Whether you are looking for a new barn to board your horse, or someone to care for your horse while you’re away, what do you look for?

I know I’ve spoken before about people you hire to horse sit, but it’s worth revisiting this subject.  We all like to go on vacation, but we all worry about leaving our fur and hair families with strangers.  Even if we know this person personally, they still aren’t us.

Now being far, we know that some things are right, somethings are wrong, and somethings are just done differently.  No one is going to do things exactly like we do.  If it isn’t life threatening, we can clean up the mess when we get back.

My friend was looking for a new barn recently and her biggest concern was if the people who would be taking care of her horses knew the difference between colic, and lameness.  It sounds pretty dumb, but so are a lot of people.  But I didn’t say that, and you didn’t hear that.  Well that’s a broad spectrum.  It’s easy when you walk in a barn if you know they are getting fed and cared for.  You look around.  If all the horses are fat, hydrated, and free from cuts, you know they are pretty well off.  If the barn is clean and safe, you know they are on top of things.  If the property is neat and cared for, you’ve got a good idea.  If the horses let you walk up to them and you can pet their heads, you know they are not roughed up.  If they fly backwards, you may have to look deeper.  Yes some horses have been abused in the past which leave a lasting impression, but if they all want to escape, that should be a red flag.

Check water buckets and troughs.  Make sure they are clean and the water is fresh.  Look in the feed room and make sure there is no evidence of rodent activity.  Make sure the feed is stored well.

Ask a lot of questions.  If people have nothing to hide they will be willing to speak with you about anything.  Ask how long they have been caring for horses.  Do they have a local vet and farrier (get names), and how often do they come to the farm.  Call that vet and farrier and ask them their opinion of the persons reliability.  If they keep a regular schedule on shots, and shoeing.

Ask the person how many cc’s of Banamine they would give a thousand pound horse? (Thank you Louise that’s a wonderful question).  Ask what signs they would consider to be a colic.  It’s your horse, and you are paying them, so don’t hesitate to ask.

Personally, I would think very highly of a person who cared enough to ask and check out that I know what I am doing.

If you are a person who is not going to visit your horse at least once a week, these questions, including the detection of lameness, are important ones.  I know every time I see a horse walk across the pasture I’m looking at his movements.  Every time I walk a horse in and out of the barn I listen to his foot fall on the concrete.  The one mare I have places three and slides one.  No lameness to be seen, but there is a difference in her movement.  I watch them run in the pasture and note what leads they are picking up.

You want to know that this person is observing your horse.  That they learn what is a normal and what is not.  What time they lay down to take a nap and how long they stay down.  How much water they drink in their stalls.  If they have finished their grain.  If they didn’t finish you want to make sure that the left over is removed and not laying there  to get moldy in the bottom of their buckets.

Ask about their worming schedule, how often and the rotation of wormers.

Ask about what feed they use, where they get it, how often they get it.  I know that my feed is made here in Florida.  I pick it up every two weeks, it’s stored in heavy-duty garbage cans, and it was made within a week of my purchase.  I know that the feed company does not make cow feed so I have no worries about the cow antibiotics getting into my feed by mistake and killing my horses.

Look to see if things are posted and up-to-date.  What horses get how much feed, and what supplements each horse gets.  Shot records are kept handy along with Coggins.  If anything happens to the person in charge, know that someone else can come in and pick up where things were left off.

Walk around the property, and as my friend said, especially to places that the owners don’t want you to see.

There are things that you have to take into consideration, like fencing.  It seems we repair things daily around here.  Especially with new horses coming in.  We have to reach an understanding of what is acceptable.  We don’t turn the electric fence on automatically, but when a horse stand there, takes the wire in his teeth and snaps it, it’s time.  You will be able to see if a place is being kept up, or just let go.  Now that’s a red flag.

If you are going away make sure everyone is on the same page.  Give a date of your return, but tell the person caring for your animals to keep taking care of them until you call them and tell them that you are home.  Miscommunication almost cost two horses their lives.  They were in their stalls, in the summer, and the person caring for them thought that the owner would be back in a week.  So after a week she stopped going to care for them.  The owner was to be gone for two weeks.  Horses had no food or more importantly, no water.  They were just short of death when the owner returned.

Be proactive in every detail of your horse’s life, don’t worry about what other people think, it’s your horse and you have to be able to sleep at night knowing that whoever is taking care of them is doing the best job possible.