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At Equine Legal Solutions, we
receive a lot of calls from horse owners who are
unhappy with a situation at their boarding stable and
want to know what their "legal rights" are. The short
answer is that boarders have only the legal rights
given to them by their boarding contract (if they have
one) and relevant case law. Note that the boarder not
having received a copy of the contract or having lost
their copy of the contract doesn't change the
boarder's legal rights.
What if the boarder doesn't have
a written boarding contract? The answer is that at
best, they have a verbal boarding contract (the terms
of which will be very hard to prove). Aside from that,
they can rely only on relevant case law to provide
them with any legal recourse, such as if the boarding
stable was negligent in caring for their horse (and
the horse suffered injury or death as a result).
On occasion, boarders have spoken
to various friends and relatives and come up with the
idea that their state's landlord/tenant law applies.
That's just flat wrong. Unless the boarder lives on
the property, landlord/tenant law won't apply to a
horse boarding dispute. In the four states where we
practice, California, New York, Oregon and Washington,
there are no laws governing horse boarding, other than
animal cruelty statutes and local zoning regulations
governing use of the property.
Generally, questions about horse
boarders' legal rights fall into three categories:
Terminating the boarding relationship, raising board
prices and what the boarding stable is required to
provide for boarders and their horses.
Boarding Contract Termination
A boarding stable's right to
terminate the boarding contract is governed by what
the contract says. If the boarding contract says
nothing about termination or there is no contract at
all, the boarding stable can give the boarder
practically any form of termination notice. Unless the
boarding contract specifies the boarding stable has to
give the boarder advance notice prior to termination,
the boarding stable can notify the boarder that it
wants the boarder to leave immediately. Unless the
boarding contract says termination notices must be in
writing, the stable can give the boarder notice in any
form it chooses, including verbally, as long as the
boarder receives the notice.
Nothing else is relevant,
including:
- How long the boarder has been at
the facility (yes, even if it's been decades)
- Whether the boarder is current on
their board payments (yes, even if they're paid up in
advance - they can get a prorated refund)
- Whether the boarder wants to
leave
- Whether it's practical for the
boarder to move their horse by the termination date
- Whether there's another boarding
stable that meets the boarder's personal standards of
geographic location, price, care, etc.
- Whether the boarder is required
to give the facility advance notice if the boarder
terminates the boarding contract
- The boarding stable's reasons for
terminating the contract. The boarding stable doesn't
have to have a reason to terminate a boarding
contract, and even if they do,they don't have to tell
the boarder what it is.
- Whether the boarding stable has
met the boarder's personal standards of horse care,
etc. up until the point of termination
Raising Boarding Rates
There's no rent control in horse
boarding. Unless a boarding contract says otherwise, a
boarding stable can raise its rates as much as it
wants, as often as it wants, with as little advance
warning as it wants. Much like terminating a boarding
contract, nothing else is relevant, including:
- How long the boarding rates have
been the same
- How recent the last rate
increases were
- Whether the boarder is current on
their board payments
- Whether the boarder can afford
the increase
- Whether the boarding stable's
amenities and level of care justify the increase
- The reasons (if any) that the
boarding stable gives for the increase
Often, boarders want to know if
there's anything they can do if they don't like a
board increase. Essentially, there are two choices:
Pay or leave. And if the boarder chooses to leave,
they must provide the boarding stable with the notice
specified in the boarding contract (if any).
Boarding Stable Standard of Care
Again, the standard of care for
boarding stables is governed largely by what the
boarding contract says. Otherwise, the boarding stable
has to provide only the most basic level of care. For
example, unless the boarding contract says otherwise:
- If a boarder's horse is bigger
than average, or eats more than average, the boarding
stable isn't legally obligated to feed him more, as
long as he's not starving to death (literally). So, if
a boarder thinks their horse needs more feed than he's
getting, and the boarding stable wants to charge the
boarder extra, they can. If the boarding stable
doesn't want to increase the horse's feed, the boarder
might have to buy their own feed. And the boarder
should be prepared to store and feed the extras
themselves.
- Similarly, the boarding stable
can feed whatever type of hay and/or feed it chooses,
as long as it's not unsafe. And "unsafe" means moldy,
contaminated, or of a type not suitable for horses,
such as silage. Hay that's merely stemmy or poor
quality isn't sufficient cause for a negligence
lawsuit as long as the horses aren't starving to death
(literally).
- The boarding stable can use
whatever type of bedding it wants, bed stalls at any
depth it wants, and clean stalls as
frequently/infrequently as it wants, as long as stall
conditions are not "Call Animal Control" unsanitary.
If the boarder wants different bedding, more bedding,
and/or more frequent stall cleaning, the boarder will
probably have to pay for it. Even if the boarder's
horse is allergic to the current bedding, is on stall
rest, etc.
- The facilities the boarding
stable provides have to be reasonably safe for normal
use. Just because a horse got hurt doesn't mean the
boarding stable was negligent.
- The boarding stable can provide
as few or as many amenities as it chooses. And the
existing amenities don't have to be operational. The
wash rack plumbing doesn't have to work, the outdoor
arena can be too muddy to use nine months out of the
year, and the indoor arena lights can be sketchy. If
the boarder feels like they're paying for amenities
they can't use, they should negotiate with the
boarding stable, and if that doesn't work, consider
leaving.
Bottom line, if a boarder isn't
happy, and they can't work out a compromise with the
boarding stable, they should either get comfortable
with the situation the way it is, or prepare to move
to another boarding stable.
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