Organizing stable/riding

[Rae89]

I have searched all over and I cannot for the life of me find exactly what I want. Maybe because I am not sure what I want. Or maybe I am just over thinking it. But a large white board is not cheap!

I want something that I can have in the barn and document upcoming horses appointments, (farrier, vet, deworming etc). Something that I can mark the days I have rode, and which horses, and things I want to work on that month or week with each horse. Something to show up coming events, lesson dates, bills for clients. Etc etc I’m sure you get the idea.

I was originally thinking a large white board, I would be able to hang on the wall, and would be easy to write on and update. …but it is very cold in the winter and the barn is not heated, I would be scared my markers would not work…

Thought about just getting a large calendar to write with a pen, but everywhere I look I cannot find a jumbo size one that isn’t a white board.

Chalk board - too hard to write neat and keep it tidy.

Thought about just a small hand held scheduler but want something big and easy to see.

So what do you all use at your barn??

[PrincessPonies]

Most barns I’ve boarded at use large white boards. Some blank others calendars but both worked fine. Never had an issue with the markers freezing in the winter. Even if it was snowing we could write stuff down. I even had a smaller one on my horses stall to put her feed and supplements on.

[DunByMistake]

Honestly I’m not sure a white board would work for you. It sounds like you want to put a lot of information on there and I think it will end up being too busy and people won’t get much out of it.

In your situation, I might put up a whiteboard for stuff like lessons, farrier, vet etc. so people can quickly glance at that info. For more details regarding horses, I would probably record that in a more personal way - like a day timer or something. I personally use the PonyApp on my phone for my horse and I love it. You can set up all the horses you want on the app and record everything you can think of. I record all my rides and lessons with notes, farrier, vet, medication given etc. It also allows you to just record general notes which I find invaluable.

[clanter]

we use a a large wall calendar …and keep all of the past years for quick reference

[mdp9]

Every barn is different with different needs, but I have a big whiteboard with the turnout “map”, and alongside it a bulletin board with important phone numbers and upcoming events. This is in the main aisleway where boarders, lesson students, staff, will pass it often. Nothing goes on the bulletin board that’s not totally relevant to the day-to-day activities. (no sale ads, no fundraiser for some kid’s school, whatever.) In the tack room I have another bulletin board which has the student’s attendance sheet (which tracks billing for lesson students) and whiteboard which has sign ups for the students who want to volunteer at camps or other events. I section off part of the whiteboard to be where I list a few things like who needs their monthly adequan shots, who is dewormed when, and what days off the school horses have. Then of course in the feed room there is a whiteboard for feeding, as well as a monthly calendar whiteboard for who is feeding and doing barn chores. In my planner (I’m old school, I like a physical planner) I track things I need to bill boarders - holding fees, reimbursements, training rides, etc.

Short answer- what works for me is to have a few separate whiteboards in the location that is needed most. No need for the staff to try to find the barn chores schedule amongst the list of training rides, and no need for a boarder to try to find the next farrier appointment buried under the list of lesson student horse assignments. And I want the billing stuff in my planner so I can have that in the house when I type up invoices.

I worked at a barn that was mostly a training program, and they had a HUGE whiteboard in the office that listed Mon - Sun on the “x” axis and each horse on the “y” axis. Every week the trainer was diligent about scheduling what horse needed work and who was going to do it.

Another barn used an online calendar for scheduling all lessons, barn work, training rides, etc. Convenient that you could log on from anywhere to check what needed to be done. Inconvenient that you need internet to do so.

I’d love to hear what you come up with! Organization is fun.

[Guilherme]

There is no reason why you should be limited to one method or device.

Use a “semi-permanent” board, like a cork board with pins and a paper calendar, for things that are longer term. Use a white board for things that frequently change.

Take a trip to Staples or Office Depot or someplace else and you’ll find a whole bunch of different alternatives.

One way to make a white board a bit more “user friendly” is to use thin “tape” to section off the board. This stuff is not permanent and you can change it when you wish. In a barn environment it’s removal will sometimes leave “marks” that can’t be easily cleaned so think about how you want to do things before you do your striping.*

G.

*Not to be confused with “stripping” which is probably an inappropriate barn activity for humans.

[clanter]

One way to make a white board a bit more “user friendly” is to use thin “tape” to section off the board. This stuff is not permanent and you can change it when you wish.

The permanent numbers such as vet’s … I have a PTouch label maker (left over from my days of doing government work where I had to make all cables) … but we just make a label with vet’s contact info then stick the label where can be seen … it can not be erased and require prying to get off

[MsM]

If you want to avoid the whiteboard, I have used a large calendar. The easiest large one was actually a desk blotter. Large, blank calendar sheets. I would also tie a pen to the wall (same with whiteboard markers). It can be difficult getting either to work when it is very cold. Chances are you would have a pen that was in the warm car. (or use a pencil) Extra whiteboard markers would have to be stored someplace warm as well.

I actually preferred the paper because it seemed like info always got smudged on the whiteboard!

[Sueby]

@MsM

If you want to avoid the whiteboard, I have used a large calendar. The easiest large one was actually a desk blotter. Large, blank calendar sheets. I would also tie a pen to the wall (same with whiteboard markers). It can be difficult getting either to work when it is very cold. Chances are you would have a pen that was in the warm car. (or use a pencil) Extra whiteboard markers would have to be stored someplace warm as well.

I actually preferred the paper because it seemed like info always got smudged on the whiteboard!

Those are what we use too. They’re about 22x17 - ish and each block is big enough to write quite a bit per day. We attached a red, blue and black thin tipped sharpies to the wall beside it and never had any issue with cold and not writing. Our barn is unheated, but has about 15 horses, so that may be why they didn’t freeze?

We do have a white board, but in the winter the dry erase markers don’t work as well.