.
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I’ve never boarded at a place where that wasn’t okay. I love my current barn, it’s self care and as long as you aren’t bothering anyone else and you take care of your horses, everyone minds their own business.
Our formerly rural areas are more suburban now. Our metro area has quite a lot of drugs and homelessness, not just downtown, and the more rural areas have poverty pockets and tent cities and wealthy subdivisions side by side. Car theft and breaking into cars is huge and a place where people park for hours is a real target. There are definitely folks driving around our back roads stealing anything they can get their hands on. We also have electric gates on all newer townhouse or condo underground parking. I was surprised the first time I came across an electric gate then I realized almost everyone had one.
With out self care we had to put in a rule that only horse owners were allowed on the feed and tack sheds. Too many slippery fingers
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I’m very lucky- mine is a very small farm and there are only 5 of us that board there. We’d all be too picky with all of the horses’ custom diets etc to help ourselves to anyone else’s feed haha. Seriously though, while there is the occasional silly little drama, it’s a great group and we all help each other out.
Barn owners can obviously set their own rules. But I have never been at a barn that didn’t allow owners to have other people come out and ride their horses, especially if the owner was present. Of course clearing it with the barn owner and having them sign a waiver was expected. But I would be pretty surprised if my barn owner said that I couldn’t let a friend ride my horse. Maybe we just board at different types of barns.
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I have r been at both kinds of barns. The ones that don’t let other people ride have either been very private places that discourage pretty much all visitors, and / or training facilities where all the boarders are in a 5 day/ week training program.
I do agree that most places will be ok with it, provided you clear it with the BO / trainer first, and complete waivers. I can’t think of many places that would be ok with some stranger showing up with no warning and handling a boarder’s horse, as apparently happened in the OP’s case.
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I’ve ridden at a variety of barns over the years that had different policies regarding non-owners riding horses so it could be either or for me in this situation.
-Barn 1 (where I board/ride now)- No liability wavers if you want someone else to ride your horse and the barn is basically open to the public. This place has a small horse show grounds on-property and connected via trails to a state park, so it isn’t uncommon to see complete strangers riding through.
-Barn 2 (where I boarded previously)- Someone’s private property but no wavers. Owners were fine with me bringing people over, even w/o permission, but I always made sure to ask beforehand anyway.
-Barn 3 (ex-trainer’s barn)- Another public boarding facility connected to a state park. I signed a waiver for the barn’s horses and for one privately owned horse I road thrice for lessons, but otherwise didn’t have to sign a waiver to ride the horses there.
-Barn 4, 5, 6 (friend’s barn)- Several more private boarding facuilities where friends boarded over the years. I signed wavers for riding at each location but never need prior permission to be on-property.
Frankly, I’m the type of person who would assume there was a waiver somewhere and ask beforehand, but I can also see how that isn’t the case at some boarding facuilities.
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