Can you share what your barn rules or guidelines are if you need to vacate your stall for a month or two? Do you continue to pay full board? Half Board? Do you have to remove your tack?
I am thinking about selling my horse and would be looking for a new one, but what if the horse sells and the new one is not bought yet? I love my barn and my stall location and I don’t want to move or give up my stall, but there is a waiting list.
Of course this is something I will discuss with the BO, and she will be helping me buy and sell, but I’m just curious as to what other barns do in this situation. I’m in the Midwest. I’m at a large barn that does everything from retired putzers to wintering in Florida.
Thanks for all of your input.
Some barns will offer a fee for a “dry stall” in order to keep your spot.
Keep in mind that even if you don’t have a horse, the barn still has many of the same expenses and labour, but some will take the cost of feed and bedding off the bill.
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I think it will be a case by case basis honestly. I retired my horse to my small home farm before finding my next riding horse (with trainers help). She also had a waiting list but because I am a long time client she made sure to have one ready for me.
It wasn’t in the same spot which wasn’t a problem for me as I actually upgraded to a stall attached to the indoor. There was about a 2 month gap and she didn’t ask for anything extra. I also was taking lessons still and even leased one of the lesson horses for a month.
Just as with most things horse related…ymmv.
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I’ve paid a dry stall fee to hold my stall.
I don’t think it’s uncouth for a BO to ask for full board though, and I’d be willing to pay that. And if you’re a non-money-making client compared to who she/he could get in there, or otherwise a pain in the keister, I don’t think it’s untoward for them to say “I’m sorry, we aren’t going to hold the stall, we have a waiting list of clients and need to stay booked”.
So, basically, it can go any which way.
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My experience is that most barn owners, if you are a good client and they are working with you to sell and buy, will figure out a way to make it work for both the client and the barn.
I would be willing to pay to keep a specific stall that I liked.
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I have seen a combination from a dry stall fee to full board, so really depends on your barn.
What you get for a new horse though could result in a stall change, or that has been the case in a number of barns I have been in.
They put the horse in the stall that works best. If your stall works and your horse gets along with its neighbours than maybe everything is fine. If it doesn’t get along with its neighbours then it might need to be moved. Just a thought on worrying about stall placement.
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My BM was very accommodating to me every time. She told me she’d always have a stall for me when the time came and didn’t make me pay to “save my stall”. Had I been adamant about a particular stall, I probably would have paid to hold it for my next horse. But in all honesty I am a good client - always paid board on time, easy going, no drama, and I volunteered and helped around at the barn.
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Depends totally on the BO in question and the boarder who is asking.
I would expect to pay the full board amount even though you don’t have a horse because it seems many barns are needing that income to stay afloat.
I would hope you can just pay a dry stall fee. If nothing else it will keep you motivated to find a horse asap.
I paid half board when I needed to save my stall for a few months. That was the standard policy.
.I would expect to pay full board but would be thankful for any discount. And I would not expect “my” stall to sit unused during that time even though I was paying to retain future use of the space.
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That is the practice where I board.
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I’ve encountered different policies over the years. Some included verbiage in their boarding contract but most did not. A few places charged a dry stall fee, an amount that was usually between 1/3 and 1/2 the normal stall board fee.
Another barn has a “hold fee” that’s about half the board amount for the first month. After that they charge the full board rate and they have a minimum training requirement.
One barn doesn’t charge any holding fees if they have empty stalls. If there are empty stalls and someone requests a stall that’s “reserved”, then they will charge a fee. I don’t recall the amount of the hold fee.
Just to clarify, you would expect to pay full board and then also would expect your BO to use the stall?
That would be a no-go for me, personally. I paid for a dry stall when I was in between horses (but would have paid full board to hold it if I had to). But I expected the stall to sit unused and available unless we came to another arrangement so that way it was there if I found something or brought something in on trial.
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And, unless there are some HUGE issues, I would expect “my” stall to be the stall I am holding. Lots of times I have stuff in the stall (hay feeders, a tie ring, different bucket holder) that aren’t up for grabs. If it was a necessity, no problem, I’ll take the stuff down and put it in whatever stall the horse ultimately ends up in.
I have two horses, so it was awfully convenient to have them right next to each other, though.
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Our barn currently charges something around 1/2 board to hold stalls. Its interesting, we dont have a full barn, ever, due to pasture limitations. To the extent they can do 2 or 3 in a pasture, there can be more boarders. So its more like you are reserving your pasture…But I digress. Originally 1/2 the barn was for snowbird horses - trainer w/ somewhere around 10 horses. They were not charged for the 7ish months they were up north for 7 or 8 years, until the last season they were here. That year it was a flat fee to hold the stall - dont know what the $ amount.
When stalls are held, it is always the same stall, unless for some reason the boarder actually would be interested in a different stall.
There are always horses who need to be or benefit from being in a stall for a few days for varied reasons at a busy barn. As I said, I would not personally expect “my” stall to be kept vacant if it were needed for something like an injured horse for a week or so.
I have been there, done that, and it did not bother me a bit. I was happy the injured horse had a stall to use.
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Same. I was even allowed to pay half board for the full month my horse was at a rehab facility. I was a long-time, no-drama boarder, though and they were very nice about accommodating me.
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It depends on the barn/barn owner. I was in the process of vetting/purchasing horse #2 when I lost my wonderful horse #1. The vet took forever to put the report together and then have my own vet review it so 6 weeks went by before new horse came. I offered to pay for the stall to hold it but the barn owner said it wasn’t necessary. We are very small, a private barn so people aren’t exactly beating down the doors to board there which I’m sure was a factor.
As a rule, I would always offer to pay to hold it if I knew I was getting another horse.
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To each their own! Every horse has a stall at my barn, so for the stall to be used it would mean a horse shipping into the barn from somewhere else to use it. For me, that would be a pre-discussed conversation about subletting the stall for a pro-rated cost of board (which BO allows).
Goodness. What luxury! I have never boarded at a barn where the number of horses on site didn’t exceed the total number of stalls.
