What Should Be in a Boarding Agreement
A boarding agreement is the document that defines your professional relationship with every horse owner at your facility. It's not just a legal formality. It's a communication tool that sets clear expectations, reduces misunderstandings, and protects both parties when things don't go according to plan.
Many barn managers use generic templates downloaded from the internet or borrowed from a neighboring facility. These are better than nothing, but they often contain outdated language, miss provisions specific to your state's equine activity liability laws, or don't reflect how your particular operation actually works. Investing in a proper boarding agreement reviewed by an equine attorney is money well spent.
Core Sections Every Agreement Needs
Parties and horses: Clearly identify the facility, the horse owner, and the horse or horses covered by the agreement. Include the horse's name, breed, age, and registration number if applicable.
Services provided: Describe specifically what the boarding package includes. Don't use vague language like "standard care." List feeding frequency, feed type, stall cleaning schedule, turnout arrangements, and any other services included. What's in writing is what you're committing to.
Fees and payment terms: State the monthly board rate, what day payment is due, what forms of payment are accepted, and what happens when payment is late. Include your late fee policy with specific dollar amounts or percentages.
Veterinary and farrier authorization: Address who authorizes veterinary care. Most agreements give the barn permission to authorize emergency care if the owner can't be reached, up to a specified dollar amount. Include the name of the horse's regular veterinarian and farrier. Specify who pays for these services.
Liability limitation: This section needs to comply with your state's equine activity liability statute, so get attorney input here. Most states have statutes that limit facility liability for injuries inherent to equine activities. Your agreement should reference this statute and include the warning language your state requires.
Insurance requirements: State whether you require horse owners to carry mortality or major medical insurance on their horses, and whether they need liability insurance. Include requirements around the facility's own insurance.
Horse owner responsibilities: What does the owner need to provide, maintain, or inform you about? Current vaccinations, Coggins testing, farrier schedule, and feeding instructions should all be addressed.
Rules and conduct: Your facility rules for clients, their guests, children, dogs, and vehicle access. This is where you address smoking, alcohol, supervision of minors, and access hours.
Termination provisions: How the agreement ends. Notice period required by either party, what happens to a horse if a boarder fails to pay, and circumstances under which you can require immediate removal of a horse.
Liability Language Specifics
Equine activity liability statutes vary significantly by state. Some are broad and provide significant protection. Others are narrow. Don't assume your state's law protects you the same way a neighboring state's law protects a facility there.
In most states, to receive protection under the equine activity statute, you need to have specific warning language posted at your facility and ideally in your boarding agreement. Your equine attorney can provide the exact language required for your state.
Include clear language about the inherently dangerous nature of horses and equine activities. Acknowledge that horses can behave unpredictably and that injuries can occur despite reasonable precautions. This is not admitting negligence; it's reflecting legal reality.
Updating Agreements
Your boarding agreement should be a living document. Review it annually. If your services change, your rates change, or your policies change, update the agreement and have current boarders sign an updated version or addendum.
Outdated agreements with services you no longer offer or rates that don't match current billing create confusion and potential disputes. Keeping agreements current is part of professional facility management.
Store signed agreements with each boarder's file. BarnBeacon lets you attach documents to client records so agreements, along with billing history and care notes, are all accessible from one place.
When Boarders Have Questions About the Agreement
New clients often have questions when reviewing a boarding agreement for the first time. This is healthy. A client who reads the agreement carefully is more likely to understand their obligations and less likely to be surprised later.
Walk through the key sections with new clients before asking them to sign. Focus on payment terms, what's included in their specific package, and the liability provisions. Encourage questions. The conversation at signing is far more productive than the conversation after a dispute.
For more detail on managing these documents across your full client base, see boarding agreement management.