By LORI E. TANKEL
Reprinted with permission from the author
Running a barn means more than hanging a sign at the front gate and calling yourself a business. Unfortunately, many in the horse world do just that while lacking the basic skills required to properly care for horses. And with no standards or rules to follow when it comes to boarding, training, or teaching (in the United States), anyone can call themselves a professional, even with little to no experience, which is what many people do.
There is so much more to running or owning a barn than being able to say that you have been riding for five, ten, or even twenty years. Unfortunately, many so-called professionals don't know the basics of being a horseman and, therefore, cannot teach their students the fundamentals of horsemanship. Old-school pros were trained to be true horsemen and were instructed on how to care for their horses in any situation. That is rarely the case anymore.
Owning or managing a barn means identifying a sick horse and knowing how to manage pastures, identifying toxic plants, understanding proper nutrition, having a disaster plan, and knowing barn safety. Good horsemanship means properly bandaging a leg, knowing the difference between shipping and standing bandages, and knowing when to use them. You should be able to manage the never-ending supply of manure and know how to muck a stall and repair broken boards twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year in all kinds of weather, regardless of how you feel in the morning when you wake up.
Having a love…a genuine love of horses, and being a tad crazy will help you succeed at running a barn. Even if you have employees, you will always be on call, especially when there is a colicing horse on Christmas morning or the water pipe breaks because a horse has kicked and broken it and it is 35 degrees outside. There is a never-ending list of chores, from repairing broken fence boards, mowing lots of acreage, chasing down loose horses, fixing broken stall doors, scrubbing water buckets, and, of course, mucking those stalls. All those stalls, day after day, month after month, year after year. Are you still interested? Keep reading!
Besides being able to recognize a colicing horse, you need to know the difference between good quality hay and grain and that which is moldy. You should understand and implement a schedule for vaccinations and deworming, devise disaster plans, and deal with the disposal of dead horses. Are you hiring employees? Are you sure your new employee can legally work in the country? Are you hiring an instructor? Are you providing insurance or requiring the instructor to provide their own? And more importantly, are you able to deal with people? You need to be able to deal with barn drama and politics. You will encounter novices who think they know more than you do; others will place unreasonable demands upon you.
These are scenarios that should be considered before you decide to operate a boarding barn.
If you are a horse owner, the information in the following chapters will enable you to make wise decisions to ensure your horse is well cared for and that you are getting the best care for your dollar, whether you're considering boarding your horse or keeping your horse at home.
