I prefer to believe that elite athletes secretly have more hours in their week. Seems true for several trainers I know 
15 Likes
I agree 100%, all our training and livery is booked on line and paid up front, too many years of people running late or cancelling on the day because something else has come up, our time is just as valuable as everyone elses. It’s been life changing for our business.
11 Likes
A couple of things for you and everyone using the terms I weigh-in on below.
- “There is a power imbalance.” Yes, there is but it’s not about who is big in the sport of small, who pees standing up always and who does that maybe once or twice, on a dare.
The power differential comes from Martin being the landlord of a venue that has value to local trainers. That’s it. That’s the primary reason that I think Cooper should have been quick to pay, focuses on smoothing things over and getting on with things.
-
We should expect better from an Olympian. Why? In this context, Martin is a landlord. Maybe he sucks at that job. But this context is the only one that matters. If you expect Olympians to be really good at everything-- from making stir fry to defending themselves at a tax audit-- you are setting them up to fail and everyone to be disappointed for a dumb reason.
-
As to who exposed whose identity. As I read it, Martin got salty and posted without thinking, naming the offender. The next day, reason prevailed and he took that post down. He put up another, clarifing the suspension and welcoming Cooper back at the end of 30 days.
If you are an outsider, as I am, reading along and only seeing the second post. it was someone else who posted saved screen shots of the text exchange between them. That’s the only way those of us outside knew who was involved. And didn’t Cooper post the exchange on FB herself?
So both admirable horse trainers would seem to suck at using social media skillfully to benefit themselves.
15 Likes
See, I get this. I agree with this. He shouldn’t have to. However, sometimes as a business owner, you might have to.
You either have to deal with people continuing to break rules, deal with the potential fallout on social media from public shaming, or change something. Boyd chose the public shaming option, and who knows, maybe that will work quite well and he’ll have less people taking advantage. Some people wouldn’t take that route, and that’s fine.
If we apply the shouldn’t have to logic: Any business shouldn’t have to have cameras, any business shouldn’t have to have locks on things, any business shouldn’t have to have loss prevention because people should do the right thing. Businesses shouldn’t have to spend money and police people. This shouldn’t cost them anything, but it does, and in the long run, leads to less loss.
It sucks, yes. I don’t agree with having to spend your own dime on sh*tty people, but it’s kind of reality in some instances.
I agree that the punishment for Cooper wasn’t that bad, and this will likely change things moving forward. Neither one of them should’ve let this situation devolve in this way, but here we is.
It was cheaper from a $ standpoint to put her head on a stake, and I hope it wasn’t all for nothing.
7 Likes
Maybe when Nox is a little older he can ride around and check receipts. If he catches you leaving without having paid, here’s a $100 per horse penalty fee.
If Neal has to do all the fiddly bits he can do it when Inept Trainer Spouse is on the way to Boyd’s playground.
7 Likes
It’s not a question of being good at being a landlord here IMHO, but being good at social media. Often Boyd is–he posted one of the most hilarious videos I’ve ever seen of a girl running over him during a clinic in years past, as well as a recent snack-seeking trip before an event.
Other times he’s misfired, like once using an image of a horse crash as his profile pic (this was years ago, and while it was abundantly clear to me he was making fun of his riding to the fence, not the risk to the horse, many were upset by the image). Also once posting a photo of himself doing a cold plunge (again, I wasn’t bothered, but some people took offense).
Maybe for financial reasons he doesn’t have someone doing his social media full-time anymore. I could have sworn there was a period he was outsourcing it, because I remember the person who was doing his FB saying, “this isn’t Boyd, but I’m posting for Boyd.”
Just because someone is a great rider doesn’t mean they’re good at social media. Hell, even some WRITERS suck at social media.
A few years ago, I took some lessons on a schoolmaster at a wonderful local dressage trainer’s barn. She highly is decorated, but not an Olympian. I complimented her on a video I’d seen on her Instagram of her riding a young horse. She said, “Oh, thank you, but I never look at my social media! I am so bad at it and hate that stuff, so I hired someone to do it. She’s wonderful and has really grown the page.”
Total life goals right there!
I personally think, more than the snippiness, is Boyd conveying how highly stressed he is, that will linger in people’s minds. It’s definitely eye-opening about how horse businesses are run on the slimmest of margins!
12 Likes
similar to what Lauren Nicholson did earlier this summer. I had no clue who she was talking about, but it appeared fairly obvious to those with some knowledge of US eventing professionals.
12 Likes
“Never meet your heroes” applies to many things.
Definitely applies to many Olympic eventers.
14 Likes
Put in a gate with a code, and send people the code when they pay. Change the code daily. But some larger parties will.also have people arriving separately in their cars…
1 Like
Based off of previous posts, I believe that the gate thing is tricky due to the driveway set up and it being off of a busy road (or highway?).
5 Likes
OK, I’m not catching all the details.
1 Like
Here’s a link to McGurk’s post - with a photo, circles and arrows! Ok, an X, you get it though
4 Likes
And world class dancers.
Mikhail Baryshnikov for example.
1 Like
Correct.
Also, there are many people going in and out of the farm, all the time. Farriers, vets, clients of Boyd & Silva, their own coaches, deliveries, and personal visitors to their home.
Supplying a different daily gate code to all of these folks, who aren’t going to be registering and paying via an online system prior to visiting the farm? Not practical.
16 Likes
How exactly will this make dishonest people honest about what they are paying for (the number of horses for example)?
15 Likes
Vendors get their own code which they keep.
I have done this on certain properties. You can program in an almost unlimited number of codes.
One of the best things is being able to change a code without re-keying the lock. And without keeping up with keys.
I know what codes have been programmed, and assigned to who, in my cell phone “contacts” notes area. That’s where I keep up with it.
Many code locks have an option to clear every single code, to be sure you got them all. You can re-enter just the ones you want in use.
Security wise this still isn’t perfect. But it’s better than many other options.
Just ideas. I’m sure Boyd is evolving towards something that will help reduce his stress over collecting these fees.
Although Boyd does not need an Internet thread to solve his problem, it is another interesting exchange of COTH ideas to think of processes that might work.
3 Likes
If only Boyd would stop spending so much time riding and competing and put his effort into developing a fool-proof gate code system… 
48 Likes
I don’t know any of the parties involved other than what I’ve read about them. I also don’t know the exact dates involved with this nonpayment event, but would assume that it took place some time in August or late July. From his Facebook pages, Windurra was in the process of hosting a very complicated Horse Camp at the same time, involving a host of clinicians. From what I read, this went off well. However, I would imagine that it would put a terrific strain on everyone involved with the planning and execution of this event, and any untoward event (nonpayment) might have led to an overreaction on Boyd’s part. At the very least, I would factor this into the equation.
8 Likes
Yes, that is exactly what everyone is expecting. No riding until he figures this out! /s
10 Likes
My experience with electronic gates is not positive.
A group of clients installed two of them at the barn as a gift to the barn owner.
A single gate and key pad cost ~$1000. That’s for a single, max width 16’ gate. The one at the road’s only purpose is to keep horses in when they’re out at that part of the farm. It accepts either a fob or an entry on the key pad. There’s a sign with the code and the instructions next to it.
The only thing this accomplishes is that you don’t have to get out of your vehicle or off your horse to open and close the gate. For that purpose, it works fairly well. It doesn’t “secure” anything but the horses, because the code is printed on the sign. (Unless my horse learns to punch in the code. Not outside the realm of possibility.)
The gate going into the main barn paddock has been a nightmare. There is no way to set up a keypad in that location, it’s fob only. Two people have had wrecks and damaged their trailers because they panicked when the gate started to close, forgetting that another tap of the fob will stop the gate or the gate will stop when it strikes something solid.
We changed the setting to leave the gate open longer and then the horses got out after the trailers went thru.
The gate frequently malfunctions and has to be disconnected to be opened.
I have no idea how many fobs have been purchased and distributed, but…it’s a lot. 24+ clients, farriers, vets, feed delivery, etc, etc. Some people want fobs in their daily driver and their hauling vehicle, because they drive to the farm regularly in both.
Oh, and my favorite! A horse (ok, my horse 
) figured out how to force open the gate, so now it has a chain on it as well when horses are out in the paddock. Pretty much defeating the purpose of an electronic gate, since you have to get out and unfasten the chain.
When the horses are in stalls and I’m running around the farm in the Gator, the electronic gates are great. Otherwise, not so much.
So I’m not sure e-gates are a solution, and I’m not sure how you can tie access to the e-gate to payment.
I’m also going to assume that maybe, just maybe, Boyd is better at running a horse business than I am and that he doesn’t need my advice.
17 Likes
