Boarder was given 6 weeks notice to move her horse out of the barn.
Tuesday is March 1st and she’s yet to make any (known) effort to find a place.
BO is not sure what her next step should be, or what would be the most effective next step.
help???
One place I boarded dealt with this (non-paying absentee owner) by putting the horse in a field with shelter & supplied with hay & water.
Horse didn’t miss having a stall & stall was freed for a paying boarder.
This was so long ago I don’t recall how it ended up.
BO can also place a lien on the horse once boarding contract has expired & then sell it for board owed.
One place I boarded dealt with this (non-paying absentee owner) by putting the horse in a field with shelter & supplied with hay & water.
Horse didn’t miss having a stall & stall was freed for a paying boarder.
This was so long ago I don’t recall how it ended up.
BO can also place a lien on the horse once boarding contract has expired & then sell it for board owed. Contract should contain a clause outlining this resolution for unpaid board.
Did the BO follow up with a formal letter, requesting the boarder to leave?
BO probably needs to send a letter, receipt signature request,
to start any formal proceedings.
BO needs a paper trail if this becomes a problem.
If it were me, I would casually ask the boarder
where they are moving to, just to get the conversation started.
Is this boarder current on their board?
If they are not paying board then look up the stableman’s lien rules in your state and follow that.
If they pay their board and are simply not a good fit for your facility I believe your only option is to cross every finger and toe and hope they leave.
A friend went thru this (with her boarding facility) and found she really had no legal options on removing the horse as long as the person was paying their board.
Consult / hire an attorney to get an eviction letter to boarder would be first step here.
The HO is current on her board, that isn’t the problem. Horse is a problem, owner’s “wishes of how he be treated” is a big problem, but the ultimate problem is that the BO is moving out of state and will no longer be there to provide full care!!!
BO is not selling the property and those of us there on self care are staying. HO seems to think that we will pick up the slack and care for her horse in spite of the absentee BO. We will not, and this has been made clear to the HO.
So now the BO is not sure what to do; she’s not a super experienced BO and certainly hasn’t had this happen before.
This is not about self care … not selling property really … immaterial.
- I have been this road .
Hire lawyer to enforce the contract … eviction notice.
If no boarding contract still have a lawyer send a legal eviction notice …first step !
Busy has it right. This is a contract dispute. Find out what the respective rights and liabilities are in your state.
G.
Maybe you’ll get lucky and she will move after all but BO needs to get on it and contact her to get things rolling. I should think just informing her it’s self care only and if she can’t get out and buy her own feed, it’s not happening.
If that fails, stick it in the field with hay and water and call a lawyer.
Be careful other boarders are not trying to be nice implying they will step in on the care. Be sure everybody is very firm with her, they cannot help her. Don’t let her get defensive or demand explanation, just say no. Make sure everybody’s on board.
Does this boarder ride? If the leave by date comes and goes and they remain put a padlock on the arena gate. Give keys to others that need access, but don’t provide one to the boarder who isn’t meant to be there. Do the same for the tack room - change the locks, don’t provide them a key.
I like this suggestion combined with this one:
I don’t have it in front of me but I think there is a clause in my boarding contract that says either party can terminate agreement with 30 days notice. This gives barn owner the right to evict for cause. It also allows for eviction/ stableman’s lien for non-payment.
Who’s managing the self care co-op? Tell her she can stay, but her board just doubled because of the extra work for the self care folks, then split it up among you. 
Seriously, one business is closing and another entity is taking over, which should void the old contract.
[QUOTE=Chocoholic;8547031]
Does this boarder ride? If the leave by date comes and goes and they remain put a padlock on the arena gate. Give keys to others that need access, but don’t provide one to the boarder who isn’t meant to be there. Do the same for the tack room - change the locks, don’t provide them a key.[/QUOTE]
If she’s intent on doing it anyway she’ll just come when she knows someone else is going to be using the arena, and it will be very awkward.
[QUOTE=findeight;8546515]
Maybe you’ll get lucky and she will move after all but BO needs to get on it and contact her to get things rolling. I should think just informing her it’s self care only and if she can’t get out and buy her own feed, it’s not happening.
If that fails, stick it in the field with hay and water and call a lawyer.
Be careful other boarders are not trying to be nice implying they will step in on the care. Be sure everybody is very firm with her, they cannot help her. Don’t let her get defensive or demand explanation, just say no. Make sure everybody’s on board.[/QUOTE]
Luckily, there are only 2 of us there (on self care) and we both have made it plain we are not interested. No worries that way.
Does she ride… no. And this brings up another very sore subject with the BO and the rest of us. There’s something about this whole situation that reeks of dishonesty somewhere.
She brought horse out, one brush, one halter. No tack has ever shown up. She’s been on him one time since he came (bareback). Farrier has never been out, and his feet are overdue and then some.
BO was VERY CLEAR when she came that there were to be NO PASTURE PETS.
Owner comes out once in awhile, usually at night, spends 5 mins standing in his stall talking on her phone, and leaves! That’s it!!
Horse is absolutely neurotic. World class cribber - even tho I put one of my collars on him.
I feel sorry for him - we all do - but none of us want to be responsible for him because the owner is so irresponsible that we don’t want to be hit with liability for anything that arises, that we take care of.
I will pass along the ‘get a lawyer’ suggestion to my BO.
[QUOTE=Unfforgettable;8547105]
Who’s managing the self care co-op? Tell her she can stay, but her board just doubled because of the extra work for the self care folks, then split it up among you. Seriously, one business is closing and another entity is taking over, which should void the old contract.[/QUOTE]
I am managing it. And you know this thought did occur to me today, but I’m not sure there’s enough money in the world to want to take on this liability. I would do everything I know to be right for this horse and sure enough something would happen and I’d be the one in the hot seat.
Not going there.
[QUOTE=Chocoholic;8547031]
Does this boarder ride? If the leave by date comes and goes and they remain put a padlock on the arena gate. Give keys to others that need access, but don’t provide one to the boarder who isn’t meant to be there. Do the same for the tack room - change the locks, don’t provide them a key.[/QUOTE]
This is very bad advice for at least these 2 reasons:
If the owner wants to remove horse, as has been requested, no access to it.
If horse becomes in need of Veterinary attention, no access is possible.
Edited to add, oops, I mis-read that. I thought it said lock the pasture gate too. Sorry.
[QUOTE=Unfforgettable;8547105]
Who’s managing the self care co-op? Tell her she can stay, but her board just doubled because of the extra work for the self care folks, then split it up among you. Seriously, one business is closing and another entity is taking over, which should void the old contract.[/QUOTE]
This is a very creative solution.
Oops, sorry, just saw that is not a viable option.
The next best thing would be for the BO, and/or the self care people to assist the cray cray absentee owner in finding another place. If that is not an option, then BO will need to do the eviction, or stableholder lien, seize horse, etc.
[QUOTE=sdlbredfan;8547254]
This is very bad advice for at least these 2 reasons:
If the owner wants to remove horse, as has been requested, no access to it.
If horse becomes in need of Veterinary attention, no access is possible.[/QUOTE]
Shes talking about locking the arena and the tack room, not the barn or the stall. Owner doesn’t have any tack and doesn’t ride though…but horse can come or go and so can health providers in the unlikely event owner calls any.
I wouldn’t get involved in caring for it, even splitting double board, who’s going to schedule, hold for and pay the farrier? PITA.
