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Opinion on Good or Bad boarding stables?

2K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  iluvkarmahorse 
#1 ·
I got a job at this stable mucking out stalls a little while ago. I'm really into horses and live in an urban area, so a barn was the only place close enough with horses. I have done LOTS of research on horse care, horse behavior, bits, etc. ( so,I do know SOME things about horses, but am completely open to knew input)
I quit working there after a month, and it wasn't the work that made me quit...
This barn has around 19 stalls, 12x12, and they use sawdust as their bedding. I didn't enjoy the sawdust getting in my face and in my nose, but it did make cleaning up waste rather easy. However, I noticed that every morning I went in to muck the stalls the horses would have runny noses and dust all over them. EVERY DAY. Secondly, they only turned out their horses, and not even all of them, for a half hour to an hour A DAY. Now, mind you, this COULD be qualified as a show barn, and I know show horses are generally not turned out that often. They also had no water trough in the field, so that could give you an idea of how little turn out time they had. Also, the barn was poorly ventilated. I'd go in the morning and the fumes would be horrid. I quit around the time the weather started to get cooler, and they didn't even OPEN DOORS, their main form of ventilation! It was hot for me, a human, and horses can stand up to 40 degrees colder temperatures than humans can (or so I've read). The horses would be sweating when I'd rub my hand over them. SWEATING! The horses had 2 rest days where they'd stay in their stalls ALL DAY! One day a week we didn't even MUCK! Another No-NO was I'd see the barn owner/trainer YANKING on the horses reins while he was "TRAINiNG IT" YANKING! Like a repeated JERKING motion. The horse would throw its head and its mouth would be gaping. Signs of PAIN, to me at least. Then I heard him tell one of his students when to use the SAWING motion. If you don't know what sawing is, look it up. It's barbaric. My mouth litterally dropped open when I heard him tell her. Half of the riders were overweight, not that that's a huge issue, but horses get ticked when their rider can't balance, and then the horse gets blamed for it. One time they found an animal carcass in the hay, which happens, but the thing is, they didn't set aside the bale! They got rid of the flake it was in and kept feeding the horses. That alone is a very dangerous mistake. I told you i did research, and I read an ENORMOUS list of health problems and illnesses that can come from the bacteria in dead animals found in hay! So, i'm a little angry about that when i go to muck stalls, but figure the horses would hopefully be safe,after all, they got the contaminated flake out, right? WRONG. the third stall I muck, I find an ANIMAL LEG in her bedding beneath her feeder. IT WAS IN HER FOOD. I was fed up with their laziness and quit without notice. So, i'd like your opinions; am I overreacting or am I correct in my impression of this barn?
 
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