Outdoor board--should an 'emergency' stall be available?

[0033232]

I've been boarding at the same barn for four years. The barn owner is AMAZING 99% of the time, but a difference of opinion on what should be available with outdoor board has us at odds.

Comments

[skyringer]

I can't offer much help, but it's never made much sense to me for a farm to have pasture boarders, and not have stalls available should a pasture boarder need it for varying reasons. There are a few barns around here that don't take any more horses than they have stalls, which is one of my favourite policies. My new barn doesn't have that policy, but she has self care which gives boarders a stall, and I jumped on the last one she had. I can sleep at night if she's hurt or whatever.

I digress.

I'd be willing to bet that his view is he has these stalls that aren't making any money, so he should fill them with people who will pay full board. I'm surprised, though, that he'd do an aboutface like that without explaining, esp since it seems like you've had such a good relationship for 4 years. Do you have the option to move your horse, or go to full board with him if he has a stall open up? That would probably be the easiest option for you, because you're right, if he has to go through a creek/river to get to the barn, he'll never ever fully dry out.

[xihateyourx]

I can see your logic about the possibility of an emergency where a horse is injured and needs stall rest etc. etc. but I don't think a stall should be available willy nilly for every medical issue that the horse pops us with especially ones that are a result of the pasture board. IMO things like that need to be solved by changing the horses's situation permanently. Otherwise you put your BO out for a while while your horse is in a stall and you're paying for pasture board only to send it back out to the mud pit of doom?

That would be like having the chiropractor out and then putting your ill fitting saddle back on.

HOWEVER, I should also point out that while I don't have extra stalls "available" as in lying open/empty being that I own 5 of the 15 horses on the property if an "emergency" arose I could "throw out" one of my horses for a pasture board horse to have a stall for stall rest etc.

[skyringer]

No, I don't think it should be for every little issue that goes wrong, either. If something like mud fever is a new and shiny problem, then maybe some time to help clear it up is acceptable, but if it was addressed, fixed, and then continues, the horse needs to be on full board. (The only reason I say it this way is because Harper had REALLY bad dew poisoning earlier this spring and once I addressed it, she hasn't had it since, ergo some horses are more susceptible to recurrence than others. Which you know :D)

I just think it's wise to always have a couple extra stalls *just in case* so you don't HAVE to throw any one out. That's why I jumped on the self care at my new barn - when Harper abscessed like crazy this spring, we had to throw out one of the show horses for two weeks while Harper hobbled like a cripple. If she had had a couple extra stalls, no one would have gotten thrown out. And I'm not talking a whole BARN, just one or two stalls that are not for full board horses. Do you lose a bit of money by not having those stalls filled? Sure. But as long as you don't have a pasture boarder that completely takes advantage of it, I don't see a problem with having a couple extras around, and if it's longer than x amount of days, it's $5 a day or something like that.

[xihateyourx]

not to sound snarky, because, for once I'm not :)
BUT if you had your own farm in this economy you'd see what's wrong with having empty stalls laying around.
for me it equals possibly losing my farm.

[skyringer]

No, I know the deal, because I know what kind of straights I left my last BO in when three of us left within one week. I totally understand; but on the flip side, if you don't have fields that are entirely appropriate, then as a conscientious barn owner you need to have the facilities available to help when issues like mud fever or whatever come up.

you = rhetorical, clearly :D

[xihateyourx]

well, i definitely agree with you there. as i said in my first reply to the OP if you don't have APPROPRIATE 24/7 turnout then you either need an escape from the mud pit of doom or you shouldn't offer pasture board.
I don't have "backup" stalls but my pasture for the ones that "live out" has a big shelter and is hardly EVER muddy at all let alone THAT kind of mud.

[skyringer]

Do you use a different surface in your runins, or are they just on straight dirt? I was discussing the pros and cons the other day of surfacing run ins with gravel dust or something as opposed to just dirt to limit the mud and mess...

[xihateyourx]

The run in is set on a whole "foundation" of gravel like you'd do with an arena. Bigger rocks to smaller rocks down to packed stone dust. It's also raised a bit so water drains away from it. We used to always use wood shavings as bedding in there which was nice but was a pain to clean and looked gross when dirty but now we use the old footing from the arena which is manufactured sand and they seem to LOVE it and it's SOOO easy to clean.

[meupatdoes]

There is this stuff that is mysteriously called "Item 4" which is a gravel/rock sand mixture and it works wonders. A contracter or footing person will know what you are talking about when you say it.

My friend had a total mudpit where the run in shelter was at the bottom of a large hill and she got sick of slogging through calf deep mud everyday.

One medium-sized load of Item 4 and some back-breaking work shoveling it into the field and you could walk around in normal paddock boots on a rainy day and be none the worse for wear.

[meupatdoes]

I am so totally with you on this.

Pasture board is P-A-S-T-U-R-E board, not mudpit board.

Pastures are
1. big enough (!!)
2. adequately drained
3. graded, Item 4'ed, or similar where needed

[0033232]

He does not fare well inside. I'm also not currently in a position to move him. The mud fever, thanks to keeping him in last night, is ALMOST gone.

[skyringer]

Which is fine, except he has to go RIGHT back out into the pasture where he got the mud fever in the first place, correct? And he has to go through that river, and that just means that it'll come back. I think you need to have a convo with your BO about WHY he won't help you control this by switching fields. I mean, that's not rocket science, you change fields. I'd try and find out what his refusal to switch fields is about.

[0033232]

The refusal is, basically, that he's weird like that. He simply will not switch horses around. Believe you me, if I had it my way all the overweight horses would live in the smaller field, without a roundbale. That'd save me and two other boarders muzzling our ponies!

He has his quirks, but it's so hard to find a good barn owner. I'm afraid that I'd be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, especially with the way the economy has BOs struggling and frazzled.

[0033232]

I'm not in a situation to move him (and I really don't want to leave this BO), and the horse does not like being inside. His mud fever is about gone now and will stay gone once it stays below freezing.

Yeah, it's really the lack of explaination that has me shaking my head. I'll keep the horse out now that I know the inside option is gone. That's fine. I just wanted to take a survey about what is normally included with pasture board--and I found out that I was lucky for what I had while I had it, but I shouldn't feel bad about losing it as it is not the norm.

[skyringer]

Well... most pasture board I know is exactly that - you get a pasture LOL

There are a lot of places around me, though, in central VA, who's pasture board is up around $300 or $350 because even though they are out and don't ever come in the barn, they are fed 2x a day with all the hay they can eat and get 2x day body checks.

[0033232]

Hehehe, my BOs 'body checks' crack me up. Every now and then he counts the horses' legs. As long as there are four to a horse, all's well (=