Boarding Round Pen Opinion

[mmeqcenter]

@candyappy

I don’t know why your getting so offended when it isn’t your facility, but what do small boarding barns do to manage the manure if you don’t even have a tractor or bobcat to move/ manage the pile?

I think the OP should just approach the BO about keeping the grass in the round pen down to a manageable level. The BO probably doesn’t care about much since they aren’t even doing that it seems…

Some pay for a dumpster.
Some have a manure pile and have it hauled away a couple times per year.

I’m not offended, I’m simply pointing out that it’s just not a simple decision or idea like you think it is. And the BO not maintaining their round pen how you think they should doesn’t mean they don’t care about anything else on their farm. What a silly statement. :sigh:
Natural ground and grass are perfectly acceptable footing for any round pen. This OP just seems to have an issue with keeping their horse’s attention, which is a training issue, not a BO maintenance issue.

[TheHunterKid90]

There’s a lot more work and maintenance put into adding ground to a round pen and keeping it up. I know my round pen doesn’t have a ton of ground in it because a good rain storm and it’s outside the pen anyways.
I would ditch that idea and use the grassy round pen as a test in training my horse. I wouldn’t allow any horse to graze while I was hand walking or riding them without permission so why should it be any different when I’m working them in the round pen? Every time he reaches for grass he works harder. Make the grass unappealing because it’s associated with work. Make listening to you appealing by releasing the pressure and letting him stand with you when he’s good.

[Bluey]

One good way to teach a horse what we want is to teach the behaviors we want AND those we don’t in certain situations, put them on command.

Then, once the horse knows what we are talking about, here grazing, you can teach when is ok, with permission, when not, not the right time.

We do that from the first time we ride a horse outside, have certain places where the grass is exceptional and we either let them graze for a minute there, or get off and they can graze a bit longer, as a break in the ride.

Horses pick up in a hurry that grazing is ok, but when handled, only when told it is ok.

[SonnysMom]

@candyappy

I don’t know why your getting so offended when it isn’t your facility, but what do small boarding barns do to manage the manure if you don’t even have a tractor or bobcat to move/ manage the pile?
.

In our area if you use straw the mushroom farmers come pick it up. If you use shavings or pellets there are a few places that will come and collect the pile(s) and compost it. At one farm I was at they got a special dumpster that had an open side and it was picked up every 2 weeks by the waste company.
Another place I was at had a small lawn tractor and a small manure spreader and would spread the manure on the fields. It was a ground drive manure spreader.
Some small boarding facilities are primarily field board so no manure pile.
Lots of options for small facilities without a tractor or bobcat.

[candyappy]

@Equkelly

Uhm my barn owner doesn’t maintain the round pen but has the manure hauled away in a dumpster.

Yea I agree I think you’re really inexperienced about what the boarding world is like.

The “simple fact” is that you pay for what you get. You don’t get to change the barn managers standards it never works. If a round pen with good footing is that important to you go to a barn that offers that. Don’t go to a barn that doesn’t offer that and expect them to upgrade.

I boarded at my first barn happily for over 13 years so I think I have an decent idea of what boarding is like. If you are paying for board then the BO should maintain the property, buildings and arenas that they offer to boarders. Our barn had probably 60 stalls plus outside board.

With the price people pay for boarding I don’t think expecting a usable round pen is too much to ask.

[candyappy]

@mmeqcenter

Some pay for a dumpster.
Some have a manure pile and have it hauled away a couple times per year.

I’m not offended, I’m simply pointing out that it’s just not a simple decision or idea like you think it is. And the BO not maintaining their round pen how you think they should doesn’t mean they don’t care about anything else on their farm. What a silly statement. :sigh:
Natural ground and grass are perfectly acceptable footing for any round pen. This OP just seems to have an issue with keeping their horse’s attention, which is a training issue, not a BO maintenance issue.

I agree that grass is a suitable footing. If there is enough grass of sufficient length for a horse to " munch" ( as per OP) then it sounds like it isn’t being maintained . With what boarders pay in board these days I don’t think it is too much to ask that the facilities are kept usable.

I never said they didn’t care about their farm. There are lots of lazy people who do as little as possible if they can get away with it.

[candyappy]

@SonnysMom

In our area if you use straw the mushroom farmers come pick it up. If you use shavings or pellets there are a few places that will come and collect the pile(s) and compost it. At one farm I was at they got a special dumpster that had an open side and it was picked up every 2 weeks by the waste company.
Another place I was at had a small lawn tractor and a small manure spreader and would spread the manure on the fields. It was a ground drive manure spreader.
Some small boarding facilities are primarily field board so no manure pile.
Lots of options for small facilities without a tractor or bobcat.

Our BB had it hauled away a few times a year. With 60+ stalls and horses in 24 hours a day ( city no turnout) we made a lot of manure! It all depends on where you are. Where I live now manure abounds and you can’t give it away. We spread our manure/ soiled hay on our fields.

[Equkelly]

@candyappy

With the price people pay for boarding I don’t think expecting a usable round pen is too much to ask.

Well not everyone boards at a big fancy 60 stall barn. There’s privately owned barns, training barns, breeding barns, retired horse barns, show barns, and casual trail riding barns. You seem to think everyone must pay 1000 of dollars a month to be at a big fancy place with perfectly maintained amenities. That’s not how it works everywhere. You’ve been at one place for 13 years so you have no idea how the rest of the boarding world works.

There are other types of boarding arrangements. When you are looking at barns what you see is what you get. When you go see a place if the arena and round pen are not maintained, they’re not going to be. If that bothers you, go elsewhere. It’s that simple.

[candyappy]

@Equkelly

Well not everyone boards at a big fancy 60 stall barn. There’s privately owned barns, training barns, breeding barns, retired horse barns, show barns, and casual trail riding barns. You seem to think everyone must pay 1000 of dollars a month to be at a big fancy place with perfectly maintained amenities. That’s not how it works everywhere. You’ve been at one place for 13 years so you have no idea how the rest of the boarding world works.

There are other types of boarding arrangements. When you are looking at barns what you see is what you get. When you go see a place if the arena and round pen are not maintained, they’re not going to be. If that bothers you, go elsewhere. It’s that simple.

It wasn’t fancy or expensive. Just a place full of trail riders, pleasure riders, weekend warriors , some who showed and regular old horse people.

I love how you think you know anything about me or my experiences from a single post. I don’t care where you are boarding, you have a right to usable pens or arenas if they are offered. The difference between your experiences and mine are I had a BO who cared.

I have kept my horses at home for almost 30 years now, but boarding hasn’t changed. I guess people just settle for less and pay more.

[mmeqcenter]

@candyappy

I don’t care where you are boarding, you have a right to usable pens or arenas if they are offered. The difference between your experiences and mine are I had a BO who cared.

You’re basing your statements of it being a usable pen or not usable, and therefore a BO who doesn’t give two ishes in your mind, based on the OP saying it simply has grass. This does not an unusable round pen make. Any grass is sufficient length for a horse to munch; just because the horse is grabbing a bite when OP’s back is turned doesn’t mean it’s 12 inches tall.

[candyappy]

@mmeqcenter

You’re basing your statements of it being a usable pen or not usable, and therefore a BO who doesn’t give two ishes in your mind, based on the OP saying it simply has grass. This does not an unusable round pen make. Any grass is sufficient length for a horse to munch; just because the horse is grabbing a bite when OP’s back is turned doesn’t mean it’s 12 inches tall.

I am just going off the info of the OP. To quote the first post " grabbing mouthfuls of grass" implies there is a decent amount of taller grass the round pen. I could be reading it wrong, who knows?

I still stand by my opinion that it is not too much to ask that it be kept at a decent level. That would take like 10-15 minutes on a riding mower ?? No reason why it should be long enough to munch at all.

[endlessclimb]

Holy crap. Talk the BO about weed whipping it then. This is not that hard.

Maybe I have a weird relationship with my BO (boarded here for 17 years), but I decob, help put up hay, weed whip all over, correct mud, fix doors, am the only one who waters the arena, built a whole set of jumps for communal use, etc. I know he’s making money on me doing all that stuff, but I do it because I don’t sit on my hands well and want my horses outside for a few more hours a day when I get there and turn them out (ie, I’m bored during that time). The board is cheap. I get what I pay for, and put the leg work into getting the rest.

The BO did allow me to move into the concrete floored tackroom when I asked though, so there’s that. haha

[Equkelly]

@candyappy

I am just going off the info of the OP. To quote the first post " grabbing mouthfuls of grass" implies there is a decent amount of taller grass the round pen. I could be reading it wrong, who knows?

I still stand by my opinion that it is not too much to ask that it be kept at a decent level. That would take like 10-15 minutes on a riding mower ?? No reason why it should be long enough to munch at all.

You sound like the worst type of boarder.

It’s not hard. When you tour the facility, you look at their standard of care and how they maintain the facility. If they don’t maintain the arena, they’re not going to. Plan accordingly.

You don’t walk in and get the BO to raise standards to what you wish they were. I swear if every boarder understood this, they would be so much less barn drama everywhere.

But here we are and you’re two pages in and it still hasn’t clicked. Yikes.

[candyappy]

@Equkelly

You sound like the worst type of boarder.

It’s not hard. When you tour the facility, you look at their standard of care and how they maintain the facility. If they don’t maintain the arena, they’re not going to. Plan accordingly.

You don’t walk in and get the BO to raise standards to what you wish they were. I swear if every boarder understood this, they would be so much less barn drama everywhere.

But here we are and you’re two pages in and it still hasn’t clicked. Yikes.

There is no need to be rude to someone you don’t know who happens to have a different opinion or standards from yours. If I am paying for services I think they should be usable. Excuse me if you think I am expecting too much.