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Crazy Barn Owners Trying to Keep Horses

25K views 74 replies 45 participants last post by  KountryPrincess 
#1 ·
I'm going to peeve a whole bunch of barn owners out there but I've really heard, read and experienced ENOUGH.

D O N ' T EVER give notice when you're moving your horse. It seems like lately everyone is using the notice for crazy stuff to keep people from their horses.

Make sure you are paid up on your horse board bill. Find a new place to take your horse(s) and pay for a stall as of a certain date. Hook up your trailer or hire a hauler to go pick up your horse.

Example: June 1, pay your board bill in full. Go find a new place and pay for a new stall starting June 15. Start taking your stuff home a couple items at the time so that you don't have a huge packing job on the day. On June 15 go pick up your horse. If the anyone asks where you're going you have 2 choices. Either tell them it's none of their business or make up that your horse is going to the vet or a show or on a trail ride. Move the horse, call the barn after you're gone and tell them you're not coming back. If they scream about 30 days notice, tell them you're giving them 2 weeks (since you already paid for the whole month) and tell 'em to sue you for the rest.

They won't bother, it's not worth the time and money. Even if they do, show up and argue why you shouldn't have to give notice and cite these crazy threads and stories about people who have given notice and had nothing but heartache because of it. They probably won't prevail.
 
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#2 ·
I just wonder about those crazy stories. It's a general fact in life that every story has two sides . So, I wonder how things got as bad as they get. And, for every person who has had this happen to them, I bet there's barn operators who have had people ditch them and not pay up , even the current month, much less the one month notice.
 
#3 ·
I have never boarded at a public barn, so all my experience is based solely on what happens to the people around me. My friend has had no issue moving her horse around, but I don't know if she ever gave 30 days.

I do have to agree with Tiny though. There are two sides to every story, and the truth is somewhere in between.
 
#6 ·
I just gave notice, 35 days notice to be exact, paid for the full month but am moving the 15th. I think it depends on the relationship one has had - my BO has been a good friend, a have always respected his opinion and knowledge, and I talked to him face to face about moving barns. I know there are crazy BOs out there, but respect goes a long way.
 
#9 ·
Well, it's up to everyone's choice of course. I just went to move a horse for someone on Saturday and dealt with a crazy BO. Person had paid in full for the month of Aug. Gave notice the 15th and the BO changed the gate codes and would not allow her back in to her horse. On the day we were to move the horse, BO insisted on police for a civil stand by and made a mess of everything. The only problem there was the BO, the lady whose horse I moved was cooperative and quiet. I was glad the police were there because they saw for themselves that the BO was the issue, not the boarder, not me as the hauler. That 2 hrs was the most ridiculously stressful and loooooongest 2 hrs I've spent in a very long time. The barn owner had not taken care of the horse for the 15 days the owner was locked out, his stall stank and was dirty, per the owner he had dropped considerable weight and I can tell you first hand his water was so nasty I could smell it across the aisle.

I don't board out but this whole thing and reading all this stuff on here has made me definately decide against ever boarding my horses out again. It was disgusting and totally un-necessary.
 
#10 ·
Yep, sounds like a crazy BO for sure! I've been with my horse every day since I gave notice. Stalls are clean, horse is fed and watered. I wouldn't hesitate to board there again.
 
#11 ·
I gave my first BOs a notice and just double paid board so there was nothing they could do. They knew I was leaving and the most I got was a dirty look. They weren't going to treat my horse any differently because they were animal lovers, they are just the type of people that will do anything for money (always asking for donations and volunteers and offering all kinds of random services to make a buck), so when one of their only 3 boarded horses was leaving, they were losing a bit of money.

I work at my current barn at least 3 days a week and am there all the time, so I know all of the horses well. We've had people come and go. Rarely does someone leave because of us. In fact, I can only think of a couple of people who have left in the last year. One on perfectly good terms and is still a friend of the owners. She just had a better trainer opportunity elsewhere. The other was not perfect. The BOs are very nice and accepted her lie as truth because she had mentioned her situation a few times. It was a white lie and she never paid her 30 day notice.

The only other people who have left have been asked to leave. We never treated their horses differently before they left...mostly because we were glad they were leaving. Why leave them on even worse terms than they already are?
 
#12 · (Edited)
You know the saying "Don't burn your bridges"? Leaving without notice is doing that. Unless you are leaving a bad place, I would give some notice. I would like to at least have the option of being able to return if needed. Going without notice, you might not get that option.

I've only been at 3 barns. The first barn we didn't give notice and pulled them. I would never return there even if it was the last place on earth. We were there only 3 weeks. In that time, we ended up having to clean our own stalls and buy our own hay. They had people there to clean the stalls and they did have hay. They wouldn't clean our stalls, so we had to. Then they said that they didn't clean them because we were. The hay they was poor quality and they weren't giving ours any anyway. We knew they didn't because they never cleaned the aisle by the stalls. All of the other stalls had hay on the floor except ours. They used sunflower seed shells as bedding and our horse would eat them because he didn't get any hay, at least until we started doing things ourselves. Before we left, we documented the conditions there with video in case they wanted to take us to court. They never even tried.

The next stable we did give notice because we and our horses were treated right. My wife started working at a different stable, so we moved them. They were there for the winter but when spring came, we had a flood. All the horses were moved to the BM's parents. One of our horses got heaves while there. When they returned to the stable, they started to get treated badly. My wife was "laid off" so we moved them back to the second stable without notice.

So, long story short, if you don't care about leaving on nice terms and don't care about not going back, don't give notice.
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#14 ·
Most places I've been have been fine with notice. Up until recently I've never had problems boarding anywhere. Maybe it's because I tend to gravitate towards rescue barns with understanding operators but there are those people out there that act like petulant children when they find out people are leaving. For a lot of people horses are just business and they don't care about the fact they are living breathing animals. It's when you deal with those people the problems happen because losing a horse is losing money and I don't know many people who enjoy losing money. But it's not just the BO's fault. You have to be a good judge of character as well. Go and visit a barn and scope the place out before you move there and if it's just a short term thing then let them know before you put your horse there. Some people just find a barn and move their horses not really knowing the inner workings of it and then get all fluffed up when it's not what they wanted. Be proactive and talk to boarders. Plenty of them are willing to point out the bad qualities and if there are more bad then good try somewhere else.
 
#15 ·
ive mostly always had my horse at home....
we had my mare at my extrainers ranch for about 6-8 months.....looking back now i was REALLY lucky.

we had no contract...we were basically family. i was always at her house, always gointg to rodeos with her.

she never charged board, we paid for lessons but thats it. i borrowed her horses multiple times for rodeos and such...

right AFTER we moved my mare back to the ranch, she went crazy and started rumors, trying to get us kicked out of rodeos, shows, saying we "abused" my mare...

just thinking about how it could have turned out if she had stayed there longer....i could have been in the same situation as some of the people here....thats why we ALWAYS have contracts now for anybody that boards at our house.
 
#19 ·
Joe, the cop asked me how I would have handled the situation if it had been my horse. I told him that gate would have come DOWN, the horse would be hauled to my house and I'd probably be sittin in their lock up for assaulting the BO, but that's just me and I don't advise anyone to do that. He didn't agree (of course not, he can't) but he understood when he saw the situation. :twisted:
 
#18 ·
People listen to Pats advice. It's rock solid. I have my horses at home and have for five years. but I've been taken advantage of by BOs and it seems they take it personally if you move. There are good ones out there but I'm two for two on the craziness and I always paid on time or early.
 
#21 ·
Looking back on what happened to Char, Spanky and Katie I agree 100% with Dream. That demon woman wouldn't let me buy them from her for double the price she set.

Our new horses have our names all across their papers with no doubt as to whom they belong to.
 
#22 ·
Giving notice doesn't mean your horse has to be there. You can pack up, move and THEN give notice and pay up.

Don't burn bridges!

I recently brought my horse home from where he was boarded for various reasons. I didn't give a laundry list of reasons, say why I was unhappy or anything, just let them know that I decided he should be moved.

One week later my horse got into a fight over the fence with the neighbor's horse and sliced the back of his heel bulb open which required him to go on stall rest.... only I don't have a barn! I texted my old BO a picture of his owie and before the Vet even finished sewing him up, she was in my driveway with her trailer while her hubby was at the barn getting his old stall all ready for him.

Can't tell you how grateful I am that she dropped everything and hauled my horse back to her barn. Sure, there are 9 billion boarding facilities around here (literally..... since we are near the college) and I could have procured a stall at any one of those BUT my horse would not have been quiet, calm and ok with 24x7 stall rest as it would have been a new, strange place. Going back to his old stall and all his buddies? He would have RUN right on in (it was dinner time... LOL) if he didn't have an ouchy foot!
 
#31 ·
Giving notice doesn't mean your horse has to be there. You can pack up, move and THEN give notice and pay up.

Don't burn bridges!
^^ This is a FANTASTIC piece of advice. ^^

I've always been able to give 30 day notice and not have a problem, however if I ever did feel there would be an issue, I'd just at the end of the month haul my horse home, go back in and pay, then give my 1 month notice. Your out the one month payment, but at least there will be no problems taking the horse home.
 
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#26 ·
Did he heal up okay, Delfina?
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Stitches came out this week and he is looking good!

Still on stall rest this week and next week we start limited turnout. Not sure when he's going to return home yet as he needs to stay calm and quiet (he's a Morgan, calm and quiet are NOT in his vocabulary!) until he's fully healed and since he loves his stall and that we rotate all his buddies in the stall next to him so he isn't lonely, I'm in no rush to get him back here..... hubby who is really tired of me driving to the barn 3x a day has other opinions. :?
 
#24 ·
Um. Many barns have a 30-day notice requirement, for good reason.
The OP sounds very suspicious and I would be right peeved off if I were your BO; taking items one at a time to keep suspicions down, then move without giving your barn owner a heads up? Bad business sense at best. Burning bridges in the horse world, small as it is, is not usually a good idea.
I've been released from 30 day contracts before by being honest, upfront and amicable to the parties involved. No sneaking around and up-and-leaving for me, thank you.
Even when I left a barn for its deplorable conditions, which happened gradually when I was there, I left on good terms. You never know what the future holds.
The horse world is tiny and people like to talk.
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#25 ·
When I first moved down to kansas, I boarded my horse (other horse I left in nebraska as it was cheaper) with my friends coworker friend who had a few horses. Where I lived at the time I was smack dab in between two towns, so I focused on finding jobs in those two towns. (un)fortunetly the two jobs I had found were in the town that did NOT contain my horses, so a month goes by and TONS of gas as it was a 40 minute drive from one town to the other just to see my horse (3+ times a week)...needless to say I got sick of this pretty quickly. BEFORE I even started pursueing a boarding barn in town B- I let these people know what my plans were and that it was just too darn taxing for me to keep two jobs and come down to see my horse, so I NEEDED to move her (plus as good as the care was, their fences and pen with jagged crap all over i really wasnt impressed with). They told me i had to do what i had to do and that they understood.

Fast forward: found a great barn in town B 10 mins out of town, that provided great care and their place was horse friendly PLUS it was much cheaper per month than i was paying before so i was able to afford to bring down my older arab mare!

ANY hoo the owners of where i previously boarded, started telling our mutual friend that i was just a user and various other things (My board was paid in full for your services... I got NO free ride!). And that it was shady of me to move my horse on a day no one was home EVEN though I TOLD them what day I was coming!

Some people are just wacked, and they will always be that way.
 
#27 ·
also we bought a little farm here and once we fence a couple pastures off we will have room to take on One or two boarders... Now I can understand a 30 day notice if your a big barn that employes people and a trainer, but for a small barn?? I agree with not burning bridges (in the best of circumstances that cannot be helped!) but as long as my future boarders have the common courtesy to tell me whats up, and pay in full before their horse leaves the property, thats all that should be nessesary IMO. Thats what I did with the first barn (with not so great results) and thats what i did my the second barn (No bridges burned there.)
 
#28 ·
I'm glad to hear it's going well.

I've never had to board, but I would never leave without notice unless my horse or myself were in danger.

I have had horses out for training, and had one trainer get annoyed when I pulled the horse. After I explained why, she understood. But I did give her six weeks notice.
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