That’s obnoxious.
Yeah, she just REALLY did not fit with our barn “vibe”.
I’ve got my qualms about the level of crazy/stupid/ignorant that goes on at the barn on a regular basis, but she was beyond the pale. At my barn, we don’t lock the tack rooms, and no one has lockers. It’s expected you keep your hands off other people’s stuff - and up until her, there were no issues.
Good riddance, for sure. All the other newbies are fine, just this one was having big problems.
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I’m looking at doing short term boarding after having horses at home for twenty years. Threads like this make me nervous. 
I remember boarding as a teen and having my saddles and bridles stolen TWICE. It sucked.
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Anymore, you really cannot take anybody at their word, give them the benefit of the doubt or skip written contracts trusting anybody and everybody instead of signed contracts. In my 50 + years in boarding barns its asking for trouble of the worst kind and boarders have no protection or proof of any agreement.
Not trying to be a downer here but what happens if this guy gets hurt or sick and somebody else steps in to run it? Had one long time trainer die, fortunately they kept good business records. Or he gets sued by some boarder’s relative who brought a child to visit and the kid gets hurt?
You realize many of us on here have been through abrupt and unexpected changes in barn ownership. BOs and/or BMs tend not to share they are near bankruptcy, owe years of back taxes or the property has been sold and their lease will not be renewed. They seem to be our friends and we forget its a business.
Many of us longtime boarders have also learned our fellow boarders may be trustworthy but they bring random guests and relatives. Example-well liked and respected boarder brought her sister, sisters boyfriend and his sister, it was that BFs sister and her friends who came back on a Friday night and ransacked the tack room, my saddle was stolen and trunk ( just a rubbermade but still…). They were stupid and cops just checked the weekend swap meets. Got my saddle back after proving I owned it.
Don’t be too trusting in boarding barns. Any hint of crazy being tolerated, passive management and no locks would send me running.
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There is no threat of bankruptcy, though I know the owner is toying with selling. It will go to a development firm I’m sure.
20+ years at this barn and there’s not been an issue. That’s not to say that there won’t be, or that I wouldn’t love for the BO to protect himself with contracts etc. I’ll continue to make suggestions to him, but I can’t make him do it.
He’s a very religious guy, which I think feeds into it.
Yeeeeep. When I was a BO, standard practice was to move tack in the house in preparation of any boarder leaving with anything less than hearts and flowers relationships. I had one try to ruin a saddle pad when she went into the tack room and found my saddle gone.
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My Advice:
DON’T!!!
A friend has boarded horses for over 40yrs & a lot of her boarders are longterm - 10yrs+ - but they range from Benignly Odd to Batshit Crazy.
A handful of both consider themselves her friends (& a couple are IRL) & act as self-appointed Barn Managers.
The tales she tells me make me certain I’d rather chew my arm off than deal with The Crazy & Stoopid.
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We have to board when we move because the horses are being shipped north, but it should be short term. It might be a walk on the wild side or maybe just a nice place to ride without much drama while we get our new farm in order. I’ll be sure to come back here with stories if anything really exciting happens, lol.
I’m really glad the bad boarder left without any more destruction in her wake. I wonder if you’ll hear about where the dangerous horse ended up? I hope not at auction.
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Whew!
I take back my DON’T 
But just for your situation.
I thought you meant you’d be taking in boarders. 
For a short-term solution you (& horses) s/b fine.
Lol! Oh dear! I can think of many things I’d rather do than take in horse boarders on our farm….let’s see…
- Get a colonoscopy done by a blind gastroenterologist trying to social distance.
- Skydive naked into a large desert with jumping cholla.
- Lip piercing from a ‘trained’ alligator.
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Any business where you provide a service to the public, particularly one where that public is emotionally involved in some way in the transaction, is going to have its share of crazy and awful clients. (A useful thing to consider when reading Yelp reviews, btw.)
(I’ve worked with people in the final stages of building their dream homes for the past 25 years:exploding_head:
)
You also get the wonderful clients, as a bonus.
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When we moved South, we kept the horses boarded in Kentucky until we settle in here. There they were in a known environment and it sure did reduce the hassle relocating
(One thing I would do differently now would be sale or give away most all household furnishings and kitchen appliances rather than move that stuff)
As for this thread… if you run a boarding operation do you collect a deposit when the boarding contract is signed (you know like an apartment complex)? and these days hold a credit card for payment? Our horse we had in training even back in 1990s we had a credit card for the horse that the trainer held.
True story from my time as a barn manager:
I had boarders sign contracts, and later, sign a copy of the barn rules. My office, such as it was, was in the tack room. I had a file cabinet next to my desk with a file folder for each horse, with the signed contract, liability waiver, original cogginses and multiple copies, health records, owner contact info, etc.
Had a problem boarder who decided to leave quickly because someone had offered to sell her horse for her on consignment. I had no problem with her leaving, actually I was thrilled, but I wanted payment for the 30 days because I would need time to fill the stall.
Boarder didn’t think she owed the 30 days.
I went to pull the board contract and there wasn’t one in the file. Everything else was in there, but no board contract.
I left the file cabinet unlocked because I wanted people to be able to grab a copy of their horse’s Coggins whenever needed.
Draw your own conclusions.
I hauled the horse to the consignment barn for cash up front and ate the 30 days notice.
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OP, I feel your pain & frustration. I had a BO like that. Sweet old guy, dumb as box of rocks when it came to money. He let himself get into a situation where he had a boarder with 7! horses who wasn’t paying…
Started as a short time winter thing, they ended up being there for a year. Why take them home when you can keep them somewhere else for free?
With Mom’s help, he started to the stableman’s lein thing. Really he just wanted them gone. Finally got them out, Instead of getting paid, he ended up getting one of the horses. Brilliant. 
. Mare turned out to be in foal.
As he got older, he started making dumber and dumber mistakes. I finally convinced Mom to move her pony elsewhere by paying half her board behind her back. She was almost as bad as he was i.e. I won’t look out for my own interests because I might hurt someone’s feelings…
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Question, as I have always been a boarder, never a BM (just friends with several who did not have non-paying boarders that refused to leave):
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Legally in your location, can a non-paying boarder’s horse be moved to a less expensive area of the farm and basically given necessary care, just not all the amenities? That is, move from barn to pasture, that kind of thing. No access to ride on the property or arena.
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Can you block the boarder’s access to their horse until they either pay or remove the horse?
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Can you move the horse to another property? Providing care but the owner doesn’t know where it is. Until owner pays enough to release horse back to owner. Other property may or may not be owned & managed by BM. I can think of situations where it would be best financially for the BM to move the horse to a low-rent stable so they can get a full-paying boarder into the stall. BO better off financially even if BO is paying less to care for the horse elsewhere.
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If it is permitted to move the horse, can you then get a new paying boarder into the stall that the non-paying boarder used to occupy? Even though non-paying boarder’s horse is still on the grounds, but elsewhere, and non-paying boarder is refusing to remove it.
I have heard of BM’s who would lock a horse in a stall or paddock, or move it somewhere inaccessible, until they were paid enough that they were willing to release it. I have no idea if they were breaking the law by doing this.
People usually assume things that they are legally allowed to do, based on what makes sense to them. But what they assume isn’t always reality.
Let all that go. She’s gone - why bring her or any part of her stupid back? Let sleeping dogs lie. And consider that small apples when she could have done so much much more damage. Like ridden someone’s horse and lamed it…broke the tree on a saddle, wrecked a horse trailer…
(sings) Let it go let it go let it go
Oh I have dont worry. I was just answering the question by @moonlitoaksranch.
She gooooooooonnneeeeeee
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Cue chorus of Ding Dong the Witch is Dead? 
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