Helping you with horse farm management!

I have been hearing more and more about horses that are being neglected and abandoned due in part to the current economy.  While I feel that people should not excuse bad behavior by blaming it on the economy, the reality is that more horse farms and boarding facilities are dealing with this issue.  I am not an attorney and am not attempting to give anyone legal advice about any specific issue.  I have been through the situation of having horses abandoned at our farm and can inform you about the steps we went through and what issues you may encounter.

Protection/prevention of the problem:A good boarding contract that tells the boarders of your rights as the stablekeeper and their rights as the owner should be spelled out.  I would recommend that you have an horse-savy attorney help you draft this contract and have it reviewed periodically.  In this contract you should discuss your rights with regard to putting a lien on the horses and equipment left in your care against unpaid board. 

Most if not all states in the US have something called a stable keeper’s lien.  Other countries most likely have similar laws.  This lien states that you can hold the horses (and sometimes equipment) of the boarder against unpaid board.  It is similar to the lien a hotel has on your stuff against an unpaid hotel bill.   Having your boarders pay at the beginning of the month will prevent a lien from existing on their horse.  There are other things you will want to spell out in your contract such as emergency medical care for the horse, turn out, farrier care, worming and so on.  A good contract will help settle any confusion ahead of time and prevent issues from coming up.

In 12 years of operation, we have only had one case of horses being abandoned at our farm.  In this case it was a pregnant mare and a young stallion who was abandoned.  By the time we resolved it, we had cared for these horses for over a year and the mare had foaled.  Also abandoned at our farm was a horse trailer and several saddles. 

Once a horse appears to have been abandoned in your care: Call or otherwise try to contact and work with the boarder to resolve the issue in a friendly manner.  This is the best and most cost-effective way of dealing with the issue.  Do whatever you can to try to help the boarder reduce the continuing expenses and find ways they can pay you back.  If it makes sense, try to find ways they can work off the board.  Believe me this is the best way to deal with this, having to go through the courts is the last resort.  In our case, the woman never returned our calls and eventually moved without a forwarding address.  Even without a boarding contract the stable keepers lien should be applicable.  Look at your local laws and make sure you understand them. 

If you allow the horse to be taken out of your care, the stablekeepers lien will no longer be applicable, and you will have to just go through small claims court to recover unpaid board.  This may be the least expensive option, however, if the owner is offering to move the horse.  If you have a lien against the horses, you can refuse to allow the owner to move the horses.  This is similar to having your car behind a locked gate at the repair shop.  They have a lien against your car until you pay for the repairs.

Nothing has worked and the horse has truly been abandoned in your care: Regardless of the fact that you are not being paid, you are still responsible to take good care of these horses.  They were left in your care and it is not their fault their owners are dead-beats.  Do what you can to care for them inexpensively if possible.  If you have a run-in shed with a dry lot or can pasture board them on your place, do that to reduce your costs, because you have a time-consuming job ahead of you.  You need them to stay in excellent health because you are likely going to have to sell them to recover your expenses.  Also, at least in our state, ownership does not just transfer over to you. 

While an attorney is not essential in this process, it would probably make things easier.  We handled our situation without an attorney, but it was extremely time consuming and required a lot of legwork on our part.  An attorney would not have been so baffled by the process and may have sped up the process.   This law is rarely enforced in our area, the court was not familiar with the process and probably required us to do more steps than were truly necessary.  In this state, how the lien is handled and resolved is not clear, so the court told us what we should do and we followed the steps they laid out for us. 

The way we had to resolve it was to go to small claims court with a copy of the state law regarding the stable keepers lien.  We had to file a claim against the boarder.  Do not expect the court to be familiar with the stable keepers lien, it is a very old law and is not something they deal with often.   The court gave the boarder time to respond to the claim and to resolve it.  In our case, the boarder never replied and never responded to the court documents.  After the court had judged in our favor, we were given permission to sell the horses and equipment at auction.  We were not allowed to sell them privately.  We had to prove that the horses were sold for ‘fair market value’ and proceeds of the sale went against what was owed.  Had there been any money over what was owed, that would have been returned to the boarder.   Of course with the board on three horses, farrier and veterinary care, it didn’t come anywhere close to covering our expenses.  Depending on your state, you may be able to sell any equipment in addition to the horses.  In our case, the court allowed us to sell the horse trailer.  This trailer wasn’t worth a lot, but it did help with the expenses.  We encouraged people who were interested in the horses go to the auction and bid on them.  These horses ended up in good homes. 

The new owners may be able to get the registration papers transferred to them with the appropriate paperwork.  They will need to work with the appropriate breed association to find out the process to get the papers transferred.  Most likely they will need record of any court documents or an affidavit signed by you indicating that the horses were legally transferred from the owner on the papers. 

Hopefully you will never have to deal with this issue, but if you do, try to keep communication open with the horse owner and do everything in your power to avoid dealing with court expenses and mounting board bills.

Have you ever had someone want to board at your barn that was really annoying and you knew would be more trouble than they were worth?  The sort that you did your best to avoid even at clinics and horse shows?  Well, here is one solution to this problem. 

Mark called me one day, all excited, saying that one of my good friends was coming out to see the barn and wanted to move her horses out to the farm.  My reply was “Who is it”?  When he told me the name (lets call her Janey, not her real name) I said “Oh No, Mark, oh no!”  I’d been hearing Janey stories since I moved to central Illinois from Pennsylvania.  It wasn’t that this woman was just difficult, she was not sane. 

So I told him a few of them.  My favorite was one where she talked a friend of mine, Lorna who is now a FEI level rider and trainer into traveling 5 hours each way to look at a horse.  They went there and Janey first wanted the owner to ride the horse.  Then she wanted my friend to ride the horse.  Then she still didn’t want to ride the horse, but wanted someone to take a picture of her sitting on the horse.  Then they drove home.   They stopped for dinner on the way home.  Janey’s treat.  At Dairy Queen.  Lorna’s commision/fee for the trip was a hot dog.  Janey decided not to buy the horse because of the color.  “I just don’t think I want a chestnut horse.”

Lorna did learn some good lessons about how to charge for helping someone buy a horse and managed to not be available next time Janey wanted to look for another horse.  (Believe me, the story of this trip is much better told by Lorna!  She will have you laughing so hard you can’t breathe!)

Anyway, I was trying to figure out how we could get out of Janey moving into our farm without being mean.  Mark meanwhile was still doing his salesman bit and trying to help this lady decide to move in.  After she had stood him up a couple of times when she had made an appointment for a tour and after she started worrying about hitting her head on the metal beams in our arena, he started to understand the situation.  Our arena has sufficient head space.  Even if you ride an elephant, and stand on his back you are not going to hit your head.  Mark also hates to have his time wasted.  He spends all day going a million miles an hour and waiting for someone who doesn’t show and doesn’t call makes him crazy.

So she decided she wanted to see someone riding in the arena so she could see for herself that the headroom would be adequate.  Mark told her that Lorna was coming out to teach at our farm and she could watch me taking a lesson from her.  At this time we hosted weekly calf roping practices for the High School and Junior Rodeo kids.  Most of the times the calves were kept elsewhere, but for some reason that night they were at our house. 

Mark decided that during my lesson would be a good time to take the calves temperature.  So about every few minutes, a calf would come galloping out of the chute and would run all the way down the long side of the arena to the other end. 

I was riding Rose, my throughbred.  She was a perfect lady.  It was beneath her dignity to mention that there were calves running underfoot, let alone react to it.  A calf would run through our circle and she would act like it wasn’t there, meanwhile avoiding it completely.  Mark and I had been confident that Rose would handle it with her usual grace, she had just that sort of personality.

Lorna was trying to keep from laughing her a** off, because she knew what Mark and I were up to.  She did her best to pretend that this was the most normal thing in the world.  Meanwhile at the far end of the arena, every time Mark opened the chute, Mark would murmur, “Here is another one for you, Janey!” 

By the end of my lesson Janey had left, mumbling something about maybe this place wasn’t for her.   We were so disappointed!

My Aunt Lucy makes the most incredible, refreshing iced tea I have ever enjoyed.  It has just the right combination of tart, sweet and mint.  She grows the mint she uses in her back yard.  The plant, which she calls Wooly Balsam, looks like Apple Mint, with the typical square stem of the mint family and fuzzy leaves.  They live in a place of honor under her kitchen window.  Aunt Lucy’s garden is always relaxing and peaceful, with many bird feeders and birds and many perenials.  The yard is surrounded by woods, with large oak trees and fun paths for adventuring. 

Aunt Lucy’s mint came from her mother’s house as did the recipe.  Most everyone in the family has a little patch of her mint growing in some corner of the garden.  I had some wooly balsam at my farm too, until Mark got a little overzealous with the Roundup, ridding the barns foundations of weeds.  He managed to kill the mint, some violets and a whole row of tansy.  The weeds are under control, though!

Aunt Lucy often has gatherings and dinners at her house.  She loves to have people over and excells at the skill of hospitality.  In the summer she takes tablecloths and the food outside and we eat at the picnic tables.  In the winter, a beautiful glass-roofed sun room allows her guests to enjoy the out-of-doors without getting chilled.  There is a small woodstove in the sun room, which makes this room cozy and delightful regardless of the weather. 

Regardless of the season, we often have Aunt Lucy’s Iced Tea.  Refreshing and delicious, she makes it fresh in the summers and has frozen bunches of the herb to make the tea in the wintertime.  Here is the recipe to her incredible tea.  I am sure any variety of mint would work, but the wooly balsam is my favorite: 

Aunt Lucy’s Iced Tea - for a 1 gallon container

In a pan, boil 2 quarts water.  Remove from heat and put 6 tea bags and a handful (6-8 pieces) of mint into the water.  Steep 10 minutes to 1/2 day.  Pour tea in 1 gallon container, leave out tea bags and mint sprigs.

Add: 1/2 c sugar, and a 12 oz container of lemonade.  Fill with Ice and Water.  You can garnish it with fresh mint leaves.

Try the recipe out and let me know what you think!