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Sorry to hear that @littledog . Change sucks on a regular sunny day. Lets hope your conversation goes well and she is trying to catch and straighten up other fish. I'm not wrapping my head around the timing of it all. Seems it would have been wise to wait another 6 mo to a year for them financially. Anywho, maybe you have something better waiting for you around the corner.
A forced change for the better happens but unfortunately we only see it when we can reflect on it. Please keep us posted and I am glad you reached out to talk about it.
 
littledog said:
Bumping this thread, because I'm pretty bummed about a new change with my boarding situation.

My barn just got "gentrified," in other words, new management took over, raised the prices by A LOT with very little notice, and the whole atmosphere is changing. It was a nice quiet place with a lot of senior horses and older riders who trail ride, do low-level schooling competitions, or just tool around and enjoy their horses, which was a good fit for old-lady me and my senior horses. But this new management is turning it into a high-end competition barn, with back-to-back lessons all day, making it hard to get riding time in the arena, plus a lot more mandatory "hand-holding" than I need or want. For example, if management thinks my horse is not groomed well enough, they can groom my horse and charge me $$$ , plus a lot more nickel-and-diming for every little thing ($5 to take off a blanket - seriously?!)

I keep my 26-y-old retired Eventer gelding and my 22-y-old OTTB mare groomed and cared-for appropriately for senior horses in light work. I brush, pick their feet, keep their manes and tails tidy, they get great care from an excellent vet every year, a top-skilled farrier every 8 weeks, and I do their Fall vaccinations myself. The grain and supplements they get is determined by me, based on consultation with their vet. I let them get fuzzy in winter, I'm not going to clip them or keep them in show condition when they're not showing.

I've been in the horse world a LONG time, I was even a Pony-Club horse management judge back in the day, so I don't need to be dictated to about the care my horses need. I realize equine medical science advances and I try to keep up, I'm not stuck in the past.

I'd be happy to get some lessons with this new trainer, but I'm not going to be part of her competitive "training program" or keep my horses in constant show condition.

I'd love to stay here, but I suspect it's no longer a good fit for me or my horses, so I'm exploring other options, though it's frustrating because there are very few close by.

I don't have hard feelings towards the owners. I understand how business works, and that barn owners need to make a living. In fact in my younger days when I was competing a lot, I would have welcomed this change. I'm going to give it a chance, have a conversation with the new manager and see if she is willing to work with me, but I don't hold a lot of hope - I suspect two stalls taken up by one senior horse who I only ride enough to keep his mind engaged and a slightly younger horse who only does occasional, low-level competition, would be the type of clients who she will be happy to replace with younger, more competitive students.

Please wish me luck, horse people!
Click to expand...
I’m so sorry this has happened. I’m so very lucky to keep my horse at my house so I don’t have to contend with boarding horses ect.
 
Atm we are looking to get a second horse. My instructor suggested getting a bigger dressage horse like a warmblood (approx 16hh) I found one which seems perfect in Melbourne. My dad hates the idea as he is worried I will neglect Hudson but I would never. So I’m trying to get my mum to want this horse so I can casually borrow him to do dressage tests lol
 
TropicalBabies said:
Sorry to hear that @littledog . Change sucks on a regular sunny day. Lets hope your conversation goes well and she is trying to catch and straighten up other fish. I'm not wrapping my head around the timing of it all. Seems it would have been wise to wait another 6 mo to a year for them financially. Anywho, maybe you have something better waiting for you around the corner.
A forced change for the better happens but unfortunately we only see it when we can reflect on it. Please keep us posted and I am glad you reached out to talk about it.
Click to expand...

Thank you, TropicalBabies, your words that I highlighted are exactly the attitude I'm trying to have!
I'm mostly fine with change in general, like with new systems at work, but I hate forcing it on my elderly horses, even during normal times. Yes, the timing is mostly what is stressing me out! Hello, pandemic??
Limiting hours at the barn will not work for me. It seems in fact stupid, to force all the boarders and other students to be together during daylight hours. Ever since covid hit, I've been going there after work late at night (I work a weird shift) only briefly, to give my old guy his medications and do a quick grooming if they need it. It's not like I ride them late-night, in fact I've hardly been riding them at all - not by choice.
I only go to work, to the barn, to the grocery store, to the feed store, all masked. I've been doing this for the past 10 months to keep others safe, since I've been going to my busy work-place all along. Though at work we have strict protocols (daily temperature checks and mandatory masks) and I'm mostly in my individual cubicle, I do have to mingle with others at times, and we have had some cases, a couple in the hospital. And I would be devastated if I were to pick it up unknowingly and pass it along to someone's immunocompromised child, or to my barn-mate who is undergoing cancer treatment.

I'm looking at some other options for my horses, including a self-care situation at a nearby private property. A small, quiet place with only a few horses but she has an outdoor arena.

Your second quote that I highlighted is helping me believe that this might be a good place for my horses. Self-care will mean a big adjustment to my schedule, but it will also mean spending more time caring for my horses, along with a peaceful environment for my seniors, and a quiet, private place to ride where I can enjoy them free of worrying about infecting anybody.

I'm going to visit later this week, please wish me luck!

Peaches Lee said:
@littledog Hopefully the new management will "grandfather" in those boarders who wish to continue on as they were before...it would be the best for the horses too. Wishing you luck!
Click to expand...

It definitely would be best for the horses! I don't know if she thinks of it as anything other than a business, though.
I highly doubt she will "grandfather" our current board price, but it's not so much the money I'm worried about - I could afford her new price, but I don't WANT to pay it, I don't think it's worth it. I'm fortunate enough to make a decent living, having worked 20 years at my company, but I'm not wealthy by any means and I can't afford frivolities, for my horses or for myself. Most places around here who charge this new amount have more amenities than we have, like a covered arena and daily grass-pasture turnout, which we only have part-time.
I also don't want to pay nickel-and dime charges, for things like $5 blanket-changing and what she considers appropriate grooming - this scares me. It seems like a non-confrontational way of kicking us out through over charging.

The main thing that scares me the most, is that her contract says she can kick us out without any cause, with 30 days notice. I suspect this might mean, when any students who are part of her training program want to board here, she can make room for them by kicking us out.

I'm hoping she can work with me, for example: instead of me signing a contract that says she can groom my horses at any time and charge me for it, I want to amend it to say something like, if my horses are dirty (it would help if my gelding could be turned out in a better place than his current muddy paddock, where I paid for mud-free footing but the extra pile has recently disappeared) that she would notify me and give me 24 hrs to amend the situation, before she grooms them and charges me.

My preference would be for my horses to stay here, but I'm not hopeful.
 

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