Your thoughts on some of my Barns practices

Could I get some feedback on what you think of some of the things that the barn where I board allow or do.

First I would like to say that there is about 40 horses including indoor and outdoor board. I'm outdoor board. My first issue is in regards to a incident that happened today while I was at the tack area. I had my horse tied to a post and when people walk by with their horses I move my horse so that they may safely pass. The area was poorly thought out and if more than one horse is tied on on opposite sides you can barely squeeze through safely. Anyway to get to the incident, I had moved my horse to the side and was standing just past his shoulder while brushing him. The girl is a student and she was walking a young QH/pony with the horse trailing about 4 feet behind her and then the pony stopped and just when the words were coming out of my mouth that she should move on the horse spooked at something and kicked out with both hind legs missing my horse and me by about a foot. I was freaked out to say the least. I let the girl have it for not leading her horse properly and letting the horse stop. They are not puppies allowed to stop and sniff whatever they want. So I brought it up with the BM and BO. Immediately they went on the defensive. Instead of being concerned about the incident or admitting the student needs to be retold the rules. The BO even told me not to stand behind a horse. What??? I did not stand behind the horses butt. I was so pissed that a kid walking a horse that can explode like that is not a concern to be brought up. I would have thought the BM or Bo would want to know that this occurred.

My other issue is that lesson horses are put into turn out with privately owned horses. Is this common practice? I would think that young or inexperienced riders going to get their lesson horse from a pasture of other horses could be dangerous. There is one lesson horse that is in with a very intimidating horse that even the mucker won't go into. There is also a lesson horse in with my two horses. For me, I don't really like the fact that strangers are always going in. One day I even noticed my halter had been used or fiddled with.

Okay there is my long story..sorry about that...so what are your thoughts? Is your barn like this?

While I would not have been pleased at all with the way that the girl was leading the horse, it is possible that the BO/BM might just have been advising you about the situation and still plan to talk to her about it.

I don't really think it is a big deal that lesson horses are out with boarders, I don't really see what difference that makes other than maybe gate safety if horses are coming and going a lot.

As far as the halter, that sucks, but at least it was still there. I am not a fan of people using my stuff without my permission, but it happens probably a lot more than any of us.

I think you have a right to be upset at the girl who was not leading her horse correctly, but I wouldn't sweat the other stuff.

Hi Alex, yes they are going to talk to the student about safety. Its the way they handled the situation. They seemed irritated and annoyed by me telling them what happened. It seems like my BO is only concerned about poop removal then peoples concerns which is very disturbing.

I'm just wondering how other boarders barns are about lesson horses. I have seen some pretty bad conduct on behalf of students in regards to putting a horse back into a pasture. And I do not like my halter being used. But that only happened once that I can tell.

I'm just commenting on your last question regarding lessons horses being turned out with privately-owned horses. Yes, this is common practice, at least in my area. My barn has several pastures with 2 or 3 horses per pasture and a barn I used to board at had only 2 pastures - 1 for mares, 1 for geldings. These are only 2 examples of barns, but regardless, every barn around me turns out lesson horses with private horses. I think if everyone just follows the "don't talk to or approach a horse that is not yours" rule, it's a pretty alright system. I know I've never heard of any problems with it. Just my 2 cents. :)

As far as I've ever known lesson horses are turned out wherever they fit the herd the best. If that happens to be with boarders horses then it is. It's all about herd dynamics. If you are concerned about your halter being used leave it with your tack and not out by the field, or leave a bad halter out that doesn't matter if you have to leave a halter out.

Different people do things differently. My horses follow behind me on a loose lead. As long as they don't get in front or lag behind, I let them be. If they stop, I check if they need to poop or if there is an issue, if not, I just walk on. I would probably drive you mad! My horses know how to walk up beside me if they need to or if we are at a show - I see no need to micro manage them when I don't have to!

I think the practice with leading was completely unacceptable on her part, and with a direspectful BO and BM like that, I would take pleasure in moving out asap. The pasture thing wouldn't bother me, though. Unless a horse in with others is extremely dangerous to someone, I would have no problem with it.

If you don't like the practices, you don't have to board there. It comes down to if the pros of this place outweigh the cons. Maybe they have the best indoor arena with shows every weekend and are 5 minutes away, or maybe they just all-around don't meet your needs.

I would be irritated if a student let a horse kick or near kick myself or my horse and you did the right thing by addressing the situation with the BM.

Mixing lesson and boarder horses is common practice. I use whatever halter is available as all the halters are stored in the same place unless they put them in their tack trunks.

For the first thing. That would make me so mad you wouldn't wanna be within 10 feet of me when that person did that. That would make me blow so you had the right to be mad and that person must have been dropped when she was a baby because you'd think it would be pretty obvious not to let your horse be behind you because you have absolutely NO control over it whatsoever. And the horse stopping and her just letting the horse stop? Nu uh.

The lesson thing... Well where I ride the horsesare all in seperate paddocks except for 2 of the paddocks have 2 horses in it. The horses aren't turned out to pasture in the winter they stay in their paddocks but when they are turned out they are put together usually. Most of the horses belong to the owner of the barn, but there are still lots of other owners too. Anyways so there's 2 pastures and at most there's 8 horses in one and either none in the other or 3 or so in the other. She seperates the mares and the geldings/stallions (we don't have any stallions though).

As for the halter thing, I don't really like people using my stuff either usually. People use my leadrope but that's just because I leave it with the other ones and we all kinda share so I don't really mind. If someone used my saddle without asking I'd be SO mad. Cheyenne's halter is her owner's so I don't mind if someone else uses it. My bridle... well I would mind I guess. Someone's used it before but they had just put it on for a couple seconds because they were taking a picture of a saddle on the horse and they didn't have a matching bridle and mine matched. My grooming supplies I keep in my locker so that doesn't get touched. Most of my stuff is in my locker except for my bridles and leads and stuff. Oh and my helmet is out and I'd get pretty mad if someone used that without asking.

Gee, thanks :]

Perhaps you need to train your horses a bit better - I have full control over my horse no matter where I choose to lead it from. I can lead with them in front, beside, or behind me.

And, shock horror, my horses sometimes stop when i'm leading too! I like to be considerate of my horse and work with my horse - What if they have an itch they need to scratch? What if there is something spooking them that they need to look at for a second to be confident?