What do you think of this equestrian center?

Question

www.chrislar.com

Does it look like a good equestrian center? Thanks!!

Answer 1

It depends what you're looking for.

As for the not showing the A circuit - last time I knew on ANY circuit they judged the horse and rider in front of them. I've never heard of anyone having to bring photos of the home place in the judging. It doesn't take a fancy barn to train well and turn out show horses. Personally I'd prefer to see more of the barn and horse areas and less of the houses. I'm not moving in if I'm sending a horse or taking lessons - I'm interested in the barn and horses.

But it depends what the goal is. Probably wouldn't be a good place to expect a reining/stock horse based on the presentation. And I'd never book anything over the internet without going and visiting in person first. If you're looking at showing Morgans and depending on what you see there it looks worth a closer look.

Answer 2

Essie, if your only intention is to find a place to board a pleasure horse, I wouldn't board at this place.

FWIW, most stables don't make much money just boarding horses.  They make their money selling services (training, lessons, etc.) and selling horses.  If you just want to board a horse at such a place and take the occasional lesson, or just ride for fun, you may very well find yourself kicked out or harassed out of the place if they need the stall space for a client who will use their services.

That happened at a barn where I boarded my horse.  The lease on the stable facility was assumed by a couple who were into exactly the kind of thing the website you referenced is all about, except their breed was Arabians rather than Morgans.  Within a year of their assuming the lease, they had forced all of the boarders who were not using their services to leave.  They were very unapolagetic:  each stall in the barn constituted a revenue opportunity, and each stall that was occupied by a horse owned by someone who didn't want to use their services was a lost revenue opportunity.  Looking at it from their point of view, I can understand:  they broke even, maybe made about $50/month after expenses, on board.  But someone who was in their full training program and went to shows with them easily gave them revenue in excess of $750/month per stall, plus the commission on any horses they bought or sold for the person.  It was a no-brainer for them:  if they could get a client who used their services to replace someone who just boarded, they made money.

It was not a very pleasant time.

During the transitional period before I left that barn with my horse, I observed the way things worked with the people who were clients.  I hate to say it, but the way you were treated was directly proportional to the amount of money you spent on training, horses, lessons and services.  If you had several horses in training for shows, particularly horses you bought from them or on their advice (commission), you were treated like royalty.  If you had one horse which you hadn't bought from them and were only taking lessons, no training and no shows, you got a lot less attention.

I think you want to take a good hard look at how well you will fit in with the people who board at this equestrian center.  You might find that for all that it looks like a wonderful place, you won't be happy there if you don't fit in well with what they do there.

Answer 3

It looks okay if your not planning on showing on the A Circuit :]