# What do you *love* about your barn?



## Beauseant (Oct 22, 2010)

I am very happy with our current boarding situation...after searching for a year, we found the perfect place.

We board our 2 horses on a private farm with 26 acres of lush pasture, a six stall barn with stalls that have dutch doors, a pond outside the pasture for us to take the horses swimming in, ...and we are the only boarders there. It is not a boarding facility, and the owners only allowed us to bring our horses there as the wife is a co worker and friend of my adult daughter. the best part is that we are alone. We've had our share of barn drama over the years, and it is emotionally draining and takes away quality time spent with the horses. Now we have the place to ourselves. The owners both have severe back injuries and cannot care for the horses in regards to heavy lifting, but will remove blankets, throw hay into the dry lot if needed, and open the gate to let them out into the grazing fields. she also gets up early in the morning in the winter and will unfreeze their buckets. * The best part ever is: we do self care.* WE have complete control over when our horses are fed, what they are fed, when they are turned out, how much grazing time they get, when they need to be kept in their stalls, etc.

Most boarding facilities around here have a "in during the night, out during the day" policy.... after memorial day, they reverse that to "in during the day, out during the night". I like our horses to be out 24/7 as much as possible...but with boarding facilities, it's their rules. Our horses haven't been in their stalls for 3 days, except for grain time....if we were at a boarding facility, we wouldn't have that option, and they would be stalled at night...regardless of the weather.

I LOVE self care. If we ever had to go back into a boarding facility, i don't know how I'd survive it.


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## starlinestables (Nov 24, 2008)

What I love about my barn (and hate) is.... that I'm the boss D


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## Reiterin (Mar 28, 2010)

Sounds like a great place _mayflyaway_. Hope your next place is a good place too. 
I love just about everything about my barn. - except that there are no trails on the property. However, we can ride out in the back pasture which sort of dips down a hill and (there is nothing behind us) so you can feel like you're in the middle of no where.

The people are great. older, casual/laid back horse owners. everyone is Really friendly.
I COMPLETELY trust the owners with the care of my horse. and they take care of the boarders as well as they care for the horses. 
We have an indoor arena. outdoor arena. round pen. some stalls have runs attached to them. we're allowed to ride in the pastures. individual turnout or multiple horse turnout. what ever you/your horse prefers.
we get the best hay! (I've seen some of the crap that other barns feed) =P

The only real problem is, because we are at the bottom of a hill, we get a lot of rain-water pile up in the out outdoor arena, and some of the runs on the stalls.


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## mayflyaway (Mar 21, 2011)

This is a great list of qualities to look for in a new place.


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## Jessskater (Mar 16, 2011)

I love how mine is in my back yard


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## mayflyaway (Mar 21, 2011)

Oh jeez, starline and jesskater, I wish I could have my horse that close to me! //envy//


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

I am hoping to soon be able to move to a place where Hunter can live in my backyard but until then I am really happy with the barn he is at. They take great care of the horses, there are only 4 of us boarding and Hunter being the youngest at 3 gets a special feed as the other ones are all on senior feed. Fantastic hay, vitamins supplied and they add my flax to his feed). He has a HUGE stall with a big paddock off of it. Automatic waterers in stalls and fields, his own grass field (he got separated from his pasture buddy last year when his mane got chewed off.. grrr). No drama. It's very quiet and sometimes lonely. I miss my friends at my old barn but he was not being properly looked after and it was really far away and I could only go out there on weekends, to find that he had no water and moldy hay. We have a HUGE outdoor lit arena and a 5 min drive to lots of great trails. The only downfalls are it can be lonely, turn out only from April to November and they don't do blankets (well she did this year for me a couple of times). I have thought about maybe moving him closer to me but since he has thrived since being there I am hesitant to move him.


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## SEAmom (Jan 8, 2011)

There are only 2 things I like about my current barn.

The first is that my friend is also there and she's a trainer, so I'm getting my horse trained/broke for free until I leave in the next few weeks. 

The second is that there is a 3yo colt who is my horse's best friend and the only one that will play and run around and around and around...well, you get the idea, with my almost 3yo. 

Other than that, I can take it or leave it. Most of the people there are awesome, but the BO is basically an idiot and really only interested in the monetary aspect rather than the health or safety of the horses.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Oh god....I think a simplier question would be What do I NOT love!!

I love that my trainer can take a problem horse and within two days return him to you completely turned around. I love that after 30 days on an unstarted colt I can completel four slow turnarounds, forehand turns, sidepasses, and get leads. I love that she's so tough on me when I need it but knows my limits. I love that she understands what I need and what my horse needs better than I do. I love that she has such a dill sergeant attitude but is so hilarious while she's doing it. I love that there's fantastic facilities and equipment for anyone to use.

And most of all, I love that everyone there is so reliable with everything. The assistant trainers and stablehands are always feeding and riding on time, there's never any mistakes with your hrose and that everything is pretty uch as it seems. There's no hidden method or hidden tactics behind anything anyone does. What you see is what you get and the horses are happy, and I'm happy.


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

I LOVE that it's my barn and I don't have to share lol! My favorite things about it, indoor washrack with hot water, 100 x 200 indoor attached to my stall barn, tie rings, lights & electric plug ins on every stall front and the best part is of course the horses in it!


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## donatellodemerlieux (Apr 18, 2011)

What I love about our barn is the 4 different arenas we have. We don't have any trails or anything, but we have 1 indoor arena complete with dressage letters, and jumps that can be set up or taken down and moved. We also have 1 outdoor arena called our 'rodeo arena' which is split between being a turnout paddock, and an arena, mainly for the leasers/boarders. It is rarely used for lessons. We have 2 more outdoor arena, 1 of which was a complete dressage arena, and the other was a jump arena, which was also used a lot for lunging and ground training. these 2 are right next to each other, recently the dressage fence was taken down, and both of the arenas were turned into 1, which has mainly been used for driving and lunging/ground training, as well as clinics. I absolutely love it, because we mainly have lessons in the indoor arena, so in the summer when you really dont want to interrupt lessons, you can choose from 3 other arenas to ride in! Or when your riding a stallion or any type of horse that you dont want around another horse, our barn is quiet enough that there is normally an arena that is free


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## SocietyJoe (Jan 21, 2011)

I love my 'barn' or agistment center. 

Their is one older lady, who's horse is an gem! I have my own tackroom, 2 beautiful red brick stables, and a huge paddock.  for only $50 a month.


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## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

The #1 thing that makes me love my barn, is that they put my horses health and well being 1st and foremost. His weight, his mental status, emotional and physical. They are totally ontop of things before the owner even knows or realizies. 

The Barn Workers and the Management and Owner keep a dilligent eye on the horses, and catch anything if it is not "normal". 

There are many reasons why I am in love with the facility I am now at. Been here since March and I am kicking myself for not being there sooner.


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

I love that I am the only boarder (absolutely no drama or anything disappearing) and my trainer treats my horse as her own. If he needs anything she takes care of it and then lets me know.


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## Puddintat (Jul 24, 2010)

The best part about my barn is how laid back it is.


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## Indigosblue (May 9, 2011)

the best part: It's heated in the winter.


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## kmdstar (Nov 17, 2009)

Oh man, I don't know! I love everything about the barn I board at really, never thought I'd say that LOL. It is super close, we do pasture board but have stalls so if we want to put them in we can, but we have to buy bedding/clean stalls...which for me is the best possible set up! I've never seen people do so much for drainage/mud as they do at this barn. They don't bother you or really care what you do, they're super friendly...oh I just LOVE it! And I'm one picky person when it comes to barns (this is the sixth barn we've been to in 3 years) and I could NOT be happier with a barn. Oh and one of the BOs is also our farrier (which is actually how we met him/found out about them boarding) so that's always a plus.


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## PaintedHeart (May 24, 2011)

I really love my barn, for many reasons! I love the trainer (who is also the BO) and all of the other people (they're just all around amazing). I love the facilities (either stall board or pasture board, personal tack lockers, cross ties, bathing area, good sized pastures, round pen, indoor arena, etc.). I love that it isn't too large, and depending on the time of week usually isn't too busy. I love the "staff" (they're technically volunteers, but they work to pay board, etc.), and how they take amazing care of my horse and will always stop by to say hi to us when we're there.

All in all there are two main things I don't like about my barn, but they're so minor I don't really think about it: One, it's a bit of a drive, which means I can't get out there as often as I would like. Two, it's a fairly small facility which means that there isn't really anywhere to ride out. If we want to ride out, we pretty much have to go somewhere else. But we get so many opportunities to do it, no one really cares much.


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## horseloverd2 (Jan 23, 2009)

The views.  Ocean as far as the eye can see. The arena is nice too, it's over an acre large. Awesome and convenient wash racks. Nothing indoor but it rains maybe 7 days out of the year and it's never cold so I guess you wouldn't really want one. The trainer is amazing too. You really feel like family at this ranch.


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## dezzistar (May 24, 2011)

I love our grass arena! We have a devil's ****, bank, tabletop, water jump, and liverpools. I love the BO/ Trainer, too.


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## back in the crosby again (Feb 4, 2009)

I love that I can wake up and walk out to feed and care for my own horses everyday. I know just what level of care they get at all times. Also for the cost of boarding one horse I can feed and house three. I have my guys at home.

Other then that nothing. I currently have a mowed area in my front pasture to ride in that is either rock hard when dry or slick as snot when rainy. I have a single jump and some old timbers to outline a dressage arena. I wish my stalls had nice level flooring and I could house more hay. 

Of course I also like that when I have saved enough I can change all of this just how I want to.


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## beauforever23 (May 6, 2010)

I pretty much love everything about my barn. It's really quiet and there is 1 other boarder and the BO plus me. No one is mean to anyone (that's a rule at our barn) no drama, a huge well kept ring, jumps, free roam grazing out in the front and the back, the BO is awesome and really quiet.


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

Today was the first day at my new barn. I know it's only the first day, but I LOVE it!

Sunny would not go in the stall, and within five minutes the BO, BO's husband, and the trainer were all there to help.

The arena and round pen have stadium lights!

There is a Swimming Pool that boarders can use!! :lol:

The BO is so nice and down-to-earth.

I could go on and on and on...
I think I'm going to love it!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

I love our barn because everyone is always ready to go out of their way to help you. No one laughs at you if you don't know something, and although we nitpick at eachother, we consider eachother family. Its really nice ^^


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## shelleyb (May 13, 2011)

I love my te yard im at coz it really is just one BIG family! Over 30 horses and about 12 families all best friends. Everybody knows eachothers horses and always do favours for eachother 'il turn out if you bring in' also every other week we all have a takeaway - up the yard in summer round houses in winter!

Also i love the farmer - he holds yard shows in spring and summer with hog roast and bbq and drinks for afters...... also at christmas his we all have mulled wine and mince pies in the farm house! 

It really is like a family...... if 2 horses are out competing garunteed about 20 people will come along just to offer support!!!


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