Thinking about moving :(

I wrote elsewhere that I was having difficulty catching my horse in the pasture. The last few days I've been out to the farm have been getting better, but I wish I could get there every day.

I love love love the barn I'm at. The barn owner is very nice and the staff is wonderful! There are lots of places to ride too! It's a very family oriented place. There are a few things I would personally change, but I've been able to deal with with them thus far.

But now that my mare is on pasture board, I'm getting quite worried about my girl. She is on pasture board so she's not allowed to have a blanket. The pasture is big (about 8 acres +/-) with 8 mares. The pasture doesn't get cleaned. They even spread the manure from 16 stalls in the mare pasture. The horses have gradually moved to the back of the pasture over the last couple months as available grazing grass becomes limited. The only water supply in that pasture is a small pond. There are three (3!) flocks of geese that live in that pond! The pond stinks something awful and has a layer of green goo on the top.

Like I said, I love the barn I'm at, aside from those few things. For health reasons, I have to put my mare on pasture board (vet orders!). I never had an issue until I had to put her out there full time. But now I'm wondering if for health reasons if I should look at moving her. It's no easy decision. In addition to the other reasons, another factor is that it does take me 40 minutes to get to to the barn.

I have asked the barn owner if we could clean up the pasture (heck, I would help out too) and possibly get fresh water out there, but she won't do it. I even asked her if I could have my mare put in a different pasture. She told me that this is the way the barn has been run for years, and she won't do anything special for one horse/boarder. I understand. That's fine with me. But I notice now that my mare just stinks! Her manure smells like the pond, she seems grumpy all the time......

What would you do in this kind of situation? Would you stay? Or would you bite the bullet and find a different boarding situation?

Could you switch her board to stall board and just never keep her in?
Honestly I'd just move. Bad care is not worth whatever not I'd get frm socializing.

I don't see why she wouldn't be "allowed" a blanket. It's your horse. If you want a blanket on her then put one on her. A BO telling me what I can and cannot do with my horse is a deal breaker. Inadequate food and water is a deal breaker.
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" DancingArabian; A BO telling me what I can and cannot do with my horse is a deal breaker. "

My hubby keeps telling me that. He says "She's your horse. Why can't you do with her what you want?"

I guess I like the room and the tranquility of the barn the most. I'm usually the only one out there - but the people that are there are great company when they are out.

There is a farm about 12 minutes from my house that offers full care board. They can bring my horse in for meal times and keep her out the rest of the time. I can blanket my horse in the pasture, there is clean water supply, they have shelters in the pastures too, and they can supplement my horse for me if I need it (which we do have one thing she isn't getting now because she's on pasture board). I've been out there and of course, no place will be perfect to anyone, but I've been contemplating it. There are loads of trails, which I would love! An arena with jumps, a real round pen (not two put together to form a small temporary pasture). It's more of a working farm environment.

Thanks for your thoughts DancingArabians. Perhaps I should give the other place a call.

Yep, sounds like you need to give them a call. Keep us posted and good luck.

It's a hard situation.
I've been at my yard for years but have recently bought a new horse. Things didn't go too well in the early days and I have had SO much support of the yard manager with my youngster. However now winter has kicked in I feel we've hit a brick wall. There's no winter turn out and I really don't think this suits my young horse. His temperament has changed totally, he used to be so docile and laid back, now he seems on edge and will spook at almost anything (nearly kicking me in the head yesterday) which is putting me off riding him. I know he just wants to be let loose in a field to buck and run and be a horse, and I feel that it's not fair on me to expect him to behave under the saddle.
I really don't know what to do as I don't want to unsettle him by moving yards when we have only started to get going with our riding in the last 6 weeks. However we have bonded so would he be OK to move as long as I was still with him and kept his routine the same?
Help please!

I have had the horses at the same private farm for 6 years. This past year things have started to go really down hill. Horses were out 3x in two weeks. Fence didn't get fixed just shut the horses out of that pasture, which meant I had to start feeding hay early. Then we brought Linus home and it went from bad to horrible. I moved Linus just two days after arriving. Sold Tango due my health and I am moving Cheveyo to join Linus by the end of the month. I can't bring Linus back to this farm and not leaving Cheveyo alone.

Good luck in your decision!

I also recently was on the fence about whether or not I should move my horse from a boarding facility that had both really good things and less-than-ideal things going for it. I ended up moving him and I am super glad I did.

If you move and it doesn't work out, you can always go back.

It sounds like the barn you found would take much better care of you horse, I'm very surprised that your current barn own won't give the horses fresh water. That's a deal breaker for me, good luck with your decision!

I would move, that pond is a huge deal breaker. The barn closer to you sounds a lot nicer

Other issues aside, the dirty water is reason enough to move. It could be toxic. Check this factsheet from the Alberta Government.

Http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/faq7171