Hi All!
I own a H/J facility, and I am looking for some fun social ideas to bring everyone together. Trying to think outside the box (not just barn dinners and such). Any ideas would be great. Thanks In Advance!!
Every barn I’ve been to seems to like Halloween parties and costume parades/contests. If you have school horses, let the lesson students vie for them via a drawing.
Movie night could be fun. Doesn’t even have to be at a movie theatre (would probably be more fun if it wasn’t). See if someone was willing to host and everyone could bring snacks and relax. Or, if you can find a projector and are willing, you could even show the film at the barn. Use one of the walls of the indoor or something that won’t scare the horses but would still be fun because everyone is just there hanging out and enjoying each other’s company.
Depending on what kind of clients you have, barn workouts could be fun. Could also be done on site and if you can find some exercises to do for an hour. But again, that one might not go over so well with teenagers and young kids.
Tack shops or horsey clothing places will often host a barn night, which can be fun if everyone is able to take part.
Our riding club hosted a yoga night and it was great success.
well the problem with doing some more outside of the box is that it sometimes means that a lot of people won’t want to do it! Dinners/potlucks are great because it doesn’t cost a lot, there is food/booze and people can just sit around and socialize for as long or as little amount of time as they want.
However, if you really wanted to do a different type of group activity, what about bowling? Paintball? Go cart racing?
Yoga or Pilates is also a great idea.
- Sports Themed Party. I dream of having Kentucky Derby parties at my barn (my future barn – don’t have it yet), with a big screen TV, fancy food and drinks, and a trophy for the guest who picks the winner. This dream is changing to a Breeder’s Cup party because I’m getting a little annoyed with Churchill Downs, but you get the idea.
If you don’t want to host bets, you could have everyone contribute an amount to the betting pool which will go to a horse charity, and the winner will get a potted rose or something. You could do a different sport like football or something big in your region…(?)
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Horse Show. You could do a fun horse show at the barn with silly/fun competitions and lots of prizes. I’m thinking of competitions like the Bucket Run, where the person walks/runs across the arena holding a bucket and trying to get the horse to follow.
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Themed Party. How about a book night? Start collecting used (inexpensive) horse books, horse fiction, horse art, and have a book exchange. Or a book club night where you discuss a horse-themed novel. Someone on CoTH said they had a really fun sales party at the barn. I’m not crazy about home sales, but maybe if the company sold tack, or horse-themed jewelry…
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Educational? Have a speaker come and talk about something? You could have a cooking demo. Have a chef make a whole menu of tailgate foods so you could learn ideas for the next horse event. Or have an evening of education AND entertainment; show a collection of gross abscess popping videos. Themed food to follow.
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Physical? Recruit your group to participate in a Fun Run/Walk for a charity and wear hats or t-shirts with your barn name. Or enter your barn in the local July 4th parade and recruit your clients to walk with or without their horses. If you are really ambitious, make a float! You are in Florida; host a harbor cruise or fishing trip or snorkeling trip for your group. Or a beach day with tailgate foods. Most social events revolve around food. Make it good.
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An Outing. Go as a group to a horse expo or polo game or something unrelated to horses, like a theme park or a trip to the Keys or a bicycle tour of something interesting.
We had a boarder who (sadly) had to move to another state. We held a birthday party for her anyway. We all went bowling and had cake and sent her the photos. It was a blast.
Great to do something that includes the non-riding siblings of the kids that do ride, so we go country-western line dancing once in a while. Sunday night they have family night with dance instruction for all ages.
Have a movie night but watch any of the amazing on demand events from Usef network. A grand prix or derby or eq event
All great ideas!! Thank you 
It looks like you may already have a skill that might be fun to share with your people! What about hosting an animal communication evening!!! I know I would love that!
We get together, gossip, have a beverage or two and waay too much potluck then watch the worst/heroically bad horse movies we can find. Lightning the White Stallion type stuff and laugh our collective hindquarters off.
Try spectating a horsey, but non-H/J, event. I have had some great fun watching the races (just make sure you have someone who will prevent you from bringing the loser of every race home :D). Go to a cutting or reining and you can whoop way louder than any hunter coach… You get the idea 
Gymkhana games: dollar derbies (where you have to ride with a dollar between your knee and the saddle, or sometimes bareback, and the last person with their dollar gets all the $$), potato/spoon races, egg/spoon races, trail/obstacle courses
Horseless horse show/stick horse show
I second the idea of educational talks: farrier, vet, acupuncturist, etc. Maybe a groom or braider who can demonstrate/teach skills.
Volunteer at a therapeutic riding center, especially if they’re having a big event and need lots of people.
We had a barn get together where we went to one of those painting places and all did a painting. It ended up being really fun. Or they have those pottery painting places too.
If you have some serious students, barn workouts are fun. I’ve done a Barre class with a similar group - yoga too. It’s a nice thing to do together, and brings out some of the wallflowers who don’t like to sit around and mindlessly chatter.
Jump painting/pizza party! Beer if it’s an adult party!
I second this. At one of my favorite barns, my h/j trainer had a horseback games/BBQ night. It was a blast. We had silly games like above. We even had a balloon toss that was fun…and funny. Then we had the fast trot game. It was a trot race basically. Everyone was in the arena. If you were passed at the trot while were trotting on the rail, you were out. 
The last one left wins. That was the only thing I won, and it’s probably because I was on a 17.1 hh TB mare. She trotted fast when asked. Oh, and if you break gate, you’re out, too. No cantering allowed.
Then we had a big grill out for the rest of those who didn’t ride, and it was a lot of fun. The spectators enjoyed watching us “prissy” h/j riders cutting loose, too.
How about a Moneigh party… Get some small canvas and non toxic paint and some brushes and have your horses paint pictures!. The supplies are not to expensive and you can buy all the supplies at walmart. Even the small canvas!
I had always wanted to do a Moneigh with my horse so I bought the supplies and invited my barn mates… no one really seemed interested but once we started everyone wanted ot do it!. It was fun to watch how different horses would paint. One girls horse liked holding the brush in his mouth. mine on the other hand would not and we painted her nose and then sprinkled crushed peppermints on the canvas to get her to "paint’
It was lots of fun and you will have a cherished piece of art:)
