Boarding is about figuring out priorities, and compromising on the other stuff. Just because a barn is fabulous for one person doesn’t mean it will be fabulous for you, and just because you think one place is terrible doesn’t necessarily mean it is terrible for everyone.
Write down a FEW big priorities (individual turnout, avoiding a particular type of fencing, good arena footing, lots of hay, whatever) and use that as your guide to find a new place. Keep in mind that you do not get to complain about every little thing that you don’t like. Barns board horses for different people and it is impossible to please everyone. Be happy when your priority-won’t-budge-on criteria are met, and learn to work around the other stuff.
Good luck
[QUOTE=DHCarrotfeeder;7253724]
Shod and unshod horses go out together all the time at my place and other boarding barns. It all depends if kicking is going to happen. (It also depends if the pastures have tight corners where a kicker can trap another horse - these are to be avoided in all cases, shoes or not)
I understand your struggle for a decent boarding barn. We moved ours several times over the years and never back to the same place. In our experience, each place had a tendency to provide good care and turnout and at some point they quit giving the same care and turnout. One might wonder if we are the constant variable in my experience but honestly I cannot see any evidence to that.
Keep looking. This is what rewards people for taking the extra effort that goes into running a decent operation. And it will reward your horses.
David[/QUOTE]
i had the same experience when I boarded, it seems that for a time the BOs were all ways johnny on the spot with care but as time continued care tended to drop off. And I’ve learned to not even try to board my hot house flower TB at quarter horse places… sport horses need to be kept by sport horse people. Now I have my own place and no one to fuss about but myself 
Good Luck OP… at one of those boardingbarns a nasty mare in corrective shoes kicked my gelding in the shoulder leaving an open wound, the barn staff “didn’t notice” the injury. When I found my gelding he couldn’t walk and was completely off his feed with a raging fever from the infected wound… horses may try to kill themselves… but they shouldn’t have help from the people who are supposed to be caring for them.
I can understand if you are not in a very ‘horsey’ area, good boarding can be hard to find, as I also echo what others have said about your standards may be different from others, etc. and what others consider a priority you will not, visversa, etc.
Consider your situation, and how you want to board also-are you in a position that allows you to do a ‘owner-care board’ where you maintain the care for your horses, turn-out/feed/stalls, etc.
Pasture board where you ‘lease a field’ essentially, from a farm and again, you maintain?
Full care facilities are certainly ‘you get what you pay for’, so if you have the funds, I would definitely spend them there on good barns in your area.
Expand your area-look just outside your ‘area’ of residence. The drive time may be worth having your horses taken care of (full care) the way you ask (needs, not wants. Every barn’s how to take care of a horse differs, and you have to deal with that. The needs of a horse shouldn’t be overlooked though).
Thanks for all of the suggestions! I really like the “priority list” idea. I’ve always had my priorities in mind, but I never actually wrote them down and really studied them.
I wish I could do self-care or partial care, but unfortunately that is not possible right now.
I have been in two great places.
The first I did have to leave because the owner…well, let’s just say that relationship changed. It was a private facility, but very nice, care and resources excellent.
I love the one I am in now, it is like a family. It’s not “pretty” but it’s an active showing and training facility with mostly pleasure level riders and is very well managed. No drama. The only thing I would change is that there are too many horses on the property so there is no grass, but hay is provided.
I am moving them home and will be very happy for them to have lots of grass again. I will miss some things, but mostly with more than one horse, board and driving three places (work, farm, home) has gotten very very old.
But there are good people and good places out there.
The barn where I’m boarding my leased horse is small and not well known, but there’s very few other boarders and no drama which I’m lucky to have. I’ve had another boarder groom and tack up the mare when she knows I have a lesson and I’m running a few minutes late.
At the previous barn there was way to much drama, we had a few people using other people’s horses which caused one horse to bolt through a fence and another to sprain a tendon jumping a 2’6 course when the horse was only sound enough for flat work. I left when a fellow boarder put her 9 year old on horse that the owner had made very clear that no one else but him was to ride due to the horse’s temperment and that fact the horse threw the kid 20 min later like a lawn dart
Between that and and people borrowing tack I had had it. The barn was great until another barn in the area closed down and we got quite a few of their boarder who ignored the rules. The barn owner tried to enforce the rules and did kick a few out but it wasn’t worth it to me to board there.
I’ve had generally good experiences at boarding barns. Land is at an extreme premium here, so pastures and turnout are a big deal. The last few barns I’ve been at, however, have managed turnout very well, despite the challenges.
Last TB gelding I leased was kind of annoying to other horses…very clingy and poor horsey social skills, so he got turned out alone, lest he get himself beaten up. Current mare is the poster child for BOSS MARE, she is nasty and very aggressive toward other horses. So, she goes out alone, as far from the barn and other horses as possible, because she’ll climb/crash fences to start a fight. Long walk to go fetch her when I ride, but I consider it a small price to pay. I’m nice to the barn staff…they have to walk all the way out there to put her out!
Plenty of other horses share turnout, because they play nice, but planning turnout and taking horse personalities into account seems to be a strong point around here…even with so little land. Three barns over the last six years have been able to manage turnout without injuries caused by turnout companions. Not that horses can’t find OTHER ways to injure themselves…because they seem to make a career out of it.
I think it is important to remember that even if you were taking care of your own horses things would still happen. Horses are very accident prone! I see it happen all the time–an incident is a big deal when it happens at a boarding barn and it is someone else’s “fault” but when the incidents happen at home people forgive themselves more easily because they are more in touch with how unpredictable horses are and how difficult it can be to keep horses 100% safe.
In the first scenario, it sounds to me like perhaps you shouldn’t have selected this facility in the first place. If a boarding barn has a field they use that you consider completely unsafe, I don’t think it is a good plan to move your horse there, because it is a fact of life that horses often get rotated to different fields. It’s also a fact of life that usually there is more than one person caring for horses at a boarding stable, so let’s say there are 20 or so horses at the barn, the BM may or may not relate to every employee, “Oh but Suzie’s horse can’t go out in field X” and then run down a list of owner preferences for the remaining 19 horses. And even if the BM did, the employee might misunderstand, or even forget about it the next week when the fence is down in the other paddock or there is another new horse or whatever.
In the second scenario, I don’t think that it is unusual for a boarding barn to turn out horses with hind shoes in group settings. Personally I prefer not to, but sticking to this rule would put more horses on private turnout than I have room for.
I think that what most people find out is that the most dangerous times for your horse when boarding are when you move to a new facility and when your horse is introduced to new pasture mates. Once horses get settled in and get settled with a stable group of friends I think that there are fewer problems. Obviously it helps to have a BM that notices if one horse is particularly aggressive and that also isn’t afraid to discuss with owners that they need to put their horse on private turnout.
If you want to keep your horse safe, check out stalls and paddocks at a potential barn. Ask how horses are brought in and out–are they led by hand or do they gallop down a lane into the barn? Also, ask for private turnout.
Wow- I have always had my horses at home, then life (sigh) happened. The changes that have happened are not at all all bad, but the hard part is keeping the horses home became unrealistic with my new job, and moving west to the very green-less area that I settled in.
I was at 2 barns in Laramie and boy, sad sad sad. My clue? I did not want to ride. Not going to say much more than that, but both my very easy keepers lost a lot of weight. Sad Sad Sad.
Moved to Fort Collins, and got CoTH ideas, as well as WOM. Yes, a waiting list, and a lot more than I thought I’d have to spend, but the care is tons better. Horses are happy, barn is BEAUTIFUL and CLEAN and the footing is kept very well. I love it at the new barn. I don’t worry and I am looking forward to riding and being with my guy again. I can’t afford two however, but so be it. My best and most loved guy is going to my best friend, and I know he will do her proud and she will provide him with everything his sweet hooves desire.
The barn makes all the difference, especially if you’ve done at home care for the past 2 decades…
I suppose I’ve been lucky. I’ve pretty much always boarded my horses. I’ve been at 7 different barns, ranging from a self care situation, some multi-discipline facilities, both small and large, and a fancier hunter/jumper barn. The owners/staff at each have always been above par with care. I’ve only had to leave each of these barns because I moved to another location. I would happily keep my horse at any of these locations, and I’m confident the BO/BM’s would have me back in a heartbeat.
Having said that, I’ve still dealt with injuries and mystery lamenesses because horses are horses. I’ve had mares come in with bite marks because the introduction of a new mare necessitated a shake-up in the herd order. My young gelding had to have surgery on a fractured leg because the group of geldings he was with liked to roughhouse. Sometimes that’s just the consequence of letting horses be horses.
I have experienced exactly 4 wonderful boarding barns out of 11 so far. Three places resulted in injury to my horse through negligence, one downright starved my horse, two degraded in care over my time there.
No, it is not always about getting what you pay for. The top 4 were the result of being run by extremely knowledgeable, conscientious horse people.
If you want to avoid a lot of injuries, look for a place with large fields, and a big group of horses. Large fields 10+ acres with a large group usually does not have the clicks, and introduction issues. A good “true” manager horse has usually taken over the top spot. They have lots of confidence, and lots of patience. The larger herds also have a fair amount of turnover, so the herd is used to new horses.
I had the worst injury at the most expensive barn I boarded at. This was a heated stall board facility. The BO’s were new to managing and didn’t notice, for a week, that my horse was wounded. I got home from a work trip and her leg was swelled up huge and she had an infected wound with proud flesh that the vet said had to have happened early in the week based on the amount. One month of stall rest and a permanent scar/lump. Luckily she was never actually lame and it x-rayed fine. But still, now she has that big, ugly scar on her ankle. How they didn’t notice the giant, swelled leg bringing her in and outside is beyond me. Their comment was that “no one else noticed it” and “she was never limping.”
I currently board my WB with quarter horse people and it is going GREAT. She is in prime weight, has her own private acre turnout with a mini buddy she bosses around (not in a bad way) and deep run in shed/auto water. It is also much cheaper than the heated stall board place. They are a bit off the beaten path, but so is my house, so it is only 13 miles away. I miss riding with English buddies though, there are only a couple boarders, and having a trainer, and the indoor, although the footing is decent, is small (outdoor is huge, but dirt/sand and it’s winter). But they are horse people, and know how to care for them. There are ALWAYS compromises with boarding. I agree with listing your top priorities and then realize you will probably have to give on some stuff.
Even bringing my horse home will have drawbacks. The biggest is having a young horse at home with no one around to make sure I’m not unconscious if I come off. Pretty big negative. I LIKE riding with other people.
MOST barns I’ve boarded at are cheap about hay. That can lead to injuries too. I’ve boarded at 5 barns.
Don’t forget to ask vets and farriers for recommendations.
^ This is a good thing to do.
It’s best to not make the question “is facility xxx and people yyy any good?” but rather “do you think this person or this facility is a good match for me and my horses’ needs”.
While it should be obvious that facilities that miss injuries and stuff aren’t compatible with anyone, the best recommendations come when there isn’t a good vs. evil connotation.
Definitely talk to your farrier. Mine sends me potentials at least a couple times a month and its awesome because he runs a boarding lesson barn with his wife too! Sometimes the best places are the ones who don’t advertise so you don’t know about them. That’s how we are, we have occasional ads up at feed and tack shops, a small sign out front but mostly its word of mouth that gets potential boarders to our place.
[QUOTE=Lina;7253589]
My day needs some enlightenment, and I am curious if anyone has had any positive experiences with boarding facilities.
I have been to two different facilities in the past year or so. Within a few months of boarding at each place, each horse was injured due to oversight by barn managers.
Not going to go into major details, but I am so frustrated by everything. Perhaps if the injuries were small, I could overlook them. First injury required about a month of stall rest. Last injury to my current horse has required 2.5 months of stall rest. He was a jumping/riding pony but not sure if he will be able to be jumped again in the future because of accident.
Just feeling overwhelmed. Never did get any apologies.
I don’t know how to move on from here. Another boarding facility again?
Need to hear some positive thoughts on boarding facilities to restore my faith again![/QUOTE]
I haven’t read all of the replies, so forgive me if I repeat somebody else.
My first question is, have you ever done self care? Ran your own barn?
I have done both the boarding thing and the self care thing. I loved both, but am currently boarding out my two while I work a “real job”. Let me make this clear: Whether your are boarding or on your own, shit happens. In fact, I’d say it’s pretty much a toss up.
I love where I board. My horses are well taken care of. Have they gotten injured? Yes. Could some of those injuries have been prevented by a different turn out situation? Maybe, maybe not. The barn staff, and myself, try to minimize the chance of injury at all time, but of course, since horses and horses things happen. I don’t care if they get injured (unless it was REALLY preventable or went specifically against my wishes), but I do care how that injured is handled by barn staff.
