Regardless of whether you advertise temporary stabling, having someone show up unannounced is a pita. Firstly, you may not have stalls available at the moment; secondly, you may not have stalls set up and ready to put a horse immediately into. Stalls may not have been stripped and ready, needed to have bedding put down etc. plus they were asking for hay also, OP may not have had enough hay on hand to be able to accommodate. I personally would have been miffed with them showing up without notice; like the OP, I would have accommodated them but likely it would have been a scramble to get the stalls ready.
Warren Buffett NEVER telegraphs his moves ahead of time. 
I totally understand why OP was befuddled. It has nothing to do with her willingness to host them, or her business etiquette. It has to do with her horsemanship standards.
Who travels with a trailer full of horses with no hay for them and nowhere planned to put them up for the night? Not any responsible horse owner that I know.
What if she, and the other area barns, had been full? What if they did not have any extra hay? Would these horses have just lived on the trailer with no hay? For how long?
Im sorry, but this just screams irresponsible horse ownership to me.
What if the thread has said “random horse owner traveling across the country with a trailer full of horses and no plans for rest stop locations and not enough hay to feed horses”?
I bet there would be a all kinds of tail feather shaking going on over how this person lacks good horsemanship and should not be trusted to care for horses.
Just because the truck and trailer are cool and it is a semi famous team does not make the basic responsible horse ownership expectations null and void.
My take away is that this is not an outfit whose care of horses I respect at all, cool as they may be.
[QUOTE=Mischievous;8048482]
I totally understand why OP was befuddled. It has nothing to do with her willingness to host them, or her business etiquette. It has to do with her horsemanship standards.
Who travels with a trailer full of horses with no hay for them and nowhere planned to put them up for the night? Not any responsible horse owner that I know.
What if she, and the other area barns, had been full? What if they did not have any extra hay? Would these horses have just lived on the trailer with no hay? For how long?
Im sorry, but this just screams irresponsible horse ownership to me.
What if the thread has said “random horse owner traveling across the country with a trailer full of horses and no plans for rest stop locations and not enough hay to feed horses”?
I bet there would be a all kinds of tail feather shaking going on over how this person lacks good horsemanship and should not be trusted to care for horses.
Just because the truck and trailer are cool and it is a semi famous team does not make the basic responsible horse ownership expectations null and void.
My take away is that this is not an outfit whose care of horses I respect at all, cool as they may be.[/QUOTE]
Exactly. It’s not that someone showed up at a layup barn in the abstract, it’s the WAY things were managed given the complexity of the WF team and the way in which it appeared they had made no plans at all for the horses.
I read it (with the lacking details) more than they wanted to buy hay, not that they needed to buy hay. If they buy good hay at the lay-over barn it does not use their stored hay, which they can use when the lay-over barn does not have extra hay available.
I am also guessing having to spend the night in that tractor trailer would do no harm to the horses.
I will say this I doubt the OP will have the team as a customer in the future. A shame she saw what could have been an excellent business opportunity with even perhaps some local press about where the team chose to stay as an inconvenience and something to complain about on a national horse board. To me, how a business responds to something unexpected says a lot more about it than when everything goes as planned.
And really if you are not cheerful and happy when someone shows up unexpected wanting to spend money with you, you probably aren’t charging enough.
Clearly grumbling & growling about moderate to minor inconveniences by paying customers falls into that category. Do as I say, not as I do?
I too can understand why the OP was confused. I can’t understand her WTF attitude here.
[QUOTE=Mischievous;8048482]
I totally understand why OP was befuddled. It has nothing to do with her willingness to host them, or her business etiquette. It has to do with her horsemanship standards.
Who travels with a trailer full of horses with no hay for them and nowhere planned to put them up for the night? Not any responsible horse owner that I know.
What if she, and the other area barns, had been full? What if they did not have any extra hay? Would these horses have just lived on the trailer with no hay? For how long?
Im sorry, but this just screams irresponsible horse ownership to me.
What if the thread has said “random horse owner traveling across the country with a trailer full of horses and no plans for rest stop locations and not enough hay to feed horses”?
I bet there would be a all kinds of tail feather shaking going on over how this person lacks good horsemanship and should not be trusted to care for horses.
Just because the truck and trailer are cool and it is a semi famous team does not make the basic responsible horse ownership expectations null and void.
My take away is that this is not an outfit whose care of horses I respect at all, cool as they may be.[/QUOTE]
Who jumps to the conclusion that just because someone wants to buy hay, suddenly they’re neglectful of their horses? Maybe they noticed the hay was running a bit low and they wanted to be proactive and re-stock? People just kill me with these instantaneous assumptions of neglect. Good Lord.
[QUOTE=TBROCKS;8048551]
Who jumps to conclusions that just because someone wants to buy hay, suddenly they’re neglectful of their horses? Maybe they noticed the hay was running a bit low and they wanted to be proactive and re-stock? People just kill me with these instantaneous assumptions of neglect. Good Lord.[/QUOTE] Also ag stations often confiscate unbroken bales at state boarders. Lost 3 bales of alfalfa that way.
Tell me that if you ran a bed and breakfast and awoke one day to find a giant RV parked outside… and out streamed a family of 10 who asked you if they could stay that night even though they had no reservations and by the way could you sell them PB&J for the family to have for lunch that you wouldn’t think it was a little odd. Maybe WF did have some backup plan/master scheme but it’s really not normal to show up at a layup facility with no prior notice and expect boarding and hay. Even if you have a backup plan, it’s a weird thing to just show up and expect (with no explanation).
If OP had come here to say:
“We just finished a big show and as the last exhibitors were pulling out, this big fancy rig pulled in. Soon after, I got a call from their manager. They wanted overnight stabling for 4 horses and two bales of hay. It was a bit of a scramble, but we did it!”
Everyone here would have been heaping praise on the OP for her flexibility, management, etc. That would have been a marketing coup for herself and her facility.
But to come here to complain about it, out the customer by name and have her facility’s ID so easily available, is not professional or smart, imho.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8048596]
Tell me that if you ran a bed and breakfast and awoke one day to find a giant RV parked outside.[/QUOTE]
There’s pretty well known documentary evidence that for at least 2015 years people have been rocking up without advance notice and saying “is there a room available at the inn?”
Completely normal. If you pull up at a B&B or hotel without a reservation and it is full or the restaurant has already closed for the day you are out of luck. But it’s totally normal to ask.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8048596]
Tell me that if you ran a bed and breakfast and awoke one day to find a giant RV parked outside… and out streamed a family of 10 who asked you if they could stay that night even though they had no reservations and by the way could you sell them PB&J for the family to have for lunch that you wouldn’t think it was a little odd. Maybe WF did have some backup plan/master scheme but it’s really not normal to show up at a layup facility with no prior notice and expect boarding and hay. Even if you have a backup plan, it’s a weird thing to just show up and expect (with no explanation).[/QUOTE]
If I would had the rooms available I would be glad I could fill them instead of them being vacant and earning no money for the night and I would get the
PB&J at higher than normal prices and give it to them with a smile while telling them it was lucky I was home and able to accommodate them and that breakfast the next morning might not be as posh as usual since I hadn’t had time to prepare and here’s my card so they could call ahead next time.
Once I had to change my en-route plans due to weather and the realization that 600 miles per day with truck trailer and baby was not the best idea. Ended up calling a large animal vet (this was the age before google) to find a place to hold up for the night. The place the vet recommended was very nice and accommodating despite the short notice.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8048596]
Tell me that if you ran a bed and breakfast and awoke one day to find a giant RV parked outside… and out streamed a family of 10 who asked you if they could stay that night even though they had no reservations and by the way could you sell them PB&J for the family to have for lunch that you wouldn’t think it was a little odd. Maybe WF did have some backup plan/master scheme but it’s really not normal to show up at a layup facility with no prior notice and expect boarding and hay. Even if you have a backup plan, it’s a weird thing to just show up and expect (with no explanation).[/QUOTE]
First, instead of politely explaining we had no room, OR graciously accepting them (and their money) onto the property, I would pass judgment that they don’t have their $hit together, because these people, they’re traveling with children, with NO peanut butter, no jelly, clearly these children were on the fast track to starvation because even though they may have food, I’ll just assume they don’t, and oh yes, they had no plan for housing. Because they thought they could stay at a bed and breakfast and forgot to make a reservation, or their trip took them off course. Life happened, but still, NO EXCUSE. Perhaps a call to CPS is in order, but at any rate, whatever profession these people are in, I’ll never associate with them. LOSERS!! Then I would gripe about them on a public bulletin board. Might as well color EVERYONE’S opinion of them, in a negative way.
[QUOTE=tangledweb;8048630]
There’s pretty well known documentary evidence that for at least 2015 years people have been rocking up without advance notice and saying “is there a room available at the inn?”[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but didn’t baby jesus end up out in a manger rather than in the presidential suite?!? 
I think y’all are being a little unrealistic. Yes, sometimes you throw a hail mary and it pans out. But it’s a little odd for a big, professional outfit to seemingly be PLANNING on having a hail mary work.
This is not you or me trying for a hotel room in a big city where we can be flexible. This is a big rig with a bunch of horses and pretty specific needs. You don’t go around with very specific, sometimes-hard-to-accomodate needs expecting to just luck out when you’re a professional outfit.
Sh*t does happen. And you would expect WF to have explained that to the OP if there was some totally unexpected snafu. What’s especially weird about the whole thing is the way WF seemingly just expected to roll up and be accomodated. That isn’t typically how layups work when you have the type of rig/number of horses that WF has.
Do you guys just trailer into A shows, no pre-entry, and expect there to be a stall waiting and hay/grain to buy? Do you just show up at packed restaurants and expect them to seat you and have your special-meal prepared in advance? Do you drive to the airport on a whim and expect your handicap accessible escort to be waiting on the curb? Some industries are “show up” by nature and some aren’t.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8048662]
I think y’all are being a little unrealistic. Yes, sometimes you throw a hail mary and it pans out. But it’s a little odd for a big, professional outfit to seemingly be PLANNING on having a hail mary work.[/QUOTE]
We have no idea what was planned.
Maybe this parade was not originally planned and a last minute thing.
Who knows.
Why does it matter.
The OP has a layover facility, which is like the horse version of a hotel. You drive up and see if there is room. If there is not you do something else. You do not expect the hotel/layover facility to bad mouth you all over the internet for trying to use their facility for what it is advertised and designed to be for.
I do not see that the OP is complaining at all. She has only stated that she thought it was odd that this large of a rig would pull up without warning. She mentioned they had a show that day, and had they arrived any earlier they would not have been able to get in. I think the OP was simply stating it was weird. Anyone else would have been fairly confused with this unannounced arrival. Also, what if no one was there to greet them…
[QUOTE=trubandloki;8048670]
We have no idea what was planned.
Maybe this parade was not originally planned and a last minute thing.
Who knows.
Why does it matter.
The OP has a layover facility, which is like the horse version of a hotel. You drive up and see if there is room. If there is not you do something else. You do not expect the hotel/layover facility to bad mouth you all over the internet for trying to use their facility for what it is advertised and designed to be for.[/QUOTE]
For the record I’m not taking a position on whether the OP’s decision to post about this was/wasn’t appropriate or whether posting was a good business stategy or not. Just about whether it was indeed odd for WF to show up unannounced and expect to be accomodated (especially without calling from the road or explaining why they showed up unannounced).
[QUOTE=Duramax;8046508]
I feel like I should call the Wells Fargo corporate office and tell them how bizarre and not cool the whole process was. Sounds like they need a new stagecoach management team. Who just shows up and expects stabling?[/QUOTE]
That’s not complaining? OP is considering trying to get someone fired over this.
We don’t have any idea why the initial phone call was delayed, only that it seemed to be delayed. We don’t know how many other facilities in the area could be used for layover, but Riverbend is just as convenient as any for the drivers to park while it’s determined where they’re going for the night.
It’s just as logical to assume, as long as we’re assuming, that this rig is self-contained. The horses are probably in box stalls. There’s food and water on board. They’d like to buy a couple bales of hay, which isn’t a whole lot and shouldn’t be an inconvenience for anyone but the smallest boarding facilities. If they can’t buy it from Riverbend, they could buy it elsewhere, but why not ask? The rig could just as easily parked overnight at a rest stop, and probably has, on occasion. Sure it would be nice for the horses to get out into other accommodations, but probably not necessary.
I think it’s safe to assume that the WF team’s been doing this a long time, without incident. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
