# Barn Rant -- Crazy owner



## xGirugamesh (May 16, 2013)

So I've been boarding my horse at this small little place about five minutes away from my house since October 2012. He has a run 3 or 4 days out of the week and his own stall, and I have a personal locker for all of my feed, tack, and equipment. The arena is on the small side but she added a few inches of sand recently so it's a lot better on his joints now and good for when it gets wet because it isn't as slippery and works him a little bit harder. Best of all, this place is like five minutes away, there are a couple of high schoolers there that I'm friends with now, and board is only 200$ since we do partial care.

With the pros out of the way, I'd like to point out the cons. The owner of the barn is a woman in her thirties. She's an A-type and a micromanager TO THE MAX. She hires only teenage girls, makes them work off of the clock, and is constantly changing their duties so that she doesn't have to pay them more than she wants. She also overcharges for lessons and camps and is in reality an awful teacher.

One of the bad experiences I've had with her is that there was one night where it was below freezing ( not raining) and she had the girl working put all of the horses up. For whatever reason my horse stayed outside BY HIMSELF, even though she had put up the other boarder's horses. I went to speak with the girl about it but she had taken off.

Another time was when my horse was turned out and I went to check his water bucket, and it was BLACK. We complained, and she told us that the water was the boarder's responsibility, even though she clearly stated when we toured the barn with her that the workers would take care of all of the horse's water. So we had to dump out, clean, and refill the bucket because of her hypocrisy.

I heard a rumour that next year she's switching to full care only, and I have NO idea what to do if she does because there are no other stables nearby :c


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## Phly (Nov 14, 2012)

Just from a totally Internet standpoint, a bucket of water shouldn't go "black" in a day or so. It should be empty. Well unless you use huge buckets. We use apx 100 gallons every third day for 3. Also if you were there to question why your horse wasn't stalled, why didn't you stall your horse? 

I don't wanna sound like that ^^^ but its reality.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Does not sound like it's horrible, just not perfect, but I suspect most barns have their flaws.


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## xGirugamesh (May 16, 2013)

Phly said:


> Just from a totally Internet standpoint, a bucket of water shouldn't go "black" in a day or so. It should be empty. Well unless you use huge buckets. We use apx 100 gallons every third day for 3. Also if you were there to question why your horse wasn't stalled, why didn't you stall your horse?
> 
> I don't wanna sound like that ^^^ but its reality.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


See but that's the thing, they hadn't changed the water at all. And I hadn't been at the stables that night, so when I came in the morning he was alone. I don't want to sound fussy, I just feel like when these things happen the least she could is apologize rather than turning the blame to me when it wasn't even my fault in the first place. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## poppy1356 (Jan 18, 2012)

Sorry but I don't see a reason to complain. You have semi-care board and your horses water bucket was dirty? To me semi-care board says you do everything but throw hay and water. So your horse was outside because you didn't put him in. You were there so naturally since you do not pay for full care the girl assumed you would put your own horse in.

I just moved from a barn that had a legitimate crazy barn manager. This is nowhere near crazy. 

And water that was black after a day? It happens. I clean stalls at a couple different barns where water buckets are cleaned daily. Some horses keep them clean and some horses wash every bite of hay off in them.

And what do you mean you don't know what you will do if she changes everything to full care board?? It sounds like that is what you need since you already seem to expect it. You suck it up and pay for full board.


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

I've seen buckets go black in a day.... when the winds pick up here and howl at 60+mph every last bucket is GROSS!! Seems like every last speck of dirt, dust, dried poop and godonlyknowswhat lands in them. 

If you rinse/dump the bucket daily it won't ever really need to be scrubbed. Plus the cleaner the bucket, the more the horse drinks so the less water to be hauled for dumping. Takes me 10mins if that to clean/fill 14 buckets.


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

xGirugamesh said:


> With the pros out of the way, I'd like to point out the cons. The owner of the barn is a woman in her thirties. She's an A-type and a micromanager TO THE MAX. She hires only teenage girls, makes them work off of the clock, and is constantly changing their duties so that she doesn't have to pay them more than she wants.
> 
> She also overcharges for lessons and camps and is in reality an awful teacher.


What are the farm labor laws in your state? How about worker's comp laws. In MN barns need to carry workers comp. Even for those allow boarders to work off board (full or partial).

As far as over charging - that would be your opinion. It's supply and demand.


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## xGirugamesh (May 16, 2013)

poppy1356 said:


> Sorry but I don't see a reason to complain. You have semi-care board and your horses water bucket was dirty? To me semi-care board says you do everything but throw hay and water. So your horse was outside because you didn't put him in. You were there so naturally since you do not pay for full care the girl assumed you would put your own horse in.
> 
> I just moved from a barn that had a legitimate crazy barn manager. This is nowhere near crazy.
> 
> ...


I provide the hay and grain. She outlined to me that their job was to water, feed in the mornings, and turn my horse in/out if I wasn't there.

I can't afford full care board. So I can't "suck it up". I'd love to do complete self-care if I could make it there in the mornings. It's cheaper too. But whatever. I guess I'm being a bratty little girl.


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## poppy1356 (Jan 18, 2012)

Wait you pay 200 a month and provide the hay? I pay 300 for full pasture board, meaning they do everything and provide the grain and hay. Given I'm not in Texas but still a pretty high price for my area. That seems awfully high for what is provided.

But you answered your problems, you were there and that's why they didn't put your horse in, you are responsible for that. They provided water, you didn't say it was empty? Just the water was dirty, which doesn't take long for a horse to dirty up a water bucket.

Now I can't exactly afford where my horse is now but they only hire boarders to work there. So I only have to work one day a month to bring the cost down.


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

O.O I was paying $120 for pasture board that included hay, horses weren't brought in though, so grain was only an option if you were there everyday.

I'm now paying $180 for pasture board (now with a run in lol), hay, and I supply my own grain (I think I'm getting $20 off for supplying it) because I don't feed sweet feed.

Personally, it wouldn't matter if I was there sitting around or sitting with my horse in the field, I'd expect to be asked if I would put my horse away when I was done with it or if I wanted them to do it (because it's their JOB).

I wouldn't worry too much about the water if it's just dirty and isn't dirty constantly. If it were empty or never clean, then I'd complain.

But..average pasture board (with hay provided) is around $250..you have the crazies that want to charge $360 for pasture and have no one boarded there..and then you have the barn I'm at. Not only do I pay my price and get what I get, I have a couple hundred miles of trails, an indoor arena, an outdoor arena, and a BO that will trailer wherever whenever as long as it isn't the date she has a pony party, haha.

I vote to go to a show and ask all the horse people where they board and what they charge. It may be farther away, but we gotta do what we gotta do to keep our horses, right?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## busysmurf (Feb 16, 2012)

What does your contract say?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Copperhead (Jun 27, 2012)

busysmurf said:


> What does your contract say?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I was about to ask this. Did you get a contract or was it only verbal? Verbal contracts seem to dive downhill fast. Written contracts seem to hold up a lot better.


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## xGirugamesh (May 16, 2013)

busysmurf said:


> What does your contract say?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


You know I probably should have checked that earlier on when I was having problems. I could probably find it and see what I agreed to, in order to make sure I'm not the one that's technically wrong (even though she's the one changing everything up -.-) 

And yea just like this is my first time owning a horse so the whole water thing worried me at first because I'd never seen that before at my old stable. I get that it's not a big deal, now.

I wasn't there when my horse was left outside, by the way. Anyway it's toned down a lot but there was a lot of frustration still in my system so I posted here because I wanted to discuss it, not to be scolded lol. I can tolerate it as long as she doesn't make me pay 450.

And it's expensive here because it's in the suburb. Even though it's pretty tiny and the amenities are kind of limited, it's the closest thing to our house. She charges a lot for everything just because of location. The only reason that frustrates me is because there's so much that needs to be fixed and she hasn't done anything with the money she has other than buy feed and renovate a room for her office. But I don't know her revenue, so I don't have too much room to talk.

I took a picture with my helmet off a few days ago on my horse and she yelled at me not to tag her barn in it. She's constantly moping about liabilities and I honestly think that if she believed she ran a safe facility that she wouldn't have to worry about pictures without helmets, but I see where she's coming from. She just irritates me as a person honestly. That's what makes it so difficult to deal with when things happen. Most of this is just me being really annoyed so of course I'm trying to find something to call her out on. I'm only 15 though, so throw in severe mood swings to your average barn frustrations and maybe you'll see where I'm coming from haha.


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## destinywaitsaturdoor (Feb 20, 2013)

I can understand the helmet thing -- it's the law for children under 18 to be wearing helmets, so yeah, it's a huge liability risk for her.


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## CatrinaB87 (Dec 29, 2008)

I keep my horses at a barn that is unfortunately 25 miles away from me, BUT I know for a fact that they are well cared for. The BO has some pretty pricey reining horses that live in the barn, and his aging father feeds twice a day, hay and grain. And I can promise you come rain or sleet or whatever, that man is there feeding. He loves a schedule. The horses always have water, which is usually clean (sometimes there is some algae, but I don't mind cleaning it out, because they are my babies and to me, he's doing ME a favor by charging so little and taking such great care of my horses) they are well fed, fences and posts are maintained, and I have personally witnessed him chase a contractor off the property for some rude behavior. Sure, there are places closer to me that I could board, but I know that they are being WELL CARED FOR where they are at. That peace of mind is worth more than having them at a run down facility with a moody owner right next door.


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## apachiedragon (Apr 19, 2008)

Liability is a huge deal. I know that you probably haven't had too much experience with that sort of thing, but all it takes is one person to do something stupid, and sue her for it, even if its not her fault and she loses everything. I watched a new girl taking a lesson once at a barn I worked at, she deliberately took a dive off the horse, claimed a concussion, and tried to sue the BO for something ridiculous, like reckless endangerment. She lost, because thankfully she had signed a release, and there were witnesses, myself included, that could testify that she had fallen off on purpose, and that even if she HAD fallen off accidentally, that it was within the normal risks involved with riding, not because the horse was a known danger. But under other circumstances, she very easily could have won that suit and put the BO out of business. 

I would be willing to bet that if she had some girl putting the horses up that night yours got left out, that it wasn't on purpose. Its very likely the girl got distracted and missed or forgot your horse. It sucks, but it happens. If it becomes a more common problem, then it definitely needs to be addressed though.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

You made a comment about 'being a brat' I think you got it. You said she was responsible to 'turn the horse in / out when you were not there' . You were there, so it was up to you to put your horse up . Besides being lazy, that is just irresponsible. I dont blame the BO to get after you for no helmut, it may have just been for a photo, but in that short of a time span, something could have freaked your horse . If you see your horses water is dirty, dump it and clean it. I have one horse, that needs water dumped and cleaned every other day, and i have 50 gallon barrells. He washes his mouth out in it. it stinks. I have another horse, that only needs his water dumped and cleaned once a week. I guess you better start being nice to the BO , and if she does goes full care, you better see if you can get a job cleaning water buckets and stalls to keep your cost down.


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## xGirugamesh (May 16, 2013)

stevenson said:


> You made a comment about 'being a brat' I think you got it. You said she was responsible to 'turn the horse in / out when you were not there' . You were there, so it was up to you to put your horse up . Besides being lazy, that is just irresponsible. I dont blame the BO to get after you for no helmut, it may have just been for a photo, but in that short of a time span, something could have freaked your horse . If you see your horses water is dirty, dump it and clean it. I have one horse, that needs water dumped and cleaned every other day, and i have 50 gallon barrells. He washes his mouth out in it. it stinks. I have another horse, that only needs his water dumped and cleaned once a week. I guess you better start being nice to the BO , and if she does goes full care, you better see if you can get a job cleaning water buckets and stalls to keep your cost down.



Maybe instead of calling me a brat you should focus on my replies and the fact that I wasn't there the night this happened. But thank you for being rude, I really appreciate it Sure makes me feel welcome in the horse world.


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

xGirugamesh said:


> You know I probably should have checked that earlier on when I was having problems. I could probably find it and see what I agreed to, in order to make sure I'm not the one that's technically wrong (even though she's the one changing everything up -.-)
> 
> And yea just like this is my first time owning a horse so the whole water thing worried me at first because I'd never seen that before at my old stable. I get that it's not a big deal, now.
> 
> ...


Here is the REAL issue. Right there. And please note-I AM reading and using YOUR posts, so don't get all snotty (aka bratty) about it. You want full care and pay for partial. I suggest you read your contract and abide by it. I also suggest that you educate yourself about what your options are. If this BO sees this rant she may just ask you to leave. I sure would. You are not worth the hassle. 

IMO-the other half of the issue is that you are 15, with little adult involvement other than to pay the bills. That usually spells trouble. My kids grew up with a whole bunch of brats whose parents throw $$ at them instead of time. Maybe mom and dad could take an interest if they haven't. Might bode better for you speaking to an adult BO. JMHO.

Sorry if you find this rude or "unwelcoming to the horse world", but honestly-re-read your post. It is the way you are coming across. You are welcome to come here to learn. You are 15. You have lots of that to do.


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## xGirugamesh (May 16, 2013)

My parents are involved, but thanks for assuming things. 
I'm not a brat. There's a 13 yr old girl here that has a 6000 Fallon Taylor barrel horse. 
I have to get a job to support my hobby, my parents don't throw money at me.
I've been abiding by my contract as far as I know.
And I'm aware I'm not worth the hassle, but thanks for reminding me how little I am worth.
You guys can stop replying, I'm moving barns anyway. She's kicking all of her boarders out.


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## hemms (Apr 18, 2012)

Omg, shelf your drama and learn from what people are trying to show you, here. It is not You vs The World. Learn to work within the world you live in and you will get SO much further.

The reality is that at every stable, you trade pros and cons. A list of your priorities, in order of importance, will clearly outline what you can let go of and what you're not willing to give up. 

The last place I boarded at had: a great community, great trails, safe horsekeeping, outdoor horsekeeping, 5 mins from my house. It did not have: enough calories for my horse. So I shut up and fed her up every time I was there (almost daily). The pros were all my top five wants. The con I could do something about. 

Now I'm a 30-something barn owner dealing with ungrateful people who have no appreciation for why I run things the way I do. Don't like it, move somewhere else. 

Good luck, kid and remember, you're the driver of your own bus.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

Prices here in my part of Texas are just ridiculous to begin with. I dont know where you live OP, but $200 is really pretty decent for what you have, especially if you're in the subburbs. I think I'd prefer an A personality BO over a B personality BO who lets everything go to pot.

I board my miniature mare in a small run/shed set up at my barn, Normal price is $200 for complete self care (you clean the pen, clean and fill buckets, feed your own hay, grain, etc) $250 for hay and feeding once per day, $325 full care. The fencing isnt that great and we have a history with bad things happening in the area, but the horses are decently kept and its one of the cheapest in the area. 

To cut down my costs, I actually feed/water BOs and the boarders horses in the evenings (there are 40 of them O_O I feed rain or shine, and it takes me 1 1/2 hours) and I feed my mini mare myself in the evenings. I still pay $125 and am very lucky. I've been looking to change stables due to the criminal activity in our area but normal complete self care pasture board with 4-7 other horses is $250+!

I'm not going to call you a brat, and I understand wanting to look for options. I also understand being frustrated by your age and the situation (I'm 17 for the record) but really your situation could have been a lot worse. 

As a side note though, our BO actually has a lot of rules in place that sound annoying to use but are for liability also. It is for ALL boarders and lesson kids. If you're seen without a helmet more than three times you must get your horse and you off the property within two weeks. No riding tackless whatsoever. You must have a 'permit' to ride outside of the arena or roundpen, or to ride in only a halter. No 'hanging out' around the horses. They all sound annoying to you and me, but they have their purposes and keep everyone safer!


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## Prunella1 (Jun 2, 2013)

I pay $300 a month for full board, which is pasture all day, with two feedings one am and one pm, then the horses are let out to graze in the afternoons.
They will keep your horse up in their stall when you call, or if you want to drop in and be there at feeding time, then you are welcome to work with your horse.
It is my responsibility to take my horse to the pasture when I'm finished with her. I like this because I know she is well cared for, and they are open all day until late in the evening. There are several vets on call 24/7 and farriers, too.
And I'm about 25 miles away, one way....ugh.


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## dbarabians (May 21, 2011)

I was about to say if you live near a large city in Texas 200$ is cheap.
There is no law in Texas that a teenager must wear a helmet. So maybe the barn owner is a little grumpy especially around teenagers that board there.
You will not like every thing about any place you board at, the school you go to, the job you will have, or the people you are going to encounter in your life.
May I suggest in the future just look for the things you enjoy about the next place you board. Since you do not own land to keep your horse on just accept the fact that until you do you cannot control how things are done at a barn you only rent space at.
Good luck with the new place. Shalom


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