LONG READ
This past week I've been debating about looking into moving barns. It fits everything I was looking for at the time. 32 stall barn, indoor arena, heated/AC observation room, hot/cold wash bay, 12x12 stalls, ect. I went and toured the barn. It was great.
Now here's the kicker. The property is 5 acres, with 37 horses on the property (there wasn't that many when I went to tour). They just purchased additional acreage but it's not fenced. The pastures are all giant mud pits with no way for the horses to get out of it. In the BO defense it has been raining a good bit and trying to figure out how to remedy the pastures. What has me a bit irritated is my horse seems to be paying the price of over crowding. Long story short, my horse is supposed to be pasture boarded. She was in a pasture with probably 9 other horses, caused no issues and seemed perfectly fine. Well a new horse shows up and decides to buddy up with her. My mare didn't care at all. But I get a text asking for when I come out again to put her in a different paddock because the other horse was causing issues because of his buddy sourness to my mare. I was like sure whatever, we'll she has me put her in another paddock with what I can only describe as the devils horse. Now, my mare is low man on the totem pole and doesn't make waves. Well this mare in the new pasture is absolutely horrid to my mare, to the point where she wasn't being allowed to eat and being attacked just because my mare was sitting there minding her own business. I showed up less then 24 hours and pulling in I see my mare being bitten and chased away from the giant hay bale. I spoke to the barn hand and he said yea that particular horse is dangerous and just plain mean. He said he knows for a fact that morning she had eaten her feed because he stood in the paddock and kept devil mare away from my girl so she could eat. (He's a really sweet worker and really cares about all the horses)
The devil mare broke his hand and knocked out one of his teeth on a separate occasion. Well I get my girl out of pasture and bring her into the indoor arena and gave her some hay. We got to talking and I told him it's not acceptable for my girl to be terrorized and not be able to eat it was 32 degrees outside she needs food. He totally agreed. Well I text the barn owner and tell her what's going on. The response I get is they normally work it out but has me put my girl in a stall until she has time to move other horses around and she'd put my girl back out in the pasture. I texted her yesterday asking what pasture my girl was in so I knew where to grab her from.. I get told she's still in a stall because mud is so bad and she's putting as many horses in a stall to give the ground a break. I told her my girl doesn't do we'll stalled..She gets anxious, she said she understoodand would figure out a place to turn her out...Well that was 2 days ago. I went there this afternoon and my girl is in the same stall she had me put her in on Friday. She was like why don't you lunge your girl. I asked where she was, she was like, "I don't know where she is, oh yea she's in the stall, I wouldn't try and take her out." Oddly enough when I showed up all the horses that were turned out were the same ones that were out when she said she was stalling other horses. So, I call BS.
Personally I feel she's a bit afraid of my girl because she's a mustang (she's tip trained but not broke) My horse hasn't done anything aggressive to her, only thing she's done is she wouldn't let her catch her in the pasture 1 time. I also get the suspicion that she's over extended. She's never managed a barn, I think it was they took lessons at that barn, it came up for sale, they bought it and didn't really formulate an actual business plan or any type of barn management, hence why there's to many horses on the 5 acres.
I do have an appointment with another barn to tour, its only a couple minutes farther from my house but from the photos it looks alot nicer. I'd feel bad about leaving because the owner is a sweet lady and the other boarders are nice but I feel like I need to do what's best for my girl.
Inputs? Opinions?
This past week I've been debating about looking into moving barns. It fits everything I was looking for at the time. 32 stall barn, indoor arena, heated/AC observation room, hot/cold wash bay, 12x12 stalls, ect. I went and toured the barn. It was great.
Now here's the kicker. The property is 5 acres, with 37 horses on the property (there wasn't that many when I went to tour). They just purchased additional acreage but it's not fenced. The pastures are all giant mud pits with no way for the horses to get out of it. In the BO defense it has been raining a good bit and trying to figure out how to remedy the pastures. What has me a bit irritated is my horse seems to be paying the price of over crowding. Long story short, my horse is supposed to be pasture boarded. She was in a pasture with probably 9 other horses, caused no issues and seemed perfectly fine. Well a new horse shows up and decides to buddy up with her. My mare didn't care at all. But I get a text asking for when I come out again to put her in a different paddock because the other horse was causing issues because of his buddy sourness to my mare. I was like sure whatever, we'll she has me put her in another paddock with what I can only describe as the devils horse. Now, my mare is low man on the totem pole and doesn't make waves. Well this mare in the new pasture is absolutely horrid to my mare, to the point where she wasn't being allowed to eat and being attacked just because my mare was sitting there minding her own business. I showed up less then 24 hours and pulling in I see my mare being bitten and chased away from the giant hay bale. I spoke to the barn hand and he said yea that particular horse is dangerous and just plain mean. He said he knows for a fact that morning she had eaten her feed because he stood in the paddock and kept devil mare away from my girl so she could eat. (He's a really sweet worker and really cares about all the horses)
The devil mare broke his hand and knocked out one of his teeth on a separate occasion. Well I get my girl out of pasture and bring her into the indoor arena and gave her some hay. We got to talking and I told him it's not acceptable for my girl to be terrorized and not be able to eat it was 32 degrees outside she needs food. He totally agreed. Well I text the barn owner and tell her what's going on. The response I get is they normally work it out but has me put my girl in a stall until she has time to move other horses around and she'd put my girl back out in the pasture. I texted her yesterday asking what pasture my girl was in so I knew where to grab her from.. I get told she's still in a stall because mud is so bad and she's putting as many horses in a stall to give the ground a break. I told her my girl doesn't do we'll stalled..She gets anxious, she said she understoodand would figure out a place to turn her out...Well that was 2 days ago. I went there this afternoon and my girl is in the same stall she had me put her in on Friday. She was like why don't you lunge your girl. I asked where she was, she was like, "I don't know where she is, oh yea she's in the stall, I wouldn't try and take her out." Oddly enough when I showed up all the horses that were turned out were the same ones that were out when she said she was stalling other horses. So, I call BS.
Personally I feel she's a bit afraid of my girl because she's a mustang (she's tip trained but not broke) My horse hasn't done anything aggressive to her, only thing she's done is she wouldn't let her catch her in the pasture 1 time. I also get the suspicion that she's over extended. She's never managed a barn, I think it was they took lessons at that barn, it came up for sale, they bought it and didn't really formulate an actual business plan or any type of barn management, hence why there's to many horses on the 5 acres.
I do have an appointment with another barn to tour, its only a couple minutes farther from my house but from the photos it looks alot nicer. I'd feel bad about leaving because the owner is a sweet lady and the other boarders are nice but I feel like I need to do what's best for my girl.
Inputs? Opinions?