Boarding and training

Okay, I'm new to all this, so please excuse my ignorance.

To those of you who board your horse: If you remove your horse from the property for training or breeding, or whatever, and the horse is gone for an entire month or more, are you still required to pay for board at your barn? Does it vary with different barns? Do you not pay if your horse isn't there? Do you pay whether your horse is there or not?

Your in Ontario. You don't pay if your horse is there. If your boarding barn is asking for board, even though they are not offering care of your horse then that is illegal.

However they can ask you to pay a deposit to keep a stall etc at the barn, which is understandable especially if there is a waiting list.

in the UK it varies - some places expect you to pay full amount (why should they keep a place empty for you for no income?) and some want a reduced rate. I would never not pay anything because if I did that they could let my place while I was gone.

The barn owner/manager told me yesterday that I am expected to pay the regular boarding fees while Fanny is away for training. She said that they take all the expenses of the year and average it out so that the amount I pay is the same each month, rather than paying more in the winter and less in the summer; or paying less for board each month, but being charged for any fencing that goes up, etc..

The horses go into the barn at night in the winter, but are out 24/7 once it warms up outside.

I was a bit shocked to hear this, while Sheldon (my husband) had fully expected to pay for the board while Fanny was gone. I am rather naive, I guess.

I'd hate to cause a riff with the barn owners by bringing up the "illegal in Ontario" thing.

In regards to paying to keep her spot at the barn while she's gone, I don't think Fanny would lose her spot. They've been looking for another horse to board there all winter (they are very particular about who comes to their barn, which I suppose I should take as a compliment) and didn't find anyone until recently. And according to the newbie that I met yesterday, she is on a waiting list at another barn, so as soon as she gets a spot there, she's out of our barn (don't know if our barn owner knows that). She had her horse at another place, but he had a huge injury (cut open his head, and she says part of his skull was taken out) and apparently the barn owners there tried to hide it (according to her). They had the horse all cleaned up and the area in the paddock where he hurt himself all cleaned up before she got there. They told her they don't know what happened. I don't know if there's more to the story or not, as to why she is just switching barns now, because her horse's forehead looks completely healed. Oh well, I kind of got off topic here.

I really wish I had a place of my own to keep Fanny, so that I didn't have to deal with issues like this that arise. Isn't that the dream of every horse owner? Sigh....

Ok I looked it up, I was wrong. I was not 100% sure but now I know it's they can't continue to charge you rent if the place is unlivable. So say for example you had a barn flood that made the stalls uninhabitable to the horses and you had to move for a month. They cannot charge you for a place that is uninhabitable. But since that is not the case they can. Most people don't but I guess if they are having trouble finding borders may be why they are doing it.

Expect to pay, Cyndi, I would. Or don't go - if Fanny is going away for training I hope you're going with her?
Anyway if you pay up with no problem they will get to like you - the last time I paid board for 3 months when I wasn't there (VERY popular yard), when the rent went up mine didn't for 6 months they were so pleased at having no hassle from me.

Whew, thanks for clarifying that for me Sydney! I'm glad I didn't go to the barn and say something today . I wouldn't have said anything anyway. I'm a lover, not a fighter.

I honestly didn't even thinking of paying board while Fanny was away. Now I know better. Sure am glad for you gals in here!!

Yes, I will 'technically' be going with Fanny when she goes to the trainer's. She's going to my riding instructor for training. I want him to treat her as he would a totally green horse, and if there are things she already knows, then goody for him, it's less for him to teach her. I just want someone who knows what they're doing to teach her the basics, and let me know where she's at. I don't really know how far the breeder got in training Fanny, but even if she says she's done it all, I don't know how much time was actually spent with each thing. The breeder, though a very lovely and gentle person and trainer, is very busy, so I don't know how much time she was able to spend with Fanny. With Jason, I will know how much time is devoted just to her. I plan to watch him work with her, and take a few lessons on her while she's there. Probably won't take lessons on her right away, unless she is her usual intelligent self and is extremely responsive to him and catches on quickly.

Yay! I can't wait to hear about you and fanny's training experiences. You really should start a blog you know. Your stories are very interesting. I love blogging. It's kind of like a diary (about my horses mostly) that people everywhere read.

Make sure you do get lessons. I'm a firm believer in teaching the handler and horse, not the horse. Think of it like this: you send a dog away to a top notch trainer to teach him something. The trainer speaks and trains all the dogs in "spanish" which is (lets pretend) a foreign language to you. He trains the dog and shows you all it can do. You get the dog back and try and make it do simple commands like sit and stay and it doesn't understand a word you say to it and goes about doing the things it normally did with you.

Get my point with getting lessons from the trainer? He speaks another language to fanny. Make sure you get those lessons!!!

If I could, I'd ask him what time he'll be working with Fanny each day, and I'd be there to watch every day.

I haven't been at riding lessons since February, just because of my work schedule and then we we took off to Florida for March Break. I really miss it.

Hey, how was the horse exhibition in London? Were there any demonstrations worth watching? Was Zoe there?

Zoe is off on a trip for her other job so she was not able to go to Can-Am. I did however have quite the few random people I hadn't ever met before come up to me and ask me if I was Sydney from Nutural horse lol!

The clinician line up this year didn't impress me compared to other years. There were a lot of traditionalist jumpers and dressage people there that just, I dunno they had good concepts but it was all at a traditionalists approach. Tommy turvey was interesting though. He does trick training and dog trick training.

I did notice since Nurtural horse wasn't around there were too booths that made a louder appearance than they normally would have. One was this "special" bit and all sorts of contraptions by this company that made me cringe. Things like a bucking stopper than appropreately jabbed the horse in the mouth if he attempted bucking (nothing like treating the symptoms instead of the cause @__@) and a rear stop that did the same thing.
Another was a guy selling an all metal bosal. Theres nothing wrong with bosals but this one was thin with a leather/rawhide braided nose that was a lot thinner, heavier and nastier looking and I am sure feeling than a regular bosal that can form to the horses face. I seen a few people riding in it and it is definately one of those things that can cause horrible, horrible damage in uneducated hands.