Stolen Horse International constantly gets calls from people who have had horses, tack, or both stolen from a boarding situation. The trainer sold the horse, the boarding barn sold the horse, they leased the horse to someone else and they sold the horse, the theft took place with others-there are many variations on the theme, but it is basically the same. Somebody trusts their horse to somebody else for care and safekeeping. A violation of trust and a breach of faith happened... The horse is nowhere to be found, and a heart is empty. 

Probably the majority of horse owners cannot afford to (or just prefer not to) keep sufficient property to house an equine themselves. It's expensive, time-consuming, and, let's face facts; it gets in the way of your riding sometimes. Boarding is not all a bed of roses either, but it has some worthwhile attributes, too. Let's look at how to minimize the security risks at a boarding facility.

 1.  Pay the bill. This sounds like a really dumb thing to say, but many people do not realize that non-payment of board bills can be grounds for a property owner to assume ownership of a horse and result in the legal saleof the horse. Keeping the bill paid-and keeping accurate records-ensures that this reason is eliminated. Have a written contract that states EVERYTHING that is agreed upon when boarding.

 2.  Check out the property. How well do they maintain the fences? How much actual road frontage is there? Could a thief get in there and walk a horse out unnoticed?

 3.  Where is the barn in relation to the road? How much is somebody actually THERE? Is there a live-in manager?

 4.  If the horses are stalled at night, are halters/leads left hanging on doors? (Not good idea-thieves think this is an invitation to take a horse.)

 5.  Does the barn post information about each horse in a public area-such as the stall door? (Posting feeding information or medication instructions is one thing-pedigrees is quite another. The latter just shouts-"hey, look-this horse is worth taking !)

 6.  Likewise, notifications, pictures, ribbons, trophies, congratulations on big wins, etc. can be matched to names on stall doors. "Blue Moon Dancer" just won her third straight Training level dressage class and is ready to go big time" is great news for the owner, the rider, the barn-and the thief looking for a $$$ horse to steal. Just go down the barn aisle until you find Blue Moon Dancer. You told him which one was worth taking-remember that! Putting a sign on the door saying your horse has ID may encourage a would be "thief" to go to another horse too.

 7.  Take your show equipment HOME. Boarding barns are always high traffic areas and everybody and their cousins are in/out of the places.People with sticky fingers are going to be there. Keep your high value items out of reach.

 8.  Tack trunks  We know-they are convenient things to have. However-they are NOT the place to store all your stuff in between shows. The locks are flimsy. If you want to use a tack trunk for your show stuff, then load the thing up, and switch it over to your personal vehicle and take the whole thing home with you between shows. DO NOT LEAVE IT AT THE BARN.

 9.  Mark every item you want to keep with a permanent method. Do not mess around. Make it real.

10.  Photograph your horse thoroughly with yourself, someone else, and your trainer. Make sure that you have photographs of all four sides, specific markings in different seasons, dirty and clean as well.

 11.  Identify your horse with a permanent method-and place a sign that notifies people on the stall door.

What about pasture boarding situations?

These can be trickier-and we do not want to minimize the problems here. It is not your property. You do not control the situation. It is probably the best situation that you can manage right now-and it may be at some distance from where you live. There might not be anyone at all who lives on the property. Another scenario is that the property is just huge-literally hundreds of acres. There is no way anybody could possibly know where every horse was every day.What does the horse owner do in this situation?

 1. Identify your horse with your choice of permanent method. While you are at it, go to the NetPosse website and register them with all the particulars-name, age, breeding, photographs, temperament, training, scars, microchip #, brand location and description - just anything and everything that law enforcement might use to identify your horse as being yours. Also realize when you do this-this puts this information available to you ON YOUR SMARTPHONE right when you need it most-when you are upset and worried and couldn't think if your life depended on it.Prove your horse is yours in an instant-with all that info right there in the palm of your hand!

 2. Make photographs of your horse-in detail-and keep them up-to-date.Make sure you keep a back-up copy on a CD or thumb drive. You may have to supply it to the law enforcement people .

 3. Go check on your horse regularly-or make sure somebody else does. Call and ensure that this IS happening. Do NOT go on a set schedule-if they do not know when you might show up, they will be less likely to engage in activities you do not want to see.

 4. Pay the bill.    Why? Because if you don't, the owner probably has the legal right to sell your horse to get his money. We cannot help you then. Do not blame the owner or us. Blame yourself.

 Stay tuned for more Preventative Theft Therapy in future editions of NetPosse News!