Hey all!
I wanted to get everyone’s insight - what are some extra “special touches” that you have experienced at your present and past boarding barns that really made you love it? Basically, what did your BO or BM do that truly made you love the barn and the service that you were receiving? Following that, what did you dislike/made you leave a boarding barn?
Thank you!
Actually turned the horses out.
Actually fed adequate amounts of hay. ETA - It’s especially annoying when you’re paying extra for more hay (and/or grain) and it isn’t getting fed.
That was so rare, I can’t imagine ever having gotten any “special touches” on top of it. But I boarded at basic boarding facilities, not show facilities and not training board.
It’s nice when you’re not being `nickle-and-dimed’ to death – not being charged extra for holding for vet/farrier, blankets on/off, etc.
For context, I have had my horse in a full training program at an eventing facility that has been under new management with a new trainer for the past year. The previous trainer left quite a bit to be desired, especially compared to how things are now.
Things I like (some of these are services that are only included with training board):
-Thorough inspection and jog the morning before and after events
-Application of medication, wraps, etc.
-Bathing, mane pulling, trimming
-Attending vet/chiro visits to have full understanding of horse’s medical status and needs
-Laundry
-Blanket changes throughout the day
-Feeding hay in a net (some BMs of the past wouldn’t agree to hay nets because of the extra time)
-Lesson schedule fully visible to boarders to help schedule rides during quieter times of day
-Maintenance of arena footing
-Sounds silly…but I love getting snapchats of my horse during the day. It makes me feel less depressed to be at work. :lol:
Dislikes:
-POOR COMMUNICATION!!!
-I think that trailer parking should be included in training board, but I don’t have a reason for that other than it feels like I’m being nickel and dimed a bit after already paying upwards of $2K/mo for training board.
-Finding my horse in its stall with mud caked on its legs/body.
-Barn being closed to boarders due to matters in BO/BM’s personal life. (real e.g., BM’s horse died in the pasture and the barn was closed the following day due to “grieving”. I felt bad and sent flowers, but my horse needs to work!)
-Trainer closing the arena to accommodate their own lessons.
-Too many kids at once (I know this might be unrealistic for many barns, but I really don’t like having lots of kids running around a barn. Even smart kids are still kids and can forget how to play safe.)
I’m sure there’s more for both lists, but those are the unique ones that come to mind.
I really loved it when the boarding barn listened to me about my horses’ needs and bought different hay specifically for them. I thought that was really above and beyond.
Wasn’t the BO or BM but the groom who took care of our mare. On one of my trips in to see the mare who was there in training I saw the groom give the mare an apple. I commented to her about how the mare really liked her. The groom just said the horse was special and the extra of getting apples for her was not any bid deal.
I talked with the trainer arranging that the horse would buy the grooms pizza or whatever they wanted once a week.
This times 1000!
Other things that are nice:
Barn owner or manager being easily accessible by text
Sending me a text if anything seems “off”
“Holding” horses for farrier - my horses stand perfectly in the crossties, so to pay a fee just to put the horse in the crossties would be annoying
I spent this winter in a fancy barn, and my favorites were:
So many meals! They got hay 4 times a day: breakfast + grain, lunch, dinner + grain, night time snack; and they got hay during turnout too. My lease mare is a champion eater, and she was soo much happier in mostly-stalled environment than she has ever been in the past
When she started dropping some weight, they added an extra half-scoop of grain for her without question.
She got very attached to her neighbor across the aisle, and instead of letting her worry every time the neighbor was turned out, they moved her to a stall where she could see her buddy through the window! I really appreciated they took the time to add that work-around to their day to keep her relaxed for the 2-3 hours every day when she wasn’t by her buddy.
Organized to the rafters! space for everyone’s things, and labeled as well. Made it easy to move in and be the “new kids” without any big learning curve.
Heated tack room :love-struck: warm enough that the bit was warmer than my frozen hands at least!
Dislikes:
Lack of turnout/no group turnout - many horses were only turned out in the indoor through the bitterest part of the winter for like, weeks at a time. In the middle of winter it meant my mare was actually going out 6-7 hours a day pretty often (she isn’t shod, and is fairly cold-tolerant), but once it started getting nicer and warmer, she was only getting a couple hours outside every day and was getting somewhat stir-crazy by the end of winter.
Boarding-only barns? Or training/full-care/show barns? A lot of things that are included in the higher price of the latter would be super “extras” if they were offered at the former 
For both, a bathroom that is kept clean(ish!), stocked, climate controlled, and is big enough to change in is a good one.
An online billing/payment system is nice and still uncommon, I believe.
Ugh, yes. I worked at a couple places in my younger years like this. They were big barns (one about 40 horses, the other 100), primarily board and lessons but also training, and I can’t even count the amount of times the barn owner would say, “hey, stop feeding so much hay, we’re getting low and I’m not getting more yet.” !! Yes, the horses were turned out, but the pastures were not super lush. They needed more hay. One BO in particular was really bad about paying bills and there were times that the horses were in and we literally had to scrap hay off the floor to give them.
After those experiences, I will only ever do my own care. The boarders were so happy and ignorant, and the BO was very misleading about care. The workers saw the horses most and they all just looked so low.
Texting, yes!
At all the barns I have been at in SoCal, the farrier retrieves the horse and returns him. No barn owner needed or fees
I do self board because I don’t think anyone attending to 20 horses can do the personalized care I want.
Mandatory:
Clean water always available.
Good quality hay in sufficient quantities (meaning in winter, more hay for them to munch on).
Picking stalls at least once every day with sufficient bedding.
Staff that treated the horses well (no headshy horses please).
Turning out one, maybe two, horses at at time (not letting them fly down the aisle to/from pasture and stall :eek:)
Extra benefits I’d be willing to pay for:
Blanketing
Holding for vet or farrier
Stall with run
Time is money. If you’re not paying for training board, or paying top-dollar at a facility that works in holding fees to their board prices, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect to pay for holding and extra services that are not included. IMO it is completely unreasonable to expect a BO to hold your horse for service appointments (especially when using your own farrier/vet and it’s not part of a group appointment) for free when you’re paying for just basic board.
I know people who expect a BO to hold their horse for everything, even if their horse requires a 4-hour emergency vet appointment at midnight, but they pay $300/month for board and are always looking for a better deal. Excuse me, no. At $300/month, your board includes daily standard care, which is hay, grain, bedding, feeding, turning in/out, and stall cleaning. That’s it. I’m all about a deal, don’t get me wrong, I always looked for the cheapest board I could find when I boarded, but I did not expect any extra stuff. It doesn’t matter if your horse stands in the cross ties like an angel. The BO/BM still has to go out of their way to bring them in from the field or pull them out of their stall, wait around, and put them back. It’s not nickle-and-diming, it’s appropriately compensating people for their time. And I did have this same opinion when I boarded (thankfully I have my own farm now). If I couldn’t get to a service appointment, emergency or scheduled, I would ask one of my parents to go (when I lived local to them). If they couldn’t, I expected to pay the BO. Period. I really don’t understand why people have such a problem with this. A basic boarding barn is there to take care of your horse’s basic daily needs, not everything else.
A nice extra Red mentioned that I didn’t think of - online paying system or other way to take payment by credit/debit. I take Paypal and Venmo for my boarders. It’s 2019 guys. It’s not hard to keep up with modern technology.
At a former barn, they actually weighed the hay each horse was getting, so they were fed consistently each day, based on what the nutritionist (feed rep) had advised. I liked that a lot.
I also liked that they sent electronic invoices for board each month (I think it was done through Quicken). It made payment very convenient.
As for my current barn:
-I love that they love my horse. They treat each horse like it is part of their family. I get notified when he goes off his feed, or is restless (beyond what would be normal), and occasionally get photos from him. One night, he was pacing the stall when the owner was closing up for the night (he does that occasionally). She went back and checked on him at 11pm, just to make sure he was okay. I didn’t ask her to do that…she just did it.
-If he comes in sweaty from turnout in the summer, they hose him off. No cost - it’s considered the basic standard of care. They’ll also put on and remove turnout boots, and will blanket/unblanket as needed, at no cost. I know all of this is rolled in to the board fee, but I really appreciate that I can trust it’s getting done and I don’t have to track each little individual charge each month. I pay a little more than I did at my former barn, and I’m happy to do that.
-When he starts dropping weight, they are happy to up his grain. Not only that, they really pay attention to how he’s looking and have actually brought the idea of adjusting his feed up to me before I could bring it up to them. When I was worried my horse had ulcers, the BO jumped right in with her plan to manage his feeding in a way that would help spread everything out in a more ulcer-friendly way. I didn’t even have to ask, it was just, “here is what we can do”.
-The arenas are dragged regularly!
-the entire place is clean. CLEAN, I tell you.
-they get hay 4x a day. In my perfect world, he’d obviously have hay 24/7, but to be at a boarding barn (not in training), and have hay more than 2x/day, is a rarity as far as I have found. I know may full-training, high-end barns that MAYBE do 3 feedings and charge more than my place does.
There are obviously things that are not my ideal, but I know that will happen no matter where you keep your horses (unless you can keep them at home…and even then, you might not have your dream setup or capabilities). But it is so nice to feel like you can just trust the people caring for your horse. So nice.
As the person who was almost always the one stuck holding people’s horses for the farrier and vet I have to say unless you are paying training or a more expensive board I see no reason why someone shouldn’t be charged a holding fee. Often times it requires walking the horse to and from the field. Or leaving a horse in and giving more hay. Most farriers we had didn’t care if the horse stood well in cross ties they wanted someone around. Even the best behaved horse can act up and they wanted someone who knew the horse around if that happened. Anyone who thinks that holding is no big deal should try doing it for multiple horses. It may not seem like a big deal for one horse but when you have multiple boarders expecting it than it becomes one.
I love that when my boy nicked his hind coronary band I was texted, told it was a nothing, and sent a picture to prove it was a nothing. And when I arrived at the barn the nick had been cold-hosed, cleaned and an antibiotic ointment put on. Really, it was so tiny I wouldn’t have noticed until I was grooming that area.
I am in full training at a barn that has boarders running the gamut from practically self-care through full training. I’m not going to address the things that are part of my training fees like mane trims, holding for vet, medication/bandaging, etc.
I love when the barn is tidy and organized - aisles swept, tools put away, halters, blankets and such on hangers. Along with this is ample storage space so tools, tack, etc. have a place to be that isn’t out in the open. Repairs happen quickly.
I would love laundry facilities, but we do have a clean, stocked bathroom (big enough to change clothes in) and a small area with a full sized fridge, kettle and coffee pot for snacks/beverages.
Rodent control - I know it is a constant battle, but I can’t stand when BO/BMs don’t even bother and things get out of control.
A covered, lit, safe area for farrier and vet visits.
Good footing in arenas and turnouts
Staff that pay attention and notice when something isn’t right. Staff that will pay attention to your and your horse’s preferences.
Boarding is always a compromise in some way. Unless you have lots of great boarding options in a given geographic area, it is very seldom something extra that is going to set a boarding barn apart in my mind. I tend to look at things in a tiered fashion -
Primary requirements:
food (frequency of feeding, quality of hay, amount fed)
stalls (size, safety, cleanliness, bedding)
turn-out (how long each day, quality of turn-out areas - ground and fencing, pasture groupings if applicable, handling when moving from stall, etc)
Secondary requirements:
Place(s) to ride (if not retirement board) - arenas (size, quality of footing, how well maintained) or access to trails
Storage for tack
Access to trainers
Trailer parking
Wash rack
Some kind of human restroom (porta-potty is an acceptable option)
If a place looks like it will meet all of my primary requirements at an acceptable (but probably not perfect level) and checks most of my secondary boxes, then I might start to look at some of the extras.
In the current boarding situation for the horse that I lease, the biggest thing I feel I compromise on is length of turn-out which is balanced pretty well by oversize stalls and a midday meal - plus the turn-outs in winter are either muddy or miniscule. But the hay is great quality, and the whole place is well maintained and clean. The extras there that I particularly enjoy are a real bathroom (plus a porta-potty), indoor wash racks with lots of hot water, access to a refrigerator and laundry machines for horse laundry (no blankets), and lots of places to handgraze and handwalk.
In the boarding situation where my now retired horse lived for many years, the biggest compromises were lack of flexibility in hay feeding schedule, minimal bedding in stalls, and very limited hot water in the wash rack. This was balanced by direct trail access and very knowledgeable, attentive BOs who were hands on every day. The best extras were being willing to help with medications etc when needed. They also managed a vaccination and worming program for the barn which is something I would love to see at my current facility.
RUN IN STALL, 3 or even 4 grain feedings a day,ability to choose/buy my own feed and hay, grain and hay shavings NOT being under lock and key, one consistent primary caretaker who notices when horse is “different”, deep bedding, blanket changes and fly spraying are nice too. Clean, tepid water and good hay ALWAYS available as well as safe footing and fencing is a MUST. We are ssssoooo happppyyyy and lucky to be where we are now.
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