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Going back to boarding and a bit overwhelmed

2K views 7 replies 8 participants last post by  DuckDodgers 
#1 ·
So after years of keeping my 'children' at home, I will soon be moving to a boarding facility. I'm not 100% sure of the moving date, as my house is up for sale. (I will be moving from Maine to an area out of state). I'm wondering about a few things... If I bring my horse down with my own truck and trailer, do barns allow you to park your trailers? I hear all these horror stories of things being stolen, should I keep my tack, and stuff at home and just bring everything if I go to ride? Or invest in a locking tack box?

Anything else I should really start to look for/at?

Also, I've begun my search for a new trailer, with a dressing room of course. Since this will be my longest drive with my horse, what are the best things to pack my trailer with. I would obviously be making stops along the way...

Thanks
Jessica
 
#2 ·
Expect to pay to park your trailer and talk to your insurance company about storage insurance which should cover theft and damage while parked. As for packing the trailer, make a list of everything that comes to mind. You can always edit the list later. If you tie him in, keep a pair of pruning shears handy in case he has to be undone (if tied) and he's in a panic. The shears have a blade guard and will make short work of whatever he's tied with, expecially if there's a lot of tension on it. I like to take a long rope or lunge line, my 12' rope and another halter and lead with the lead attached. Wound medication, bute are musts.
 
#3 ·
Lock your tack up. Until last week, I never left my tack at the barn. It just so happened that a saddle rack opened up and I got to know a lot more people at the barn did I start storing there.

Also, label your things like fly spray.

If there is room, a barn may allow you to park your trailer there. You'd have to ask.

Contracts, get contracts for everything. If you're allowed to park your trailer there, get a contract for that. You can't go wrong with contracts.
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#5 ·
At our barn so many of us have similar halters and matching brush boxes we've all picked one color of duct tape and we have it on a board in the barn. Our trainer teaches the Clinton Anderson Method and EVERYONE has a C.A. set. We each have our duct tape on it and it has helped reduce the "borrowing". I've noticed that my fly spray, detangler, and medicine stuff that has our duct tape on it doesn't get used either, because people see my tape and call someone out. I don't put tape on the leather tack.

At our barn we don't have room to store horse trailers. I keep mine at my house, and I have one of those locks that wraps around the hitch.

Another thing to think about...I do the grain at our barn. 3 people bag their grain, everyone else dumps it in their garbage can (where we also use our tape!). It is so much easier to make sure the horse is getting what the owner wants with the bags! Makes my life SO much easier. It also helps when boarders check on their own horse's grain every week or so. Opening a garbage can doesn't take much effort, but it really fries the horses when their owner hasn't kept up on the grain.
 
#6 ·
It all depends on the barn. Mine has free truck/trailer parking and individual tack lockers. A lot of places don't offer either of those, or charge more for it.
 
#7 ·
We have free trailer parking and everyone has a tack locker, which you can lock but no one does. Theft has never been an issue. Label your stuff, especially things like blankets and fly masks so they don't get mixed up, and name plates for halters are very useful - it can be very difficult to tell 10 mud-covered turnout halters apart. Some people get small dog tags to put on their stuff. And label your scissors! You never get those back. If your horse insurance offers tack coverage for a reasonable price, get it. I think mine is only $20 extra per year.
 
#8 ·
Do you already know what barn you will be boarding at? If so, give the barn owner/manager a call and ask these questions. Ask if there is trailer parking available, and if there is a fee to do so. Ask about the tack situation- some just have open tack rooms, some have lockers for everyone, and I've boarded at a barn where you had to buy a locker or bring your own box if you didn't want to leave your stuff open in the tack room. Whatever you decide to do, I would count on either bringing your stuff back and forth, locking it in a locker/tack box, or locking it in your trailer until you can figure out the situation. I also label everything, but that doesn't always stop the brush thieves. I once accidentally left my grooming box out for a couple of days, and I had a labelled brush and hoof pick go missing. Strangely enough, another similarly styled brush of much lesser quality and another hoof pick appeared in their place :? Basically, I label everything and don't leave anything out when I'm away.
 
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