What happens when someone disabled wants to board at your stable or if a boarder becomes disabled? Are you set up to deal with the ADA requirements? They are extensive. A boarding stable serves the public (ie it is not just your family using the facility and many advertise) so why would they be exempt?
I donât know in your state. I do know in KY, there is a convicted hoarder who makes a habit of suing people. She sued a barn/tack shop because they werenât ADA compliant and the case was thrown out. She has quite the long history of spurious law suits and has even been restricted from filing SCOTUS lawsuits.
A boarding stable to my knowledge is not usually considered a public place of business, required to be up to the same codes as a movie theater or a restaurant might have to be with mandated numbers of âhandicapped parkingâ spaces, wheelchair ramps, etc. Never, ever encountered that in 40+ years.
There are also no âsteeringâ laws that apply to whom one accepts as a boarder the way there are with real estate rentals where you must accept all comers and the law forbids discrimination. If you donât think a client or their horse is âa good fitâ at your place or are more than you want to deal with for WHATEVER reason, there is no law anywhere that I am aware of saying you must accommodate them.
People can try to sue for anything, real or fancied, these days but that doesnât mean anyoneâs going to take or hear the case. That oneâs a real long shot.
Certainly there are in my area a GREAT MANY barns that cater especially to a disabled clientele, with non-profit programs in place with purpose-built infrastructure and appropriate horses. I would refer a client with those issues to places like that, for the simple reason they are better set up to give her a satisfactory experience.
It might be different where you are, but here in Canada, businesses that are not currently accessible do not have to make major changes that would cause undue hardship for the business owner.
[QUOTE=PlanB;7971611]
It might be different where you are, but here in Canada, businesses that are not currently accessible do not have to make major changes that would cause undue hardship for the business owner.[/QUOTE]
This is not the case in the USA. I know of a drive thru coffee shop, without any inside service at all, that was sued for ADA violation and had to close due to cost of defending themselves or paying off the lawyer for the âdisabledâ. This lawyer has a history of taking advantage of the ADA to line his pockets. I just do not see how a boarding stable will be exempt.
If you google âADA compliance buildingsâ you can get to a government document that describes how much and what type of modifications need to, or should, be made to existing structures to make them accessible. The language is pretty clear (I am looking at a document I would consider OLD, so there may be updates) and thereâs a very cool checklist that people can use to evaluate their building or property and determine the modifications they want/need to make.
If you go to ADA.gov thereâs lots and lots and lots of information about both compliance and enforcement (complaint) procedures.
That said, I work with a therapeutic riding program at a facility that is not 100% compliant. We do our best with the facility and the resources we have; our barn aisles are not paved, nor is much of our parking lot, but we offer accessible parking, paved sidewalks to our accessible office/bathroom building, and access to the arena. If someone could not access our barn, we would move the activity to a location they could access safely - thatâs in our program policies.
Any time any structure can be made accessible to all, itâs a good thing. The whole idea of universal design is that a lot of the adaptations that can be made for someone with a disability will actually benefit people without disabilities, too â donât you appreciate entrances without steps, automatic doors, larger light switches, larger restroom stalls, things like that?
Iâm not clear as to the question behind the OPâs question. Do stables need to proactively modify their properties in case someone with a disability wants to board there? Should a person with a disabliity expect any boarding stable to be fully accessible? I donât think the world is quite there, yet. But if a stable is planning improvements, or a new stable is being built, I think itâs a great selling point to potential customers that a facility is safe and accessible for most people. Itâs certainly likely that a boarder might get injured and be on crutches, or that they would like to bring grandma out to see the kids ride the pony. Itâs silly to update a public bathroom without considering accessibility. Is it common practice? maybe not yet. Should it be? I think so, but I think those of us who care need to help others realize itâs important. Does that answer the question? 
Commercial facilities means facilities â
(1) Whose operations will affect commerce;
(2) That are intended for nonresidential use by a private entity; and
(3) That are not â
(i) Facilities that are covered or expressly exempted from coverage under the Fair Housing Act of 1968, as amended (42 U.S.C. 3601 - 3631);
(ii) Aircraft; or
(iii) Railroad locomotives, railroad freight cars, railroad cabooses, commuter or intercity passenger rail cars (including coaches, dining cars, sleeping cars, lounge cars, and food service cars), any other railroad cars described in section 242 of the Act or covered under title II of the Act, or railroad rights-of-way. For purposes of this definition, ârailâ and ârailroadâ have the meaning given the term ârailroadâ in section 202(e) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 431(e)).
This is from the ADA.gov site. How can a boarding stable be exempt?
Would that apply to a private boarding barn v/s public stables? So if you called yourself private, i.e. barn in your backyard where you rent stalls would you need to comply. Would you be required to take a handicap boarder in if you didnât comply or couldnât due to financial reasons? Boarders are turned away for all kinds of reasons but how would you without getting sued?
What you have to do is evaluated on a sliding scale- meaning that what a small business with 2 employees must do to accommodate is different than what Best Buy has to do. My recollection (potentially faulty) is that the modifications have to be âreadily achievableâ which has been defined as being easily doable without undue expense or difficulty (or something similar to that). This is if you qualify as a âpublic accommodationâ which I suspect you do (if you are the typical boarding barn) but not sure because that definition is not something I ever really looked at. I am pretty sure what you need to look at (or google :D) are the Title III requirements (I think I is employment and II are governments). My disclaimer is that it has been a very long time since I looked at anything ADA related so take this with a boulder of salt.
I found this while googling the subject:
Who is required to comply?
It depends on the use of the facility and the date of construction.
Most buildings oeprating for commercial purposes (providing goods or services to the public) are required to comply. This may include stables that offer lesson or training services to the public.
The ADA went into effect in 1992, so buildings constructed before 1993 are subject to some exceptions to compliance. However, according to the California Building code (check your state!) remodels in excess of $130,000 must meet current compliance standards; remodels of a value less than $130,000 must dedicate 20% of the remodel costs to improving ADA accessibility.
You are only required to comply with the requirements as of the date of your construction; you are not retroactively charged with noncompliance of new rules (subject to the remodeling and some feasibility exceptions)
What nobody has mentioned is that thereâs no âADA compliance inspectionsâ or anything along those lines. Literally the only way to enforce compliance regulations is to sue, or be driven by the fear of a lawsuit.
I work in web, which has itâs own ADA compliance regulations, and this is a choice that companies weigh regularlyâŠis it worth spending the $10-25k extra for ADA compliance (usually at the risk of messing up a gorgeous design they just spent $75k on), or should they just fly under the radar until itâs brought up, and THEN fix it, if that ever happens? Not surprisingly, most go with the second option.
Even publicly-funded entities (I do a lot of work for Universities) simply have to meet a âminimum acceptable standardâ to make it through their ADA compliance screening. And then they can just âwork towardsâ full compliance, as budget and resources allow.
So no, I imagine most boarding barns are not overly worried about ADA compliance if they do not have a therapy aspect. As far as if a boarder all of a sudden got hurtâŠI canât think of many barns that wouldnât at least TRY to work with their boarder to make things accessible. But you have to realize that if someone gets hurt badly enough to need ADA-compliance implementations, they will be going through a lot of other life changes and the horse may no longer be a part of their life. So it may, in most cases, end up being a non-issue.
But I think the general attitude for most boarding barns is âaddress it when it actually becomes an issue.â
I think that if you hold public events then you would need to make the barn accessible to disabled spectators (accessible viewing area, restroom and parking).
However - making the facility accessible to disabled boarders and riders I think would NOT be required as it poses both a safety issues (horses need to be trained and have the right temperament to be ridden and handled by disabled riders) and undue hardship in terms of expense.
On a case by case basis a barn may be able to accommodate a disabled rider who can ride/groom independently with minimal accommodations (mounting ramp, arena access, access to tack and grooming supplies etc) but that would not always be feasible.
Other than that is it probably best left to stables that specifically run a disabled riding program and have the certified training to safely provide assistance and accommodations. To have the average untrained barn manager/owner try to do this would be a big safety risk I would think.
[QUOTE=js;7971904]
Would that apply to a private boarding barn v/s public stables? So if you called yourself private, i.e. barn in your backyard where you rent stalls would you need to comply. [/QUOTE]
About 6-7 years ago I boarded at a brand new barn and I recall the BO making a comment that they were a âprivateâ boarding barn vs âpublicâ to avoid ADA compliance.
FWIW, there is a sort of compliance for brick and mortar buildings that comes with building inspectionsâŠ
A general âfood for thoughtâ is picture yourself boarding your horse, suddenly getting disabled for some reason and having to deal with not even getting to visit your horse because the facility isnât ADA compliant.
One can go from abled to disabled to abled and during that disabled time, need what is offered by ADA.
Do I like needing ADA, no, I donât. But, it does literally and figurative open doors for me that would otherwise not be open.
I know that my trainerâs barn does not have ADA facilities, and I also know that in the state of Texas, stables are inspected by the state. Iâm not sure if the inspection is a yearly thing, but I remember the inspections. Some of the things you have to have are fire alarms alarms, fire extinguishers, and a hard wired phone line. I remember specifically because my trainer would just use cordless phones from her home, and that was not good enough. It had to be a hard wired phone line. The inspector never said anything about ADA facilities though.
Reverse the question - unless the barn was specifically running a handicapped riding program, would you board at a farm where there were wheelchairs in the aisleway? Blind people? I cannot imagine being able to keep everyone safe - riders, horses and visitors. Where is the liability when a wheelchair comes around the corner and a horse on the crossties flips out. The insurance policies would be astronomical.
Our farm is like a âprivate clubâ for regulatory purposes. Handicapped lavatory, parking restrictions donât apply.
We are not a commercial enterprise, we are zoned residential/agricultural.
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[QUOTE=dotneko;7972468]
Reverse the question - unless the barn was specifically running a handicapped riding program, would you board at a farm where there were wheelchairs in the aisleway? Blind people? I cannot imagine being able to keep everyone safe - riders, horses and visitors. Where is the liability when a wheelchair comes around the corner and a horse on the crossties flips out. The insurance policies would be astronomical.
Our farm is like a âprivate clubâ for regulatory purposes. Handicapped lavatory, parking restrictions donât apply.[/QUOTE]
This makes me a bit sad. Iâd like to come and visit my horse. Yes, I am well aware of the risks of being in a wheelchair around horses. No, I certainly donât rip around corners with limited visibility. Would it be too much to ask for a slightly higher level of care to be taken by all if I was on the premises??
What would you, as a BO, do if one of your boarders suddenly became disabled and wheelchair bound? Tell them they are no longer welcome and to leave?
I miss my horses. It is hard for me to go see them where they are as it doesnât have pretty paved parking lots and solid aisle floors. This is where they were before I became dependent on a wheelchair, but at least before, I could go visit them. Just not so easy now.
FWIW, a facility I have seen mentioned on other threads on this board has a family member in a motorized wheelchair and I never saw that to be an issue in the time I was a boarder.
Interesting. There are at least three barns near me that have concessions to run a stable on county owned property. Their concession requires them to be available to the public, though the leaseeâs have said âthis is private propertyâ, which it most certainly is not.
Iâm pretty sure that the leasee in the above situation will have to be ADA compliant. If they donât fit the bill of being public, no one does.
I imagine a driving barn would be required as driving is definitely something a handicapped person can participate in.
For the rest of the barns, providing handicap accessibility to a visitor, imo should be enough. Providing accessibility to the inner barn, imo, not be a requirement.
If providing access puts the handicapped in harms way, it would be counter beneficial.
By the law a public commercial business must meet the ADA requirements. I do not think the size matters. I am bringing this up because earlier someone mentioned how easy it is to start a business and I disagreed. Some have mentioned having training and boarding barns. You probably are not in complianceâsee their are traps you may not of known. This is just one of the many regulatory nightmares out there and very hard to find answers too that can trap a business owner in our time of extreme regulations. Do you know that ADA signs now need braille? Do you know that the signs showing the parking have to be a certain shade of blue and a certain height. That sinks not only need area around them but a height and the pipe needs to be PVC or wrapped. Doors can require only a certain amount of pressure to open. Welcome to regulations.
Unless you are zoned commercial, no, you donât have to be ADA compliant. And no one is going to build a barn in a commercial zone. For starters, you canât.
No need to get hysterical about âoverbearingâ regulations, EAH.
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In the 1990s I was on an advisory board to the US Forest Service who oversaw the LBJ Grasslands in north Texas.
At this time some of the 20,000 acres was being developed into a trail system that would be primarily for equines, but could be used by others as long there were no motorized vehicles.
We had to build the trails ten feet wide and install an ADA compilation ramp system that would allow a wheel chair bound person mounting access onto a horse.
This platform consists of sort of boat dock arrangement to lead a horse through to provide access to both sides of the horse. With foresight we over built this ramp with the thought that people would actually get horses onto the deck.
This was built in the mid 1990s and as far as I am aware it was never ever used and is still at the camp but I have seen people walking their horses on it.
