Most riders have probably - unfortunately - experienced that a bad stable atmosphere can make you almost not want to go there. Even though it rarely has anything to do with your horse. When you keep your horse in half- or full livery you can do your part to ensure a nice stable atmosphere. But of course, a great part of the responsibility lays with the stable owner.
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We asked Danish stable owner, Birgitte Sauer Nielsen to come up with her 12 best suggestions on how she tries to ensure that everybody can come and go in a pleasant atmosphere in the stable.
Birgitta owns a private stable in Aalborg in the northern part of Denmark with room for 27 horses. She has run stables for almost 30 years with her husband Ole. During that time, she has gathered a lot of experience when it comes to ensuring the good stable atmosphere indoor as well as outdoor.
For Birgitte, it has always been important to take things in stride. She finds that it helps to create a good stable atmosphere and a good unity in the stable. This way, everyone contributes to the fact that it is fun to be in the stable. And it often makes you as a horse owner want to get more involved in everything from equestrian meetings to small competitions at the stable. Therefore, a good stable environment is crucial if you want to have housing where both horses and riders thrive.
In general, clarity and clear guidelines are key words when you as a stable owner want to help to ensure a good stable atmosphere. Therefore, you can also avoid a lot of things in advance by having clear written rules that all homesteaders are informed about before they start entering the stable. Maybe the rules need to be adjusted along the way. But make sure that there are some basic rules that you can continuously adapt to your particular barn.
In addition, it is important that you as a stable owner get to grips with things if problems arise among the horse owners. Then you help avoid things from pilinh up. A lack of communication can create conflicts. They can often be avoided by having the stable owner take care of things in due time with a good dialogue. This can be done both in everyday things, but also by, for example, holding stable meetings. Here you get the opportunity to talk about things relating to the stable and the expectations you and the horse owners have towards each other.
The stable should be a nice place for everyone to come. A place with room for differences, but where everyone follows the rules. This way, both horse owners and the stable owner have a common responsibility to ensure that everyone - horses as well as riders - thrives in the stable. In the end this will help create the best stable atmosphere.