Horse Boarding Contracts - What You Need to Consider

Horse Boarding Contract - What You Need to Consider Before You Sign

By Lynn Wenger

Before signing that horse boarding contract, have you ever stopped to wonder what all that fine print actually means? Reading over the entire contract positions you as an informed consumer with a more complete understanding of your responsibilities. Below we will be discussing why you need to sign a contract, the important sections on a typical contract, and how you can best protect yourself as a potential boarder.

Why Do You Need to Sign A Contract?
A horse boarding contract is a binding document that spells out the agreement you have with the barn owner. Usually including your payment obligations each month and the rights of the boarding facility should you fail to comply with the contract.

It is also most likely a requirement of the owner for you to sign a horse boarding contract with them, and not your choice. The barn owner usually needs each boarder to fill out a contract for legal and insurance reasons. It is a means for barn owners to protect themselves from liability and hold you accountable for all fees and charges you incur while your horse is on their property.

What Are The Important Parts Of A Contract?

Fees and services are spelled out clearly in most contracts. General board includes basic services for the daily care of your horse. The price will reflect the amount of daily services you expect to receive. For example, you will pay more per month if your horse has a stall compared to someone who has their horse on full pasture board.

Other added services may include administering wormer or daily supplements, regular exercise, horse training, and riding lessons. Also included in this section is information regarding the day of each month board is due with late fees and charges.

Most boarding facilities enforce health regulations on new horses coming into the barn. Usually you will have to provide proof of current negative coggins and in some cases prove that your horse is up to date on all shots and deworming. Some facilities may enforce a routine care schedule for veterinary care and deworming. If the boarding facility has specific requirements, they should be outlined specifically in the horse boarding contract. Keeping your horse current in all veterinary care will help stop the spread of equine illness.

Some contracts outline a procedure for emergency situations. As a horse owner you must be prepared for the unexpected. From small injuries to potential life or death situations, it is a good idea to provide an emergency phone number at the very least. A release to provide veterinary care when the barn owner cannot reach you can help ensure your horse gets any needed veterinary care, especially in an emergency.

If you have an insurance policy on your horse for mortality, major medical or surgical coverage, you should always provide that information along with the emergency phone number for the insurance company should your horse become ill or injured. Most insurance policies require immediate notification of the illness or injury to honor the claim on the policy.

If your horse boarding contract does not have any information on equine insurance policies, provide the barn owner with an emergency phone number, a copy of the insurance policy, and the insurance emergency phone number. It may also be a good idea to keep a card in your wallet with the emergency insurance phone number and your horse's policy number.

A liability release may also be included in the contract or drafted as a separate document for you to sign. Basically it releases the boarding facility from any liability resulting in your willing participation in equine activities on their property. Some facilities will require a signed release from any additional party you may bring on to their property, even if it is your horse they intend to interact with.

How Can I Protect Myself?
Your best protection as a boarder is to keep yourself informed by thoroughly reading and understanding the horse boarding contract before you sign. By doing this you have the complete understanding of all your obligations as a tenant to the boarding facility.

You also understand the rights of the boarding facility should you fail to pay. After a certain number of missed payments, a boarding stable may have the rights to take ownership of your horse if outlined as such in the boarding contract.

Your best bet is to stay informed and continue to make your payments on time. Establish a good relationship with the barn owner and anyone largely in charge of the care of your horse. Make sure the facility has updated insurance and health information along with an easy way to contact you in case of emergency. Not all of the above discussed sections will appear on a contract so if you have any concerns make sure you inquire with the facility owner and keep copies of everything you sign for future reference.

About The Author:

Lynn Wenger invites you to visit http://www.stock-horse-show-source.com/horse-stables.html for more information on horse stables, boarding, and the horse boarding contract.

Lynn has been active in riding and showing horses since 2000. She is a lifelong equine addict with no hopes of recovery and admits since buying her first horse as a young adult that she is an expert on not being an expert when it comes to owning and showing horses. She is also the creator and founder of Stock Horse Show Source http://www.stock-horse-show-source.com, developed to educate novice equine enthusiasts on the basics of horse keeping and showing.
(c) Copyright stock-horse-show-source.com, all rights reserved.

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How to Tie Mecate to the Snaffle Bit Bridle

More great Information from Buckaroo John Brand at http://buckarooleather.com.
The Snaffle Bit Bridle and the Cotton Mecate
have become a popular Combination with the Western Horseman for years.
We have always used this combination starting young horse to keep them supple and soft of the mouth

Training You and Your Horse with The ALPHA Mindset

One of the Joys of working with Horse and other animals it the learning
process of our Own Control Abilities. Developing the ALPHA Mindset is critical in Animal Training but we as Business aspirants also must learn to create and exercise the Proper Mindset,
The Alpha Mindset.

The following article by Bruce Johnson points to the Importance of
Alpha Mindset in Horse training and this Video will help us understand
the necessity in Business Growth also
Horse Training Using the Alpha Mindset

Horse Training Using the Alpha Mindset

By Bruce J A Anderson

Recently I took my three year old filly to a local show to hang out. While watching a class, a woman approached me to ask the question, What should I do about ...? In this case, her horse would fly backward every time she approached to put on the bridle. And so, the questions, What should I do? Why is he doing this? As always, difficult questions to answer. First, the horse tells me when to do, how to do, what to do in any given situation. There is no formula for "If he does this, then I do this." Next, what the horse is actually physically doing may not be the problem, it could be the by-product of the problem. What you do know is that what he is doing is not acceptable behavior. The real issue leads back to mindset: the horse's mindset and even more so, the person's mindset. In other words, it isn't necessarily what you're actually doing that the horse has a problem with, it is the pressure created by what you're doing, which in turn triggers a response; in this case, raising his head and flying backward. The horse is using something that Nature's View calls the tyrant mindset: in other words, freeze flee or fight is his natural instinct. When he is in this mode, the horse is actually saying "I want to do what I want to do." Sound familiar? There is nothing wrong with this mindset; in fact, in the wild, in Nature's World, the horse would depend on it for his own survival. The problem is that in our world, that mindset isn't beneficial to him and if he continues down that road, someone is likely to get hurt.

So, back to the first question, What should I do? The first thing to do is to introduce the horse to a new mindset: one called the alpha mindset. This isn't necessarily the same alpha that you may have heard of in other horsemanship methods. With Nature's View, the alpha is simply using the mindset of "How can I help you?" With the tyrant mindset that we mentioned before of "I want to do what I want to do." the horse decides what to do or the person decides how much pressure to apply (usually evoked from past situations, so you may over or under react). The alpha mindset, the other side of the pendulum, is defined as whatever the resistance from the horse is in any given situation determines the amount of pressure that is applied, plus a little bit more. This mindset calls for dealing with the moment, riding the horse beneath you, not the one four strides ahead or behind. Remember, we teach and learn by example, so which mindset would you rather your horse use: alpha or tyrant?

In any case, there are four basic things that we use to accomplish a task or goal: movement, direction, rhythm and track. These are actually the things that you can see: in Nature's View we use these things to work on the underlying things (things like problem-solving, timing, listening, etc.). This is actually true for us as well. Think about it: to get ready for work in the morning, first you have to move; then you need to move in the direction of the kitchen for breakfast; but back to the situation with the horse. As an example, within a segment of work, if we're asking a horse to go in a particular direction and the horse decides on his own to change direction, the amount of pressure that you apply is equal to his resistance, plus a little bit more. If you pay attention to the horse and let him tell you what to do in applying that pressure, more than likely, the horse will change back to the original direction. Each time you apply pressure you are raising what we call his negative pole. The poles within (both negative and positive) are those feelings that let you know when a situation is beneficial or not to your well-being. If the resistance continues and you keep increasing pressure (remember, using the alpha mindset), finally, what they are feeling from you will be greater than what they are imagining (the pressure to change direction). As soon as you feel that they have switched to the new mindset, you should release the pressure. Don't get caught up in watching for an action. Remember, as soon as you feel the horse switch to the new mindset, that is when you release the pressure.

So back to the questions; we use the bridle (the goal) as the reason for the journey (creating a relationship with your horse) to practice the unseen (timing, feel, anger management, listening skills) which allows you to develop a whole new alpha mindset, or way of thinking; lot to think about, isn't it?! Just like jumping the jump, crossing the creek or loading into the trailer, putting the bridle on or taking it off is one of the many seen things that we do with our horses; but the icing on the cake is having a willing partner in any task that we attempt. It's not about accomplishing the goal, not even about the journey; it's about the mindset needed for both. The goal is simply the reason for the journey. Within the journey, we are allowed to practice the mindset, and the more proficient we are at the mindset we will be able to follow our passion, whatever that may be (dressage, hunter/jumper, trail riders, western pleasure). So instead of putting the cart before the horse and focusing on the goal or even the journey, we first need the alpha mindset.

Copyright Nature's View, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Bruce Anderson is a full time equine consultant, trainer and clinician located in Camden, South Carolina. Originally from the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, he has worked throughout the US, Canada and Great Britain. He conducts clinics and training opportunities with partner and co-author, Julianne Neal, using the Nature's View system. To learn more about their work, please visit http://www.naturesview1.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bruce_J_A_Anderson http://EzineArticles.com/?Horse-Training-Using-the-Alpha-Mindset&id=1832904

Also Visit our Friend John Brand's Blog and be
Up to Date on the Proper quality Leather Tack
to ease your Training situations

Buckaroo Leather Blog

How to tie a Mecate on your Hackamore Bosal

Enjoy this well presented Video By Buckaroo John Brand from Buckaroo Leather.
The Mecate and Bosal Hackamore have been a Favorite for Western Horseman for hundred years, allowing a soft way to encourage a green horse into supple Maneuvers

How To Buy your First Your Horse or Even Why?

Horse ownership is the ultimate dream for many riders and horse enthusiasts. Some wait years for that dream to come true and when it finally does, it really is fantastic and rewarding but at the same time, a demanding experience.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself in the position of looking to buy your very own first horse then you need to make sure that you are fully prepared for the responsibility that goes with it. It is no use trying to kid yourself that the first horse you see is going to perfect for you.

As I found out the hard way two years ago rushing into horse ownership will more than likely end with a hefty price tag in both your time and your money! The wrong decision I made when buying my first horse, Auricula cost me a great deal of stress, heartache, time and thousands of "extra" ££'s, all because I took bad advice and did not take my time or do my homework properly.

The fact is, you're more likely to get the wrong horse than the right one, so what can you do to make sure the horse you buy is really the perfect companion for you? There are a few things you can do, but first it is more important to understand the things you should not do.

Tip #1: Make sure that you are 110% certain that horse ownership is for you. You need to ask yourself whether or not you are ready to buy your first horse and you need to be honest. This means that you have exhausted the other options available to you such as horse sharing and loaning a horse. These two options are more like a stepping stone of experience and getting a taste of what it really is like to own a horse of your own. The advantage of horse sharing and horse loaning is that you can share the costs and take on the responsibility of horse care but if you find that you don't have the time or you would prefer to just continue riding lessons, it is relatively easy to terminate the commitment. The disadvantage is that the horse will always belong to someone else, but this is why you should look at it as a stepping-stone of experience.

Tip #2: Understand that owning a horse is costly. The initial purchase price of a horse is the easy part. You need to take into careful consideration, the ongoing costs such as livery fees, veterinary fees, feed costs, stable supplies, worming, insurance, farrier fees etc. These costs pop-up throughout the year and most are continuous, for example weekly/monthly livery fees, and you need to budget for everything.

Tip # 3: Understanding that horse ownership requires a lot of your time. You need to remember that your new friend is going to be depending on you! That means you are going to have to make "enough" time available every day to visit, muck out, groom, check for any injuries, feed, ride and exercise him mornings and evenings. This is going to be slightly easier if you are keeping him at home. You can have a yard take on partial or full responsibility for caring for him but be aware that this can become quite costly.

Tip #4: Never buy the first horse you see. It is understandably difficult to walk away from the first horse that you go view because he seems to be so perfect, but it is imperative that you view many horses as you can in order to get an idea of market prices, gain more confidence in dealing with sellers and have a range of potential horses from which to choose a better-suited companion for you. This way you will be able to walk away from or question sellers overpricing their horse.

Tip #5: Always, always shop with an experienced equine buddy. More preferably a buddy who not only has equine experience but someone who has also helped others find their ideal first horse. A second opinion is always helpful.

You need to become like a sponge and gain as much valuable horse buying advice as possible to help you but make sure that the advice is right! Remember, your aim is to not find "The Perfect Horse" but to find the horse that is "Right for you!" It is both exciting and challenging, but armed with the right information you will have a better chance at succeeding.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sonia Panesar's step-by-step guide helps new horse buyers save money and time. For Instant Access To Your FREE "Top 13 Horse Buying Mistakes" Report Visit http://www.buyingyourfirsthorse.com/Freereport.html

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