Do you think this stable would work out?...Having problems at currenct stable...

I commend you on the exceptionally mature way in which you handled the removal of your horse from the previous stable. That said, I also think you're nuts. I've come a long way in my maturity and age has nothing to do with it but I must say that if such things had transpired with my horse, I wouldn't have paid them a dime AND hired an attorney to get me out of the balance.

THEN, I read the remaining posts. The last one got me. You are by far the most well spoken and mature 15 yr old I've ever come across and the most spoiled! (ergo - lucky!) I dunno if that was YOUR $2,800 or your parents but either way... wow. As stated, I wouldn't have paid it.

It has already been said that your horse doesn't care what a place looks like, he just needs to be taken care of well.

That amount of money was a HUGE surprise. When I started at the stable we were only paying $550/month for EVERYTHING: Lessons, board, feed, farrier etc. It was more when we put my horse indoors and had him trained but we never had a bill that cost that much. Half of it was completely nonsense, they ripped us off. I was getting my horse for the trailer when my mom was paying the invoices;she didn't even question them!! I was so unbelievably angry, the BO is so good at playing my mom. I pay as much as I can for my horse(hard to do at 15 because it's hard to get a well-paying job before you are 16.) and this really made me angry. I don't like being ripped off!

To be honest, I never really liked this stable. But does anyone listen to me?-no, I'm 15. It was full of girls with their $50,000+ horses(I'm not saying those are bad) and designer riding outfits haha. I honestly did not fit in there, I did not have a fancy warmblood like them, and I was happy without one. I don't want any other horse than mine . I do realize how lucky I am though to even have a horse and training at my age. I want to become independent with my horse(pay 100%) as soon as I can. I want to be able to do what I want with my horse so people stop taking advantage of my mom which is in turn forcing me to do things.

I've seen young riders work their buts off just for one lesson a week. Those riders can be 10 times more talented than the riders that get everything they need, and yet they just don't have the resources to get very far. When I am older I want to be an equine vet and horse trainer(yes, that will be hard to do! But if you saw my grades, you'd see that I'm a hard worker). Hopefully I can someday(far in the future), start my own stable. Even if I work out of another stable though, I want to set up my own program where young riders who can't afford horses(=$$$) have a chance to succeed. It's just not fair. Maybe it would be a sort of working student thing...I don't know. I just can't stand seeing one girl getting an overpriced warmblood at a super fancy stable getting whatever she wants while some other girl who understands horses way more can barely afford one lesson/week.

As for not paying the invoices, that wasn't going to happen...especially with my mom. We didn't even tell them that we were unhappy with their methods because the head trainer probably would have done something pretty crazy(like locking my horse in his stall. No joke!). She wouldn't release our horse until we paid the invoices.

I've decided that the new stable is fine. They have a very large indoor arena. However, they don't have a public bathroom! That's something we presumed that a stable would have. I guess we've learned one more thing...We have to use the owners' private bathrooms which doesn't really appeal to me but I'll just suck it up. The only reason I would leave is if the trainer doesn't work out.

Sooooo update:
My horse is really happy here. He has settled in quickly and is part of the herd. The owners can handle him fine right now. The trainer is O.K. But set in their ways. I'm going to give them a bit more time. Here's my thread about the training: Could I have some opinions on my instructor and some tips for my riding?

The other day I was putting some treats in my horse's feed tub. I walked into his stall and I clumsily face planted into his stall. I tripped on the bottom bar of his stall that is about 1" off the ground. It hurt! The ground was concrete but even though it was bedded with straw it wasn't soft at all. Is that okay? I don't see that as something safe for horses or something that is good for their legs never mind comfortable for them to sleep on.

BTW I'm north of Calgary so if anyone knows any other stables there please PM me. I'm moving to Edmonton this fall and I found a stable I like but I'm open to seeing other stables.