I know of a barn that closed their indoor arena for ONE DAY for a clinic and a boarder showed up and started screaming at people. Despite the closure being posted, and it being the first time the arena had ever been closed, and the boarder having not ever riding their horse anyway.
More context is needed. I assume the horses aren’t abandoned in their stalls for days or weeks without any care.
Quite awhile back, I think on a local equine bb, though it may have been here, I recall a poster being outraged at not having 24/7/365 access to the property where her horse was boarded.
That sort of nonsense is one of the things that made me get out of barn management and go back to school.
There was a thread on here where people shared similar sentiments. Some people talked about moving horses if they were not allowed access 24/7 (I believe the context of the original thread was Barn was closed for a day, with some amount of notice, but no reason posted).
My barn has hours of operation but you can get on property at any time. The only time boarders were ever restricted was during a really bad EHV outbreak a few years back + beginning of COVID pandemic.
The barn I’m at posts a notice on the white board if the arena is going to be closed for maintenance. Everyone is still allowed to be on the premises and fiddle with their horses, just couldn’t ride for a couple of hours.
Weird.
I have in my contract hours of operation, because I do need to get some sleep. Some boarders have to come in earlier etc. for their own farrier, and I’ve allowed that on a case by case basis.
I allow whatever farrier or vet to come, but I do reserve the right to ban a farrier or vet from the property if I deem it necessary (I’ve had some bad experiences with butcher farriers in the past) but that’s just for owner’s sakes, not necessarily my own. I do charge a holding fee if someone doesn’t use my farrier or vet, but will hold at no cost if they use mine. That’s just trying to be practical since other people may schedule at times that don’t work for me - I schedule at times that do.
I’ve never really closed the barn (excepting hours of operation), but there have been times I’ve asked people to come at different times because of renovations or most recently because we had to euth a horse and I wanted the owners to be able to grieve in peace. I don’t have a “closed day” although I may do that in the future just to be able to take a break. I’m still on the fence with that one.
I’m guessing something really bad happened, or board wasn’t paid, to have a situation like this.
Maybe I’m overly cynical, but my first thought on reading the original post was that the horse might have had a non-payment lien placed on it, rather than just a question of hours of operation. 
That was might thought too.
My other thought was a 13 year old with a half lease who has been told to not lurk at the barn on days her parents aren’t paying for.
Indeed, we won’t know if we helped the OP. There are, however, many thoughtful responses here that someone doing a search may find useful in the future
if owners want 24/7 access to their horse buy a farm. Boarders have to respect and accept what the property owners barn hours and policies are. If a boarder doesn’t like the hours and policies don’t board there. Barn owners/managers don’t need to worry about open gates, lights left on etc because some boarder felt the need to visit at 11pm. Most barns I know make accommodations for boarders when they need to trailer someplace early in the am or come back late pm.
I had changed barns prior to 3/2020 but my old barn closed to owners for 2 months. Completely. The barn I was at stopped lessons but owners could still keep regular hours. If I would have been at my previous barn, I would have moved my guys the next day. She locked down for paranoia, not a state mandate.
I so wish we’d gotten the whole backstory on the question.
EHV lockdown? Totally reasonable. Covid lockdown? Also pretty much all of us went through it.
A lot of barns also have hours, or “closed” days. But those are usually very clearly spelled out in the boarding agreement/barn rules. I looked at one barn I very much liked…that closed firmly at 7PM. As a working adult, that was impossible to work around for me, so I didn’t board my horse there. Usually when I’ve seen “closed” days it’s in that there aren’t lessons etc, not that a vet or farrier wouldn’t be allowed on property–but there might not be someone to hold the horse for you that day.
that the OP has never returned to COTH since posting and reading the first responses makes me feel like @chestnutmarebeware might be on to something.
or it was a teen who has parents who are trying to manage her activity
It didn’t sound like a teen. She said she had boarded a horse and was prevented from seeing it, along with members of her family to check on it, and the farrier was prevented from seeing it as well.
The latter prohibition makes it sound like a quarantine issue versus a nonpayment issue (since presumably if the horse needed shoes or a trim to stay sound, the barn owner wouldn’t object to a non-paying client paying for a farrier to keep the horse healthy since it’s not the horse’s fault the owner is defaulting). If the barn is shut down because of an illness, not having servicepeople like a farrier makes sense, but maybe the OP is concerned about the horse not having care. (And can’t see the bigger picture of why there are quarantine restrictions beyond her worries about her personal horse.)
Regardless, I doubt a whiny teen with a one-day half-lease on a horse would complain about family checking in on the horse’s condition or a lack of hoof care.
yeah, my spidey-senses tingled at that original post. Something’s amiss with this whole thing…we didn’t get the most basic, the most pertinent info.
But! as usual, we had some nice tangents that made this thread interesting.
I was at a barn for years and it was posted 8 am to 8 pm. A new boarder told me she was planning to come after work, about 7 pm. I told her it won’t work. The dogs are inside and they start barking when someone drives by the house, which you can’t avoid. 7:30 was bedtime. I know that because her daughter used to talk me into staying up until 8. One night she offered me $3 to stay up until 8:30 to watch Sponge Bob. I don’t think she has paid me yet, but she is married with 2 little kids.
If you enter into a valid, signed boarding contract, then I do not think a BO has the right to keep you from your horse. You are paying not only for the complete, competent care of your horse but also to come on the property anytime during the hours of operation to do with the horse as you please.
BO can recommend whoever they choose but the owner should be able to use the vet/ farrier of their choice should they choose.
If the horse is injured for suffers illness directly related to the care of / lack of proper maintenance the I do believe the BO is 100% responsible.
Those are just my expectations and experience from boarding long ago.
The exception would be a quarantine situation where strict biosecurity measures are in place, often ordered by state vets but sometimes initiated by a BO to stop something like a strangles outbreak.
This OP never explained the situation that inspired asking this question or came back to clarify but the timing of the OP coincided with the outbreak of EHV in many different parts of the country requiring many barns and some shows to quarantine on their property and restrict access. Its quite inconvenient but the right thing to do.
This can be something included in your contract depending on the type of boarding.
I welcome people to use their own farrier & vet, but I charge for holding them for their vet & farrier (and I do not for my own), and I reserve the right to not allow a particular vet or farrier on my property. I hope to not have to do this, but in the past I have seen abusive farriers who the owners do not know the abuse is occurring (or don’t care) but since I’m holding/here I see it.
This is not super unusual.
The abusive vet/ farrier not being allowed would make sense.
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