Renewed Start-Up
/We do not wish to spread rumors or bring up negative feelings from anyone who knew how this barn was before our new team arrived, so we ask that no slandering or negative comments are included with this post.
Anyone who has been to a barn knows that all barns have their own projects. VIP has had the opportunity to rise from the ashes of age and neglect. From our first post you know that the main barn and indoor arena were built in 1999 so the facility is a bit older with 35 indoor stalls; large, indoor arena; Dressage, outdoor arena; two cross-tie areas; tack lockers; and a bathroom.
Nineteen years later when our new team first stepped onto the property holding onto a shared vision with VIP's owner, Christine, it was evident that a lot of work was needed to bring this barn back to life. Cleaning and improving the facility has been our primary goal along with building trust with previous and current clients, management, and the community as a whole. All of which has been on a tight, barn budget.
When VIP Equine separated from GlymedPlus we had to reorganize management procedure and create our own system. Glymed has been very successful, but some of their procedures and policies just didn't quite cover some of the larger aspects of what our barn has...like horses. Who knew something as simple as incident reports would need to be changed from paper cuts to being kicked by a 1200 pound animal. We reestablished barn rules...wrote some new ones for the legal changes that occurred in the last 19 years and have started to rekindle some trust with our boarders.
We quickly realized this 20+ year-old company was a renewed start-up.
As of 2018, we have reestablished VIP as a luxury boarding facility for horses and currently some goats. We have various boarding options from indoor stalls with daily turnout, hill-top runs, paddocks, and some pasture.
On a tight; barn budget, we have pinched pennies until they shine. Some of our major projects have been the West cross-ties, staking down the outdoor arena, building turnout shelters, and more. We can already hear you chomping at the bit for more details on these projects and how we did them.
These projects have not been easy due to the fact that our team started working no earlier than November, 2017, during winter...aka the horse owner's favorite season (cough-cough). As always though, our top priority is the health and safety of the animals and people here at VIP. After weeks of almost losing boots, battling the flash freeze and thaw of Utah's bipolar weather, and the mountains of salt melt, our efforts turned one foot of mud into only a couple of inches of mud once Spring hit.
Aside from our winter battles, VIP has a mixture of wide open spaces and formal facilities. Upcycled bleachers have been added to our indoor arena for a comfortable vantage point of the riding space.
On the West and East sides of the indoor barn; we have indoor stalls, tack lockers, and two sets of cross-ties.
The East cross-ties were completed by previous barn management, with a great layout, but the West cross-ties were separated by two barrels full of what looked like cat litter and a wooden saddle rack. As one of the features everyone sees when they enter the barn we quickly transformed the space into rustic farm styled cross-ties with wood we found on the property. Jarrett, our Property Manager, lead the project and did a fantastic job!
At the moment, we are in the long process of dismantling indoor stalls, cleaning them, and fitting stall mats for each stall.
Stay tuned for more posts about some of our larger, outdoor projects we mentioned above!