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18 Posts
Hi all! So I am new here and I am very frustrated. I have a small 3 stall barn with a feed room and hay room behind the barn. We have grass paddocks and a sand arena in the works. we have a room on the side of the house that is air conditioned and locked for tack. We got our first full boarder about a year ago and the first 4-5 months were great! The nicest lady, she has been out of horses for 30 years and she only owned her horse for about 6 months when she moved here. She did not know much but was very open to my advice.
Well things have not been good for about 5-6 months now. She started to become very strange. So the boarding agreement is $600 a month (average here) and her horse gets a stall, cleaned daily, water cleaned daily, grain AM/PM, and hay 3-4 times a day and daily turnout. I also gave her my horses stall in the back of the barn which has a small turnout connected to it. My two horses go out separate at night (my horse will freak if he is left in the heat) and my light horse gets sunburned. My pony and her horse go out during the day.
It started when I allowed her and her husband to cut part of the fence and put chains up to connect his turnout to the big paddock. That way he can go in and out of that stall. I thought it was a good idea and didn't mind. Well that area soon become "his paddock" and she would freak if any other horse was in there or if I locked him out of his stall because he would sit in his stall all day. He would start to stock up on his back leg and she would come and hand walk him 3 times a day. Then she would come back and it would be blown up again so she would start crying and freaking out. I tried to tell her that it is not a big deal and it is just because he sits in a stall almost 24 hours a day. I locked him out one day - all day- and his ankle never blew up. She freaked that I left him out and said he will die of heat stroke (the paddock has water and half of it is covered in shade all day). So she insisted his chains be left open. He would sit in his stall all day and his ankle blew up again. The vet came said he was fine and it was just cosmetic but sold her an 80 dollar cream that would keep it down. She insisted trying to tell me it was a "medical condition" even though the vet said otherwise and he "NEEDS" to have access to his paddock and stall 24/7.
Well when my pony came home from training, she was in heat and frazzled from the move. She is a 4 year old, very high energy pony. So she would go in at night in the stall next to my boarder's horse and out during the day because we only have 3 stalls and now 4 horses. I had to lock her horse out of his stall so they wouldn't get hurt if they went in the stall together. Well she got mad so she locked my pony in the small paddock without water, so she could open her horses stall up to the large area. My pony would also go and put her nose through the boards in the stall and her horse would bite her and she would squeal and squirt. Well my boarder FREAKED out and started smacking my pony in the face saying she is a ***** and makes her horse mean. I freaked on her and almost kicked her out but she promised not to mess with the turnout arrangements or touch my pony again.
Also not to mention every time he gets hurt - (coliced once, cut his leg another time, and ripped a huge chunk of skin out of his chest) it is my light horses fault and she demands my light horse be kept away from her horse. It is never her fault and They are never near each-other except when she puts him in his stall during the day when hes supposed to be out.
So just this week, she came up with this "bright" idea to take his old halter and tie it around the post in the back of his stall. and when she brings him in the afternoon she hands his 20 pound bucket of hay cubes on it. (her horse is so overweight but she keeps stuffing him) she also moved his haynet because him and my horse "fight" and my horse annoys him and eats all of his food. (through the stall in a haynet... right...)
So she left and was going to come back later to let him back out and when she leaves he starts pressing his butt against the boards, and kicking out at my horse. My horse screams and rears up almost flipping over. he keeps kicking kicking and kicking. So i grab him, put him outside with the pony and he calms down and doesn't lift his head off the ground.
So i texted her and asked her not to move his buckets/haynets and to not feed anyone unless all the horses are getting fed. And I said i put him outside and now he is fine. Well she said to me that her horse is too gentle to do that and it was my horse who always starts it. She was also questioning why I feel my hard keeper so much grain and hay when her horse gets so little and that its not fair. She also mentioned how her and her horse NEED their own place.
Im at a loss for words! She over-feeds the crap out of her already foundered horse (feeds him a whole bag of carrots at one time for a treat, steals hay, gets mad that I only feed my horses alfalfa and not him, and feeds him 40 pounds of soaked hay cubes a day.) Everytime he does something stupid and gets hurt it's my horse's fault, and she comes to my house 5-6 times a day to check on him. She brings him in between 11-4, so he only gets about 4-5 hours out a day. and she refuses to let him out at night because he will get hurt.
And she will not listen about how he is overweight, and needs more time out everyday! she think he is really really old but he just turned 17! She also made a comment about how boarding here is like A la carte - you have to pay for everything extra!!
I don't know what to say or what to do?! she is so stubborn and thinks she knows everything! After this week I am about to make it that he is either out all day or all night. That he cannot be fed during non feeding times, and that she needs to stop pointing fingers at my horses. I do so much for her and her horse and try to make her comfortable here but she is never happy it seems! and she is constantly acting like I do not know how to care for her horse properly.
But the point of my rant here is... am I being to sensitive about all of this? Or do I have the right to be mad!
Well things have not been good for about 5-6 months now. She started to become very strange. So the boarding agreement is $600 a month (average here) and her horse gets a stall, cleaned daily, water cleaned daily, grain AM/PM, and hay 3-4 times a day and daily turnout. I also gave her my horses stall in the back of the barn which has a small turnout connected to it. My two horses go out separate at night (my horse will freak if he is left in the heat) and my light horse gets sunburned. My pony and her horse go out during the day.
It started when I allowed her and her husband to cut part of the fence and put chains up to connect his turnout to the big paddock. That way he can go in and out of that stall. I thought it was a good idea and didn't mind. Well that area soon become "his paddock" and she would freak if any other horse was in there or if I locked him out of his stall because he would sit in his stall all day. He would start to stock up on his back leg and she would come and hand walk him 3 times a day. Then she would come back and it would be blown up again so she would start crying and freaking out. I tried to tell her that it is not a big deal and it is just because he sits in a stall almost 24 hours a day. I locked him out one day - all day- and his ankle never blew up. She freaked that I left him out and said he will die of heat stroke (the paddock has water and half of it is covered in shade all day). So she insisted his chains be left open. He would sit in his stall all day and his ankle blew up again. The vet came said he was fine and it was just cosmetic but sold her an 80 dollar cream that would keep it down. She insisted trying to tell me it was a "medical condition" even though the vet said otherwise and he "NEEDS" to have access to his paddock and stall 24/7.
Well when my pony came home from training, she was in heat and frazzled from the move. She is a 4 year old, very high energy pony. So she would go in at night in the stall next to my boarder's horse and out during the day because we only have 3 stalls and now 4 horses. I had to lock her horse out of his stall so they wouldn't get hurt if they went in the stall together. Well she got mad so she locked my pony in the small paddock without water, so she could open her horses stall up to the large area. My pony would also go and put her nose through the boards in the stall and her horse would bite her and she would squeal and squirt. Well my boarder FREAKED out and started smacking my pony in the face saying she is a ***** and makes her horse mean. I freaked on her and almost kicked her out but she promised not to mess with the turnout arrangements or touch my pony again.
Also not to mention every time he gets hurt - (coliced once, cut his leg another time, and ripped a huge chunk of skin out of his chest) it is my light horses fault and she demands my light horse be kept away from her horse. It is never her fault and They are never near each-other except when she puts him in his stall during the day when hes supposed to be out.
So just this week, she came up with this "bright" idea to take his old halter and tie it around the post in the back of his stall. and when she brings him in the afternoon she hands his 20 pound bucket of hay cubes on it. (her horse is so overweight but she keeps stuffing him) she also moved his haynet because him and my horse "fight" and my horse annoys him and eats all of his food. (through the stall in a haynet... right...)
So she left and was going to come back later to let him back out and when she leaves he starts pressing his butt against the boards, and kicking out at my horse. My horse screams and rears up almost flipping over. he keeps kicking kicking and kicking. So i grab him, put him outside with the pony and he calms down and doesn't lift his head off the ground.
So i texted her and asked her not to move his buckets/haynets and to not feed anyone unless all the horses are getting fed. And I said i put him outside and now he is fine. Well she said to me that her horse is too gentle to do that and it was my horse who always starts it. She was also questioning why I feel my hard keeper so much grain and hay when her horse gets so little and that its not fair. She also mentioned how her and her horse NEED their own place.
Im at a loss for words! She over-feeds the crap out of her already foundered horse (feeds him a whole bag of carrots at one time for a treat, steals hay, gets mad that I only feed my horses alfalfa and not him, and feeds him 40 pounds of soaked hay cubes a day.) Everytime he does something stupid and gets hurt it's my horse's fault, and she comes to my house 5-6 times a day to check on him. She brings him in between 11-4, so he only gets about 4-5 hours out a day. and she refuses to let him out at night because he will get hurt.
And she will not listen about how he is overweight, and needs more time out everyday! she think he is really really old but he just turned 17! She also made a comment about how boarding here is like A la carte - you have to pay for everything extra!!
I don't know what to say or what to do?! she is so stubborn and thinks she knows everything! After this week I am about to make it that he is either out all day or all night. That he cannot be fed during non feeding times, and that she needs to stop pointing fingers at my horses. I do so much for her and her horse and try to make her comfortable here but she is never happy it seems! and she is constantly acting like I do not know how to care for her horse properly.
But the point of my rant here is... am I being to sensitive about all of this? Or do I have the right to be mad!
