Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Barn Buddies or NOT!

Are they mad at one another or is it just one single, bad moment in time? 
There's a lot to be said for the friendships that develop between boarders and even though I've posted a posturing photo of our horses, this blog post is about barn friendships of the human kind!  So, what happens when one boarder doesn't feel as if they are part of "the group" or if one boarder shuns another.  Is it the role of the barn manager and/or owners to step in and help someone "feel at home", is it their responsibility to step in if an issue exists between one or more boarders and if so, how should it be resolved?

A friend of mine recently experienced a very uncomfortable situation at his barn.  His "situation" took place when the barn manager and owners went to an "away show".  It seems as if there was a slight communication breakdown about how certain daily chores were to be done and when turnout became an issue because of bad footing, he asked for help from one of the members of the group and what he received in return was nothing!  Now, it wouldn't have been so bad if he'd been able to get to the barn to take care of his horse's issue himself but he was facing some extreme stress as a result of family health issues and it would have been nice if someone from the barn could have stepped up to do him a small favor.  It became even more unsettling when he found that several of the people he left messages for said that they never received his emails or phone messages.  At the end, I am sad to report that several days later, my friend innocently found some information (think internet footprints!) that made it very clear he was being lied to for no good reason!

My friend is a wonderful guy, very laid back, easy going, helpful, cleans up after himself and his horse and even helps to clean the barn.  He is very personable and liked by many people but for some reason, the boarders or at least a small group of them are not giving him a chance to partake in anything that even vaguely resembles group like fun or activities.  Some might argue that he shouldn't be concerned with this as his only focus should be his horse but when something like this hits you in the face and it's hard to get away from being in close proximity to people that don't really want to interact with you, it's hard to shrug it off!

If any of you guys want to chime in on this issue, I would love to hear your viewpoints!