Question: When your horse damages the property?

CoCo got a bit overexcited yesterday when it was time to come back into the stalls. I don't know exactly what happened or how because I wasn't there. But she went through a gate. It looks like a bulldozer hit it! It's one of those big metal pipe farm gates.

At any rate - my biggest concern was that she was injured. For the amount of damage to the gate, I can't understand how she wasn't even scratched. I mean it was a complete miracle!

The barn manager says it's illegel here for the BO to require I replace the gate. I think differently, and really can't afford the $500 or so to replace it. The problem is, the entire fencing system is falling apart (rotted and aged wood that has never been cared for you lean on it a little and the rail shatters). They keep separating her from the gelding she gets along with, so her answer is to jump the fences. I hate this barn, it's the most confusing place to be (the BO changes the rules every 10 minutes) and I can not WAIT til Spring to move her to the combined training barn.

But - down to brass tacks - am I responsible for the gate?

This SHOULD be covered in your boarding agreement. Most specify what, if any responsbility, you have for property damage done by your horse.

if you are at a boarding farm & your horse breaks a gate i think its the barn owners job/responsibility to fix it. especially if it was dangerous/falling apart to begin with !

if you were walking thru someone elses property then you would have to pay for it though.

I agree with the other posters. You pay your monthly bill to board your horse there, the rest is the BO's responsibility. When my horse was in training he had a fit and ripped the training rings out of my trainers saddle. She did not charge me for it. There was something else he did and I can't completely remember what but I think he ripped a door off a stall. Happens, part of running a barn. If you feel bad about it then you can offer to help hang the new gate. But don't offer to buy one.

We have it in our contract that any excess damage caused by a boarders horse - it is the boarders responsbility to pay for replacement cost.

We have a price sheet for the most common damage - fence boards, posts, stall boards and corral panels.

if the fencing sucks, its their job to maintain it, thats why you pay them. most barns near me require a security deposit which goes to paying for things like that, you get it the rest back when you leave.

Well, so far she hasn't said anything to me about it. In fact even asked to buy some of my hay (it's a co-op barn and she ran out of hay I guess).

So... wait and see. Blah. Thanks for all the replies!

Our boarders are responsible for damages that their horses do to property that is associated with abnormal behaviors or mishandling such as cribbing, pawing stall doors, wall kicking, disrespect of electric fencing, breaking jumps, etc. However, in this situation I would not require they pay for the gate. It sounds like it was an accident and not caused directly through their personal negligence. We consider it our responsibility to provide a environment that can contain the animal.
Honestly, we have galvanized metal gates and there is no way a horse could break through any of them.

Yeh it was a very old, rusted farm gate, already damaged and I guess she spooked and hit the gate. It really looked like a car hit it.

Another lady at the barn had one of her students fix it in trade for a lesson and he did an awesome job.

yeah any damage done by a boarder should be already worked out in your agreement with whoever your boarding with.