Barn and stable drama....

Lol, this is kinda funny I have been to many barns and my current one is the only one that has been dramatic and when I say dramatic...i mean DRAMATIC!

Most of the riders where I ride are youths/teens and honestly we never really have any drama.

However, we are a fairly small barn in a fairly small town, (;

I do not think there is a barn that does not have drama. Period.

How bad the drama is fully depends on how the BO deals with people who cause drama.

If drama gets you (general you) what you want then the drama producers continue to produce.


If you think about it, drama is inevitable. Large group of diverse people who the only thing they have in common is a desire to keep their horse at that facility. Add a dash of competition and a pinch of self confidence issues and poof, drama abounds.

I do not disagree that teens do cause quite a bit of the drama at any given place but I think the worst drama producers are the mothers. The parents who are far from reality and think their darling princess is the best and does nothing wrong.

I have clients at several barns, and I think the larger the barn the more drama. I unfortunately think to an extent when you get a bunch of girls or women together there is Drama.

That being said I have a small facility....I have 3-4 lesson kids here everyday and 2-3 adults coming out to ride. I take horses in training and lease horses out, so only have 2 boarders. I have never had drama at my barn, because I won't tolerate it. A few months ago I had a new adult student come in with two horses for me to train. Over time drama started to build. I asked her to leave, and the drama is gone.

I also lay down the law with my show kids. If they do not respect one another, myself and their parents then they don't go to the shows.

So find a barn where the BO/trainer won't tolerate it.

As a barn owner, we have been lucky enough to see both ends of the spectrum and we seem to have been lucky enough to get in a group of people that mesh well together and have respect for others . It seems that the more high-strung the barn, the more high-strung the people it attracts, you know?

Most of the drama that occured in the past was either a: the result of teenage girls who "own" their own horses (you know, the ones who's parents buy them a horse and pay the board, but the kids "own" the horse? There used to be several here), b: horse owners who feel that it is okay to not pay board for no reason. The former drove everybody bonkers. The latter just drove us bonkers and bewildered the people who actually loved their animals and felt inclined to pay for their needs (as any horse owner should). I know not all teenage girls with horses think it is okay to be rude to anyone and everyone, but we've seen it more often than not. Especially in the scenarios where the parents are equally used as verbal punching bags, and like AlwaysBehind said - the mom's who think their girls do no wrong.

For a short time we allowed one of the formerly "teenage" boarders to come back and board her horse, believing that since she was now almost 20 she had grown up. Apparently not. Thankfully, it didn't take long for her to realize that she just didn't fit in here (and frankly, our barn is "boring" as far as drama is concerned) before she left. While I'm sure this doesn't apply to all teenage horse owners, it seems that the mix of hormones and semi-attentive parents who spoile their daughters makes for girls with monstrous egos who know-it-all.

I love my BO dearly, she is one of my closest friends that I have here in Texas having only lived here for a year. She is one of the sweetest most caring people I have met, here or anywhere else around the world. She will bend over backwards to help a friend, loves her horses more than anything and makes her place a wonderful place be around.

Drama is one thing she doesn't tolerate. There have been a couple of instances where unnecessary heartache was caused by others and she swiftly and professionally got rid of the source of the problem. And I mean swift - in one case the person left within 48 hours of being asked to leave.

Suits me as I hate drama - I don't cause it and I don't perpetuate it.

Sometimes we giggle when we hear of the drama endured in other stables, we just sigh and say 'horse people - what can you do?'

Seriously, you stick 20 to 40 females together (throw in the odd horse owning male) ranging in ages anywhere from preteen to dotage and you don't expect there to be some sort of drama?

C'mon folks, that many crazy horse owning females in one small area just breeds crying, screaming, tantrums, personality clashes, cliques, and other assorted mayhem!

I don't 'do' drama. My last boarding barn was a small, privately owned Arabian breeding farm, and the owner only had 2 boarders; me and another woman. The other boarder was all about drama, but since neither the BO nor I was into it, her hissy fits always fell on deaf ears.

I keep my horses at home now, and I love it. I have no problem finding folks to ride with, and if someone starts something, I load up my horse and go home. Ah, peace!

I board at a 26 stall barn (so fairly large for the area) and there is very little if any drama ever. We are a very tight knit group and the barn owner/head trainer is totally chill and easy to talk to. She is huge about taking proper care of the horses but understands that there are boundaries and does not tell you wha tto do with your horse unless you ask her opinion. It is such an amazing atmosphere and although we have different philosophies on things, use different farriers and vets, we are quite close friends.

However I have boarded at some facilities with like 5 to 10 boarders where there is an amazing amount of drama. The BO is usually a bit of a nutcase and tells people what to do with their horses.

I find that the amount of drama rarely has to do with the amount of people or who is boarding there - but it has to do with the BO and how they manage the place and how mentally stable they are :P

Exactly... Leading by example.

Sorry - that is not drama - that is business. It's between the BO and the horse owner - no one else.