I think when it comes to references you have to be willing to check more then a couple. I live by the rule that f I check 5 references and one is bad and 4 or good I would assume that the bad one was a difference in personalities and would consider the person. If half or more of the references are bad I would probably pass. I would also make sure to ask if the person would be welcome to come back to their program/ business. I feel that this opens the possibility a discussion about why the person is leaving.
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Do you check prospective boarder references though? I can tell you most people have trouble coming up with more than 2 or 3. I have never been given a “bad” reference. You have to read between lines, or know which facts are red flags. For example one reference raved about the person. I asked, how long have you been riding with her? Answer: 3 months. Ding*! Or, This person is great, but when you call, if the husband answers, don’t tell him why you are calling because he doesn’t want to retire the horse. Ding!
What you want to hear: I’ve known X for 13 years, and you are incredibly lucky she’ll be in your barn. She always pays early and is one of the nicest people you’ll meet.
Of course, some get dinged before the reference stage, either on the initial call, or farm visit, if I can tell they aren’t going to be a good fit.
I’m writing from the perspective of screening boarders but this thread is to screen BOs. I would ask to speak with former boarders as well as current ones. And their vet. Ask the same questions and see if the answers line up. Etc. (Too much to type, about what to look for!)
*There were other red flags with this person, I didn’t ding them just for this
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What I find amazing at my current (self-care) barn is when I moved in, there was another gal looking at the place. TWO of their current boarders warned the barn that this one had been kicked out of every place she’d been.
Sure enough, they let her in, and finally lost a year’s worth of board, and court costs, to get her out.
I asked the three references I put down if the barn had ever called. Nope.
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I’m with you. Lying… lying about the horse’s care, lying about where the BO was going, and, to cap all that, asking me to lie for them. It just got to be too much. Combined with how things went slowly downhill after a big life change for the BO… I had to get out. And then there was lying about why I left that got back to me through the grapevine. There were other really questionable shenanigans but whoo boy, problems with the truth was the #1 reason I left.
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yeah, do NOT lie to me.
Years ago when I still boarded, I had an arrangement with a fellow boarder to use her gelding for teaching lessons. He had poor feet, and I bought a pricey supplement for them. A few months go on, and I’m helping feed one night and turns out that BM’s mare was getting the supplement, not the boarder’s gelding. I asked BM’s boyfriend what was up, and he didn’t know to cover their tracks, and he told me the truth: oh, BM said Gelding didn’t really need that, and wouldn’t eat it anyway, so we’re feeding it to Mare. When I said ‘but who’s paying for it?’ He rolled his eyes and was like 'does it even matter? We make the decisions around here."
And I was gone by the weekend.
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WOWWW I would be SEETHING.
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To make it more insane, I worked with said boyfriend. I made arrangements to move Jake horse with no notice, I just moved him, then told them I was leaving (no contracts, purely a month to month deal). That was a Sunday.
Monday, I am at the office first. Here comes boyfriend. Seething that I had left ( I was pretty much there default 1st lieutenant who handled all manner of crap for them). “So you didn’t leave because we lied to you about YOUR horse’s care, but about someone else’s horse’s care?” I replied that a lie is a lie, a broken trust is just that - broken. He was still just Oh No You DitNt. Um, yeah…I did.
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Well, giving your horse a supplement that someone else paid for, intending to give to a totally different horse, is stealing, basically.
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I would be taking the cost of what they fed to the mare out of the final board check. Including tax & shipping. Receipt attached.
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I had to do that with work I did in exchange for lessons I never got.
I did Sunday a.m. chores: feed, turnout, tidy up and was supposed to get one lesson in exchange.
By the fourth week of no compensation, and the week that one horse got loose overnight and trashed the barn aisle eating things, pooping everywhere, pulling down brush boxes and blankets and halters and leads… I left, leaving my final months board bill payment, minus what those four lessons would have cost me.
It was so disrespectful. But not surprising.
.
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I am just saying overall if you are going for an accurate picture you need might want to check more them a couple of references and if I was doing this I would also consider references outside of the horse world. A boss, land lord neighbor or co-worker can sometimes tell you more about a persons character then their horsey connections can. Personally I love the fact that you check refences on potential boarders, even if it is just one or two. It tells me that you are working extremely hard to find people who will be a good fit for your program.
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Thank you, I will take that 
As I tell prospective boarders, if they’re not happy, I’m not happy. And if I’m not happy this doesn’t work.
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I wonder if anyone was asked their SSN as part of the boarding contract?..
It’s weird to me that some stables would feed at 3-4pm and then at 7am, and that’s without free access to hay or anything else to eat for these 12+ hours.
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I really dislike this management style but it seems pretty common in my area. Between an extreme slow feed haynet and a timed auto feeder for hay pellets, I sleep a little better at night.
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That request would be a “run (don’t walk) away” red flag for me. There is absolutely no legitimate reason a barn owner would require that from a boarder. Employees, maybe, but not a client. I would have major questions about the security of that information on a private server or stored in hard copy somewhere on the farm or in BO’s house?
Nope, nope, nope. Major ick.
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Yes, it must be a regional thing - major no for me & I’ve never seen it anywhere else. One big local barn for example closed at 4pm & discouraged boarders to stay afterward on their premises; no staff either, so you can’t even pay smbd to throw a flake to your horse at 6pm! Wtf
Do you mind sharing which brand autofeeder you use? TIA
I know, right?! And it was just casually included in the requested info sheet with the contract…right next to all your employment & insurance data (spouse info required too)! Who does that?! If you’re afraid of non payment, jusg ask for a deposit for Pete’s sake.
And this wasn’t e en the biggest No-no for this otherwise amazing private barn 
Is the barn a front for a ring of identity thieves? Good grief. Proof of insurance I could maybe - maybe - understand given the nature of our sport, but everything else? Hard pass.
No prob! I use an iFeeder https://ifeednaturally.com
It’s got a manual timer that you can set as frequently as every half hour. My guys hay net usually lasts until 8 or 9PM depending on feeding time so I have my auto feeder set to dispense a quarter pound of hay pellets every hour he might be without hay. 8PM to 6AM of pellets ends up being a little over 3 pounds. I do also have it set to dispense a couple times during the morning/afternoon in case he ends up being inside due to weather or something to hold him over for dinner, but those just go back in the hopper if they aren’t needed.
Ive had it since June I think? It would be lovely if you could connect it to wifi and it had an app that you could just your timing and amount dispensed from anywhere, but its still been totally worth the price tag without.
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It is a way to run a credit report on you - SSN usually the best way to match records. That said, it’s not supposed to be an ‘ID’ and there should be other ways to identify you to the credit report agency.
The credit report being a reasonable check, in my opinion, to validate your likelihood/ability to pay
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