# Some boarding troubles.



## Dria (Dec 5, 2018)

So I board my horse at my friend's place. She has a wonderful 2 acres of land 2 big pastures, 3 covered stalls, big arena and round pen 10 min from my work and 15 from my house. I pay 250 a month to keep my girile there. Lately she hasn't been keeping up with buying food, thankfully I always buy extra, but I feel like my extra is now the main source of food for my animal. Which I don't care about BUT I have asked her multiple times to feed her two flakes in the morning and then 2 at night. She has a slow feeder net and I said they can either plop one in there or both on the stall mat. Basically I don't care how she is fed the flakes just needs to equate to 4. Sometimes they do it and sometimes they don't. I think her bf feeds sometimes and I don't know if she has communicated with him about how much she's supposed to be fed and I don't have his info. Her horses all get fed alfalfa one flake in the morning and one at night. My horse Elenore eats Bermuda only and I feel in order for her to get the right amount she needs more than 2 flakes a day. Currently Ellie is in one of the stalls since I've only had her about a month but once it dries up (it has been so rainy here) is going to be in the pasture, but I still need them to feed her the 4 flakes without having to stress out and go check up on her on my lunch break. I even filled her slow feeder net for them and left it in the hay barn for them to hang along with another flake of hay. Went to the barn this afternoon to find my hay bag full in the shed still. It's so frustrating. My husband and I also mantain the arena, we completely cleaned it out last spring when it was full of weeds and we have also got a drag for it. I maintain my horses stall and the pasture when she's out there. We have bought things for the barn like a new hose and a new push broom and other small things for them for everyone to use. Honestly I like to help out and other than her not feeding I really enjoy her and her property. She is young and just doesn't take care of things how I would, but it is not my property so I can only do so much. Anyone have any ideas on how I can be clear on how much she should be fed. I don't want to overstep and be rude by anymeans since I do like her place it's just the not knowing if my animal is fed is driving me a bit nuts.


----------



## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

Is your horse losing weight? Not getting enough feed is a serious problem. Are these flakes from a small bale or a bigger one, how much would two flakes of hay weigh? Is she getting any grass on pasture as well?

If you are close enough I think you probably go each day to see your horse. If this is so, can you have a serious talk with your friend and boyfriend, tell them your concern and maybe offer to set out the hay each day for them to feed. I know you are doing this but somehow make it clear to them that this is what you want to do and hopefully they will go along with this.

I think they would be happy to have someone like you at their stable as you do extra things for them but a little co-operation on their part would be nice.

Keep in mind that they may get upset and ask you to leave so you will have to take this into consideration and be tactful when you request that they feed what you have set out.


----------



## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

If you don't want to move barns...tread carefully what and how you say anything...
Since the horse is as close to your job/work, a committed stop daily after is a must.
Your horse will be out on pasture in a few weeks, she can scrounge grass during the day and when in for the night she has her hay to eat in her stall...
If it is a dirt "pasture" only I would be having some difficulty of my horse not having any food fed morning or afternoon.
Sounds like this is *not* a ideal situation anymore if your horse is not fed, you pay board that is to include hay not sure about the grain, you clean the stall, you maintain the riding ring and bought the drag for that, and you have bought tools for the barn...
See the problem...you pay them for space and that is what they are using you for_...bank-roll and not much in return although supposed to be.._
Figure out how much you spend in actual $$ every month, then in time spent maintaining the friends barn and yard/paddock space...
Is it still worth it or are there other places that offer and provide that which you contracted with them to provide for your horse...
Those details shall make a decision easy to make of stay, go...spend the time to search for a resolution or not.
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


----------



## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

Depends on size of bales if small square bales 2 flakes a day isn't enough. Our small square flakes on average weight 3 to 4 lbs per flake. That's a 50 lb bale on average sometimes less.

Paying 250 and you provide your help, doing the arena buying equipment for barn. Sorry but horse not being fed hay you put in net is very wrong. Not difficult to hang a hay net. 

Barn I work at provides hay for turned out horse free choice. Pasture kept ones also have free choice hay provided. Board for pasture kept is 200 with free choice hay. There is no grass either so only thing horses have is hay. 

Sounds like you need to find another place to keep your horse.


----------



## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Just a thought, but what if you approached the situation from a different way. Could tell her you are going to be a bit short on cash for a little while, and would only pay $200/month and you would personally come by twice a day to feed your horse. 

15 minute drive is not much. Get your hay bags ready at night, 2 minutes to swing by, hang hay net and go off to work.


----------



## Dria (Dec 5, 2018)

Thanks everyone! Great advice. I was planning on asking her to lower my board to 200 since I don't mind buying food so basically all I need her to do is feed and make sure there is water. I go almost everyday I think I've missed one day since I brought her to the barn. I've been searching for a self board care place that's close by, but there just aren't a lot of options. The main reason I love her place is she doesn't have other boarders, I've been to bigger barns and just didn't like the drama and such. We also go on trails alot and I love that I can take care of my horse. I liked full care but I really like being in charge of scheduling everything for her, I'm pretty anal about caring for my horse, lol. 
Right now the pasture she will be in is completely dirt since she doesn't seed for the winter and the Bermuda goes dormant. My husband and I were planning on reseeding in a couple months. I think I might talk to her about just feeding her myself since I like her to have the ability to munch all day until the grass starts to grow again. My hubs and I also built a shelter out in the pasture so might just go in the morning and hang a couple bags for her out there for her once it dries. 
One thing I will mention is she has been really sick the past week so I haven't been able to sit down with her and remind her of things. I also think that I'm not asking a lot for her to feed the way I want, I think she forgets though, lol. She's a trainer and is home all day with the horses so I know that she can go out and check on them and feed. I had my other horse out here before I got my current one and she was ok with feeding him. BUT she would just throw the alfalfa and not the Bermuda. I don't know why she's against it, he was supposed to get one of each basically. The Bermuda was just free feed for the day. 
The flakes I get are from 100lb bales so maybe about 15-16 flakes. So I thought that came out to like 6.2ishlb per flake so 4 flakes a day would be roughly 24-25lbs of food for a 1000lb horse. We also ride or train or whatever about 5 times a week so for moderate work I thought that was a pretty good ratio. Other than BioMane she isn't on any supplements, I also give her those. My horse luckily is an easy keeper and she hasn't lost any weight yet. Once she emerges out of the house again now that I think she is feeling better I will sit down with her and ask her what would ne better. If she needs me to come and feed I can or if she wants to continue feeding them all at the same time BUT needs to be the amount I request. She likes to feed my horse, client horses and her horse all at the same time, which I totally understand since they get all amped up once they hear the shed door. I have also fed her other horses too when I'm there since on the weekends she doesn't get around to feeding until noonish sometimes which I don't like either. I don't care if they are all fed right at the same time, but breakfast needs to be a thing. Idk if the horses appreciate brunch. Im going to keep looking for other places to board also hopefully one in the same area I can just do self care since then I'll know for sure what my horse is being fed.
I attached a photo of Ellie she's definitely not underweight but we are finally starting to get some work in after a couple weeks off from all the rain so I don't want her to start losing weight or anything since muscle gaining is the plan.


----------



## evilamc (Sep 22, 2011)

You may be surprised how much each flake weighs. Instead of guessing I'd purchase a fish scale or luggage scale, like a hanging scale? Then fill your hay bags and weigh them. Buy EXTRA hay bags, like have 8 total, and fill them every time you're out. Then all she has to do is hang bags and if you ever don't make it out one day, no big deal bags are already made up.

If your horse is in that much work I'd highly consider adding a ration balancer to make sure shes getting the nutrients she needs. It just balances out the hay. You usually only have to feed about 1 lb a day of it so a bag lasts over a month. You could also pre-prepare that by using bento boxes, like the Chinese takeout boxes? You can grab them on amazon super cheap. When I used to board thats what I did to always make sure my horse was fed correctly. I just made up the rations for the week one day every week and all barn owner had to do was dump it in a bucket.


----------



## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

For $250 a month, and you have a stall, turn out, arena, round pen, you're getting an amazing deal in AZ. When I lived in AZ, I had a 20 stall mare motel and had boarders and charged double that for full board. Self care has never worked for me, boarders tend to find a lot of excuses why they can't come by and care for their animal. Last time I talked to anyone in AZ, bales of alfalfa were running $15-20/bale (roughly 100 lb bale) and bermuda grass was the same or slightly higher. Since a horse will probably eat roughly 2% of their body weight in hay, a 1000 lb horse needs 20 lbs + or - a couple of pounds/day. Especially for grass hay, I've not seen 1 flake weigh 10 lbs, more like 4 or 5. And of course, unless they are weighing each flake, it's all kind of relative to how tightly the bales are baled, how much they pull off for a "flake" and so on. If you want to stay there, I'd just start showing up and feeding my own horse and I wouldn't as for anything off, she's not really making any money at the rate she's charging.


----------



## Dria (Dec 5, 2018)

I definitely feel 250 is a great price and I'm grateful for it, but that was supposed to be for her to buy food as well. Which she bought one bail, but that's definitely not enough. I'm also the type that likes to have enough food for at least a few weeks and she runs out of food for her ponies all the time and it gives me anxiety, which is why I get "extra" the extra I spend about 100 bucks on so that's why I was going to offer reducing it to 200 just so it's easier for everyone and then the extra can just be the main source of food. I've been at full board places close by for 325-350. Bermuda is 14 bucks a bail right now so not bad and definitely something I can just take care of. The only thing I care about is her getting enough food. I might get a scale also and weigh it so I know for sure. Also I think we do moderate to light work even though we ride a lot. One or two of those rides are trails and then they are about half hr sessions nothing way over the top. I don't know enough about supplements or a balance rationer to do that. I will start doing some research though. I absolutely love her place and I enjoy helping out too so I feel like we can work something out. She's also fun to ride with, we train and trail ride together a lot she also lets me keep my trailer on her property which is also super convenient.


----------



## evilamc (Sep 22, 2011)

A ration balancer is just a hard feed, low calories/sugar/starch..jam packed with vitamins and minerals that horses need that their forage may not be providing. Usually comes in 40-50 lb bags, at your horses size you'd feed a pound a day. They have a chart to help with how much you feed a day. Its not for the calories really just to make sure they are getting what they need.


----------



## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Hope you can work it all out. 

It is really not good for horses to go so long without food, but if she typically is a late night person, that probably isn't going to change. 

Your horse is beautiful, but to me looks just a bit on the thin side.


----------



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Could you make some sort of whiteboard chart with the things that need to be done each day, and hang it on her stall / in the barn / somewhere where barn owner and bf will see it? Like, there could be check boxes that they check off each time.

I really hear you on preparedness. My barn owner will get down to where she has no shavings at all, for instance, then try to get someone to come bring her some that day. And then complain because she can't get any. Right now we've been without shavings for almost two weeks. I just went and got my own, and I stored extra as well. Same with the hay. Luckily where we are, we have a whole stall just for our horse stuff, so I can store all of that stuff and not worry about when she runs out. But before, I hated being at her mercy, not knowing if my horses would have hay set out or not. They are all on pasture board (the shavings are because one is on stall rest right now), but in the winter they needed the hay. Not to mention, it just drives me crazy. Why wait until you have nothing to order more? What if something happens and the guy can't bring you anything for a couple of weeks?


----------



## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Some folks just don't seem to notice things. Know lots of people who go through life never seeming to notice when things need replaced/repaired/refilled. Very haphazard style. 

It drives me bonkers because I am so OCD about my animals. Plus I just don't think those types make good managers, of anything. 

Animals need their daily needs met. It is ok to be somewhat irregular on feeding times, but breakfast at noon? Not my way of doing things...


----------



## Dria (Dec 5, 2018)

Also. I'm a little upset now because I bought my extra Bermuda and they are using it to feed the other horses because they didn't end up buying any alfalfa, which she has never done before maybe because of the holiday. But I mean I didn't buy the extra Bermuda to feed her other horses. This is something ok to be upset about, right?

Edit - I also wouldn't care if she fed them with the grass I bought just would have been cool if they asked. I'd rather they have food in their tummies than nothing.


----------



## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

The handwriting on the wall is no longer invisible....
It is time to move on and quickly.
You are being used and your horse is now not going to be fed her food if it is used to feed everyone else's horses...you're going to run out far sooner than planned!
This is now escalating...
When you know you have a holiday approaching you don't "run out" of needed food to feed yours and the boarders horse...you don't.
That is sheer negligence.... by me Tractor Supply, Rural King and a few miles further away all the other feed dealers were open today...
My feet would have me finding a new barn ASAP...
sorry.
:runninghorse2:...


----------



## ChasingDreams (Nov 14, 2017)

I was in a very similar situation as you at my last boarding barn. Paying full price, but doing all the work and providing my own food because owner would buy the cheapest sweet feed he could find which gave my horse ulcers and made him nearly too hot to handle. I’d end up caring for all the horses besides my own, restocking supplies, etc. And I had to do my own turnout, clean my own stall and provide my own bedding.

I found a place with WAY better standard of care and not much more expensive than I was already paying. You would not believe how much of a relief it is to know that I can go camping for the weekend, or get busy with the kids for a few days, and my horse is still being cared for and fed properly. All I have to do is pay board and regular expenses... food, hay, and bedding is included, and he is well cared for by an amazing, experienced horse person that is employed by the farm. 

Invaluable. I agree... I’d be on the hunt for a better situation. Even if it costs just a little bit more. You probably don’t even realize how much everything you are providing is adding to your actual monthly costs!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Dria said:


> Also. I'm a little upset now because I bought my extra Bermuda and they are using it to feed the other horses because they didn't end up buying any alfalfa, which she has never done before maybe because of the holiday. But I mean I didn't buy the extra Bermuda to feed her other horses. This is something ok to be upset about, right?
> 
> Edit - I also wouldn't care if she fed them with the grass I bought just would have been cool if they asked. I'd rather they have food in their tummies than nothing.





Yes, there is a problem. Feeding your hay now to her horses? Not very nice. You need to look for a different place. Doubt you will get reimbursed for the hay either. 


Keep us posted


----------



## Dria (Dec 5, 2018)

OK so a few things happened last night for the better. I was able to actually talk to both the barn owner and her bf and it sounds like there was a big miscommunication, sorta. So the reason he used my bail of hay is because I had moved it to the other side of the hay barn because there wasn't enough room to stack it with the other 4 bails I bought. It was sort of under some other hay they had sold to someone so the bf thought that this might have been some old hay they forgotten about so they thought they could use it for their horses. 
I was also upset last night since the horses weren't fed again and I didn't know where the bf was and I tried messaging the BO, but turns out she was asleep (trying to get over her cold, it was like 7pm) so I ended up throwing a flake for my horse since ALL of them looked quite hungry. I also found out last night when I talked to the bf that he wasn't told that I wanted Ellie to have the extra flake of food in the morning and in the evenings. I don't think they talk about the horses 24/7 like I tend to do (lol, my poor hubs). They also apologized for using my hay too he had went out that night to get more for the other horses that night, which is why they were fed a bit late and he ended up getting a couple extra bails for me so we are all good there as well. I think this whole thing was because the BO was sick, things aren't usually as hectic and now I have the bf's contact info too so if anything seems amiss if something changes I can be sure to tell both of them. I am also moving the hay that I buy to the other side of the hay barn and then I will show them where I am stacking everything. The main reason I had it next to the Alfalfa they use was because they had that giant stack of old Orchardgrass filling up half the space. I will finish cleaning that out this weekend and then move everything over there so we can keep it a bit more separate.
I am still keeping an eye out for other boarding opportunities just to have a backup, but I really enjoy seeing my girlie on my lunch if I wants. Makes it easy to plan all her appointments since I can just take a long lunch and take care of everything. We are also searching for a horse property to buy as well (but that more of a 10 year plan). So for now I think we are staying put, like some have said having a big turnout space, an arena, a round pen along with a stall and no other boarders is really hard to come by at the price I'm able to pay especially where I live. I am also super non confrontational and so is the barn owner so it ended up not being a huge thing to talk about it anyway, but it was stressful, thanks everyone for helping me through it!


----------



## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

YAY! Good news indeed! 

May I suggest one more thing? How about putting up a sign of some sort on your stall door/gate listing the feeding schedule? That way they would not have to remember so much. When there are a lot of horses, it can get a bit complicated to individualize feeding.


----------



## Dria (Dec 5, 2018)

AnitaAnne said:


> YAY! Good news indeed!
> 
> May I suggest one more thing? How about putting up a sign of some sort on your stall door/gate listing the feeding schedule? That way they would not have to remember so much. When there are a lot of horses, it can get a bit complicated to individualize feeding.


Yes, I think that is a great idea. I am going to go get a white board this weekend and hang it up on her pasture gate so no one has to guess anymore.


----------



## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

I'm glad things worked out. Misunderstandings/miscommunication can definitely make things difficult. The fact that it wasn't a big confrontation makes things easier too. Now everyone is on the same page. 

I agree, posting a sign on the stall door would help. This way, it's CLEAR what your horse needs daily. She is a pretty horse btw! I am a sucker for buckskins.


----------



## Dria (Dec 5, 2018)

PoptartShop said:


> I'm glad things worked out. Misunderstandings/miscommunication can definitely make things difficult. The fact that it wasn't a big confrontation makes things easier too. Now everyone is on the same page.
> 
> I agree, posting a sign on the stall door would help. This way, it's CLEAR what your horse needs daily. She is a pretty horse btw! I am a sucker for buckskins.


Thank you! I'm absolutely in love with her, she is beyond sweet & smart too as well as pretty. I really lucked out with her. Buckskins are my fav, she is my dream horse.


----------

