appylover31803 said:
My boyfriend and I purchased our 2 horses from the place where we are currently boarding. I took lessons there for a bout 2 weeks before we bought them (ive been riding for 12 years, just moved and found another stable). We have had a few...er.... many problems i guess with the people currently there. The first time was when I took my horse's halter off because i didnt want it on all the time, and there was no sign nor did anyone say their halters had to be on 24/7, so i got sternly talked to in front of a lot of people that it had to stay on. The next time was when my horse had mud fever and her leg was swollen to twice the size. I asked the owner there to check it out and she said she was just stocking up and it was nothing to worry about. The next day i had someone else who worked there take a look at her still swollen leg. She said it was mud fever and not to worry about it either, that the swelling was normal. Well after doing quite a bit of research, swelling = call the vet. So i went and got a vet out there. The owner of the barn came up to my boyfriend and I and YELLED at us. Again this was in front of quite a few people, and we found it really unprofessional. After that they stopped talking to us and we felt like an outcast. Most times too, if we would go there when our horses were out, there would be other random horses in my horse's stall. I had put a likit type toy in there for my horse, and a different horse ate it! That really ticked me off. They also seem to put whatever horse they were just riding into someone else's stall. I dont get why you pay to have a stall, if other horses use it. Recently, they have filled in all the horses stalls (this past week) but it wasn't just filled in with dirt, there is a huge volume of rocks in there. Its more so like "would you like some dirt with your rocks" and we find this very dangerous because our horses like to lay down at times. We have gone through over the past couple of days to pick out the rocks and its helped a little bit, but there's still a lot in there. Should we stay there, or should we find another barn? Part of me wants to keep them there because its stressful to move a horse, but more of me wants to move them so my boyfriend and I can really and truly enjoy spending time with our horses. Sorry this is so long, but i would like some opinions. Thanks for reading it!!
oh my goodness!!! that doesnt sound good at all. i would definitely move and ASAP. these kind of people are the ones that give horse owners a bad name.
if you are paying that kind of money, you should not be subject to this kind of thing. i used to work at an equestrian centre in the southern highlands of nsw and it cost people $170 a week to keep their horses there. as such, they were treated like royalty. if they had a problem we said 'yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir'. there was NO form of talking back, challenging in front of others (at all for that matter) and even the owner of the centre would go out of her way to ensure that all her agistees were as happy as they could be. this is how it should be when you are paying such a high price for agistment.
i currently agist somewhere for $10 a week per horse. i have a huge yard, two tack sheds, 4 stables and running water to my yard. admittedly we dont have a proper arena but its still a good spot. even though we only pay $30 a week all up, we still get awesome treatment. the guy who owns the property doesnt take any crap from us or between people there. if there is a prob, we go to him and tell him whats going on and he will sort things out quietly and without hassles or embarassment for anyone.
we had an issue a few weeks ago where someone else was feeding our horses while we werent there (our horses were when we bought them, and still are to some degree, underweight when we bought them and some do-gooders decided that they had to feed them as well. there were many issues with this but the main ones were the fact that they are my horses and i dont approve of anyone else feeding them in any form and they get a complete supplement in their feed and i know fir a fact that the food they were giving them contained extra calcium as a supplement. too much calcium is bad and i hit the roof). anyhoo, i spoke to them and got no happiness from that so i went to the property owner and let him know and he quietly called them over that afternoon and informed them that they can not feed my horses and if they were caught interferring again, they would be asked to leave the property. the same people were caught letting their horse into our yard during the day when they thought we wouldnt know. apparently, they let her in because we have a large round bale of hay for constant eating and she wanted to let her horse have a munch :roll: this was sorted so quietly and quickly though as it should be in this situation.
sorry you have to have such a bad experience somewhere. i hope you get it sorted out but in the meantime i would be VERY forceful with the people that are using your stall. your stall is your stall and no one else should be using it in any capacity. if you come back and someone is in your stall, as them to leave and if they could not use your stall, that would be great. either that or (this is what i would do :lol
put a sign on your door saying that this stall is for your horse and your horse only. even a no trespassing sign might be good. but sometimes i like to stir the pot so there may be other ways you feel more comfortable with but i would think about it.
i hope things settle down for you
p.s. always remember, you are out there for your horses, not the people
never feel like an outcast in a place you have as much right to be in as anyone else. take care
p.p.s i was thinking of entering this post in a small essay competition lol j/k sorry about the length of it