Boodle
Well-Known Member
Since yesterday evening I have been in pieces.
As most of you know I care for/ride 2 beautiful horses, Bill (a 16.2hh 7yr old Friesian stallion) and Pally (a 17hh 12yr old WB gelding). I have been caring for them both for over 2 years. Over this time I have (with owner's permission) gotten them rugs,arranged farrier visits, vet visits, dentist visits, wormed them, checked them daily, fed them and generally ensured they were well. This was upon the owner's request. I did not ask any money for it as I got to ride them, but occasionally the owner would give me £10 or £20 for my troubles (Though rarely).
Twice Pally has become lame, first time, last summer I found him down in the field and his fore leg swollen, I phoned owner to request permission to phone vet. Then phoned vet, he came out, diagnosed damage to superficial flexor tendon. I then,m with owners permission, arranged for a stable to be used for him down at my yard (as there were none were he lived at this time), I arranged transport for him to be taken down, and for the month he was in cleaned him out, fed, watered, bandaged, gave medication etc. And when vet gave all clear I arranged transport for him to go back home.
With this more recent spell of problems I again, with owners permission, arranged for the vet to come, and as the owner has almost completed his stable block, managed to make a stable for him at his home. My mum and I went to the feed merchant and bought hay and bedding, we made his stable up, fed, watered and bandaged him. We have arranged vet visits, always been there for vet, always kept upto date on his meds etc etc and for the last 3 months he has been in. We have done all the cleaning out, arranging delivery of hay, arranging delivery of feeds and bedding, fresh water, etc etc. And for the last 2 months have been doing this without any payment whatsoever. This is due to the fact we adore these horses and only want the best for them.
The owner is a very wealthy man and has his own land and is building his own stable block. He has a herd of Highland Cattle along with his 2 horses. He is not horsey and knows next to nothing about them except they eat grass. He requested, 2 years ago, that I keep the horses healthy and well and rode them when I could.
Yesterday after seeing Bill gradually losing weight over the course of 2 months due to there being no grass in the field he and the cattle were in, and no hay provided, my Mum went to the owners house (castle) and enquired as to whether the gate could be opened to allow them into the next field which was full of grass. His owners wife (M) said that was fine and that she hadn't noticed he was hungry. My Mum explained he had wrecked his rug as he had been hanging over the barbed wire fence trying to get to the grass on the other side, and we didnt want to put another one on him only for him to do the same again, but we did want to rug him. So Mum came back to stable block as we were just finished seeing to Pally the owner came up to the block in his car and had a go at my Mum for 10 minutes for going to the house and talking to his wife. He said my Mum was "bullying" M. Anyone who knows my Mum will know she is not the type of person to bully and only wants to help.
He basically told us, in a nutshell that we "overstepped the mark" "he didn't mind us doing the horses for alittle bit of money on the side (we're not getting paid!) but were not to go near the castle" and that "he wasn't stupid and knew how to look after his animals". (Why am i doing it all for free then?).
Myself and my Mum were devastated. We pu our all into these horses and asked nothing back.
We got home and explained situation to my Dad who then went up today.
M attempted to make her husband see sense and insisted that he had got the wrong end of the stick and that she had not been at all bullied by my Mother and that he was blowing it out of proportion.
After a heated discussion between the owner and my Dad, it was concluded with my Dad saying;
"So it's ok for them to shovel [****] and do all your dirty work for nothing, but they're not good enough for a little respect?". To which the owner did not reply and got flustered and his wife profusely apologised and was cast aside by her husband.
My Dad also brought up the fact that he had been so aggressive and threatening towards a woman (my Mum).
It has ended that my Dad has refused to let us go back, and we have to make him see exactly how much work we have been doing, and let him do it himself without taking it for granted that the dirty work will be done.
M phoned us this evening apologising but my Dad refuses to let us return unless we get an apology and wages due from the owner.
I am devastated. I put my all into those horses and treated them like my own. I have had so many good times and although it was abit off I didn't mind caring for Pally for nothing because I adore that horse and he owes me nothing.The agony of it is, the horses are not to blame its the conflict of classes. The owner has an ego bigger than his castle and although we had been warned by numerous people, we didn't see that side of him until yesterday. I have now heard 3 stories about how badly he treats his employees and how snooty he behaves towards people.
I have been crying pretty much straight for the last 4 hours, thinking about Pally in his stable without his hay or feed, or fresh water, without being cleaned out or without his rugs changed. Just waiting for someone to come and see to him, and no one comes. Not tonight, or tomorrow night. He was already abandoned once before he came to his current home... and now i'm abandoning him again. And Bill is left to keep on losing weight as they have absolutely nothing to eat. And I've left them behind.
It's so heartbreaking. I feel so useless, like i've failed them.
M is phoning us tomorrow to speak to my Mum but i know that my Dad and the owner are at loggerheads and neither will back down.
I just can't comprehend never seeing these beautiful, kind horses again.
The owner is scared of them (wouldn't come in the stable block to bawl at my Mum but asked her to go outside because i was standing holding Bill) and so I can't imagine who is going to see to them. Theplace will never be the same for me now and it's truly agony when I had to drive past the driveway and not go see to them as I always do.
I know, somewhere, in a deep, deep part of me that this is right, we can't stand to be treated like sh*t just because that's what we shovel. Just because he's wealthy doesen't give him any right to be this way. But I cannot sit here and do nothing when Pally needs constant bandaging and given meds and they have no idea what to do for him. Or the farrier, or vaccinations... what about worming and rugging.
Didn't help that I then had to go show Rocco to a prospective buyer... a horse I so don't want to sell but have to because we can't afford not to.
Feels like i've lost 3 of them in the space of a day and it's killing me.
Please, some words of wisdom.. what is right?
As most of you know I care for/ride 2 beautiful horses, Bill (a 16.2hh 7yr old Friesian stallion) and Pally (a 17hh 12yr old WB gelding). I have been caring for them both for over 2 years. Over this time I have (with owner's permission) gotten them rugs,arranged farrier visits, vet visits, dentist visits, wormed them, checked them daily, fed them and generally ensured they were well. This was upon the owner's request. I did not ask any money for it as I got to ride them, but occasionally the owner would give me £10 or £20 for my troubles (Though rarely).
Twice Pally has become lame, first time, last summer I found him down in the field and his fore leg swollen, I phoned owner to request permission to phone vet. Then phoned vet, he came out, diagnosed damage to superficial flexor tendon. I then,m with owners permission, arranged for a stable to be used for him down at my yard (as there were none were he lived at this time), I arranged transport for him to be taken down, and for the month he was in cleaned him out, fed, watered, bandaged, gave medication etc. And when vet gave all clear I arranged transport for him to go back home.
With this more recent spell of problems I again, with owners permission, arranged for the vet to come, and as the owner has almost completed his stable block, managed to make a stable for him at his home. My mum and I went to the feed merchant and bought hay and bedding, we made his stable up, fed, watered and bandaged him. We have arranged vet visits, always been there for vet, always kept upto date on his meds etc etc and for the last 3 months he has been in. We have done all the cleaning out, arranging delivery of hay, arranging delivery of feeds and bedding, fresh water, etc etc. And for the last 2 months have been doing this without any payment whatsoever. This is due to the fact we adore these horses and only want the best for them.
The owner is a very wealthy man and has his own land and is building his own stable block. He has a herd of Highland Cattle along with his 2 horses. He is not horsey and knows next to nothing about them except they eat grass. He requested, 2 years ago, that I keep the horses healthy and well and rode them when I could.
Yesterday after seeing Bill gradually losing weight over the course of 2 months due to there being no grass in the field he and the cattle were in, and no hay provided, my Mum went to the owners house (castle) and enquired as to whether the gate could be opened to allow them into the next field which was full of grass. His owners wife (M) said that was fine and that she hadn't noticed he was hungry. My Mum explained he had wrecked his rug as he had been hanging over the barbed wire fence trying to get to the grass on the other side, and we didnt want to put another one on him only for him to do the same again, but we did want to rug him. So Mum came back to stable block as we were just finished seeing to Pally the owner came up to the block in his car and had a go at my Mum for 10 minutes for going to the house and talking to his wife. He said my Mum was "bullying" M. Anyone who knows my Mum will know she is not the type of person to bully and only wants to help.
He basically told us, in a nutshell that we "overstepped the mark" "he didn't mind us doing the horses for alittle bit of money on the side (we're not getting paid!) but were not to go near the castle" and that "he wasn't stupid and knew how to look after his animals". (Why am i doing it all for free then?).
Myself and my Mum were devastated. We pu our all into these horses and asked nothing back.
We got home and explained situation to my Dad who then went up today.
M attempted to make her husband see sense and insisted that he had got the wrong end of the stick and that she had not been at all bullied by my Mother and that he was blowing it out of proportion.
After a heated discussion between the owner and my Dad, it was concluded with my Dad saying;
"So it's ok for them to shovel [****] and do all your dirty work for nothing, but they're not good enough for a little respect?". To which the owner did not reply and got flustered and his wife profusely apologised and was cast aside by her husband.
My Dad also brought up the fact that he had been so aggressive and threatening towards a woman (my Mum).
It has ended that my Dad has refused to let us go back, and we have to make him see exactly how much work we have been doing, and let him do it himself without taking it for granted that the dirty work will be done.
M phoned us this evening apologising but my Dad refuses to let us return unless we get an apology and wages due from the owner.
I am devastated. I put my all into those horses and treated them like my own. I have had so many good times and although it was abit off I didn't mind caring for Pally for nothing because I adore that horse and he owes me nothing.The agony of it is, the horses are not to blame its the conflict of classes. The owner has an ego bigger than his castle and although we had been warned by numerous people, we didn't see that side of him until yesterday. I have now heard 3 stories about how badly he treats his employees and how snooty he behaves towards people.
I have been crying pretty much straight for the last 4 hours, thinking about Pally in his stable without his hay or feed, or fresh water, without being cleaned out or without his rugs changed. Just waiting for someone to come and see to him, and no one comes. Not tonight, or tomorrow night. He was already abandoned once before he came to his current home... and now i'm abandoning him again. And Bill is left to keep on losing weight as they have absolutely nothing to eat. And I've left them behind.
It's so heartbreaking. I feel so useless, like i've failed them.
M is phoning us tomorrow to speak to my Mum but i know that my Dad and the owner are at loggerheads and neither will back down.
I just can't comprehend never seeing these beautiful, kind horses again.
The owner is scared of them (wouldn't come in the stable block to bawl at my Mum but asked her to go outside because i was standing holding Bill) and so I can't imagine who is going to see to them. Theplace will never be the same for me now and it's truly agony when I had to drive past the driveway and not go see to them as I always do.
I know, somewhere, in a deep, deep part of me that this is right, we can't stand to be treated like sh*t just because that's what we shovel. Just because he's wealthy doesen't give him any right to be this way. But I cannot sit here and do nothing when Pally needs constant bandaging and given meds and they have no idea what to do for him. Or the farrier, or vaccinations... what about worming and rugging.
Didn't help that I then had to go show Rocco to a prospective buyer... a horse I so don't want to sell but have to because we can't afford not to.
Feels like i've lost 3 of them in the space of a day and it's killing me.
Please, some words of wisdom.. what is right?
