If it’s on your property it is YOUR business and YOUR problem!
Jun 06 2011
I’ve said this many, many times but I’m not sure everybody was listening: If you are a boarding stable owner, or merely someone who allowed some deadbeat to put horses on your property, you are absolutely responsible for making sure those horses are cared for within legal requirements, whether or not you are being paid as agreed or paid at all.
Owner of Horse Stables in Long County Taken Into Custody
Here’s Jason, who, like most horse-starvers, does not seem to skimp on the drive-through trips for himself! I am going to put on my Madame Cleo hat and predict Jason’s defense. I won’t be wrong. You will be amazed. Jason will put forth the defense that some of his boarders had not paid as agreed, and heck, how was he supposed to buy hay with no money? And he will most likely get thoroughly smacked down by the Court because if they are on your property, you do not have the right not to feed them. You have the right to seize them and sell them, assuming your contract with the owner had a provision for that in compliance with your state laws for an agricultural lien. But you do NOT, EVER, have the right not to feed them. Once you choose to be in the business of boarding horses, any horses on your property are yours to feed, regardless of whether you get paid, until such a time as you are legally able to sell them. Think long and hard about that fact when you decide how many horses to board, or whether to board at all! Especially think about it when offering to “help out” a friend in financial trouble by keeping his or her horses. If they break a leg in the field…you HAVE to call the vet…and if the vet won’t bill, you’re going to have to hand over YOUR plastic, or YOU could be arrested. (Sure, you’d have every right to go after the horse owner to recover the money – but you do not have the right to withhold necessary care.) Finally, owners, I’m really not kidding…you can NOT leave your horse unsupervised in boarding anywhere (OK, you can at Paradigm Farm…but I only say that from personal experience!). If you are unable to visit, require regular cell phone pictures or videos be sent to you (At the VERY least…site visits by a trusted friend are much better!) These train wrecks happen when you do not check up on your horses.
173 comments to “If it’s on your property it is YOUR business and YOUR problem!”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment. Not a member? Registering is free, and you do it here!
*head desk*
This is why I have always maintained that if I ever do boarding, it will be expensive, full service, and the contract will require at LEAST one month’s deposit, and a clear clause for seizure of horse if the board bill isn’t paid. I’m sorry, but it’s just not worth the headache of dealing with owners who ‘just can’t find hay’ or ‘lost their ferrrrrier’ or ‘had to make the house payment this month instead or that durn bank was gonna take my house trailer!’
I think the most frustrating is self-care board…you wind up with a barn full of asshats that just DON’T take proper care of their horses. They buy crap hay, run out of hay and miss feedings, and clean the stall when they feel like it. The barn always ends up smelling awful and looking awful, and their horses are an embarrassment to the facility.
I am not saying all self-care boarders are bad but the ones that are create a HUGE problem. When I worked at that kind of barn, I was always doing work I wasn’t getting paid for because I could not stand looking at horses with no water in their buckets, or alfalfa soup in their buckets that stunk to the high heaven. Blech.
And while the abuse itself is the real issue, horses that aren’t taken care of tend to be a lot more destructive to their environment– chewed and kicked stall boards, broken or bent fences, etc… Which is just that much more cost to the land owner.
There’s another side to that coin. I chose self-care board at the last boarding barn I kept my horses – I took care of them every day and they looked great from July through January. This was also a barn that offered full care board. I had an accident in January, and the resulting injury kept me away from the barn for about 6 weeks. I called, explained the situation, and arranged to pay the difference to have them feed my horses (the hay & feed were there, I just needed someone to put it in front of the horses so they could eat it – easy enough right?). When I finally made it out, I knew there would be a problem as there were only a couple of bales missing from my store of hay, and almost no feed used. Yep, I came back to a very skinny pony. Of course it wasn’t the barn owners fault, the pony kept escaping into the neighboring field, and since there was plenty of grass over there, they thought he’d be fine (Yeah, grass in February? More like thigh-high dead weeds from the previous year.) He probably snuck over there to begin with because of hunger. He didn’t get fed because of sheer laziness. Fortunately the full size horses were in better condition because there were round bales (not great, but better than nothing) in their field. Needless to say, they’ve all been living at a different barn since March 1st. That barn has since closed to boarders.
I board at one of the worst barns ever. Been there for 15 years now, since I was a kid. When I first got there (came from a show barn and the move was my parents choice, not mine, it was CHEAP), there was a big lick walking horse “trainer” there and the barn was more or less full of his clientele’s horses, but he did not own the barn. I was a shy kid and I knew what I saw go on there was wrong, but never said anything, and wish now that I had. Eventually he was caught by the DQP and fined and suspended for two years, his customers left him, and he got out of horses.
For the most part, our barn (again, being cheap) is full of the ignorant and the neglectful. The BO bills himself as “full care” but in the real world, not the world of the aged cowboy, it is not. He fills buckets once a day, feeds the most pitiful about of cheap grain twice a day, and turns horses out for the day and brings them in in the evenings. Hay is provided outside in rolls. If your horse is stall kept, you can get your own hay…. and feed it too bc he isnt going to be bothered. Feed supplements? forget it. its on you. The pasture is barbed wire, and most of the horses on the property are underweight, though not enough so to get anyone in trouble. no stall cleaning, thats also on you, as well as shavings.
I daydream constantly about leaving, the place is an embarrassment, but what I LIKE about the place is that there are no hours, I can come day or night, and I love caring for my horse on my own. I told him long ago not to feed my horses at all, all he has to do is check their water. I come every morning before work and every evening directly after. My horses are shiny and fat, and since most the boarders never come, I have the place to myself 95% of the time, AND its only about 5 minutes from home. I have visited barns all over the area and there isnt one that doesnt dictacte hours that you can come see your horses, and thats just a huge huge problem for me. I am GOING to move sometime in the next year or so, I really do want to, but there is just going to be a major adjustment period, after having been so hands on with them for so long.
Agree on the self care board! For a very brief time as a teen I worked at a barn that had full care board and the “rent a stall” thing. One poor fugly albino was forever unfed, unwatered and standing in filth. The barn’ owner ORDERED us to do nothing, as the horses owner owed him money. Of course we promptly ignored this asshate and took care of the horse anyways but we had to do it behind his back and I suppose were basically stealing the feed. The day we finally had enough unsupervised time to properly muck his stall (BO left the property) the ammonia made our eyes water and the poor thing had thrush.
I completely agree! All of the self-care boarding barns I’ve been to have not only had morons for boarders, but morons for owners! The last self-care boarding barn I went to had a barn owner that thought she was the world’s best trainer (and quarter horses were all the counted) because she owned a halter champion twenty years ago and gave lessons that scared more people off. Let’s just say the majority of the boarders were of a similar variety.
That would be why at the barn I work at, the owner will not even consider letting someone she doesn’t know board and certainly doesn’t allow full self-care. Generally it’s new horse people that want the partial care with us; they can supply the sweet feed if they want (the knowledgable trainer monitors how much each horse gets), but generally they use all of our feed.
Our last partial-care boarders, who were probably the best beginners you could imagine, cleaned their own stalls, fed in the evening (and called days ahead to let us know if there was a day they couldn’t make it), and always asked for help or suggestions when they needed it. They ended up buying a farm about two miles away and the owner of the barn I’m at helped them out a lot with everything they needed for horse ownership/care.
I just wanted to make a little plug for self-care barns and tell people that it really CAN work! I guess what I board at isn’t a true “self care”–we call ourselves a co op. Everyone is expected to take care of their own horse, but also pitch in concerning general chores like fixing fences, scrubbing water troughs, feeding, turnout/turn in. Our barn is also a foster home for several Long Run Thoroughbred Retirement Society horses, and co op members are expected to pitch in concerning their daily care (mucking, grooming, etc).
Everyone’s “stall rental” fee pays the rent on the property. Beyond that, each owner is responsible for all the hay, feed and shavings their horse needs (though we have found it more economical to order a big load of hay and everyone pay for the portion they will use for their horse, so everyone eats the same hay, both in rounds outside and small bales inside). Everyone feels a sense of responsibility about the farm–if a fence board is broken, even if it isn’t your horse’s paddock, you’re expected to pick up the screw gun and fix it! Don’t just fill the trough in your horse’s paddock–do them all while you are at it. We are a small group but we do a great job. The horses are all fat and happy. I’m not going to pretend it is perfect, and that some do less work than others, but overall we have a great group that loves horses and wants to take care of them.
I just don’t want all negative opinions on self-care/co op barns–I would never, EVER want to give up complete control over my horse and I really think that this is the only option that would work for me. I choose what and how much she eats, right down to meeting the people we buy hay from. I have complete control over how many hours of turnout she gets (the more the better in my opinion!). I know her paddock is safe because I check the fences daily. I know exactly who she is turned out with and where. I get to feed her dinner every night and do morning turnout once a week. I get to muck her stall and pick what kind of bedding she gets. I know she will never run out of water because I fill and check her buckets and troughs. I AM OBSESSIVE AND NITPICKY and no boarding barn would put up with me, I’m pretty sure. Keep in mind this is my first horse. I’m 23 and have only owned her a year! But I love her, she is my forever horse, and self-care is the ONLY way I would ever go. Though I am going to leave her for a whole week to go on vacation, and I know my fellow co opers will take good care of her while I’m gone.
This reminds me of the boarder I had who called me on the 10th of the month (his board was already 10 days late). It was a Thursday. He told me he was a little short on money that week and wanted to know if it was OK if he paid me the following Sunday (that would have been the 20th). My reply was that he could pay late but there would be a late fee added for every day he was delinquent. He showed up the next day with the new truck he had just purchased, complete with over sized chrome rims and off road tires. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the money, he just didn’t put his horse as a priority. He was the first boarder I had to kick out – I don’t regret it at all.
I was a self-care boarder until I relocated to my own property and my horses were cared for meticulously. I did witness plenty of the usual offenders though, and was the victim of one of them stealing feed and hay from my babies to feed her own horse. I got the BO to lock up my feedroom and I no longer set my feed and hay the night before. That made it harder on the morning feeders but they understood. This same girl who was stealing from everyone is at another barn and up to her old habits and the heck of it is, her parents give her $250 every month for her horse expenses.
Boarding horses is tough, which is exactly why I don’t do it anymore. I loved having the horses around, but the owners were often very difficult to deal with. People don’t pay, or they expect you to do extra things (like buy grain and supplements or exercise their horses) which clearly was not included in the boarding contract, or they think your barn is a storage facility, or they want you to solve all the personal problems between them and the other boarders. I had a horse dropped off at my place that was a walking skeleton and the owner didn’t think anything of it. Of course I rehabbed him at my expense because it was the right thing to do. It wasn’t the horse’s fault his owner was careless and cheap. I’ll try to pull up some photos of him from my old computer…
In the end, there is no excuse for not taking care of a horse that is on your property, whether or not it belongs to you or someone else.
Just last week, at the end of our lesson, another rider in my class was asking our instructor the history of the horse she was on. A woman who had no idea what she was doing with horses had brought him there to board, he was a an OTTB and she just left him. The owner of the barn took possession of him (through the right legal ways) for board owed, trained him and he has had a successful school horse/show career. At no point did the barn owner/instructor ever think that starving him was an option.
What kind of person can watch an animal starve? WTF?
Thank goodness it looks like action was taken before any horses died (at least from what I can deduce from the article you linked to).
As we all know, in many cases law enforcement doesn’t act when it should. What to you think an owner/observer should do if they become aware of a situation, inform the proper authorities and they fail to act? Beyond removing their own horse. Are there legal risks if folks tweet or post that something bad is going on at ABC Boarding facility and people need to come and get their horses?
This happened here not long ago. This is the 4th or 5th time this woman has had horses seized by the authorities. She was ordered to not have horses, but she does….she now just puts them in her husband’s name. These people never wisen up, and like you said, they are ALWAYS fat themselves.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/03/portage_county_woman_pleads_gu.html
What a freaking waste product she is. WHYWHYWHY do people like her keep acquiring horses, illegally in her case, just so they can starve them? Do they think “things will be different” this time, that the skies will suddenly open and manna from heaven, aka hay and grain, will suddenly appear? Along with free dewormer and vet care? I’m also quite sure this babe will stand in front of the judge and bleat about how much she loooooooves her horses, she just couldn’t live without them, she was “doing her best,” blah blah blah. Ugh. I really hope they truly throw the book at her sorry ass this time.
Nothing in the horse business surprises me any more. I hope this isn’t too off-topic, but something I found on the HBPA website fits the theme du jour — TRUST NO ONE to care for your horses in your absence, whether you are at a public boarding stable, show barn, someone’s pasture, racing stable. Says the HBPA:
Stewards at Prairie Meadows have revoked the license of trainer Joseph Louis Nealon… his horse Boty’s Banana was eased at the three-eighths pole and vanned off during the first race at the Iowa track May 24… Boty’s Banana went off at 76-1 …MSW… “According to the stewards’ ruling, when questioned by stewards after the race the jockey said Boty’s Banana was ‘ridiculously tired’ …state veterinarian David Radechel inspected the horse following the race and reported Boty’s Banana was ‘extremely tired and physically corded up across his back.’ Said the stewards, ‘The revocation of Nealon’s license is necessary to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare, and to protect the public from a person who should not hold a trainer’s license.’ … According to The Jockey Club Information Systems, Nealon has been represented by one winner and one second-place finisher from 71 starters from 1990 to present. Horses he has trained have earned $8,902 during that period. … This was not the first time Nealon had appeared before the stewards with regard to the condition of Boty’s Banana. During the first start of her career, in a 1 mile and 70 yard test at Prairie Meadows on July 14, 2009, Boty’s Banana finished seventh and last, beaten 90 1/2 lengths, the ruling stated. Following that race, jockey Jose O’Farrill said Boty’s Banana was ‘exhausted.’ He added that he thought his horse Boty’s Banana was going to “drop out from under him due to exhaustion.” ’
[Needless to say, poor Boty’s Banana (5YO M, 4 starts 0-0-0) is by a stallion that won a whopping $80K BUT is a son of Gone West – and poor Boty’s Banana is out of an unraced mare by an unraced stallion BUT the dam’s sire’s sire was Affirmed. Gosh.] [Oh, yeah, note how the stewards are talking about protecting the public but no mention of protecting poor Boty's Banana. Dis-gus-ting.]
I read this the other day. Good Lord. Would someone PLEASE claim that poor horse before she breaks down??? Let her be a nice children’s hunter or something.
Got a question maybe Fugs or someone can answer.
What about any employees of the farm? Would they also be liable if they didn’t provide adequate care? Could they also be charged or even sued if they witnessed a horse’s neglect & did nothing to prevent it?
Good question. Veterinarians have a duty to report animal neglect when they see it, but I don’t believe barn employees do in any state (I could DEFINITELY be wrong, I haven’t researched this). I suspect that the law doesn’t want to put that duty on low-level employees, knowing that they fear losing their jobs. There’s also a real fear of being black-balled in the industry. Although I know that I would TOTALLY hire someone who got fired for reporting starving horses…hell, they’d be my first choice. And I bet a lot of my readers feel the same!
This is just a guess– teachers are required to report suspected abuse if we see signs of it. However, ALL people have the same requirement; teachers are just more aware of the rules because our job puts us in a position to see suspected abuse more often, so we are educated about the law.
I’m willing to bet that there are laws about ignoring suspected abuse in animals as well, but I doubt that they are ever enforced.
Being a teacher makes a person a mandated reporter of child abuse, neglect and/or endangerment at least in my state. It comes in handy sometimes such as when my husband’s nephew was driving around with his kids sitting in lawn chairs in the bed of his pick up or my all time favorite when the same nephew was driving around with his sons sitting on the riding lawn mowers on the trailer he was towing down the road. I explained that I was a mandated reporter and that I would have to call the hotline if he continued this behavior or I could lose my teaching certificate and my livelihood. He stopped. Luckily I have not witnessed any animal abuse first hand although there is a person not far from me who has skinny horses and they have been reported by me, my trainer and others however its “Oh but we rescued them.” but guess what? Those horses never gain weight, disappear and then there are new skinny ones.
Think about it- if that Ag Law that was floating around had passed, in theory at least, you would actually have been breaking the law if you had squealed on your employer- all they would have had to do was say you were sent to do just that and they would walk. WHERE do people get these ideas for laws from, and why are they not actually working on a way to catch criminals, instead of making it ten times easier for them?
Excellent point. But then I think everybody here feels the very idea of those laws was insanity!
What about farriers? SAFE got this guy in a little bit ago, BS 1.5 complete with lice, rain rot, worms and beautifully shod feet! The stupid motherf*ckers were RIDING this horse and some farrier somewhere put SHOES on this horse looking like this. I swear that alone should put them in jail. I think it was neighbors that reported this, not the f*cking farrier.
http://www.safehorses.org/?p=7249
AMEN to that. Again, is there a legal duty to report? No. But there certainly is an ETHICAL one.
It boggles my mind that someone would spend all that money on farrier work and not take care of the horse!
Maybe they were putting shoes on their own horses. Not likely, but it is possible. There is a guy on the board of the local Back Country Horsemen that shoes his own horses and mules although he isn’t a farrier. They all get shoes twice a year whether they need new ones or not (sarcasm). Everything gets toe clips; I suppose it helps keep the shoes on for 5 or 6 months at a time.
If I were running a rescue and a farrier reported an abused horse, I would not identify the farrier as the reporter. That might cause other abusers to avoid farrier care, thus increasing the level of abuse and decreasing the chance that the horse(s) would be reported. Maybe in this case, the ‘neighbor’ was also the farrier.
The article quoted in this post says that an employee of Jason Ashley’s, Curtis Austell, is being charged as party to a crime. There’s no indication of what he was employed as – could have been the general manager, could have been the part-time stall mucker, but it does appear that at least in some locales employees can be prosecuted under some circumstances.
Wowzers. People are all sorts of impressive, aren’t they? (*big eye roll*)
I actually live about an hour from where this happened and, last month, we had an “animal rescue” that was riddled with dead animals and deplorable conditions. I want to help these horses, but I also want to shove my foot up the owners’ butts. Unbridled trust isn’t sweet and optimistic. It’s retarded.
I get tears when I see this sort of thing, and then I get angry. There is not a courtroom big enough to hold me if someone had done that to one of my horses. I definitely would have been checking more often than every two months, though, and would have known long before things got that far so I could have gotten my horse out of there. I thank God every day that I don’t have to board mine. I understand that others do have to board their horses, and they shouldn’t have to worry about their horses being starved and mistreated. I hope the lock those two monsters in an 8×8 with no food or water until their body scores are around a 1.
Most states have laws that allow a barn owner to take ownership of a horse when the owner isn’t paying but you MUST follow the proper procedure. In Ohio, you have to send a bill and certified letter to the last known address of the horse owner stating they have 10 days to have their bill paid in full and the horse removed from the property or the horse will be sold by public auction (doesn’t have to be a formal auction) on the farm. After ten days you put a notice in your local paper and send a copy of the notice from the paper via certified letter to the horse owner. We had to do this at the barn I work at a few times, but luckily the owners of the horses paid their bill before we had to go through with the auction.
We’ve had customers with training bills worth more than the horse and the owner’s never failed to sponsor classes and own the latest model of their vehicle of choice. But they didn’t pay their bill and expected her to not only stay in show shape, but be shown as well! By the time they finally left, the mare had moved to pasture board and was out of shape.
It’s not the horse’s fault their owner is a moron.
I am saving this article for a situation I am in the process of diving into. I love how cut and dried it is. If it’s in your care that’s what you are required by law to do. Care for it.Period.
Sheesh.
We have an out of state’s friend’s mare here on board. She had a foal last year that wasn’t quite right and not nursing well… and yup- we paid the vet bill. We surely couldn’t let the foal just starve to death. They ended up euthing him anyway as he just was too dysmature to function and it would have taken thousands of $$ to get him to where he would have survived. Something none of us had. He did not suffer and left this world in loving arms.
So, did NO ONE who boarded a horse there EVER go out and check on their animals? Surely there are horse owners who were aware this was going on and did nothing. I can’t imagine boarding my horses and not checking on them regularly, or having someone I trust completely checking on them for me. I have always had to travel for work, and in the past when I have had to board, my parents would house/kid/dog sit, and go take care of my horses at the barn every day. They are great and it made travel a lot less stressful.
***HEADDESK***
I’m over here in Qatar and have my horses boarded out with my farrier/trainer and even I know how my horses are doing. Miss Little Golfer should get her butt kicked..along with all the other owners…
When I boarded my horse I checked on him nearly every day. In a year I can count the days I didn’t go see him on one hand. When I wasn’t able to check on him, I asked a friend to do it. We boarded at a great private facility, but I wanted to see him anyway. Why have a horse if you aren’t going to enjoy it?
Before we boarded at the small barn, we boarded at a large facility that had partial care and about 30 horses. They were buying hay by the ton and would run out every couple of days. When it was our turn to feed, we would feed the boarders’ horses first and then split what was left over among the barn owner’s horses. She’d get pissed that her studs only got one flake of hay each at their eveing meal, but hey, I guess she should get of her butt and buy some more hay then.
Though a lot of your advice is good on this topic, I disagree with a few things.
I’m not going to get into an argument over these but I would highly recommend making all boarders sign a contract, give them an injury protocol sheet that clearly states how injuries will be handled and use a vet that allows you as the boarding facility owner/manager to have the owner billed. Also, I use a contract that makes my terms extremely clear. I require a security deposit and 1st/last month’s board. Late fees and policies are in the contract as well as posted. On the 45th day of no payment for board, a mechanics lien is filed against the horse and my state’s rules are followed. Any horse seized is sold immediately and the difference between the sale price and what is owed is filed in small claims court.
Boarders have the responsibility of paying for their horses. I don’t care if you lost your job. I don’t care if you needed a new outfit. I don’t care if you had a new baby. You expect me to feed your horse, water your horse, hay your horse, and provide lush pastures, I expect you to pay. No offense but if someone doesn’t want to pay for their horse, they are a no good bum who is stealing. End of story.
I find that a lot of barns are requiring a security deposit these days, and I honestly do not blame them one bit! I was at a barn last year that was supporting SEVEN dumped horses. Nice of them…but ridiculous for them to have to do that. I got one placed while I was there.
The big trick is to just stay on top of boarders. When they’re two weeks late, you have a good chance of getting payment if you keep at them. If you let it go to three months, you’re NEVER going to see the money. Your 45 day rule is good – when they know you’re serious and are going to do it, they generally pay up.
Kudos to Srgt. Hall- THANK YOU for not passing these horses by! Thank you for knowing what a starving animal looks like! Thank you for paying attention and saying “this isn’t right!”
Poor Yo Yo…I can’t imagine you working to keep your elderly mare fed and happy and come home to find this. She implied she’s an easy keeper anyway (“never seen her butt bones” or something similar) but that comes from some dedication to her feeding program. She looks like a sweet mare; I want to give her smooches.
Sorry, but little Sarah Johns, the busy golfer, is as at fault as the owners of the facility are here. “I was so busy on the golf team I hadn’t been out to see my horse for two months.” TWO MONTHS? What the hell is that about? Whose paying her horse’s bill? Daddy? That’s just gross. I see my horses every day. I ride them 3-4 times a week. Horses are expensive. If you’re not on them, you need to find them a new life. (Unless they’re in retirement.) Just want to gag that little miss “I’m in college on the golf team and too busy for the horse that Daddy bought me when I was all about horses” is now in horrors about what has happened to her horsy. SHE is responsible for horsy. YUCK.
Wow. Just wow.
Who the fuck are you to tell people to not own horses they don’t ride? WTF?
As long as the bills are paid, why should people NOT be able to keep horses as pets?
Obviously I also find it terrible that she simply didn’t check on her horse for two months straight but seriously? “Horses are expensive. If you’re not on them, you need to find them a new life. (Unless they’re in retirement.)”
WHY? WHY? WHY? People who can afford the bills should provide homes to horses if they so choose, no matter if they ride or not! Where do you expect all the horses that are being kept as pets only to go? Magic-fairy-land (aka slaughter plant?) NO WAY every single one of them can be sold into a riding home.
WTF
During collage my Dressage instructor had her horse work for the police as her cousin’s mount. He stayed in-shape catching car thieves (literally), so when summer rolled around they could hit the show-jumping circuit.
(Unless they’re in retirement.)
The horse is 24, she could very well be retired. Even if she’s not, we all know what the market for horses looks like right now. I agree that two months is pretty long to let a horse go unchecked, but I wouldn’t jump to conclusions about the owner’s reasons for keeping the horse. Or that she’s doing it with daddy’s money.
Yeah, I agree with you – that girl is just a stupid, spoiled brat and the owners who treat their animals like they would an old pair of skis are deserving of little sympathy. It’s a living animal, not a piece of equipment you can put in the cupboard until you next feel like playing with it because you’re OMGBUSYWHEE with socialising and ‘school’ and other shit. You own an animal, you have a responsibility toward it and that includes treating that animal as a priority and making sure paid caregivers are giving care appropriately. Two months without seeing your own damn horse is inexcusable unless you’re in the hospital or otherwise physically incapacitated.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – a decent-sized percentage of horse, dog, cat, bird – basically animals owners in general – have no business doing so. Until you accept that an animal is not a toy but a living, breathing creature capable of suffering whose needs MUST be met consistantly and for the long-term, no excuses, you have no business thinking about buying a pet. Too many people get an animal with absolutely no forward planning or idea of what its care really entails and the end result is the animal suffers and other, more responsible folk get to pick up the mess. I’ll extend that to parents too, btw, plenty of them seem to exhibit the same tendancies as idiotic pet owners in how they treat their kids.
You are absolutely correct!! Good for pointing out. Though in the case presented, I do not side with the boarding facility owner, I am truly tired of those of us who board being blamed for every little thing wrong with a horse from “His fly mask fell off and it’s your job to go out on 200 acres, find it, repair it and put it back on my horse” to “My horse is bucking and its because you aren’t feeding him right.” Those are just two examples. However, my favorite all time excuse for someone moving a horse from our place is “YOU brainwashed my horse to not like me. He nickers at YOU. He comes when YOU call him. When he bucks or refuses to jump or won’t go through a gate, YOU can lead him through or ride him just fine. I don’t appreciate YOU brainwashing my horse this way.” Got news for you: Your horse has identified with me as the care giver because *I* feed him, *I* water him, *I* clean his stall, *I* turn him out, *I* hold him for the farrier & vet, *I* pat him on the neck when YOU haven’t shown up for weeks on end.
I would appreciate an article about remiss horse owners in boarding/training situations explaining to people that it may be my job to see to the feeding and daily care of the horse but it’s THEIR job to be the owner. Boarding does not = I’m your horse hobby related slave
Very good points. In the case of the “brainwashing,” I would imagine Horsey actually has some respect for you because you deal with him daily in a competent way, whereas Owner lets Horsey use him/her for a doormat. So, voila, “brainwashed” horse.
Marjie, I couldn’t agree more. I wonder if it ever occurred to the too busy student to have someone ride and take care of her horse? I know firsthand there are tons of experienced horse people who would be more than happy to have the opportunity to ride and love a horse. I rode other peoples horses for years before I could afford my own. It was a win win situation for both horse and humans. Is she too selfish to “share” her horse. I understand life happens, shit happens but there is no excuse for not checking on your horse, or having someone trustworthy do it for you. Hell I fractured my back a couple of years ago, and had a network of barn buddies taking care of my mare (complete with video updates). The barn I board at is awesome, and no she wouldn’t have starved, but yes she needs to get out, exercised, groomed and spoiled.
That’s great that you had a bunch of knowledgeable, responsible friends to work with your horses, but the owner in the video may not have. We don’t even know if the horse is sound to ride. For all we know, this could be her former pony club mount that has been only pasture sound for a few years and is in well-earned retirement funded by the girl washing dishes at the college cafeteria. Two months is too long to go without checking on an animal, as she’s now learned the hard way, but the ‘selfish, spoiled brat’ comments are not called for.
I’ve have ridden a lot of other people’s horses during my horse-riding years (most of my life) and have let more than a few ride my horses. We have become such a litigious society, I am not sure I would do either today.
In this case, the stable may have even had rules about who could and could not ride boarded horses. Someone should have been checking regularly to see that the horse was healthy and receiving adequate care. I don’t think we know enough of the detail of the situation to say anything beyond that.
Good grief
A friend of mine ( who is good friends with Jo at Angel Acres) just had a blind horse and 43 yr old dumped at her place. They were only to be there one week. It’s been over a month with no money from the owner, the phone has been disconnected and the no sign of the owner. But my friend is taking care of them unlike this loser posted. And the oldster is taking 4 feedings a day and the blind horse( who is also a senior) take some extra feeding and care as well. It sucks when people do right and get dumped on and then turds like this guy will probably get away with what he did
See, this is why my family stopped boarding. We did full care, pasture boarding and it was just messy with one or two extra horses out there, especially since they weren’t ours. The owners wouldn’t show up execpt to hand over a check, and maybe take a horse to a Parelli clinic once a month, “to fix their trust issues.” Um, ma’am, if that is what the issue really and truely is (which it’s not, you just have a spoilt horse who needs someone who is willing to grow a backbone and tell them that their behavior is unacceptable),then the best method I’ve found for dealing with your alleged “trust issues” is to HANDLE the horse EVERY SINGLE DAMN DAY. That could just be me, but then again I’m the one who refuses to let your horse take me out.
We got tired of boarders horses breaking equipment and generally being a pain in the butt compared to our own crew, so we helped them find barns in the area that had similar prices and good commonsense trainers. The responsibility of caring for 6 horses and dealing with the drama created by the owners was too much for our busy family. It was a good learning experince but I’m glad we got out when we did.
And Mrs T? Thanks for leaving your jumps and mounting block behind, but I want my longe rope back.
I agree that boarding is no picnic. I truly do admire people who manage busy barns well.
LOL this sounds sooooo familiar!! Well, minus the Parelli clinics. My coach no longer does boarding for many of these very reasons. It is just a small barn (max 8 boarders plus her few horses) and generally was a good group of people but even on a small scale you can’t entirely avoid the odd bad apple!! She started out offering both self and full board…but then after issues with 2 people stealing others grain/beet pulp because they’d run out, the same people not bothering to show up to bring them in/clean stalls (after they’d used up all their “favors” with the other boarders) because they knew she wouldn’t leave them out all night, etc. she went to full board only. This helped…because then she was at least paid for the work she was doing anyways and got rid of the petty fights over grain. But there was still the problem of people breaking things and not replacing, leaving their stuff everywhere, not leaving jumps in the ring as they found them, paying late…the list could go on lol!! At that point she wasn’t taking on new boarders, but the current ones were allowed to stay for as long as they wanted.
The funniest part though was the biggest trouble maker decided to just up and leave with no notice when they thought my coach was out for the day and she came home and caught them red handed just as they were getting ready to load up LOL!! If only I had been there to see the looks on their faces! She had been about to give them their “eviction” notice for the next month anyways so just told them to get the hell out and make sure they had all their stuff because they weren’t welcome back on the property. Period. At that point she no longer cared about money, but was just happy to have them gone!
Fugly…I definitely agree with your comment about being wary of offering cheap board to friends with money problems! Although this really can be expanded to friends in general…money problems or not. Aside from the girl mentioned above, the absolute worst one for taking advantage of her generosity was a good friend of hers!
I don’t think I ever saw “action chains” doing less for a horse. Jason, here’s a suggestion, take them off and let your otherwise nice little horse gait naturally.
Is this a TW trainer? I see chains of some sort on the horse’s front fetlocks. And is he saying “Oh Shit” because the horse is not picking up his feet for him? The horse needs some weight on him and the rider definitely needs to take some weight off or stay off. I’m not against overweight riders just grossly overweight trainers on young and/or green horses who are trying to balance.
I would guess it’s a young Saddlebred. He’s sure an easy keeper type of man, probably gets by on 3,500 calories a day and plenty of liquid refreshment. He will get a good lawyer and get a little slap on the wrist, then go right back into business again in a few months.
Thank goodness law enforcement was called before these horses were beyond help.
I don’t have a problem with easy keeper men. Men are a lot more trouble to feed, heck it takes me as much time to feed the all of my critters combined than to feed one man. Then there’s the dishes and all that other crap, blech. If I can feed him less, that’s less drudgery time. If only Purina made Husband Chow.
LOL! LOL! LOL!
I swear, some people just never think of the worst case scenario. When you plan something like this, you need to sit down and work out all the montly costs and what you THINK your monthly income will be and then see if you are making a profit. You then need to think about what happens if you DON’T get paid.
This is why I only rescue one horse at a time. Because that way if nobody wants the horse or I can’t find someone suitable for them, I know that I will be able to afford to keep them until they do find a new home on what I make. What this guy should have done is figure out how much he makes without relying on boarders paying him and only taken in the amount of horses he could afford to keep incase something like this happens, or at the very least, he should have had a lump sum of money saved, so that if regular payments weren’t made then he could afford to care for the horse/s until he could have them sold for back payment. It’s not rocket science, but living animals cost more. It’s not a car that can just sit there and rust if you can’t afford to put money into it – when you’re dealing with living things, you need a back up plan. ALWAYS.
http://www.operationhorserescue.blogspot.com
Yes, that’s why I rescue so small-scale myself. I won’t have more than I can support myself…it’s too scary otherwise. I don’t want to ever have to put myself on my own blog!
I have a feeling that a least a couple of those boarders where paying him and that he just pocketed the money.
THIS is exactly why I spam my boarders with pictures of their horses… I do NOT EVER EVER EVER want to be the subject of FHOTD!!!
All joking aside, what happened to PRIDE?? I have pride in my property. My stalls aren’t always perfect since I’m back to work, but they get cleaned at least twice a week. (Bear in mind I have an open sided barn so they aren’t locked in to their stalls) I spend hundreds of dollars on weed killer and I bent over and pull weeds a thousand times more. I take PRIDE in the fact that ALL my horses are fat and shiny. This Spring, being as goofy as it was, I had three horses that didn’t look as good as I wanted them to. I focused on getting them back into the shape that I like them!
I would be ashamed and embarrassed if ANYONE – owner, boarder, friend came over and I had a skinny horse.
Then again, I have barn blindness – my horses aren’t fat! No really! They’re fluffy!
Absolutely true, especially the point about pride. I’m PROUD that the horses within my care look great. If something does not look great, I work with the owner and make suggestions. I will not permit a horse under my care to be thin or dull coated. There is always a reason and we will find it and fix it.
I, personally, find that people are THRILLED when I am able to suggest something that helps their horse. Most owners WANT to know more.
Who doesn’t want a round, shiny horse? Doesn’t it just make us feel good all over?? Sometimes people need a little help in horse husbandry because they don’t know any better and a little advice goes a loooong way. Most of us stay on track once we get in a habit of keeping our horses looking sharp and can’t stand when the bridlepath is mohawking so we get the clippers out and snatch it off. Let alone ribs showing!! I have 3 of my own and 2 boarders at my place and can’t imagine not having all of them equally cared for. How they look and behave is a direct reflection on me. One of my boarders couldn’t get to the barn for nearly 2 months due to surgery and her boy never suffered because “I could get away with it”. How on earth do you feed some and not others?? I find that mind boggling.
You sound like the owner of the current boarding barn we’re at. Love, love, LOVE having my horses there. Moved them from a bad situation the first of March (see reply to earlier comment) & the owner was a big help getting them back where they should be. She’s now using my pony for sessions with special needs kids (yes, with my enthusiastic agreement), and thanks to her, my little rescued, throw-away pony is now a therapy pony. And my 20 year old mare looks HAWT! She is fit, muscled up (I mean cut – she looks like an HYPP positive horse, but has no halter blood at all – it’s all from exercise – lol), and acting like a green broke 3 year old. She feels good, is happy, and even though she’s a bit of a handful, I love it! I provide the hay & grain, but I get lots of feedback about any changes in behavior, how they’re looking and acting, and suggestions about any changes needed one way or the other. I get pictures too (last one was of the pony after a bath before one of his therapy sessions – I almost cried to see him so beautiful and with such a purpose after the neglect he suffered before finding his way to me). I’m sure your boarders love having their horses with you as much as I love where mine are.
Fat horses are nothing to be proud of. Obesity is a health risk in horses just at it is in humans. If you cannot provide horses with proper care, including the proper amount of feed, you should not be boarding other people’s horses.
I once had my ponies boarded at a stable were the owner persisted in overfeeding them despite everything that I, the extension agent, the farrier, and two veterinarians said. I finally had to remove them. The other horses there were not as fat since they were not such ‘easy keepers’ as my ponies, but were still overweight.
Actual obesity is different from what we are joking about as being “fat” here, just like most of us will bitch about being “fat” when we are carrying 10 extra pounds. I’ve seen her horses – nothing is actually obese.
Before ripping his head off and $h*tting down his neck for being the first @$$ hat of summer…
WTF kind of riding was he trying to do.. if it was saddle seat.. WOW how awful can you get.. if it wasn’t … go back to the plastic pony at the front of the store and pay a few more quarters…
Now on to his stupidity, arrogance, and just WTFness of how can you possibly justify your actions to do that to horses entrusted to your care…
AND to the owners who apparently care NOW, that your horses are going to require several months if a year or two to recover from your own stupidity for not wanting to bother coming out to check on your horses…
Now I know that he is the major @$$ hat, but these owners… they are almost as much to blame as him.
And the student who had enough time to go to school, be on the golf team… and have a social life…
You could have avoided all this stupidity if you had just left your precious widdle baby (horse) at home so it could be ignored there, if hopefully getting better care.
So now YOU and the other absentee owners can go cry on a friends shoulder on how HORRIBLE Jason was, not how horrible YOU were for not coming to check on your horse(s).
I wish they could all be taken from Jason AND the owners, none of them deserve these animals.. Even if you were in the hospital recovering from a major operation, you can send a family member to check.
“WTF kind of riding was he trying to do.. if it was saddle seat.. WOW how awful can you get.. if it wasn’t … go back to the plastic pony at the front of the store and pay a few more quarters…”
Great rant, you made me LOL with that one! Soooo true. And he’s a TRAAAAAYNER….of course he is.
IMO, we don’t have enough information to jump on the owner, because we don’t know the back ground.
Scenario A: Horse has been at this barn for quite a long time — maybe a couple of years — and has always been taken care of. Owner realizes she has a busy period of competition and and classes/exams coming up, and notifies barn owner that she may not be able to come out for 6 or 8 weeks, urges BO to let her know if her mare has any problems or needs anything. She has no reason to suspect she should be concerned, because she has a substantial history with the barn.
Scenario B: Horse is new at the barn, owner is late paying bills and frequently doesn’t come out for weeks at a time. No history, misplaced trust.
EVEN: Scenario C: Take scenario A, add that owner’s friend, who lives near the barn, agrees to check on the horse regularly. However, turns out that owner’s friend isn’t experienced enough to know that “old” doesn’t equal “skinny”, so she’s reporting that the horse is fine.
So A and C are a deceived owner; B is two assholes in the same barn.
How does someone look at a horse on a daily basis and not feed it? Here’s a question for you. We currently have an old horse at our barn that the owner is paranoid about feeding anything remotely nutritious because he has cushings. Her hay is yellow (we call it straw) and she feeds about 2 cups a day of timothy pellets. He is very skinny. So, the barn owner and I (I’m her main employee) have been feeding him beet pulp and rice bran late at night when she isn’t around. As well as our nice GREEN timothy hay early in the morning. We keep trying to explain to her that just because he can’t have rich foods like alfalfa, does not mean he can’t have quality food that will keep him healthy. There was even a free seminar at the nearby horse hospital on Cushings and how do feed horses that have it. But because its a big hospital (the only one in the area) and they don’t use “natural” treatments she wouldn’t go. We went and learned about the things her horse COULD eat. Her excuse every time is that his diet has to be natural. What exactly does that mean anyway?
WTF is unnatural about timothy hay?
My head hurts and I don’t even know her.
Here’s what I’d recommend getting him:
http://midvalleymillinghaypellets.com/low-nsc-pelleted-hay-and-balanced-mineral-program-carb-sensitive-horses-cushings-insulin-resistant-h
Actually, timothy hay can be very high in sugar which is bad for a horse with Cushings and/or IR. Horses’ with metabolic issues should also have their hay tested. I would be pretty PO’d if someone were feeding my compromised horse behind my back. Hope you’re up to paying $$$$ to treat the laminitis and founder that could happen. BTW, rice bran is also very high in sugar and starch and so can beet pulp if it is not soaked and thoroughly rinsed.
I don’t ever feed ANYONE’s horse ANYTHING without their permission. EVER!
I do agree with you there. Legally, the right thing to do is ask the person to leave if they won’t permit their horse to get the feed it needs, not feed it behind their back.
My friend had a pony with Cushings that simply always was ribby. she wasn’t thin, she wasn’t dull-coated, but she seemed to always show some ribs. Pony was on medicine and under a vet’s care, and stayed bright eyed up until she became ill from something else and died.
LMF makes a low and no-NSC feed. I love it and my guys think they’re getting something special. I mix in some crushed tic-tacs for training treats.
Also, couldn’t you soak the Timothy hay? Doesn’t that leach some of the sugars out?
This reminds me about the people who want organic only and try to get everyone to eat raw food . . . Organic is great but it will not produce enough to feed everyone. Plus many Organic animals are still factory farmed. They are opposed to research and development of crops that are drought resistant. 6 months ago the Michigan Van Andel Biological Research Institute introduced the first drought resistant corn that can grow in over farmed soil with little nutrients. This and other seeds being developed could help bring sustainable food to the starving in Africa.
This is another great program that can SOLVE poverty in villages: http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.204586/
If your not starving and not a Botanist STFU and want YOU think the world should eat.
I look at care more than ‘organic’. I’ve been flamed for saying I am perfectly fine with barn/perchery chickens (these are chickens that are kept indoors but NOT crated/caged), especially in areas where coyotes are common. Sure, you can protect your free range chickens on a small scale with a large dog (coyotes won’t take on canines bigger than they are, usually), but that’s not going to work for a larger producer. I am fine with grass fed veal (as I will eat kid and lamb, there’s no difference there), but not crate veal (why try to make a red meat taste like chicken anyway). The big thing with me is I prefer grass fed beef when I can get it (or bison) because it DOES taste better than animals getting a lot of grain.
And personally, I would rather eat a GMO crop that has been bred to resist pests than one that was sprayed with tons of pesticide. People really don’t understand the GMO thing. It’s this weird bugbear when, in fact, we have been doing it for centuries.
Check out the color picture on the left on this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/science/25creature.html
Native American women transformed that little black thing on the left to that bright golden thing on the right JUST by selective breeding. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that maize was *created* by humans. What is the difference between that and a little bit of gene splicing, other than the length of time it takes?
Yeah. I’ll get flamed now.
nononononono – You definitely should read Michael Pollan’s excellent book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” It includes a fascinating chapter about the history of maize.
He’s a really good level-headed, objective writer.
It’s kind of on my list, but I have 6-9 months of reading material just sitting…so if you could clarify what you think I got wrong?
No flaming here! You’re absolutely correct. We need fewer chemicals, and more “natural experimentation”, etc. Great book to read on this subjct is : The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan.
This conversation seem to have gone off on a tangent; but it is a subject of interest, so I will jump in. Providing nutritious, safe, affordable food in adequate quantities without damaging the planet is a very complex issue.
We are currently ‘mining’ our soils – using them up faster than they can replenish. Minimum tillage practices reduce soil destruction, but rely on chemical pesticides which can pollute water (especially when mishandled, as they too often are).
Irrigation increases production in the short term, but can put land out of production due to salinization in the long term. The last I knew (which has been a while) more acres went out of production than came into production each year due to irrigation.
As well as providing plant nutrients, manure contains organic matter which helps maintain soil structure. Germany just had a nasty E. coli outbreak from manure used as organic fertilizer.
Most things have their good points and bad points. It all has to be carefully evaluated. I don’t pretend to have the answers.
Here is an interesting project that is using native plant species to stabilize food production in sub-Saharan Africa: http://www.eden-foundation.org/ Note that this area was once savannah, now it has been ‘developed’ into desert. One of my college professors said that what we often call the underdeveloped world is actually the overdeveloped world.
I am a botanist (well, terrestrial ecologist). I worked for an ag-biotech company who was busy putting Bt genes into corn, tobacco and alfalfa. They did not want to hear me ask about non-target species toxicity, or breeding resistance into target species, or why their test aphids were starving to death on hydroponic alfalfa (nothing scary, just a lack of micronutrients). I was shunted into an area where they didn’t have to listen to me, then the company was sold to a very big company whom I can’t name.
I can’t say much about efforts to increase productivity since I never worked on those projects, but something a professor told us has stayed with me. He was a very smart guy, double PhDs in entomology and molecular biology. He used to work for one of those Very Big Ag Companies (whom he can’t name), developing pesticides. He saw something there that scared the crap out of him. He quit his job and won’t eat a thing unless it’s organic.
I’m not saying that developing food crops that can grow in less than ideal areas is a bad thing. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s usually impossible to predict the impact that a non-native organism will have on an ecosystem, much less one that’s had its genes messed with.
Well, yeah…if people are going to be irresponsible and cut corners, but saying nobody should do it because some people are doing it badly is like saying nobody should ride a gaited horse because some people sore them.
You DO have to think these things through.
@Wuzza, gmo foods and the controversy surrounding them is something I am INCREDIBLY interested in. If you’d be willing to chat with me about it, please shoot me an email
biancabullfinch at gmail dot com
I’d really appreciate it! Thanks!
Natural means tossing him out on pasture and letting him gorge himself on juicy grass…. which would most likely founder the Cushings horse. Toss that line at her. People like that drive me nuts. “Natural” is not always the best thing for a horse.
Since 1998 I’ve maintained my Arab mare with Cushing’s in excellent shape on the following: Free Choice Timothy Grass Hay and 1 ounce of sweet feed (a vehicle for the Pergolide). On the rare occasions I need to boost weight I use beet pulp. She’s in her mid-20′s now (yes, she developed it when she was 11) and is teaching a 9 yr old girl all about trail riding – barefoot no less.
Sorry, off topic, but had to share this bad parenting gem:
First picture: Baby on the horse WITH a dog
Second Picture: little girl on horse without a helmet, while the lead line is being held by the BABY and little Chihuahua-looking dogs are running around on the ground.
http://tucson.craigslist.org/grd/2425103296.html
OMG.
And can I also comment, STOP OVERFEEDING YOUR MUSTANG, you’re going to founder her if you haven’t already!
Really – here we are with yet another post about starving horses, and then we get Ms. Bay Sofa. Yikes!
Ummmmm……Part of the problem with obese horses is that horse magazines (my latest issue of HI to be exact) show many horses that are plump if not downright obese. People who don’t know better think that horses should look like this. I’ve seen this over and over in all the horse magazines. IMO, they should be using horses that are “examples” of equine health, not pasture puffs!
My horses are overweight right now and it is driving me NUTS, but our Spring weather has not been cooperating!
Thats one chunky mustang.
The worst part is the ad says “could be a great kids horse.” If it’s not a kid’s horse already, why the hell are your kids (and dog!) on it?
Speaking of F*cktard parents… and in danger children.
I just spotted this one… http://madison.craigslist.org/grd/2426264279.html
Small children ON or around a green/unbroke animal, that is loose in a pasture (mommy is taking pics.. look cute for your casket!!)… CHECK
Young pony being started… side reins too tight, causing a gape mouth… CHECK
Selling said young and unbroke pony as a Sweet pony, great with kids….. CHECK
Crying mother with two drain bramaged kids, or one and one dead… ANYTIME now…
sigh…
Ten bucks says that shed is the horses “barn”
*Horse’s.
The grammar gods just failed me.
What’s wrong with the shed? At least the animal has, what looks like, decent shelter. Sheesh. Not everyone can afford a beautiful barn with stalls. My horses have a portable carport for a barn. Gotta problem with that?
Like this one. http://www.carportsandmore.com/carports-standard-style.htm
And that is the newest thing I am using. I used a canopy like this for them for 3 years. Cost me $129. I was renting and they needed shelter and I wasn’t allowed to build. That thing lasted 3 years and was perfect for them to get some shade and get out of the heavy rain. You probably don’t like that either.
whoops, link didn’t post for the canopy: http://www.carportsandmore.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=144
Jeepers! Don’t jump down my throat for voicing my opinion.
Furthermore, IN MY OPINION, From the looks of the shed, there are no windows so the ventilation is SHIT. Also Do you know how hot it can get in there? With shit ventilation, imagine the ammonia plus heat fumes in there.
No, I don’t have a problem with you housing your horses in a carport, as long as they are contained safely with good ventilation.
Notice I didn’t pick on you for keeping your horses the way you do. You could have just asked me for my reasons behind my comment, didn’t have to insinuate that I was nitpicking.
ETA, A run in shelter is also cheap and maintainable. They’ve obviously got the land.
(Wazzoo, Don’t get your panties in a knot, that’s not a comment directed at you)
It makes me sad that people can ignore starving animals. I am a sucker for the ‘puppy dog eyes, (which every animal seems to use regardless of species). How can people like this look out at their paddocks, see the starving horses and not be affected? Hell, I can barely resist my animals when they want to share my dinner with me.
One of my friends boarded horses and one couple ‘abandoned’ their horse for six months while they went on holidays overseas. Didn’t organise any sort of payment or anything with my friend. The horse was still fed, vetted and shod and my friend kept the receipts for everything.
Out of the blue, the owners return and want to move their horse to a new stable closer to home. My friend refused to release the horse until all debts had been paid in full. Went to court and the judge threw the proverbial book at them (he is a legend, doesn’t tolerate stupid) and made them pay the amount owing and the court costs as well. The owners were furious but had to pay up, they took the horse and sold it a few weeks later. It is a teenager’s PC mount now.
This is why I love my trainer. He had a client who brought him a horse and paid for a month of training. He never heard from the client, and when he tried to call him after the month was up, the phone had been disconnected and the guy had moved. He hadn’t gotten the horse’s papers, so he couldn’t sell him (officially, at least. He could have still sold him without them). Since he was stuck with this horse, he decided to just keep riding it. When he told me that, I looked at him like he was crazy and asked him why he kept riding this guy’s horse and he said, “well, I had it, so I figured I’d do something with it.” The horse’s owner showed up out of the blue after a year, acted like nothing was wrong, wrote a check for the previous 11 months, and took the horse home.
did anyone watch any of the videos after this one was over….i will never understand what is wrong with some people
Bah, poor horses. I have no idea how someone can do that – how can you see a horse, or any animal, in that state and not feel awful and get the urge to do something about it? It’s not rocket science….
Can we have a little cheer for sgt. Hall though, he sounds like a good man and he actually seems to give a d*mn.
An interesting piece of work is a person who can make an innocent suffer.
He doesn’t look like he rides very much, that looks like that 1minute video was probably all he could handle at the trot! lol…
I have no clue who pays him to ride their horses. I might put him on my gelding to make sure my horse is safe for use as a lesson horse! That might be a little cold, but I don’t see too much to be impressed by from this outfit. 1)starves clients horses. 2)can’t ride 3)probably thinks hes done nothing wrong. Number three is probably the worst of the bunch though. How can you be that ignorant?
I have thought that if I ever board, I will require an euthanasia down payment. Find out what it costs to humanely euthanize a horse, and carcass disposal as well. Put it in the contract, that if this animal is abandoned for 6 months (pick a number) that the barn owner will take legal possession, and has the option to euthanize the horse. (Totally at barn owner’s discretion- doubt I could ever really do it unless medically indicated.) But this would let the wingnuts know, this is serious. And in the case of a major injury/colic, the end expenses would be covered, even if the owners were uhh, unavailable (like not answering calls since they hadn’t paid board).
One reason I could not board is I would care for and feed anything in my sight. It is just the way I am.
Well, that is what screwed me up boarding horses in my youth – taking good care of the horses no matter what, bill paid or not. I’m tougher now, but I still wouldn’t want to be the barn owner and ultimately responsible for collections.
I admit it… I’m a FLAKE. That’s why having a contract is great, and my current BO emails me an itemized bill every month. It’s so cut-and-dried and non-guilt inducing: If you’re late, there’s a late fee. No angst involved.
My old BO would text me if I got flaky and forgot to give her a check. That worked, too. For many people – myself included – t’s a lot easier to discuss $$ via text or email. I was behind one month when I left my old barn, but everything was 100% paid up when I left. In CASH.
My new barn is less than 2 miles from my house, and even if life gets crazy, it’s very easy for me to do a drive-by and check out my horse in the pasture. Heh. The other day I ran a bunch of errands for my mother and drove by my horse a torturous FIVE TIMEs – but didn’t have time to go visit. I did the next day, though.
Besides the neglect, WTF is up with gaited and saddleseat “trainers” who just go up and down a lane instead of around a ring? Are gaited horses somehow like Derek Zoolander and can’t turn? Until they get to a show and then they magically have to go in an oval? Do they just leeeean around the turns like motorcycles???????
In my limited experience, it’s easier to get the gait on a straight line than turns- turns take more balance and coordination and muscle. Trainers start teaching and strengthening the gait in lines, then slowly add turns.
I wondered about the gaited horses going up and down a road until someone here pointed out it is a method of soring. They ride the hell out of them on hard surfaces.
I used to live in Long County. It seems like only bad news comes out of Ludowici.
We just had a crazy situation at the barn where I train. A boarder had not paid her board/training fees in 3 months (she kept pleading with the barn owner for an extension and paying small deposits that didn’t even come close to the amount owed) and he finally presented her with a lien. This crazy lady then tried to do the following:
1: called animal control, said her horse was being abused. Actually, the barn owner had kept the horse in its stall, despite having a wait list for stall board; the horse was sleek and shiny because his daughter had groomed the horse practically daily (cute little paint mare – absolutely adorable!); and the barn owner kept the horse’s hooves in shape during the entire process, because he knew he would soon have to sell her at auction and wanted to get a good price. Animal control snickered and left (incidentally, these same officers had been called to our barn previously when some “well meaning” passerby said that he was turning out horses “blindfolded” (i.e. wearing fly masks – OMG)).
2: tried to steal her horse at night, so the barn owner had to put a padlock on the stall door.
3: tried to tell the police that he was harassing her and her daughter – even providing a date when the alleged harrassment took place! – and she was totally called out on it when there were several witnesses saying that on the evening in question, she was actually hanging out with the barn owner and his family, and several friends, at a pizza party and that she left her daughter there overnight to stay with the barn owner’s daughter. Sounds like she was scared for her well being for sure.
There are a few more crazy moments that I can’t recall, but in the end he sold the mare at auction as required by law and he is still in court trying to get the remaining money from the crazy lady. Good grief.
Our barn owner says that if he had a penny for every time someone called animal control or expressed their concern over the horses being “blindfolded” he could buy Churchill Downs!
I just say KUDOS to the Long County Sheriff’s Department for actually doing something, unlike what I have experienced so many times in my own Georgia County. I have reported horses being neglected, starved and abused numerous times and I have always been referred to the Georgia Department of Agriculture and then nothing is done.
I will say that when the GDA comes out to investigate and there is some sort of food, water and shelter available then they warn the owners and say they will follow up. In this Long County case there were horses locked in stalls without FOOD or WATER and that is why the authorities could seize them and arrest the property owner.
Had the stalls had even stagnant water and crappy hay they could not have seized the horses.
Does this surprise me that yet again this is happening in Georgia, my beloved home state? Not at all!!
why is it always the fat asses that starve animals??? I guess being a fat horse starving pig is a side effect of LAZY. Too lazy to feed and care for your horses. I also question anyone who would board their horse somewhere and not see their horse or board and see that their animal is loosing condition and STAY???
Just out of idle curiosity, how would you characterize a morbidly obese individual who cares for their horses daily, who does everything in their power to make sure their horses are in the best shape they can be in, worries over the slightest indication that something is not quite right and calls the vet before it manifests into a major problem and makes sure that their fat ass does not result in the break down of their horse by riding it no more then 1/2 hour to 45 minutes on the flat at no more then the walk or trot and the rest of the time, has provided an excellent, rider who does not have an ounce of excess fat on her, to take their horse out on trail for more rigorous work? Fat is fat, so would that person also be a pig? Lazy? Would you really characterize that person in such a rude manner? Why does physicality have to come into it when this is clearly more likely to be issues involved with, responsibility, morality, intelligence? Just curious.
And on the side, we have barbed wire fencing! Hooray!
So the worst part is that his Facebook page says he just recently graduated as a vet tech. Seriously???? WTH are they teaching them there?? And he has a website with pics of little kids wearing no helmets. AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!
Off topic: Is anyone friends with “Save Chyanne the Horse” on facebook? They rescued this mare 90 days ago severely emaciated with both hind legs laid open to the bone and posted a video the other day of their kid riding her. Wearing no helmet, slippers, no saddle and she is still very underweight. Just doesn’t seem fair to that little sweet mare. I questioned it and someone commented they are reconditioning her muscles. Couldn’t they do this from the ground until she is up to a proper weight??
Here is a link to the video, hopefully it shows up…..
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=221805321170924&oid=205966639415435&comments
Yeah I wrote about that one on my blog. I’m not happy overall with that “rescue” setup… and now that I see your video link… I’m even less happy!
Here is my boarded horse that I see nearly everyday and ride about 3 times a week and she is 17.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=648841075559&set=a.522433482389.2069780.43803103&type=1&theater
I cant watch the video here at my house but from the picture alone of him sitting on his horse at the beggining of the videio I could tell right off he is a typical RT (Redneck Trainer) of the gaited world. They look like crap on thier horses they are riding and train via force and gadgettry and dont give a rats fat ass about the horse and the PROPER way of training with out causing pain and misery. They dont care about any one but themselves and usualy cant train and cant train with out causing some sort of misery to the horse and claim to be “All That”. Yeah they are “ALL THAT” alright. So much bull shit I need a row boat. This is typical behavior of such ppl. CRAP BAGS that they are. He should have gotten a nail for every horse starved. Fucking dill holes.
As to the owners, Idiots in every manner. Horses are not cars in a car lot storage facility. They need you as owners and ppl who have taken on the responsibility to care for them to do just that…… CARE. I know a girl who came out to see her boarded horse (same place where I boarded mine) after breaking her leg in 2 places. She could not do anything with her horse but pet him but by Gosh she was out there to check on him twice a week. Granted she brought a non real horsey freind to help but at least she was out there.
Many years ago I worked at a Hunter Jumper training facility and there was a arab mare that was abandonded there. The facility kept the mare on pasture fed her hay during the winter and did de worm her along with thier other horses. When I had to sell my mare I took on thie little mare and found out she was quite a little jumper and seemed to have been well trained at one point. She had bit of an attitude as with most Arabs but she was workable. The facililty began using her as a lesson horse after I left to go to college. Why they hadnt tried her out before hand was a mystery. Porscha was her name. Had hooves of steel, I remember the Farrier stating he had a tough time clipping them. (I paid for a Farrier to come in a do her feet for they were long but not broken up or anything, just long. Tough as nails and never needed shoes.)
Intersting how some people’s horses starve while my BO’s main challenge is to keep our guys, mostly TBs, from getting too fat. They are turned out 24/7 with grain morning and evening and thrive, even the ones in their 20s. I wonder if it’s because they maintain the pasture, don’t let the horses overgraze, supplement with round bales when the grass starts to die, keep UTD on feet, worming and shots, visually inspect the horses twice a day and have competent help and boarders who truly care about each horse?
I couldn’t agree more about the absentee boarders! At our old barn I was able to visit my horse daily. I feel a little guilty that our new place is further out and only visit a few times a week. Of course he’s turned out in a huge pasture with his friends so I’m sure he doesn’t mind.
“I wonder if it’s because they maintain the pasture, don’t let the horses overgraze, supplement with round bales when the grass starts to die, keep UTD on feet, worming and shots, visually inspect the horses twice a day and have competent help and boarders who truly care about each horse? ”
Nah, couldn’t be that. It’s definitely because the magnetic lines under the property are aligned correctly.
AND if you are boarding your horse and the horse is not being fed due to shoddy business practices YOU are still responsible for the welfare of the horse. A friend of mine turned in a boarding stable because most of the horses – including hers – weren’t being fed and were underweight. The barn owner wasn’t in any trouble from the state but the horse owners were.
She sold her horse after that and stopped doing horsey things forever. Can’t imagine why. Paying someone several hundred dollars a month to not care for your horse and getting slapped by the Animal Welfare organization wouldn’t put a bad taste in anyone’s mouth.
This is why I looked around for cheaper board for my new rescue mare and then finally gave up and decided to just bring her to the expensive H/J barn. It may be a busy, hectic environment where she won’t be knee deep in grass, and it may be twice the price of some pasture boarding situations, but when I looked at the cheap places I found (various places):
1) Barbed wire fencing
Longhorned bull in with the horses.
2) Board with nails in the pasture, owner realized that it was probably the source of a puncture she was treating on a senior horse but did not immediately remove the board upon finding it!
3) Lovely facility but barn owner bragged about how “cozy” the barn is when he closes all the doors and turns on the heat lamps in the winter. No thank you, I did not rescue her from being hamburgers to have her barbecued because you think horses need heat lamps.
4) Barn owner with a bad reputation for failing to feed.
5) Barn owner so nasty the good farrier refuses to go to his facility.
6) Every single cheaper barn owner appeared to be running the facility based on their preferences, not as a business where customers have a say.
7) A kennel full of Pomeranians… built IN the horse pasture.
Expensive boarding facility it is! She’ll share a smallish paddock with a smallish shelter and no grass, but she’ll get great hay, my trainer of 15 years lives on site, the barn manager is a horse expert, and the barn owner has a great head for business and consistently makes good decisions. I know everyone on the property is aware of colic symptoms and will call me if the mare has a bellyache of any sort. I know on days I’m not out there, multiple horse experts will walk by her paddock, look at her, and take time to notice anything like a new injury or lameness. I know that if I go on vacation for a week, she will still be fed and cleaned up after without my hovering.
And I absolutely, positively, definitely know that they do NOT starve horses there!!!
Whoa… that is SOME list! No wonder you wound up at the deluxe place. I especially like the last one. Nope, can’t see that ending badly at all…
(Someone will probably say that longhorns are extremely gentle, it would never hurt a horse, etc. but I don’t care – one good scare, such as a loose dog in the pasture, and voila – a punctured pony.)
It is a strange phenomenon that some people can look at starving animals and just not see it.
Now some are just uncaring, worthless non-humans. We had a local cop get mad at his brother for leaving town while he had to take care of the horses. So he stopped feeding them. Or letting them into the barn. People saw the thin horses and complained, but of course he could talk the talk. Some people tried to buy some of the horses (had been nice, registered animals). He priced them ridiculously high. Eventually several died in an ice storm and the others were finally seized. Other horse remains were found on the property. He knew the horses were thin – he just didnt care and wanted to get back at his brother! (Last I heard he got probation and lost a rank but was still a cop)
But others really manage to delude themselves into not seeing it.
I worked for a time in animal protection and it was just so odd to stand next to a rack-o-bones animal and point to it only to have the owner say that it “didnt look bad”. I would point out ribs, hip bones etc, only to be met with an uncomprehending stare. Maybe it is like anorexic people not seeing how they really look… or maybe they just choose not to know.
I will never in a million years understand how someone can look at a horse on a daily basis and watch it starve. Never. We have an absentee owner at our barn and the tables are turned. Aside from paying his board on time and keeping his horse utd on foot care and vaccinations, he doesn’t do shit with his horse. Owner shows up on the first to pay board and pat his horse on the head. He spends 10 minutes tops. I have yet to see him lead his horse out of the stall, Yeah, Mr. Absentee demands his oversized, now unsafe to ride (after years of doing nothing) gelding be kept in the barn. Long story short, everyone feels terrible for this poor gelding so he does get turned out, and groomed and given love and treats. I’ve asked why this poor horse isn’t put out to pasture or at least an oversized paddock. I was informed that the BO, BM and several trainers have talked to Mr. Absentee Asshat, were unsuccessful in convincing him to get his horse out of the barn and into one of the many pastures available on site. I think the only reason they have not given him the boot is the BO worries what would happen to the poor thing if he moves elsewhere. Stories like this confirm her fears.
I had a wonderful fellow that owned a boarding stable once give me two months free board to enable me to rescue 4 horses from going to slaughter. I was able to repay the favour when one of his boarders up and left him with three horses. I was able to help him place two of them, one an older mare that went to another rescue that was able to deal with her medical problems. The third horse they found a home for on their own. This is how a responsible caring person deals with these situations. I know he could have just sent the horses to auction as they themselves were facing a few unexpected bills themselves at the time this boarder dumped the horses and the extra feed costs could have been spent elsewhere.
Letting the horses starve is never an option, and most of the time help is just a phone call away. If people know you need assistance they are willing to provide it. At least that is what I have always experienced.
People who stand by while animals suffer from what ever cause are obviously not just financially strapped they are in my opinion suffering from some sort of mental instability.
My question regarding this story is how is it that none of his boarders were visiting their horses? No one was checking on any of these horses? The article says there were 15 horses with 8 looking emaciated. By my math that means seven were being fed? Were they boarders horses? if so why did not any of those horse owners speak up? This whole situation sounds like there is more blame to go around than just on the owner of the stable.
Theresa Nolet
Project Equus http://www.critteraid.org
Agree will all the above.
I am lucky that our barn has wonderful people. A few who have fallen on hard times and abaondoned their horses have at least known the horses would be well cared for. Not fair for the barn owner, but some boarders have tried to chip in little bits here and there for medical and food. As for me, I already told my trainer that if the day came that I was so destitute I could not pay for my horse’s food and farrier bills then I would have him euthanized. I explained why I could not handle him getting sold because then I would not know if he would end up on a truck to Canada or Mexico. If I euth. him I know where he spent his last breath. My barn friends understand the reasoning behind my decision as well.
As for the idiots who could not be bothered to check on their horse for weeks or months on end, I think they should be held to some degree responsible for the cruelty inflicted on their horses. Maybe some fines, some huge amount of community hours (like shoveling manure at a local horse rescue), and a requirement to go back to the Judge every 3 months with receipts showing all vet./farrier/food is being provided to their horse, and photos clearing showing the condition of the animal (taken by local animal control officer or some other official – the photos would be part of the 3-month court visit). Also, I don’t think they should be allowed to sell any of their horses for at least one year – they need to demonstrate they can be responsible people and not sell a horse so it becomes someone else’s problem to fix.
I was at this “facility” on Monday to move some horses out of there. The two guys that were arrested had NO business attempting to run a boarding or training facility. No formal training or instruction so please do not take him as an example of a Saddle Seat trainer. Someone said some negative remarks against one of the owners. I moved her horse for her yesterday and she was so upset. All the boarders had paid. She learned a lesson but do know she had boarded this mare previously for about 10 years at a well run boarding facility and assumed all people cared for horses like they did. One of the boarders is who made the original call to the police. The majority of horses were owned by the two men running the facility, 3 were body scores of 1 to 2. Google him or the farm and you will see an enormous amount of fake photos, false advertisement and misinformation. He claims to have a farm in Wellington and Aiken not to mention being a champion reining, show jumping and saddlebred trainer. Everyone go hug your horses tonight, thats what I did as soon as I came home from that mess.
“She learned a lesson but do know she had boarded this mare previously for about 10 years at a well run boarding facility and assumed all people cared for horses like they did.”
Thanks, I suspected it’d be something of that sort. It’s awful when a horse has to pay for a human’s mistake, but it also happens a lot, even with intelligent and generally knowledgeable owners. It sounds like she’s making it right ASAP, and I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that she never makes that mistake again!
These stories are just unreal to me. I’ve never in my horse community heard of boarders who abandon their animals. I’ve only heard of the inverse; where a boarding barn turned out to be so substandard that the owner pulled their horse out without bothering to try to get the pre-paid board back, which is why I would laugh in the face of a barn owner who wanted a security deposit in addition to first and last month’s. Really? I’m not saying these things don’t happen. Maybe because where I live everybody in their certain discipline knows everybody else that the possibility of being shamed is enough insurance.
Is that barbed wire on the top of the fence you can see at the very end of the video? No doubt it is all around at this stable.
After reading about this and all the comments, I feel so blessed to be able to board my horse at a terrific facility here in the PNW. The owners are super careful about everything….feeding, keeping up the equipment, cleaning, bringing horses in from the pasture in bad weather, safety, etc. They have NEVER let a horse suffer for their owners stupidity or unfeeling.
They have had their share of bad boarders too, unfortunately. Once they had to keep all the tack belonging to one boarder in their house until she paid the three-monts-late bill. She was told it was all going to be sold until she paid in full. The lousy border waiting until the owner left to pick-up kids from school and removed her horses. Luckily, the owner had put the tack in her locked house.
BTW, I am a partial-care boarder. I clean my horse’s stall three days a week and provide supplements and all vet, farrier care, etc. I always call if I cannot make it out to the barn on my self-assigned days and sometimes do other stalls for the full-care boarders, help feed, “donate” t.p. or soap for the bathroom, sweep out the tack room, and do whatever else I can do to help keep things going at our barn. This is my horse’s home. I want him to be taken well care of and just because it isn’t my own property, it is still “home” when I am there and I want it to be like it really IS my own property…..and yes, I pay my board on time. Young and old all work/ride our horses together and our horses are our pride and joy. It really isn’t that difficult to be a decent boarder. You know….just “do unto others….?”
Why weren’t any charges brought against the Stovalls, the landowners in the James Leachman case? There was not any agreement between the Stovalls and Leachman. Leachman just left his horses on the property when they bought it. At one point Leachman was even claiming that the horses were Stovalls (I’ll bet that would have changed real fast if they had tried to sell any of them). I still think the Stovalls should bear some responsibility. The least they could have done was call animal control, report the horses abandoned, and ask to have them removed.
Yeah, you make a good point. However, I think they did try to do that. If the land owner takes every legal action to have the horses removed and the horses are NOT removed due to law enforcement not doing anything about it, then you have a different situation.
Cathy, Im not sure if anyone has brought this to your attention yet, but I think this needs to be featured on your blog. What a mess this lady has created and not to mention the condition that these poor mustangs are in now. Here is the new article that ran a while back. Please make sure to read the comments.
http://www.fox17online.com/news/fox17-mustangs-come-to-west-michigan-20110220,0,717495.story
This is the story that ran last night. Also please read the comments.
http://www.fox17online.com/news/fox17-police-investigate-mustang-ranch-after-finding-starved-horses-20110607,0,4605316.story
This is her website: http://saleauthoritymustangrescue.webstarts.com/about_us.html
Please this needs to featured, this lady needs charges brought against her and the remaining horse need help!
She wants people to BREED MUSTANGS!!! WTF!!!. I Love Mustangs – they may be my favorite type of horse of all, but we do NOT need to make more of them right now. Something like half of all the surviving Mustangs right now are BLM holding pens, learning nothing useful and living miserable lives. Thousands and thousands and thousands of them. The cattle industry has the money and muscle to have them wiped out for all practical purposes, if they get the right political help in Washington. If you want a Mustang, and know what you are getting into, adopt or purchase one that is already alive and thriving. If you breed one, you kill a wild one, or doom it to life in a hot, dusty, crowded prison. Rant Over. (My Mustang made me write that – she’s that way.)
Yeah, my head explodes when anyone talks about their Mustang breeding program. Why would you make more of something there are too many of to begin with? It’s like saying, I’m going to start a Speshul Black Cat Breeding Program…
This is the email I received about the mustangs. This rescue group is trying very hard to help these mustangs. I really hope your able to shed some light on this lady, something needs to be done.
Urgent Appeal to Help Michigan Mustangs!
From:
Michigan Horse Welfare Coalition
Add to Contacts
To: info@michiganhorsewelfarecoalition.org
On Sunday May 22nd, two MHWC volunteers visited the temporary home in Allegan , Michigan of 25 wild mustangs from an August, 2010 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) round-up in California . After their arrival here in February, these horses were supposed to be adopted by people who had committed to doing so, but sadly many of them backed out.
Please watch a video here from our visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x1TBfW1PQg
Most of the mares were in foal when they arrived in Michigan . One mare of them, Queen Latifah (the beautiful black mare near the beginning of the video) had a foal at her side that was taken from her by the BLM, and then later aborted a second foal after she arrived in Michigan .
These Mustangs’ temporary caretaker is out of funds to care for these horses, and had only six bales of hay yesterday left to feed them. The MHWC immediately contacted her hay supplier and said that we would purchase 100 bales, with the promise from the caretaker that she will step up her efforts to place these horses in qualified homes as soon as possible.
However, one of the mustangs, Jewel, came to Michigan very sick and injured from the round-up. She has recovered from the illness but not yet from its ill effects. She currently has a body score of about 1… and is in foal. You cannot miss her in the video. The MHWC would very much like to move her to a new location as soon as possible where she can be cared for and gain strength before she delivers her foal. We have a highly qualified individual willing to take Jewel in, but the MHWC will need to raise at least $300 to help make this happen.
Our Hay Bank funds are also once again getting low. So far, thanks to your previous donations, the MHWC has helped support over 94 horses!
So, if you can, please donate here for Jewel’s care and to help replenish our Hay Bank funds so that we can continue to help horses across Michigan . No donation amount is too small!
https://michiganhorsewelfarecoalition.org/Donate.html
**Nearly every mustang photographed in the video is in need of a home, so if you are interested in adopting one of these horses and have horse handling experience or work with a qualified trainer, please email us at info@michiganhorsewelfarecoalition.org These horses are not yet halter broke. Many have Appaloosa and Spanish bloodlines. Serious inquiries only, please.
Thanks so much for your support!
http://www.MichiganHorseWelfareCoalition.org
AND another news story about this lady. This thing is such a mess….
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/06/michigan_mustangs_need_new_hom.html
Besides which, a horse bred in captivity is not a mustang.
The first article says, “Beirling hopes the new owners will breed the horses and preserve the unique American breed.”
The second article says, “Bierling said it’s the buyers who plan to breed, not her.”
Have any of the buyers actually said that they plan to breed the horses. I’m doubting it. With the horses market what it is (practically non-existant), I can’t imagine breeding formerly feral horses.
It is just awful that she would do this to the already vulnerable sale authority horses. It does sound like she may be someone whose good intentions exceed her good sense. To start with, there are BLM Holding Facilities closer to Michigan than California. I assume they have sale authority horses. What is with this seeming compulsion of rescue groups for shipping horses long distances. This is particularly inappropriate for undomesticated horses.
I totally dont agree with the guy not feeding his horses, that aside-
he isnt a bad rider like you guys seem to be killing him for. He has soft, quiet hands and he posts without yanking in his horses face. I have seen MUCH worse riding from “real trainers”. I’ll give him his props for not using a nasty bit with draw reins, big ass spurs or a whip. Obviously the chains arent doing a darn thing to accenutate motion that his horse doenst possess anyway- but he- as a rider isnt that bad. He is acutally a very ‘soft” and balanced looking rider.
Referencing the kid in the 2nd video- probably not the best horse to have a kid on ( he looks a bit forward and requires a tie-down) but the kid is very quite handed too. His horse looks like he could take off at any second but he keeps him settled and even.
Fugs- I LOVE your blog- read it every day
Keep up the good work!!
Thank you!
Sometimes a tie-down is needed, even for a quiet horse. I have a 4th grader who leases out Elmo. Elmo is perfect for her… his default gait is stop and you have to “peddle” him to keep him going. Great for 4-H, as very little really bothers him. However, he MUST be ridden in a tie-down. He will toss his head WAY past the vertical and flip the reins over his head and then drop his head, yanking the reins out of her hands. He isn’t going anywhere… he just doesn’t feel like working and this is his way to get out of it. The tie-down is relatively loose and just prevents his little “trick” from being effective.
Tie-downs are to stop the horse trying to feed you their ears. They definitely have a use if you are working with a bad stargazer…although proper work should eventually fix the problem and make them unnecessary. Eventually. However, the tie-down should only come into play when the horse’s head is excessively high.
100% agree here – even at a full care facility, *make sure you check on your horses regularly*!
I’ve been going through something like this the past few months. My horses are pasture boarded, as my gelding *has* to have a pasture to run around in 24/7 or he ties up. This means they’re quite far from me – about 1.5 hour trip – which also means I can’t get out there every day. I usually shoot for every 3-5 days. The gelding gets an alfalfa hay block and the mare gets a tifton roll which usually lasts two weeks or more (closer to two weeks in winter, closer to a month in the summer) and I make bags of feed for 7 days. They were two of three boarded horses and the BO had three of her own. For a year this worked perfectly. Then the BO lost her job and leased most of the barn out, the lessee taking over feeding of the three ‘grandfathered in’ boarders.
Within a month, I noticed the gelding dropping weight despite the hay block being nearly gone within the 5 days since being put out. This does happen with him from time to time – especially in winter – so I added more flax to his grain bags, which is usually all it takes. Then my mare – who has IR and gets fat on little more than air – started dropping weight like crazy despite her hay roll also disappearing at an alarming rate. Then one day I came out 5 days after a new roll had been put out, and the roll was gone and she was eating the palm trees!
I confronted the lessee, and she ‘investigated’ and – oops, teehee! – someone had been turning their horses out with mine and they’d been eating their hay. Didn’t offer to replace said hay though!
Things got a little better over the next couple weeks, though they weren’t really gaining weight back like they should have, especially with the extra weight-building stuff I was adding to their grain. Then my dad in law got sick and I wasn’t able to come out for the full 7 days I make feed in advance. Morning of day 8 I rushed out to make sure they got breakfast, opened the lid of my feed bin… and found 3 feedings worth of bags left. This was a bit head-scratching, but I decided to give the benefit of the doubt and must have made extra or something. However, that day I only made 4 days of bags, counting and re-counting to be sure. Day 5… all 4 days were still in there!
I began keeping tabs, coming out on days I usually don’t after everyone was gone after evening feed, taking note of when bags were gone or not (feeding them when bags were left), and finally went to the owner rather than lessee. She confronted the lessee, who again ‘investigated’ and – oops, teehee! – the girl in charge of feeding had been giving mine the lessee’s feed and wasn’t I so lucky I was keeping extra feed at the end of the week?! Yeah, so they’ve been getting fed every day, *double* on some days, and they’re still dropping weight? Riiiight.
I was in the process of seriously looking into moving them, trying to find a place that offered 24-hours outside that didn’t also keep a tifton roll out (gelding can’t eat tifton – at least not since the $10 bale turned into a $3k colic!) and trying to figure out what to tell the BO (whom I really like as a person and horse owner), when the BO called to tell me the lessee’s checks had been bouncing all over the place for the last several months and she was finally kicking her out and would be taking over all care again.
It’s been not quite a month, and the mare is already back to being so rolly-polly the only hay she gets is a couple pounds of hay pellets in her now half-portioned grain. The gelding is gaining weight back more slowly but certainly *looks* healthier than he had been. My dad in law has been sick again so I am again not able to get out as often as I like, but when I go out a day or so after my usual time, I find the BO has already cleaned and filled their water tough, and is making them more bags *with* all their supplements just in case I’m not able to get out there. Go figure!
I feel I must also point out… the lessee was one of those ‘holier than thou, random sermons in the barn, goes to church 3 times a week, crosses and ‘THE LORD’ in all caps on her website, etc’ type, only reinforcing my ‘the more crosses on their site the less they can be trusted’ rule. XD
I must *also* point out that the BO has a horse who is technically a boarder (had been there since before I brought in mine)… as in, now and then his ‘owner’ sends a check – usually enough to cover whatever months she hasn’t paid – that she been paying for nearly *everything* for several years now. He can’t be ridden, is a hard keeper and she has to soak his feed, give him special shoes so he can walk at all, etc. She tries to keep cost of care down, so he doesn’t look the best, but he IS being cared for… which is lucky, as his owner has been out to see him *once* in the years he’s been there.
Totally OT, but after careful consideration, I have finally decided it is time to have a horse of my own. After some searching, I have found one that I am interested in. I had my riding instructor call first because I knew that her questions would be sane and based on reason rather than emotion. Based on what she learned, I am moving ahead with finding out more about this horse and hopefully I can arrange to go see him this weekend. (he’s 3 hours from here) From the information we have so far, he is just what I am after – a horse that my daughter and I can both ride. Sane, sound and well mannered horse. He would be boarded 10 minutes from home, and I know that he will get great care there and I will get all the support and help that I will definitely need as a first time horse owner.
I am so excited! I have waited my entire adult life to be ready to make a lifetime commitment and have a horse! Hubby and kids are fully on board with this so now I just have to make sure that I am getting the right horse for us.
How exciting for you….tiny bits of advice–do not take the horse trailer with you when you test out the potential horse, it makes it too easy to impulse buy (sadly, I know this for a fact). And be ready to buy a 2nd horse soon…you may find that your daughter and you want the horse to be your own special friend and handled in your own special way (sharing can be very challenging) and of course your will want to ride together (yup, you guessed it now I own 2 horses). Enjoy your new adventure.
Not related to the subject, but here’s a happy-ending story for an older horse who was cared for and loved to the very end.
http://stoney321.livejournal.com/476429
My daughters’ 2 horses live with me but she has to pay all their expenses. She knows every six weeks the farrier is coming. I hold them all and pay for it all on one check. When I ask for the farrier money, she says with a bit of an attitude “…when I can get to the ATM to get money for you, I will! ” I always tell her that if I said to my farrier, sorry but I didn’t get to the ATM to get money for you, I would not see him again. I hate having to hound her for the money but really what vet, farrier or feed store takes ” when I get to the bank I’ll pay you” as payment for anything!!! When people leave a barn owner to pay the expenses ahead of time, that’s what they’re saying….you pay for it and when I get the money I’ll pay you back, okay? People….hard enough to get family just to pay the expenses and I do all the work for free. I cannot imagine dealing with people you don’t really know.
Ha! But of course the reason your daughter is so casual about coughing up the money is because you’re her parent… parents have unlimited money, right?
Anyway, I use the miracle of internet banking to pay my farrier. No messing around with ATMs, and no waiting for him to get around to cashing the last cheque I gave him, preferably BEFORE the next shoeing… and definitely no scrunched up cheques left in pockets and accidentally put in the washing machine.
Well I am here at the library and was able to watch the video…….yeah he’s not that great of a rider. He is banging the horse’s sides at every post and he is riding listing to the right and his stirrups are uneven and though he isnt beating the horse in the mouth the horse still has not learned the concepts of the bit and bounces his head against it a few times. Granted the horse is probably in beginings of training the rider is doing nothing to encourage the horse to work on the bit and through the body into the bit. He is mearly a passenger wanting a quick fix of action with chains wich will do very little if you have not worked on getting the horse going via his engine and up through his body to his head into the mouth and also action comes from the shoulders not the hooves themselves. If I was working with this horse he would still be on the ground doing ground work and not being ridden at this stage and I do use streatchers to strengthen up the shoulders. Stretchers do not and should not pose any ill effects if used properly and used gradually by gradually increasing the tenssion as the horse gets stronger. (use the stretchers incorrectly or attatche them to shackles (I hate that term for it sounds worse than it realy is) that are to tight or to loose and you most definaty will get negative results and possibley injure the horse. If you dont know how to use them correctly then dont use them at all. This will increase the shoulder strength for action on the front but the horse should still be ridden or worked on the ground with the engine in the rear off the front end not being pulled by the front. It just wont work that way. This horse is no where ready to be begin using action devices of any kind. Oh and the guy’s stirrups are to short for that stlye of riding. I say drop the stirrups by about 1.5 to two holes on both sides. He looks like he is TRYING to ride hunt seat in a saddle seat saddle.
For those of you going on about fat trainers on horses you should watch the learning videos put out by the TWHEBA…..
In (I beleive) video two vol 2 the trainer is a man of about 400 lbs riding two year olds with “beginner” hoof packages. This due looked HORRID on the horse and was leaned over the center of gravity something terrible and looking down the entire time. Absolutly horrible. Of course I Loath the Performance TWH ways of training and going an in my opinion should be outlawed. I was so disgusted by the trainer I coudnt keep focused on what was supposedly being taught. Just gastly. I have seen many over weight trainers that do not hinder thier horse’s abilty to move and be balanced in thier actions. You think Shrake is a thin man….not on your life. There are several obese men riding and training and showing but you dont often hear of them only and often the women seem to get targeted with that stigma. There is this Saddbred trainer I once new of many moons ago (Linda something or another) who is a big woman but in no way inhibits her horse’s movement or degreee of balance and she is always right on target with the horse I have seen her ride.
This Jason is not a small man but not a huge man either. I have seen by far much heavier dudes in the saddle than him. No, he doesnt look like he misses a meal in any manner.
Just a word about Timothy Hay and so forth.
Timothy hay can have a protein count of up to 13 % with a high sugar content but loses that value after maturation. If you are able to harvest at prime harvest times and your soil is at prime then yes you might get lucky and end up with a very high nutritional value of Timothy hay. HOWEVER, this is not common due to agricultural strains on the soils and the abililty to hit harvest times at target esp here in the East/ South East. If the timothy head has long erupted from its sheath then its nutritional value is in decline. Target time to harvest Timothy is when the head is just emerging from its sheath. Now if you live were I do and the rain season is a pain and most unpredicatble at best then harvesting your Timothy at prime is near impossible and usualy is harvested over mature and thus loses some of its values. If the head is completely out of its sheath and even has the tiny tufts of flowers in its head then its very over mature and thus the nutritional value drops dramaticly including the sugar content. Most ppl feed at a grade two (2) value in hay unless your lucky or have a place that grows specificly for such hays and in an area were harvest at prime is possble. So feeding Timothy hay to a Cushings horse can be very simple in that efect. Buy Timothy that is either harvested over mature OR has set in a barn for one season (one year. Nutritinal decline in hay is fairly rapid when sitting in a barn for a long period of time) OR is a grade two (2) and soaked in a barrel for about an hour or so. (Soaking leaches out more sugar content in the leaves of the hay) Orchard grass hays is very similar and should be harvested as the heads begin to emerge from thier sheaths at PRIME. If you get this at prime then kudos to you and you will definatly pay for it out the pocket wich can be worth it since you wont have to feed as much at one given time. Timothy, Orchard and Bluegrass are the 3 main types of grasses grown and harvested here in KY not to mention fescue (fescue is fine to feed to non breeding animals and endophyte free to breeding stock if you can get it as such or have restarted your hay crop using geneticly endophyte resistant seedings and so forth and so on etc and etc. if not then dont feed it to breeding stock……thats a whole other issue), some other mixed variety of grasses and legumes like alfalfa (should be harvested right before bloom at prime to keep the hay leafy, nutritionaly max and not stemmy) and soybean and red clover (I usualy limit how much red clover is in my hays, no more than 10% )
Still best to get your hays tested for nutritional content and sugar content if you want to be sure and on target. Feeding a Cushings or IR horse does nto have to be rocket science and does not have to be a pain in the arse just some common sense, a little research, some nutritional value testing and no big deal. I fed a IR Cushings pony for 3.5 years and all I did was keep him off lush pasture, no high sugar feeds (no sweet feed for him) kept him fed with beet pulp, Equine essentials by Purina (now called something else) and over mature hays. If he was turned out with a questionable pasture that might be to much for him he wore a freindly muzzle that kept him happy, sound, and at good weight. Of course there are few of ways to feed a cushings victim and what might work with one might not work with another, so things might need to be tweeked like soaking the hay or not allowing any pasture time (unless dry lot) and so forth and so on. That lady mentioned above feeding straw or next to it wont do anything but put in the bulk but with no nutritional value. The poor horse cant live on that. It can even cause colic in some instances. Organic schamantic. Organic great but dont tell me its the only way to go. Yeah, try feeding over 6 billion people (and growing) that organic is the ony way to go. I eat organic when I can but I dont stick to a “Organic only rule”.
Going to meet him on Saturday!! He’s an 8 year old OTTB, chestnut, sound, sane and sounds like this could work. He’s a rescue so this will be an adoption. He had 7 starts, was too slow for racing and sounds like he bounced around a bit after that. I’ve seen more pictures and his pedigree was posted. Had I known his background and seen him race, I would have bet a ton on him!! lol And apparently lost it.
I’m the woman local to this clusterfuck and I mentioned another “animal rescue” near to this. So.. here’s a missing horse from *that* rescue. If anyone else is on the southeast coast, head’s up!
(Ps. I know there’s a requested way to do Craigslist ads…. but I forgot. Sorry!)
I have a question for any black people that read this blog. I’m not trying to be racist–this is a genuine question that I’ve wondered for a long time and this post happened to make me think of it again because the guy’s black.
Why is it that we see a lot of black people in the gaited horse community? Is it perhaps a regional thing? We have two very prominent black trainers out here in AZ that train ASBs. They are good guys that don’t abuse the horses–in fact, I learned the hard way that a few of the white trainers out here are abusing ASBs. I also see a lot of black people working with TWHs back east. I also have a friend who lives near me who’s black and has only gaited horses. I just find that I don’t see a lot of black people in other breeds. But then again, maybe it’s just me…?
That aside…
Here in AZ, unfortunately we have no owner or boarder responsibility laws to protect the horses. The only law we have says that all horses must have access to food and fresh water. They don’t have to have shade, clean pens, regular vet care, regular farrier care–none of that is required. And the horse doesn’t have to be eating the food right then–a few bales of hay or some bags of feed on the premises is proof to them that they’re being fed. His hooves can be a mile long, manure up to his knees, and you can count every rib, but he’s got water and food, so he’s okay. I boarded at a stable (before I knew any better) where the horses were fed Palo Verde branches and grass clippings from the guy’s landscaping business as their meals. But it was food, so it was okay. He killed his prized pregnant mare by feeding her grass clippings once–she colicked and he panicked, got in his truck and left. There are no laws for boarding stables as far as being required to feed the horse. All the stable owner has to do is say the owner hasn’t fed him, he does self-board and the authorities will leave him alone.
Now if a vet were to see the horse and call the state, then we have a different issue on our hands. Our former vet was the backup state vet, and sometimes he would go to people’s houses on a “call” and “just happen” to look over the fence and see the horses that were obviously not being cared for next door, then quietly make a phone call. But overall, our hands are tied out here. Until the horse shows severe signs of neglect, and that’s pretty much by dying, then nothing can be done. We have a case right now where a small TB operation just got shut down last month because several horses died on his property. My favorite horse rescue tried to work with him for months before that to get him to sell and/or surrender horses, but he wouldn’t do it. Now he’s in jail (as far as I understand he can’t afford the bail) and is facing animal cruelty charges. But the rescue couldn’t do much beyond trying to work with the guy to get the horses saved before they died. http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/local/phoenix/vet-examines-horses-to-see-if-they-will-survive-05052011
See this is why I love my barn owner. In the contract he has a clause stating that if he feels the horse is not being cared for properly he will give it the care he feels is necessary and will send you the bill. Recently he had to use that clause. A teenage girl had this nice TB jumper she was around for the first month. Then she disappeared. Horse was anemic and a hard keeper and she provided no grain. We have to clean our own stalls and that was never done. Being a TB in CO he needed a blanket was one provided nope. So BO starts feeding grain, buys winter blankets for the horse pays for meds and cleans the stall daily. He contacted the previous owners with the situation and they purchased the horse back. The horse needed care and the BO did it.
“In the contract he has a clause stating that if he feels the horse is not being cared for properly he will give it the care he feels is necessary and will send you the bill.”
This is a REALLY good clause to include in a board contract (or training contract).
My horse lives in Shangra-La and I am so very grateful. I board with a friend who has 5 horses of her own, so it’s just us. I would never want to EVER go back to a public boarding stable again. It’s the drama I can’t stand. The last place I was at there was a boarder who would go to the casino every month to “win” her board.
This is a big OT… My horse is a OTTB. He is tall, lean and very fit. His 5 pasture mates are foundation QH (3) and Belgian crosses (2) that rarely get ridden. On several occasions neighbours have approached my friend/BO with concerns about the “skinny” horse in the field (it’s a small, tight knit community). She usually laughs and says, “Yep, it’s tough on my guys to have a supermodel on the property”.
I love that response!
Am currently boarding two horses for a friend – both cow bred stocky Quarter Horses, along with my stocky Paint mare, and they make my tall, lean, very in shape Thoroughbred guy look like a Basketball player turned out with a bunch of Sumo (sp?) wrestlers. Ha ha, Supermodel indeed.
And, back on topic – absolutely would never allow any animal to go hungry on my property – but did have one wackalong boarder here briefly who insinuated that her (rather pudgy) Arab was losing weight. Ummm, yeah, what was really happening was that he was SHEDDING his rather abundant Winter coat, and the dumbass couldn`t tell the difference.
Hi,
Just a note to ask if you had heard about the woman in the east who starved the horses at her farm and then tried to get over the Canadian border but was stopped and held by them for our police force to come and arrest her.
No, I haven’t! Fill us in.
If it’s what I think it is, and I hope this isn’t occurring that frequently, it’s the news story that I refer to above (June 8th). It was primarily a small-animal rescue, called Loonie Farms and also in Long County, and she killed/starved (by means of a gun and neglect) an unknown amount of animals before getting found out and bolting for the Canadian border. This article is the most recent. And this is a horse that is supposed to be missing from that “rescue.” Again, heads up if you are on the east coast!
Fugly…please quit your day job. I have become strangely addicted to your blog and am totally bummed when there is not a new post every day or frequent updates to comments. I know I am not alone in this dilemma so again the only solution is for you to devote more time to this quirky, informative, mind bending site. Can I get an Amen!
I do have to apologize for how infrequent posts have been, but as you correctly surmise, the “real” jobs have taken over my life and I am just flat…out…of…time. I keep trying to find some time, but it is eluding me completely.
Should you encounter any eccentric billionaires who’d like to pay me to snark for a living, by all means, send them my way.
Fugly, I wrote you an email about this major cat hoarding situation in FL. 700 cats! Please look for my email! FL will need a push to do something! http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110608/ARTICLES/110609538
Just a comment on the phone check in. Go in person or have someone you trust go.
I gave away (yes I know how you feel about that) two older horses recently. I checked out the place. I did reference checks. Oh did I mention the girl worked for a local vet?
She didn’t want us to come see them but did send a picture of one of them standing in a field of tall grass looking fat and happy. Must have been her last meal because I finally did a personal check and found her nearly starved. Probably rating a 2.5…maybe. She only had them a total of 3 months and the pic sent to me was taken a month before going in person to check.
They are back in my possession and have gained significantly in just one week.
We can not likely keep these horses past summer as board for 2 retirement horses is not in the budget for winter ( I already have 2 riding horses). These are horses that were rescues to begin with. I will no longer trust someone to feed at least the one horse that requires special care in the winter and she or both will be euthanized rather that risk being starved again.
The really sad part is the mare just needs pasture to thrive and that was the one promise that convinced me that this would be a good home…tall lush pasture. She lied. Again, go check in person. This horse would have starved to death if I had relied on picture information.