Making Horse Boarding Contracts Work for You

In the old days, when people agreed to board someone's horse, there was a discussion followed by a handshake. These days, the discussion about horse boarding is just as important, but the handshake has been replaced by a horse boarding contract. We asked equine attorney Julie Fershtman for her advice regarding horse boarding contracts.

Perfect Horse: Assume that we've done our homework in checking out a boarding facility and we're convinced that we've found a good place to keep our horse. The owner of the facility has asked us to sign a boarding contract. What parts of it are most important to us, as boarders?

Boarders should watch for these provisions:

• Release of Liability. These days, many stables include a release of liability within their boarding contracts. Boarding stables do this to protect themselves for injuries or losses that may be caused by their negligence or liability. Because releases can be very powerful under the law in most states, what you sign today, when all seems well, might virtually destroy your legal recourse against the stable if things go bad tomorrow.

Realistically, the boarding stable might insist that you sign its release before you can become a boarder there. Negotiating it out of the contract is, very likely, not an option. If you are convinced that the stable is a good place to board, you'll probably feel much more comfortable signing the contract.

• Emergencies. The problem of an unavailable owner is certainly a foreseeable one-even when we are reachable just about everywhere these days thanks to cell-phone technology. Still, we can never be certain of finding someone when we want him or her.

In my first book, Equine Law & Horse Sense, I give a tragic example of a horse owner who departs for a two-week dream vacation in a remote area. The day the owner leaves, her horse encounters a serious bout of colic. The boarding stable, unable to reach the owner and unsure if the owner would consent to expensive surgery and follow-up care, tells the veterinarian to put the horse down. Two weeks later, the owner returns only to learn that her beloved horse is dead and buried and the mortality insurance company refuses to pay her anything because she failed to give the insurer proper and timely notice of the horse's condition and demise.

For this reason, boarders should insist upon a clause in the boarding contract that gives the stable some sort of direction in the event that the owner cannot be reached when a veterinary emergency arises. Several options are possible. The one I most prefer, especially when I represent stables, is a complete authorization for the stable to arrange all veterinary care that it deems necessary.

I have heard of contracts where the boarder is asked to set a dollar limit for care under these situations, so that the stable can authorize veterinary attention up to a set amount. However, that could be unrealistic. How can a veterinarian really lock in a veterinary bill to a set amount when complications and unforeseen problems happen?

If the owner has a policy of mortality insurance and major medical insurance on the horse, it is in the stable's best interest to know this. These insurance policies require the owner to give the company (at its designated 1-800 number for emergencies) immediate notice if the insured horse has become injured or ill. I have personally represented insurance companies-and won-in cases where the company was not given proper notice and properly denied the claim, paying nothing, when the horse died.

So, going back to the example of a colicking horse with an unavailable owner: The stable can use that 1-800 number, notify the insurance company for the unavailable owner, and keep the insurer advised of the horse's veterinary attention and condition. Those calls could make a major difference to the horse owner if the horse takes a turn for the worse.

• Side Charges.What if your warmblood is a "hard keeper" who requires extra rations of grain and hay just to stay fit? What if you want your horse pastured during the day in a private paddock instead of the stable's group pasture? What if your horse breaks down the pasture fencing and chews through the wood in his stall? What if your horse requires stable staff to blanket and unblanket him due to changing weather conditions? If any of these things happen, will the stable charge you extra?

Check the boarding contract to see if the stable will impose extra charges on you for these and other services, goods and repairs. Many of the stables I represent will attach a list of side charges in advance for its boarders to see. If the stable does not have this list of fees, ask that the contract include specifics of side charges, if any.

• Health Requirements.Horse owners can make sure that the stable sets reasonable health requirements for horses at the stable, especially those newly arriving. For example, stables can require health certificates before a new horse can enter the facility. Most of my clients simply require the owner to promise that the horse is current on immunizations and deworming.