10/11/2026
We strongly encourage anyone running any type of equestrian business - whether boarding or training or selling - to be sure you have contracts in place created by attorneys who understand the equine/livestock laws in your state. Contact us to learn more.
Every year I receive calls from distraught farm owners involving boarders who do not pay their board or facility fees, Erin Prutow writes. A particularly jarring recent case prompted me to write this article, with hopes that boarding facilities can avoid similar nightmare scenarios.
This case involves a boarder, who owned and boarded five horses at a dry stall facility. This boarder needed the stalls “immediately” and failed to return a signed boarding agreement prior to moving in. Whenever the facility owner requested the boarding agreement the boarder made an excuse as to why they didn’t have it. From the outset this boarder wreaked havoc at the farm, complaining about the footing, requesting another round pen be built, criticizing the size and gradient of the turnouts, needing more hay and generally just acting like complete jerks to everyone on the property. Three months in, the boarder stopped paying board for their five horses. They claimed the facilities were inadequate, that the horses were not being fed enough (it was a dry stall facility so the boarder was responsible for providing their own feed), that their personal property was being stolen or went missing, that the managers verbally harassed them and finally, that the staff were in the states working as illegal immigrants and should be deported. Their claims were immense, outlandish and wholly unsubstantiated by fact but were intimidating enough that the facility owner and his staff felt unable to take actions to evict them.
The more the facility owner tried to work things out and address the boarder’s many issues, the more issues the boarder would raise. After seven months of non-payment on five horses, the facility owner finally had enough and hired counsel. However, as you all know, lawsuits take time and money, luxuries that most facility owners do not have (and in this case on top of footing the bill for the nightmare boarder’s five horses). Eventually a settlement was reached but not before the facility owner was out thousands of dollars. I recently received a call from another boarding facility and guess what? The boarder had pulled the same stunt at a new farm just down the road.
I fervently believe that the best prevention for nightmare situations like this one are in the early stages before a boarder ever steps foot on your property. So, please, share often and share widely the following tips I have accumulated for all facility owners:
Take your time, many facilities are approached with emergency departure situations and need housing immediately for their horses. Try not to let their emergency become your emergency. You as a farm owner, not only need time to prep your staff, stalls and make space in the tack room but you also need a fully executed boarding agreement and importantly time to check the potential client’s references.
📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2021/04/19/tips-for-every-boarding-agreement-to-protect-facility-owners-from-boarders-who-dont-pay/
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