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Re: [RC] What do you want in a boarding facility - rides2far@xxxxxxxx

What would you like to see in your boarding facility?  As endurance riders 
and/or as horse owners in general what do you guys want.  This includes 
facilities, treatment, care, etc.  Let me know so I can try to make our 
barn "The Best Barn".  *grin* 

I ran a small boarding facility for 7 years and I can tell you some good & bad 
things I did. 

What I found people liked was:  To be *sure* that I actually gave their 
supplements to *their* horse and not mine. (couldn't believe how many told me 
they felt theirs had been stolen at other places)

For their tack not to be bothered...or even touched by other boarders. Many 
said they came back to other barns to find their things had been used. Nowadays 
I probably wouldn't even want them to leave saddles with all the thefts.

My boarders said they loved seeing that I had plenty of good hay put up at the 
*beginning* of winter. One even insisted on paying her board a couple of months 
in advance to reward me and make sure I bought plenty. She also showed up to 
work in the field putting it up. She was *really* happy with my hay situation. 
(she was an endurance rider so she had her priorities straight) :-)

I won't go into all the "didn't have a pack of dogs underfoot" and all that. 
What did I do wrong? Well...I thought a little too much like an endurance rider 
at times. I tried motivate my boarders to ride their horses more. I put up an 
"hours" chart on the wall where it was in a bar graph and said I'd knock $10 
off the board of whoever had the most hours at the end of the month. They had 
to beat me was the catch. >eg< I didn't realize at the time that it was 
probably embarassing to the girl who bought a gorgeous halter type "Impressive 
bred" QH and just came to pet him a few times a week. I honestly don't think 
she had any urge to ride and that chart probably rubbed her nose in it. She 
ended up moving to another barn.

Angie







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