Arrival day at a boarding stable runs on paperwork more than on settling a horse into a new box. The stable is taking responsibility for an animal it does not know, and the records an owner provides are how its staff feed, handle and protect that horse correctly from the first night. The usual ask is a set of four, taken here in turn: recorded health and vaccination history; a feeding routine set down in writing; contacts for the veterinarian and for emergencies; and, where a policy is held, the insurance details. Arrive with all four complete and legible, and the agreed terms confirmed in writing alongside them.
Health and Vaccination History, As Recorded
Provide the health and vaccination history exactly as it stands recorded — the horse's passport document or its relevant pages, the vaccination entries in order, and a note of any ongoing care arrangements the stable's staff need to know to do their jobs. This is a documents exercise, not a health lecture: the stable needs to see what the record says, confirm the horse meets its yard requirements, and file the history where staff can reach it during an emergency at midnight. If any entry is due to be updated during the stay, say so on arrival and agree who arranges it, so the record never lapses because each side assumed the other was handling it.
The Feeding Routine, in Writing
Write the feeding routine down rather than describing it at the stable door: forage type and rough amounts, any hard feed with its measure, feeding times as the horse is used to them, supplements the horse receives, and the quirks that matter — a horse who must eat alone, one who bolts feed, one whose water bucket must sit in a particular corner. Staff rotate, and a written routine survives a change of groom in a way a verbal handover never does. Add turnout preferences, blanket instructions for changing weather, and any handling notes a new person needs, all in the same written sheet the stable keeps with its copy set.
Contacts, Insurance and Terms in Writing
Veterinary and emergency contacts come next: the vet practice the horse is registered with, the owner's own number, and a second emergency contact who can authorize decisions if the owner cannot be reached. Insurance details where held — insurer, policy reference and what the policy covers in outline — go in the same pack, because the middle of a colic night is the wrong time to hunt for them. Then confirm the stable's agreed terms in writing as part of this arrival paperwork: what the boarding fee covers, notice periods, what happens about vet call-outs and farrier visits, and who may handle or ride the horse. Terms agreed verbally on a yard tour have a way of being remembered differently by each side; terms in writing, signed and copied to both parties, do not.
Originals Stay With the Owner
The copying rule protects everyone: originals stay with the owner, and the stable receives legible copies for its file. The horse's passport document is the classic case — the stable may need to hold or copy it under its own rules, so agree explicitly what the stable holds, what it copies and returns, and what never leaves the owner's hands, and note the agreement in the arrival paperwork. Keep your own complete master set at home regardless: the full health record, the written routine, contacts, insurance papers and the signed terms, so a lost stable folder never becomes your lost record. Photograph or scan the master set as a further backup. If the stable misplaces a page, the Pet Passport bundle on KinsLe gives you a clean replacement copy without surrendering originals.