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  Discussion on Medical care of boarders' horses
Author Message
Member:
stek

Posted on Friday, Oct 16, 2009 - 1:48 pm:

Wanted to get your opinions on what services for sick or injured horses are reasonable to be included in board, and when it is reasonable to charge extra?

We have a boarder who lives over an hour away and his horse sustained a minor eye injury requiring application of antibiotic ointment several times a day. She was a butt about getting it at first but with practice is getting better.

Should I be charging the owner for administering her meds? He can't reasonably drive an hour each day multiple times to do it himself, and it only takes a few minutes for me to do, but still I have to schedule my day around doing it and had to put the training into her to get her to allow me to do it.

For those of you that board or take in boarders, what things like this are usually charged for and what are included?
Member:
scooter

Posted on Friday, Oct 16, 2009 - 5:09 pm:

Hi Shannon, when I worked at the boarding barn they didn't charge for extra things like that at first, but then it became rather time consuming, so they made out a list of charges and gave it to the boarders...medicating...holding for farrier...blanketing...ect. OR they could pay an extra $25 a month which covered anything and everything...their choice, Surprisingly all the boarders did choose the extra $25 a month.

Since you didn't already have an agreement with this guy this time, I wouldn't try to charge him, but in the future maybe do something like the barn I worked at to cover future problems...They charged $5 for every time the horse had to be medicated...I think a dollar a day for blanketing if they had to be changed out. $15 for holding for the farrier....all these jobs were mine and it added a lot to my day, so I can see where you are coming from.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Friday, Oct 16, 2009 - 5:53 pm:

Shannon,

I have boarded my horses on a variety of boarding farms and I was always charged for anything extra that was done for my horses. Medications, extra blanketing, extra feed above what the boarding contract called for, etc.

The problem if you don't charge something extra is that people will take advantage and expect you to do it for nothing as if its part of the board. The board should include turnout, feed, hay, bedding, a stall, feeding 2x a day(or whatever is normal at your location ). If the owner isn't there when the horse gets shod, then you should charge for that. You are performing a service for which you should get paid, same thing goes for the medication.

Rachelle
Member:
kathleen

Posted on Friday, Oct 16, 2009 - 6:15 pm:

I, too, have been on both sides. Does this kind of thing happen frequently? With this horse or with others? How many boarders do you have? To me, these kinds of things would determine whether to charge or not. I have boarded my horses from one extreme to the other. And I have worked at barns where these services were performed, as Diane said, by me. Yes it takes time out of your day, but that is part of the job. If it starts taking more than a reasonable amount of time, then the problem needs to be addressed. I don't believe in automatically charging for every little thing. If your boarders are generally no problem in this area, then I don't think I would charge them. Like Diane said, if it becomes a problem, one idea would be to give them an option of charging by the incident or by the month. If this one horse is going to be on this schedule of meds long term, I think it would be reasonable to talk to the owner and work something out that would be agreeable to both of you. But I don't believe in taking one incident and having it change the way you have been doing business, because it affects all other boarders who may or may not need this depth of care. But if you give the option of by the incident or by the month, all boarders will probably end up paying more per month, afraid that something might happen where they will need that kind of care. To me that changes the whole dynamics of a barn. And you have to ask yourself if that is what you want. You might also ask yourself what you would would feel as an owner, given this situation. I, personally, would offer the one doing the treatments something for their time if it is like this situation where you are having to plan your day around this horse's meds. Just some ideas and IMHO's.
Kathleen
Member:
marieanh

Posted on Friday, Oct 16, 2009 - 6:38 pm:

I'm a border at a really nice barn. What is included, and what is extra is spelled out in the board agreement. I am only five minutes away-but with a full time job I can't always be there for the vet, farrier etc.. Knowing what to expect makes it easier for both me and the BO.

I agree with Kathleen-if this is a one off event, I would be inclined to let it go-but if something else comes up, then the time to address it is before you take on the additional task.
Member:
stek

Posted on Friday, Oct 16, 2009 - 7:12 pm:

I think I am in the boat of 'didn't charge extra at first but now feel like it might be time to reconsider'.

This particular owner is rather absentee (we see him maybe 3x a year) though he does pay his board. He has always kind of assumed we'd take care of the additional things and I always end up holding his horse for the vet & farrier (if not doing her feet myself when she has gone months without a trim). I think his intentions are good but he has other priorities in his life.

When I told him about the eye injury the response wasn't 'I will call the vet and schedule an appointment' but 'go ahead and have the vet out if you think you need to'. As an owner who has boarded my horse I always rearranged my schedule to meet with the vet, mostly because I wanted to be there to hear what he had to say.

Overall with our other boarders I have always taken care of incidents like minor colics, chokes, treating minor wounds etc. at no extra charge. Though I think walking a colicy horse for hours on a cold rainy night is outside the usual scope of duties.

I think it boils down to the need to revisit our boarding contract and spell out what is included and what's not, and then stick to that for everyone.

Thanks guys!
Member:
erika

Posted on Friday, Oct 16, 2009 - 10:29 pm:

When I boarded, there was a fee for all medical care--bandaging, hosing, hand walking, etc. Even holding horses for vet, farriers, etc. It is beyond the usual and expected. But it is best if it spelled out in the boarding contract at first. But if things come up, I don't think it's unfair to expect payment for your time.
Member:
dsibley

Posted on Saturday, Oct 17, 2009 - 8:05 am:

Touchy subject! I, too, have been on both sides of the fence. One barn where I boarded flatly refused to blanket a horse unless it was a medical issue (i.e., the horse was ancient and needed the warmth or was purchased out of state and had no winter coat). Otherwise, if you wanted your horse blanketed, you came down and put it on, then took it off before they got turned out with the others or you'd have your blanket ripped to shreds.
When we built our barn, I decided not to put pricing in my boarding contract just because I don't want to sound like an ala-carte boarding facility. I really don't want to change blankets out three times a day per horse. Once on and once off a day is fine. If boarders use my farrier, I don't mind holding their horse. If they choose to use their own, they need to come and hold the horse or pay me IF I am available. Same with the vet. I will NOT give someone else's horse a shot. Too many things can go wrong, and even though I belong to HA, I am NOT a vet (sorry, Dr O...just had to stick that in...hehe!)
I base my board on the average horse's feed requirements of two pounds of grain 2x per day. I understand that some horses require more; that is fine. I will charge extra for that. Same with hay, although I base board on six good-size flakes a day and most horses don't require even that much, so we're fine there.
As far as bedding, I am of the opinion that it is used to absorb urine. While I don't skimp so that my barn doesn't smell, I also will not bed a stall eight inches deep. I paid extra when we built the place to have thicker rubber mats put in so I didn't have to use all that bedding.
My contract does state that if a boarder wants their horse kept inside during the day for any reason: medical or otherwise, there is an additional $5.00/day charge. That helps pay for the additional shavings and labor used when a horse would otherwise be outside.
I hoped that the above would help keep me from being tied down constantly, and so far it's worked well. I'm not trying to be unreasonable, but also trying to keep my personal time intact. There is a provision in my boarding contract that states that if there is a substantial disagreement as to the care or safety of the horse that cannot be resolved, both me and the boarder can agree to have a vet make a barn call to assess the situation, and we agree to split the barn call. I have discussed this with all the local vets, and they are in agreement that they wouldn't mind doing this. That way they don't have a bunch of phone calls, they can actually see the situation, and maybe I don't lose a boarder because I really don't know everything there is to know about these horses!
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