That is actually where the scrubbers used to be! There was a little shelf under all the hoses (multiple hoses per aisle since it’s long) and the brushes sat there. Buckets don’t get dumped there though but over near a big floor drain or into some plants, so tying them wouldn’t work. Think staff is just resorting to hiding them and pulling them out when they’re going to scrub.
The barn I road in during college had some communal grooming supplies kept in the wash racks (sprays, some hoof picks, water scrapers, maybe a brush or two) but the horse had their own set on the front of each stall. The barn was in a swamp so they were really big on fungus prevention so it all got washed very frequently.
This lesson barn did have separate grooming sets for all the horses at one point. It had to quarantine due to some outbreak. Not sure why it fell out of favor after the quarantine lifted.
And this is why I don’t work in a barn. 
OK, I do, but it’s just cleaning stalls once a week to help out the BM at the barn next to me and I have nothing to do with the lesson program. I once worked (briefly…) in a lesson barn run by a very disorganized trainer. Every day I’d go to turn horses out, I’d have to spent 20 minutes looking for a LEAD ROPE. 60 head on the property and no lead ropes to be found. If I was lucky it would have a halter with it that would fit most heads, because halters were almost as hard to locate. Riding was a similar scavenger hunt - nothing ever in the right place, not where it was the last time. I spent so much time just wandering around looking for stuff, I can’t deal with inefficiency. Not to mention the safety hazard of not having a halter and lead readily available for every horse!
My instructor as a kid would’ve read us the riot act if we left things strewn about the barn or put away improperly. If you get it out, put it away! OK, rant over 
3 Likes
At that point, why not just tie the horse in their stall? I’d assume the horse is in some kind of grooming stall/nook, but this is just… weird. Also sounds like Mare would technically be standing behind the actual ties meaning if she lunges forward she’s going to throw the bulk of her body into them. Fantastic way for everyone to get hurt.
7 Likes
Eyyy, you guessed the other fun thing going on! The halters and leads keep going missing. There isn’t even turn out here, but somehow halters keep poofing into the ether. The best part is there is an entire BIN full of spare halters/leads that people forget about, so if they find their horse doesn’t have one they’ll just go grab the neighboring horse’s and not return it. Usually, it just got left in the cross ties but sometimes I find them (and boots, girths???, and misc. other supplies somewhere on the arena fenceline).
1 Like
Having boarded at a lesson barn in my life, the best way to prevent lesson kids from stealing your lead line (that you want to keep on your horse’s stall door, not locked away someplace) is to buy one with a bull snap. Lesson kids hate bull snaps.
15 Likes
No, she wants her in the aisle. The mare makes grumpy faces and tries to snipe at everyone who goes by, and has bit the very nice but amateur owner. This mare was PERFECT when she came, and this has slowly been sliding downhill since.
1 Like
@endlessclimb Does she understand what crossties are for? Seen others use them? This is some creative cluelessness.
I mean occasionally my dog snags one and runs wild lol.
But yup no people here but me. If I catch Mr LS trying to brush my horses with a toilet brush I might just die
I think she’s mad because I told her that allowing her horse to get away with murder in the crossties because she’s scared the mare will set back is not actually teaching the horse anything.
I taught her about blocker rings, but I didn’t think she would get this (as you so aptly put it) creative with it.
I’m such a meanie. If my horses act like a turd in the crossties (biting, foot snatching, kick threats, etc), I don’t hesitate to reprimand even though they’re tied. If they spaz, I just stand back and wait for them to settle, then go back to whatever it was I was doing before the meltdown. Being tied doesn’t exclude them from behavior expectations.
I also leave my horses in crossties/tied in their stalls for looooong periods, so they really aren’t setter-backers. Up to 4 hours sometimes, particularly for the young ones. They need to learn patience.
6 Likes
It’s still just so inconsiderate. Aisle crossties are not common in my neck of the woods and I hate them every time I see them because it just seems a recipe for disaster.
2 Likes
Different part of the world thing again.
Around here I can not think of a single barn that does not have aisle crossties.
They work fine if everyone is considerate and communicates.
5 Likes
I had one of those. What a misery to fit. I might still have his bridle if you are interested.
PM me.
2 Likes
That’s very kind of you! I think I’m set though! Appreciate it 
1 Like
It is definitely regional. Big reason is that in my neck of the woods is most barns are pipe-stall types with no inner aisles. The barn I work at actually has two sets of aisle crossties, but they’re only used for the farrier and the horses face one another.
My dislike for them is mostly a convenience/safety issue, more specifically when it is more than 1-2 in the same aisle. They were common when I lived in the South; actually, now that I think about it, the school barn had a few sets but those were only for special use. A friend’s gelding took off out of them once and dragged a crosstie after him. Thankfully there were no other horses out but he’d have slammed right past them.
Seems that that would be part of the students’ horsemanship training. To pay attention. Like not putting a pelham on the horse who always goes in a snaffle. Or whatever the '20s equivalent of a pelham is. Kids need to learn self-discipline if they want to work with 1100-lb prey animals.
3 Likes
it’s about 60-40 where I’ve been, 60% barns without aisle cross-ties, maybe 40% with.
I hate them. They’re an accident waiting to happen. The good barns I’ve known had the cross-ties in grooming bays that at most barns doubled as wash racks, whether inside or outside.
The worst barn had nothing and the kids were expected to groom and tack up the horses loose in their stalls.
Definitely an accident waiting to happen.
4 Likes
we have always had aisle cross ties previously and they kind if sucked when in a tighter aisle. Now we have wide aisles and it’s not a an issue at all. Plenty of room to safely go around though with multiple entrances/exits its not really necessary. I prefer them.
As for brushes for lesson horses- it used to be kind of communal when at a different location and for whatever reason the lesson riders could not keep the organized. You could never find anything (tack too). Same owners different location and there are tack lockers and this has been what works. Each horse has their own grooming supplies and tack and now everything stays relatively organized. Its amazing the difference!
As an owner I’ve actually never had anything really go missing more than a day or so over the years but I put my name on everything.
Yeah, most of the barns in my neck of the woods have designated cross-tie bays or hitching rails. The first barn I rode at had both cross-tie bays, but allowed students to tack in-stall. I’m wincing at the idea of small children trying to tack up a loose, squirrely pony in their stall. A different barn I rode at did have students (all college-aged) tack in-stall but there were tie-rings in each.
I find a lot of disorganization in lesson barns stems from two things: not having designated areas for things and not holding people responsible for putting things back in said designated areas. The lesson barn I mentioned up thread has a designated area for the communal grooming supplies but does not keep that area organized nor make sure people keep it nice. Students face 0 repercussions for just leaving things wherever they feel like.
3 Likes
Hmm. Tacking up in their stall is pretty much standard around here. If doing it ‘correctly’ then putting on a head collar first. But habitually just go in and tack up. No fuss, no accidents, no deaths so far… Six personal decades into horses. Even the racehorses are tacked up in a stall or box at the racecourse with no side ties. Different culture.
13 Likes
