We all have different experiences with our boarding barns. That experience is changing as barns adjust to changing requirements like liability insurance, skyrocketing costs, ever more unrealistic expectations of new owners and encroaching development. Anything more complicated then nailing a board back usually wont fly.
My barns have mostly been suburban or close in semi rural. Perhaps OPs is a more rural area and the culture more receptive to a somewhat involved DIY effort by a boarder.
Clearly this is not being enforced so why wouldn’t anyone wish for anything as easy as changing the swing of a gate to help the situation? Yes, we should all be excellent horse handlers. Most of us, including lots and lots of paid staff, are not.
You think the gate should open on the halter box side of that photo I posted?
In any event, I board and my BO will absolutely not allow any retro-fits to his property. You’ll simply be asked to leave. He runs a professional and tight ship so I’d like my doodle to get in line. Lesson booked for next Friday.
Put it this way. There absolutely would be “trauma” at the gate, in the form of a 5’1" blonde girl that when she looks at you, points, and clucks, you best be headed on your way or face the wrath of whatever she can get her hands on.
Problem, solved. 
I had a big gate that swung both ways on my corral (big enough to get a truck through). My horses were always good about staying back when I was bringing one in or out, or when we brought the tractor through. If we brought the truck through, we shut them into the back pasture. But they were my own horses that I could train as I wanted.
The first time I boarded, there were about 20 horses in a large pasture during the winter. Trying to get just my horse in or out was insane. I couldn’t do it without a whip in hand.
Rebecca
ETA: So they are shoving out the gate when people are bringing them in and that is where the fire occurred? I agree that horses don’t have trauma, people do.
Now you have a bunch of worried, timid handlers afraid that they will be trampled when moving horses from turnout and obviously the horses are picking up on that.
Can you put a single walk through gate in where the people don’t have to try and finagle a longish gate, a frisky horse and keep the others back??
I posted a pic above 
Absolutely 100%
But if your BO is as anti fixing stuff that should have been installed right in the first place, I guess you’re stuck with it 
Genuine question: one of them does not appear to care about a lunge line/ whip/ etc getting in their space. When the grey is manic he will run through anything. This has only happened once and I ended up letting go of my horse (within the paddock) and grabbing a helper to halter that problem horse so that I could take mine out. Is there a better solution here? There was zero chance of me being able to hold onto my guy and shooing off the big grey in that state.
Although I might be best to ask the trainer this directly.
It’s not your horse, so there might be limited options here but the honest answer is to make “meaningful” contact with the whip. With it not being your horse, I’d probably come with a pocket full of gravel and throw it at him, not at his face obviously, but see if something actually touching him surprises him enough that he knows you mean business when you ask him to skedaddle.
Really, separating this obnoxious group might fix it all by itself. Be super careful - a horse whose bluff is called might kick out or otherwise protest being told “no means no, get out of here”.
Or maybe you just ask somebody, like staff, help you when you need to get your horse out?
Whole situation seems like an accident waiting to happen. No way boarders should be out there alone dealing with other peoples horses trying to get their own out. Seems a little…ahhh…minimalist to me.
You can ask the trainer but what are they supposed to do about other peoples horses getting in the way?
Some places may not have staff available to assist the way you describe. I know none of the boarding stables I’ve been at would have a body available to assist.
[quote=“findeight, post:54, topic:794015”]
Or maybe you just ask somebody, like staff, help you when you need to get your horse out?
[/quote] I think if this were possible because of this:
There would not be a handling problem in the first place. Sigh. I had thought this thread really was about horses traumatized by a frightening event.
Is he food motivated?
If so could you toss a few handfuls of something tasty his way? Or have someone distract long enough to get your horse out.
You could try a can of rocks or a blow horn. I try not to hit other peoples horses, but I’m not getting run over either.
I’d just ask to have my horse moved to a different pasture vs dealing with it.
Well, maybe breaking up the gang here will solve it, believe OP said BO will be splitting them up. Easiest way….if it works. Put OPs horse with less excitable buddies.
Given that you can’t (and probably don’t want to) train a bunch of horses that aren’t yours, and these horses reeeeaaaaally may not stop this behavior with a new herd, and having a pair of people manage the gate sounds unlikely, and if waving a whip was going to work here, it would’ve already…
I’d bring up the concept of an “airlock” with the barn owner. Build out the gate (could be on either side of the existing gate) with an entry area and another gate. Horse and human go through gate one, turn and close gate one, then open gate two, and go through gate two.
If any horse barges through, they’re still contained. Removing the reward of running willy nilly like hooligans may go a long way to eliminating this behavior.
This could be done temporarily using 2-3 round pen panels. Even without a gate panel.
Good to know for others keeping at home or with BOs open to suggestions for improvement. Wont help OP.
Boarding barn experiences vary wildly. Personally, only one place I was ever in had any kind of large group/herd situations and those lived outside. If they had any turn out for stalled horses, it was always individually or in pairs and staff or boarders always fetched the pairs together with a staff member or other boarder. Which is why I suggested it. Don’t think its a bad idea safety wise, especially at a commercial barn with other peoples horses. YMMV.
I think if the barn owner is called out to help every time there are horses rampaging loose around his property he might start thinking more creatively.
A one man gate or an airlock would be the simple solutions.
But yes, splitting these hooligans up and moving them out of the offending pasture seems like a good idea in the mean time.
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