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

[xihateyourx]

Most places I know of don't have stalls available for outside horses. I know we HAPPEN to but it can't be guaranteed

[0033232]

That makes sense. I think mostly why I feel slighted is that the situation suddenly changed without the BO telling me.

[xihateyourx]

i agree that's pretty crappy of him but when someone came knocking to say they wanted to pay his bills by taking a stall off his hands I'm sure he was just thinking $$$$ "sure!!!"

[0033232]

Of course! It's just not like the lovable old BO I'm used to. Times a-changin.

[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

[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

[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.

[fallenfaun]

I'd expect some kind of stall available for emergencies, after all, what is he going to do if one of the field boarder's founders or has an injured tendon and cannot stay outside? If its a one off thing could you maybe work out a deal with someone where you'd pay them like $5-10 night if you ever had to use a stall for your boy? Or do some kind of chore as payment?

My boy doesn't have a "stall" per se but he does have a big sturdy 14x14' shelter with rubber mats on the floor and a gate that I can shut him in if need be. Or if thats not working, the owner will let me use one of her stalls in the barn for a few days.

[blauereiterin]

hmmm that's a tough one for me to reconcile. if you're only paying for pasture board why should you expect a BO to keep a stall aside and empty "just in case" there's an emergency? that doesn't seem fair at all.

[fallenfaun]

If I'm using the stall for a period of time I'll pay for it, but I'd still expect there to be something available for a horse who needs some special care for a little bit even if its just one stall for every 10 field boarders or something.

One of the barns I looked at a while back had an isolation barn that you could but sick/lame horses in if you were a field boarder. Sick horses from the barn and new horses also went out there to make sure they weren't contagious so you kind of had to play the odds, but you had the choice.

[lyonesse]

i realize this isn't directly about your issue with your bo, but i think if your horse has been struggling with mud fever since spring (so what, six months??) you should probably be considering run-in rather than 24x7 field, for the sake of his health.

[0033232]

The stocking up from staying inside is worse than the mud fever, unfortunately.

[skyringer]

That sounds like he might have some circulatory issues, if he's stocking up that badly...?

[0033232]

Arthritis. This isn't to say the mud fever is horrible--the arthritis is just worse than the mud fever.

[remix22]

Your BO probably felt backed into a corner by being approached by a boarder who had the right to be angered by someone else using the stall they are paying for. Also, if it's not in your boarding contract that you will have the use of a stall for emergencies, then I would consider it not part of your boarding contract - regardless of what you BO tells you he is going to do.

Truthfully, if you feel that you should be able to have a stall to use at your will, then pay to have one reserved for your horse and request he still be kept outside 24/7.

[0033232]

I didn't feel that I should, it was simply a matter of the option having always been there and then suddenly disappearing. I want to follow the rules. I don't want a confrontation.

I know the BO felt equally backed into a corner. Had I known someone was paying for the stall I wouldn't have used it (horses have been coming and going like never before in the past month), but in the past he's had no qualms about me using empty stalls. And even when I've said, "meh, I'll leave him out" when my other horse was in (usually I use her stall), the BO has OFFERED an empty stall belonging to another boarder. Or when I say, "I'll leave him out because I can't be here in the morning to turn him out," the BO has said he'd turn the horse out.

I realize that I had a priviledged situation and now I have a regular one. Thank you for your comment.