They’re Home. They’re Horseless. They’re Sad.

How to Help Your Equestrian Clients During a Global Pandemic

Equestrians are home. They’re horseless. They’re sad. Our boarders are still paying us a wee fortune to keep their horse happy, but they aren’t getting their usual payback of good rides, barn socialization, and horse cuddles. We horse professionals are worried: How can we keep our barns afloat with no lesson income coming in, and keep clients happy who aren’t allowed to come to the barn? I think we can weather this storm by focussing on our clients and keeping a “what can I do for them, today?" mindset. Here’s a list of some of the things I’ve been doing, and some I’m planning on doing, to help my students cope:

1) Hyper-Communicate. My boarders, barn manager, and I are in a Facebook message group together. I’m leaning on it heavily during this time, in large part because I miss seeing them every day, and to help them stay connected to the farm and each other.

2) Video Training Sessions: We’re in our fifth day of not having clients on the farm. Most of them took me up on half-price training rides for their horses while they can’t be here, partially to help me financially and keep me sane, and partially because they’ll come back to a nicely tuned-up creature ready for show season. I prop my phone against a Diet Coke can and video parts of my ride to send to them. They get to live vicariously through me, see their horse, and I get to clue them into some aspects of what their horse and I were working on that day.

3) Video Calls: If I haven’t been on their horse in a couple days, then I’ve been sending them clips of their horses in the pasture, or eating meals. We’ve done a couple FaceTime calls in which one of my children hangs out with the horse and calls the client. That serves a couple purposes: The client gets to see their creature, and the client gets a reminder about the importance of birth control when my children inevitably start fighting over the phone, thereby avoiding a much longer potential stint of not riding (like, 9 months).

4) Spa Days: ’Tis the season to make the horses look ready for show season, and at my barn, that is usually the boarders’ job (unless they’re paying me a hefty sum). Right now, we are these horses’ primary caretakers, so clean them up, send a lot of pics, use up the boarders’ treat stash on their behalf, and for Pete’s sake, don’t send them a bill for it. They are at your farm. They haven’t jumped ship. They choose you. Give them reasons to keep choosing you.

5) Fix/Clean/Paint: There are no boarders afoot, so now is the time for sprucing up the things that are hard to spruce when you have clients around. The first day back, you want them oo-ing and ah-ing over this mystically clean and touched up barn with perfect footing that they haven’t seen in awhile. You want them thinking, “No WONDER I pay so much money to be here; it’s BEAUTIFUL.”

6) Silly Pictures: I swear the most popular thing I’m doing is sending my boarders a daily picture of one of their horses photoshopped into a scene in my house. If given the choice between having their horse’s mane pulled or getting a picture of their horse at the breakfast table with my kids, 9/10 would pick the picture. We all need a laugh right now.

7) Clean Their Tack: Another bone you can easily throw the boarders is treating their tack like you are a working student, again, and they are your Olympic boss. Make notes of anything that isn’t quite up to par, and figure out the solution for them. Billet cracking? Get a quote, shoot them a text, and see if they want you to send it to the tack repair guy. Stirrup leather looking suspect? Throw one of your extras on there, or find a pair on sale online and send them the link.

8) Remind Them of Good Days to Come: Keep looking forward to things with them. (Look waaay forward so you don’t have to let them down again and again. Think July not April.) Remind them, and yourself, of barn parties to come, dinner outings you’ll reschedule for the future, and end of the season shows. Many of my lesson students did evening chores for me (when I had lesson income to pay them with), and we’ve been looking forward to a Barn Chore Olympics, complete with races, games, written questions, and prizes galore. Keep looking forward.

9) A Sense of Community: They are all in this together, so come up with things they can be doing together, now. Start a barn book club or exercise group. Challenge your young riders with horsemanship questions and games like, “Who Can Do the Nicest Thing Today For Their Captors (ie Parents)?

10) Have Money (Somehow)? Spend it Wisely: Now isn’t the time to upgrade your saddle. If you have extra money you were going to invest in your own tack or equipment, now would be a great time to buy things that benefit your barn family. Buy a new mirror for the indoor for them to take selfies in. (Yes, I know that’s not why WE want them to use a mirror, but let’s be honest…) Buy or build a dressage ring. Build a couple new jumps, or update the tack room with something small, like a mirror and a bench.

Maybe you’re a barn owner and you don’t have the time, energy, or mental resources to accomplish any of these things, right now. Maybe you can just cover the basics (mucking, first aid, clean water, hay, grain, turnout). Do what you need to do to keep ticking. I think the best thing we can do for our clients is to let them know we’re here, we LOVE their horse, and we’re making the most out of this situation. Check in with them like they are family, because barn family is family, too. Encourage the human clients to take care of themselves as well as you’re taking care of their horses, and may none of our clients get sick, lose a loved one, or take a major financial hit that will affect their future equestrianism. Here’s hoping.