Conference noted::equitation

    I was saddened to hear your story. An owner who truely wanted a
    good home would have given you the whole story up front. The correct-
    ive shoeing indicates that they were aware of the problem. A vet
    check up front would have prevented the entire sinario from occuring.
    The horse is the real loser, instead of getting a good retirement
    home as a compainion horse he is back in the hands of the trainer
    If it is any consolation at least to special shoes and the use of
    bute will make this horse as comfortable as he can be.
    Another lesson from the school of hard knocks.......
    

    I had a similar experience with our 17.2h TB. He was up in Weare
    NH boarded in a privat stable. During the summer the horse was out
    all day and never had any water. I complained that this horse was
    drinking a lot of water and needed a tub out there. I was even going
    to fill it myself. The manager, a young lady on the wrong track,
    got mad at me and took my horse out during the night for a "joy
    ride". I was very upset that he looked so bad the next day, but
    could not explain why his shoes were torn off, why he looked so
    sweaty and not clean. I started to make assumptions.
    It happened again two days later and I decided to move him immediately.
    
    First - my trailer would not fit the hitch any longer, it was all
    messed up. Second - my horse was lame, banged up and would not even
    come close to the trailer. He used to load himself. It took five
    shot of ACE to push him on the trailer and a make shift hitch with
    chains and other things.
    
    Anyway, the vet came and looked him over. He had bruises all away
    around his body. He had his hoofs broken to pieces and cracked.
    
    He had two hoof infections. It took 8 months to get him back to
    health, it took almost 10 months to get his hoofs to accept shoes.
    
    I wondered too, how can anyone hurt an animal so bad. I could not
    take them to court because I had no proof. It cost me an arm and
    a leg to pay for the vet, farrier and board. He was lame for months.
    
    He is now doing fine and winning events and show classe again. He
    trailers again without a problem but it took my daughter and myself
    many hours to get him used to the trailer again.
    
    I don't ever want to board a horse again without living close by
    the stable.
    You just never know!
    Ruth
    

    Another experience....
    
    Unfortunately, not all people are as above board as they
    seem, and not everyone cares for animals as much as I do,
    not even people in this file.  I can say that because,
    like the original note, my experience was due in part to
    this conference.
    
    Through a fellow noter I found a home for a horse which
    I was choosing to give away.  I chose to do that in hopes
    that I would find the right home, and also as a way of
    ensuring that he never would find his way into a can
    of dogfood.  I signed an agreement with the person stating
    that if he was not properly taken care of I could reclaim
    him, or should they choose to get rid of him I had first
    option to take him back.
    
    Before giving him to this person I went to see the stable
    where he would be kept.  She was a 4-H leader and promised
    to place my horse with a suitable 4-H member.  The stable
    was pretty run-down, but VERY clean.  I turned him over
    to her care in early December.
    
    I went to visit him in early January.  When I arrived at the
    stable I was told that he had been moved do a different barn.
    I went to that barn and discovered that he was being kept in
    a straight stall.  This horse is 15.1 and was accustomed to
    being outside 24 hrs./day.  When he was in his stall it was
    a 10X10 box stall.  He looked miserable.  He was turned out
    in a small muddy paddock with 3 other horses.  BUT, the stall
    was immaculate and so was he.  
    
    I drove home in tears.  Under the terms of the contract I couldn't
    take him back because his health, weight, etc. were fine, and
    the place was clean.
    
    At the end of February I got a call saying that my horse was
    "ATTACKING the children" at the stable and that everyone
    was afraid of him.  He was also beating the daylights out
    of the other horses.  I honestly didn't believe what I was
    hearing.  I suggested that he was probably unhappy because
    of the straight stall, and was told that I had spoiled my horse
    and that everything that had happened was because of the
    way I had taken care of him in the past.  I told him them to return 
    him to me immediately.
    
    TWO weeks later my horse came home.  The people couldn't bring
    themselves to face me and actually HIRED someone to trailer
    him down.  He came off the trailer and I almost fainted.  He
    had lost AT LEAST 100 pounds and WREAKED of horse manure.  The
    upper half of his tail was almost completely rubbed off and
    he was a white-eyed nostril flaring wreck.
    
    Since then he has regained his weight, he has returned to his
    old good natured self (my 2 yr. old nephew feeds him, grooms
    him and can walk all around him without being "attacked") and
    the other day when the neighbor's horse busted into our
    pasture my horse shared his dinner with him from the same
    bucket.
    
    I am just thankful that my horse "retaliated" against whatever
    nightmare these people put them through, I am also thankful
    that I had signed a contract that prevented them from shipping
    him off to god only knows what fate.
    
    It saddens me to think there are people out there that
    would do this, but I am afraid it is not as uncommon as
    people may think.
    
    RF
    Since then he has regained his 

    Again another sad story (which is why it's a shame you can't sue a
    stable owner for neglect!).
    I knew of a horse at a barn in Phillipston who was a really nice
    Quarter horse (maybe mixed with T-bred) who was huge ( 16.3 or more).
    His owner never came down to visit and the stable owners kept him in a
    stall all day (needless to say I don't keep my horse there anymore).
    My friend got permission to ride him and other than being high, he was
    a sweet fellow. In fact after awhile, he calmed down and became a
    pleasure to ride.
    
    Well, the owner felt that my previous stable had not done enough to try
    to sell his horse. So he shipped the horse to a stable in Winchendon
    where one month later he was destroyed because the so-called horse
    trainer at that barn felt he was unmanageable and could not be bought
    by anyone.
    
    I really felt that the Winchendon stable should have been brought up
    with charges. I used to clean Winchester's stall (because it wasn't
    cleaned everyday and I felt sorry for him) and had to move him to the 
    indoor ring and visa versa. All during that and when my friend rode
    him, he was a perfect gentleman. 
    Personally my opinion of this so-called trainer and the stable is that
    they're a bunch of bozo's who shouldn't be allowed near horses. My
    friend (who was devastated) and I were thinking of calling MSPCA but
    were afraid we couldn't offer enough evidence (only that before he left
    our stable he was a great guy).
    
    To my thinking is why do people become "horse" people if they don't
    care about horses? 
    			Cindy

    
    Wow.... Reading these notes really tugs at my heart-strings.
    Especially #4... since my old timer's name is Win-Chester too.
    
    I guess I've been lucky to find two good stables for him since I
    started boarding him... but wonder about the comment that stable
    owners can't be sued.  If I am paying for a service (of taking
    good care of my animal) and that is not being done,  then don't
    I have any recourse?  I've never heard of that before... am I
    just incredibly naive?
    
    Thanks.
    
    kathy

    I imagine if there is definite proof of negligence, you can sue the
    stable. One friend told me that if the stable owner is informed of a
    dangerous situation (fence is about to break) and does not fix the
    situation, if the horses break out and your horse is killed, you have
    the right to sue the owner. 
    
    If the horse's stall isn't being cleaned out regularily and the horse
    develops thrush (and you have to deal with the vet bills etc. ),
    I'm not sure if you can do anything. I imagine the key there is proof.
    You would have to show proof that the stall was kept dirty.
    
    I was involved in taking my horse out of the stable he had been at for 
    1 1/2 years just  2 months ago. The stable was very convienent to my
    house, but there were alot of problems with it. A very leaky roof,
    dangerous wiring and lack of shavings were just a few of the problems.
    The final straw was the fencing. They had lost a large section of
    fencing around their main paddock (which is the one that Jasper stays
    in). They were lucky in that the part that collapsed was the fence that
    separated the ring from the paddock. The ring had fencing all around
    it.
    
    Well they hadn't fixed it for 5 months (a big pain in the neck when
    you're trying to work out and you start getting some nosey horses in
    the ring). We would bug the stable owners but they kept on saying - 
    the wood is being ordered.
    I finally had enough of it and talked with the instructor there. She
    has a small stable. I had given the stable owners a month notice and
    informed them why I was taking Jasper away. Needless to say, they gave
    me this shocked look and the statement - we're trying to do the best we
    can (I always see them sitting around!).
    This was July 29th - a Saturday. 
    The following day I was working Jasper and noticed the ring fence was
    leaning quite a bit to the outside. I got off of him and discovered
    that 6 posts were rotted at the bottom and all you'd need is one person
    to lean against the fence and forget it.
    
    To make a long story short - I told the stable owners that I was taking 
    Jasper to the other stable that day and that they were not getting the
    board for August. My feeling was that they knew of these unsafe
    conditions (as it was one post of the ring fence was missing and was
    replaced by a jumping standard with a board going to the adjacent
    posts. That also sent me over the edge since they hadn't replaced that
    post since it fell down in the spring.)
    The owners threatened to take me to court to get the board and one
    thing led to another and I started to make a big fuss. I guess they
    figured that this was not good for business so they told me to leave
    and take my horse.
    
    I feel that in a normal situation that giving a month's notice is
    required. However, I was facing a situation which could definitely hurt
    if not killed my horse (a car could hit him) and this was a situation
    that the owners had known about for a long time.
    
    
    Has anyone else dealt with a similar problem?
    		Cindy
    

    I had a very bad experience this past winter.  I moved my horse
    into a farm that had just finshed a beautiful indoor ring with 15
    stalls attached to the side around November.  When I first moved
    in one side of the stalls (7) did not have electricity yet, and
    they "PROMISED" it would be completed by Christmas.  Also, there
    were no cross-ties on this side of the barn and the tack room did
    not exist!!  All of the boarders equipment was kept in the aisles
    in the cold!! 
    
    Well, Christmas came and went without any sign of getting electricity,
    cross ties or a tack room.  All which was stated in a Boarders Monthly
    Newletter would happen.  I let it slide.  But, then things started
    to get worse.
    
    I arrived at the barn one evening around 9:00pm to say "HI" to my
    horse. Note the weather situation (winter, very cold and windy)
    and to my surprise my horse was outside alone!!!!! She was suppose
    to be turned out from 7:30-11:00 am and brought in for the afternoon
    because she was clipped and I didn't want her catching cold being
    outside all day (she did wear 2-3 blankets, but there is no need
    to keep them out all dayand into the night in very cold weather).
    Anyway I was very upset because the owners were not home and no one in the barn had
    been feed there dinner.  
    
    I spoke with them the next and stated my concerns.  It did not happen
    again.  But, they continued to prove what incompetent horse managers
    they really were.  The horses would get fed whenever (I had been
    at the barn until 10:30 p.m. and they still had not fed hay, grain
    or checked the water).  The stalls were disgusting. They never had
    shavings, my horse had the worsed hock sores (she has never had
    them in the 3 years I have owned her).  I found myself always cleaning
    her stall otherwise it would go without being done.  They also got
    around to watering when it was convenient.  The horses never had
    fresh water with their morning feed or hay and by 6:00pm the water
    would be frozen.  I know this is difficult to keep 25 horses water
    unfrozen, but they didn't even try!  I would catch them standing
    around on a Saturday doing nothing while stalls needed to be cleaned,
    water done and hay fed.  
    
    Well, to make a long story short (yes I know it is too late) a number
    of other boards came to me and stated their concerns regarding the
    care their animals were receiving.  So, I wrote a letter to the
    owners stating all our concerns.  The letter was very professional
    and well written. The owners reacted by writing their own letter
    with excuses as to why things were done the way they were done.
    It was all Bulls...!  They claimed that the reason the horses were
    not on a feeding schedule was because most of the animals were
    competition horses and they had to get use to a varied schedule
    because when they are on the rode competing their schedules might
    get messed up.  Well in is the end of January and who is on the
    "rode" competing in New England.  Also, the water/hay excuse was
    she did not want to feed hay or give clean water until the stalls
    were clean.. Well what if the stalls don't get cleaned that day,
    NO hay/water for the horses!!  Two days later they gave me my notice
    to leave the barn at the end of the month (2 weeks) becasue I was
    only a winter boarder and they had someone coming in to take my
    stall.  This was fine with me (I have my own barn so finding a place
    was not a problem).  But, they had lied to me because I kept in
    touch with some of the boarders and 2 other people left after me
    and they had 5 empty stalls.
    
    One of the biggest problems they had was $$$.  They were mortgaged
    out to the hilt and so they tried to cut corners at our expense.
    I feel as a boarder I am paying for a service and if I am not satisfied
    then I have every right to complain.  Also, in my letter I asked
    nicely when the lights and tackroom would be done, they basically
    said I was asking a bit much and they didn't have the money to do
    it! 
    
    Moral of the story "if you feel your horse deserves better care for
    the money your are paying SPEAK UP!!!" There are plently of boarding
    facilities around and if you don't speak up then the problems will
    just get worse!!  There were other problems at this barn but, I
    think I have touched on most of them. 
    
    Just my 2 cents worth...Kerry
    
    
    

    
    ADD ENTRY
    WAS THE NAME OF THIS BARN BRASSHEAD FARM?  IT IS THE ONLY ONE I
    KNOW OF IN WINCHENDON AND WAS THINKING OF DEALING WITH THEM.
    Z