Boarding barn deal-breakers--what are yours?

[Angela_Freda]

@Amy3996

Denying horses turnout because it’s “too time consuming” is just lazy, poor horsemanship, IMO.

Are the workers paid hourly or for the job?
I don’t know many barn workers who are lazy, that’s kind of an oxymoron.
But if the job is made harder by lack of materials to do it, including time or pay, well…

Turning out more than one at a time works until it doesn’t and a worker or a horse gets hurt.
I want horses to be handleable by their owners.
Making corrections to a naughty horse is harder, not to mention basics like shutting gates, when your hands are literally full

If horses only get led two (or more) at a time and are ill behaved led another way, how does an owner bring in their solo horse to ride it?

[Amy3996]

I guess you missed the part where I specifically acknowledged the safety issue with moving multiple horses at a time that way. If it was my choice to make, I wouldn’t have done it that way. But the staff and management at that barn had made that their standard of care and assumed the associated risk. These horses were turned out in large group pastures. I never saw any buddy sour behavior with herds of that size - I had no trouble removing my individual horse solo or witnessed anyone else run into that problem. Could it have happened, sure.

Also, I’m not putting the onus on barn staff with that comment. I’m putting the onus on facility owners and managers to do right by the people and animals in their care. Turnout is a basic need for horses. What does it cost to have adequate staff to safely handle those horses individually? Build that cost into the board. I certainly don’t expect barn owners to subsidize it. But a boarding barn where the blanket policy is “we don’t turn horses out because it takes too much time?”

Yeah, that’s a cop out and would be a dealbreaker for me.

[Angela_Freda]

I thought I was agreeing with you.

[FjordBCRF]

@Angela_Freda

I don’t know many barn workers who are lazy, that’s kind of an oxymoron

You would think!!

One of the barns I was at had a college girl doing most of the work, unsupervised as well. I’d be up during weird times some days and there were multiple occasions that one or two horses wouldn’t be out when everyone else was. When I asked if they were ok, I got, “I just didn’t feel like dealing with them today” . She didn’t last long working there but I’ve seen a lot of laziness with the college aged workers in my arena. A lot of things get done half-a$$ed as well with that crowd, or they will “do it tomorrow”. The same girl would let stalls go for nearly 48 hours because it was “too hot, I’ll come early and do them before the horses come in in the morning” which of course never happened.

It ended up being more of a reflection on the BO, which is probably not surprising.

[Angela_Freda]

Working by yourself can be very demotivating.
And asking one person to do too much is a quick way to make them hate a job that is already difficult when it’s not too much.

I wonder what she meant about not wanting to deal with them?

@FjordBCRF

there were multiple occasions that one or two horses wouldn’t be out when everyone else was. When I asked if they were ok, I got, “I just didn’t feel like dealing with them today”

Years ago I worked at a place where the other person scheduled routinely was late or a no show. So then I was turning out horses two at a time, or dealing with horses upset because they had to wait on top of the fact that I was doing all by myself what was a two person job.

Managing people is a very specific skill, and motivating people to do a long, hard, hot/cold, dangerous job is often best done by example, ie a BO pitches in so the worker isn’t all alone.

[FjordBCRF]

@Angela_Freda

I wonder what she meant about not wanting to deal with them

Is was as simple as she didn’t like them and they weren’t always as easy to bring in as the others. I worked there for a time and had no issues.

[Angela_Freda]

Well, its important for management to hire people who are qualified and capable and comfortable with all aspects of the job, and offer help if they aren’t up to snuff in an area.

Too often management isn’t actually around to watch workers and see that they are poorly equipped, or help when needed.
One wonders what management would have done if you’d told them she wasn’t turning all the horses out or doing the stalls for days on end*

*you’d think that would get noticed! Yikes

[FjordBCRF]

@Angela_Freda

One wonders what management would have done if you’d told them she wasn’t turning all the horses out or doing the stalls for days on end*

She didn’t last too long after that. I had mentioned it to the BO and there was a whole host of other issues as well. BO didn’t really have a plan b which was how things started as a co-op but long story short, the place continued to be chaos and I’m glad to have moved along.

[BigMama1]

@Angela_Freda

I don’t know many barn workers who are lazy, that’s kind of an oxymoron

Oh Lord, we had one student from a college equine program doing her final internship before graduation at our barn and she was lazier than dirt. I’ve never seen someone actually get worse at their job as the weeks went on. She literally did less and less each day, because she “just didn’t feel like it.” She wouldn’t put boots on horses who needed them because it was too hard. Didn’t like turning out and turning in because it took too long. Would go on a lunch break and watch TV shows / nap for a couple of hours in the middle of the day, while everyone else was working.

When the BO mentioned that she hadn’t gotten through the small list of horses to be worked / jobs to be done the previous day, her answer was, “I’m aware.” No apologies, no reason, nothing.

I snapped when we came home from a long show show day to find that between 6:30am and 5:30pm she had only bothered to muck 5 stalls (there were 17 in the barn.)

To this day it is the only time in my life I have written a negative reference for someone. There’s always something positive you can find to say, but not in this case.

[BigMama1]

@FjordBCRF

You would think!!

One of the barns I was at had a college girl doing most of the work, unsupervised as well. I’d be up during weird times some days and there were multiple occasions that one or two horses wouldn’t be out when everyone else was. When I asked if they were ok, I got, “I just didn’t feel like dealing with them today”

OMG did we work with the same girl?

[FjordBCRF]

Boy it sure sounds like it short of the age, this one was in her sophomore year. Seriously though!! Sounds like the exact same work ethic!

[hemitheconyxcaudicinctus]

Being unable to bring in my own instructor for lessons was an absolute dealbreaker for me and I actually did pass over a barn for that reason. I’m very very lucky in that I was able to have the presence of kids/lesson riders be a dealbreaker for me, because my first choice barn wasn’t a lesson barn. I really really really dislike being around kids in general, let alone having them and the endless procession of parents/relatives/strangers around my horse. I ride at a lesson barn in addition to where I keep my horse and the adult family members always cross boundaries when they casually interact with other people’s horses while waiting for their kids’ lessons to start or what have you.

[CindyCRNA]

That’s how I’m doing it. I have an extra 4 1/2 acre pasture they will rotate to that I will lead to but their main turnout is a series of gates.

[Amy3996]

Not a dealbreaker, just a vent that isn’t worth its own thread.

I constantly see barn owners on social media ranting about boarders or clients who don’t respect boundaries, contact them outside of business hours, etc. I get it. I don’t want to be contacted by my employer outside of working hours either. Unless a horse is actively sick or injured, or something’s on fire, I’m not texting/calling my barn owner before 9AM or after 5pm.

My horse is currently stall rested, recovering from an injury. Any unexpected communication from her makes me worried sick that something is seriously wrong. She’s now texted me several times about non-urgent matters between 4-6AM and I’m starting to get annoyed. Everyone needs to take heavy blankets home this weekend? No problem - post it in the boarders’ FB group like you do everything else.

I do my damndest to be respectful of her time in and out of the barn and keep contact/requests to a minimum, especially outside of business hours. I’d just appreciate the same courtesy.

[endlessclimb]

As someone who is at work at 4:30 AM, I have to consciously remind myself not to text/call anyone before 8. I have things on my mind that need to be taken care of, and I’m nervous I will forget to do them if I don’t do it right now.

That said, I hear you. I’ve been chided for contacting too early, and I really try hard to not do that. I just make a list of people I need to contact and why, and then set aside time around 8-9 am to do it. BO texting about blankets at 6am is rude.

[OverandOnward]

@Amy3996

She’s now texted me several times about non-urgent matters between 4-6AM and I’m starting to get annoyed.

She thinks it’s ok until she gets pushback. You knowing that it is incredibly rude and intrusive is not enough, obviously she doesn’t get that.

I had to put a stop to this by a horse friend in a time zone further east, who had very early hours and was texting at 4 and 5 am my time. I asked her to be respectful that I can’t put my phone on silent overnight, in case of family emergencies. And I asked her if she wanted me to text her at her midnight, as that’s obviously an important time of rest for her.

She did stop after a couple of reminders.

I doubt I am the first person to tell her not to text during those hours. You won’t be, either.

[fivestrideline]

@OverandOnward

@Amy3996

She’s now texted me several times about non-urgent matters between 4-6AM and I’m starting to get annoyed.

She thinks it’s ok until she gets pushback. You knowing that it is incredibly rude and intrusive is not enough, obviously she doesn’t get that.

I would just tell such a person exactly what was said - you’re not up at those hours and a message at those times has you assuming something is wrong. Ask her if she can keep the regular communication to reasonable times (say… 8-8. Give specifics.), but if there’s a horse health emergency to give you a CALL. If it’s not worth a call, it can wait.

I personally don’t mind texts at all hours because I keep my phone on silent and also don’t respond until I’m ready. But that doesn’t mean everyone feels the same.

[beowulf]

I’m reminded of the other side of the coin: the barn staff’s side. I once worked in a big (~30 head) event barn as the sole worker. I had one horse who was dangerous to bring out to turnout in the AM. He was fine the rest of the time, but he had a trick while leading where he would bolt, drag you off balance, and then kick at you. I like to think most horses don’t do this on purpose, but he did. His owner reported never having this issue, but she also rode him in the AM hours before grain/turnout, and always put him back in the stall. I brought my concerns to the BO and the owner and was shrugged off several times. The BO didn’t want to lose or offend this client, and the client had her head in the clouds. One day while I was turning the horse out, he bolted and double-barrel kicked me in the pelvis and sent me flying about fifteen feet. Gave me a hernia, pelvic wing fracture, and a nice, permanent hoof-shaped indent right on my pelvis. I still think I’m lucky he didn’t kill me. I limped through the rest of my 12 hr shift before going to the ER. I quit the next week, because I had an epiphany there sitting on the ground that life wasn’t worth being forfeit over minimum wage, shitty horses, and crappy BOs who put their clientele over the livelihood of their workers.

The older I got, the more I realized that this is the norm for workers and not the exception. People forget the animals we take care of are capable of killing us or seriously injuring us, even by accident. I wish I’d had the wherewithal to say “Nah, I’m not dealing with that horse today” instead of thinking I had to deal with the horse and risk getting hurt in the process. Over a decade later, my hip still hurts.

Every barn worker probably has this story, you just don’t hear about it because most of them learn and move onto non-horse careers where their work-load isn’t a 1300lb poorly trained horse and their paperwork doesn’t try to kick them in the face.

After I quit, the horse did it to the BO. I was very happy to never see that horse again, and I can’t say that about many horses at all.

[FjordBCRF]

My example wasn’t a case of a dangerous horse; all of the horses boarded could be handled by anyone. She just didn’t like the owner. As a matter of fact, her horse was the worst to handle!

[beowulf]

I understand and get that too!! There are totally lazy people out there also. Something about your post just reminded me of my own experience, is all - I don’t doubt your experience at all.