Insuring personal grain stays personal!

I discovered today that one of the girls who works off her lessons at the barn has been feeding my grain to the lesson horse she rides and using it to catch horses.

I'm SUPER angry about it, because not only did she not ask me whatsoever, she lied about it. This is personal grain that I pay for out of pocket - I do not even get reimbursed on my board price. It's clearly labeled that it is private grain, and it has been explained to her more than once what is personal grain and what is not in the feed room, and what horses have separate grain.

And there are more issues with this girl, that are not really relevant to her sneaking my grain, but she is a pathological liar and I don't trust that she will stay out of my grain despite the speech I gave her. I did try to be nice about it and I explained that I buy it myself, and do not get money back for it. I explained that it's a special low starch/sugar grain because my horse has weight issues and it helps keep her body score in check, and that the vast majority of the other horses in the barn need a more "fatty" grain to support their condition, not to mention it's not safe to abruptly start feeding other horses a totally different grain from their usual diet. I told her under no circumstances is she to use it again, no matter who tells her to - although I know nobody has told her to, she tried to tell me our trainer told her to.

I just feel paranoid now. I enjoy having to only get grain once every month and a half to two months - my grain has been going down FAST this month. I'm going to feel inclined to ask her to buy me another bag if it continues to disappear!

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep her out of my grain? I considered taking it home and just making baggies and leaving just enough for a week. Or getting a box I could lock and giving keys only to those responsible for feeding.

Talk to your BO. I immediately thought to buy a new, steel, trash can and put a bicycle-like chain and lock on it to give a copy of the key to your BO, but it's a problem for the BO, too. If you lock up your supply, the girl will steal from somebody else. TODAY, I would suggest storing in a new can and tying it up with some baling twine. I had someone stealing grain when I rented space, and That stopped it.

Lock it up and only give keys to the people who will be doing the feeding.

It's been going down fast this month, yet you just discovered today? Perhaps she is not the only one using your grain?

Either put it in baggies and provide only the amounts needed or lock it up.

Who does she report to? Did they tell her to use grain to catch horses?

I texted my BO and told her what I found out and to call me later. She's on the road right now taking a pony to a new home in the next state so she probably won't be using her phone until she stops. She's gone until Monday for a wedding back in her home state, so all she can do is make phone calls sadly.

Definitely think I'll be going to get a new bin and lock later. It just makes it all the worse that she lied about it - I don't know why it surprises me that she did. It shouldn't.

I like the idea of locking it up so that only the people that are supposed to feed the horses have access to it

Well, I just caught her in the act today rather. At first I thought I was imagining things but today was the "aha!" moment.

What did she say?

She claimed that there was already grain in the bucket she was carrying - which I know was not true, because I had emptied the grain from that bucket last night when I fed the horses, and I was also the feeder this morning. The girl was just assisting this morning, she isn't allowed to feed alone.

She only admitted to using it for the lesson horse she rides, because he too gets private grain, but his owner ran out and hasn't brought new grain. "What was I supposed to do" is all she said. I don't see how she worked out that the correct response was to use someone else's private grain!

Oh, and also said that our trainer told her to use mine. She was told NOT to. This is nothing new, she is all the time telling us the trainer said something that she didn't. She needs to be ousted, or else she is going to get my trainer in some serious crap.

True, get rid of her. I HATE a liar, and you can't trust them. LOTS of girls out there that would like her job.