I am a average person who has been working and training horses for 25 years. I have extensive knowledge both in the vet feild as well as caring for horses. I have owned my mare for 14 years, since she was 7. She was my first horse I ever owned but I had spent years building up my knowledge before buying a horse. She is a OTTB, not something I would of bought for myself had a freind not told me she was just what I was looking for.. nothing against TB but I have been around some great ones and I've been around some knobs.. course you can get that with any breed I guess... anyway back to subject.. Talley is, I have to say, one of the best horses I have been around. There is not a horse I trust as much as I trust her. I've had children ride her, shown her hunsteat, trained her to third leval dressage, needless to say, I have grown very attached to this horse and her care is first priorty to me.
I don't own my own farm so I am at the mercy of boarding stables. Most places I have boarded at have been ok but it's so difficult to find that perfect place without haveing to spend half my pay check for care. The last place I had her at was not bad in price and they gave great care but there were just a few small problems I noticed after being there for a year. My mare is 21, but acts like she's two. She had started dropping weight which is common with older horses so, I had her teeth checked, run bloodwork, added beat bulp to her food but still it was a fight to get her past her ribby look. So now, nearly 1000.00 later, of money I really didn't have to spend, in vet bills I found out that they weren't graining her as much as they should of been. They were use to feeding small horses, arab's and donkeys. My mare should be 1200 pounds. When telling the farm owner she should be getting 6 pounds of grain twice a day and two to three flakes of hay, her comment had been " That much? " this was always what my mare had been fed since I owned her and she kept in great shape. Needless to say I moved her to a freinds farm, a little farther away then I would like, but in one week my mare had gained nearly 50 pounds. Goes to show what a little good quailty food will do huh?
So moral of this story is..always make sure you know what your horse is being fed, how much and that you are getting the services you are paying for when boarding.
PS my mare isn't on beat bulp anymore and we stopped her weight gain suppliments... and she is SOOOO happy where she is now at. Not a 5 star hotel but she's happy and putting weight back on, which is all that matters to me.
