Am I a bad Mum and need to be reported .... Oh Dear not again!!!!!!

[Eaglestone]

I know I should not publicise that I am a useless Mum to my two horses …. and that once is bad enough but to do the same thing twice is awful!

My TB is on box rest (and my other one has to be too

). TB has an auto drinker and my old boy has a bucket and an auto drinker (but doesn’t drink from it, so hence the bucket!)

Noticed that my TB looked a bit dehydrated yesterday, as when I pinched his skin it wasn’t elastic …. but knew I was giving him his HH as a slop, so thought no more of it -- mistake

My friend even commented that he was stretching into his window and trying to get a drink ..... but that's not unusual

Have been spending the last couple of days mucking them out twice a day and sorting out the muddy field, but they have been in!! So I have been with them most of the time!

Well I was absolutely horrified this morning, when I just ‘happened’ to notice TB’s auto drinker had hay in it. But then shock horror, when I put my hand in to clear it out, realised that he had managed to poo in it YUK YUK. It must have been like that for a couple of days as it was a bit whiffy

I am always aware that the dopey wotsit (well usually

) does manage to poo that high and has done it before, so I always have a mental thought to double check his water, if any poo is near it, but somehow I missed it

I rushed for a bucket of water and offered it to him and he drank 3/4 of it, very calmly, so I don't think he was annoyed with me

This is the second time the clever (or dopey) boy has done this

Before anyone says you should check and clean it regularly, I do!!

There must me more Mums that can admit to ‘missing’ things ......

 

[Seahorse]

Evil wicked woman, I'm coming to take N away from you right now!!

No seriously I know what a good owner you are and I bet you feel dreadful, at least you will never do it again, and will probably make a point of checking his drinker all the time from now on.
I'm not keen on drinkers for that reason. At one yard I was at the horses had to press a thing with their mouth/nose and the water would come out, it took one horse ages to work out how to use it!

 

[Eaglestone]

I will let you come and take N away now if you like

Thank you for those kind words

(whispers) but this is the 2nd time I have missed it, so I am a bad mummy

 

[Seahorse]

[ QUOTE ]
I will let you come and take N away now if you like

Thank you for those kind words

(whispers) but this is the 2nd time I have missed it, so I am a bad mummy

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh well I didn't know that, I'm definately coming to get him then...

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Totally agree with seahorse. As convenient as automatic drinkers APPEAR to be, they can make you complacent. I hate them. You have no way of knowing how much - if anything - your horse has drunk. At my last yard they installed automatic waterers in all stables (was a riding school AND livery yard and ALL livery horses were on full livery, no choice) as a time-saver. No staff members ever checked if they were working. Ever. Many times through the winter the whole system froze solid. Horses went days without water. In the summer one livery horse's system got disconnected somehow and he didn't have water for days. Like I said, I hate them. However, once I got my boy all groomed and tacked up ready for a ride out with the riding school customers when one of the instructors paused and eyed my horse up and down and said "You do know he's lost a hind shoe?" GULP!!! I'd groomed him, picked feet out, etc etc and STILL missed it so yes, guilty as charged!!!!!

 

[merlinsquest]

Never forgot water, but once managed to forget to hang the haynets up overnight, (they were soaking in a bath) so he was without hay for hours!!! at least he was on straw ( I think at that time) so had something to eat

Always made a mental note after that to check, hay, water, bed, rug!!!! Got a bit OCD in the end......

Thank god he lives out now!!

 

[dwi]

I have forgotten to check the trough in the field before and then found a dead toad in it a couple of days later when Daisy came in from the field really thirsty

 

[angiebaby]

Don't feel bad, I once forgot to shut my ponies stable door!! He was found at 8pm on the grasss verge outside by my neighbour, how embarassing and bad mummy is that!

 

[SpruceRI]

I once got home and realised I'd left Inka tied up to a tree where I feed him

Obviously I went straight back

, and he'd already untied himself, and had weed on the lead rope

 

[Daisy11]

dont get up set about it
im sure your check it often now
at least you do give him water when you relise
as where i use to keep my horses there was this girl that had a 16hh gelding who didnt give a monkeys about her horse not mucking out etc
to one day i went down to feed my horse when i came across this horse that had not had a single drop of water for a day and a half
i gave it some and it drank at least 3 and a half bucket fulls with in the hour it made me angry

 

[zelli]

seriously dont worry about it! If i mentiond the number of things ive done wrong in the past I would be here all night typing! At the end of the day, horses make us busy and we do not have super powers, we are only human and therfore make mistakes.

My latest one that I KEEP doing, is forgetting to undo leg straps on my guys rugs, seriously every night ill forget one pair of leg straps, start wandering of with the rug (usually in a hurry so build up a bit of momentum) and all of a sudden i get yanked back, poor horse just looks at me with a 'why are you trying to remove my legs' impression (i think theyve all got used to it now! lol).

 

[angiebaby]

zelli, I do the same!

 

[Keltic]

LOl Zelli i do the same, infact mine now step out of leg straps!!

 

[spaniel]

Obviously more popular here than some others who have posted about their genuine management mistakes....and been reported to the Rspca for their trouble.

 

[Eaglestone]

PMSL ... yes done this one a few times too, but never got the speed up to nearly take horse with me, but as you say they just look at you as if to say 'stupid mare'

Keltic2 I just love the fact that your horse now steps out of the straps

 

[SouthWestWhippet]

We have automatic drinkers and a few of the horses do this sometimes. It is easy to miss if you are in a rush but I bet you will be super vigilant about it now

We had a horse left stabled in the DIY barn for 3 days without being mucked out, fed or watered. Only realised when someone looked over the door and commented that pony had not food/water... then people started talking and realised noone had seen owner for days. We all pitched in to sort the horse out but we were bloomin furious with owner. So no, in the grand scheme of things you are definitely NOT a bad owner

 

[Fransurrey]

If it makes you feel better, I also managed to hack out a pony who'd lost a hind shoe (I noticed when I got back - in my defence it was all off-road!). About a month ago I also forgot to remove the headcollar and lead-rope from my shettie, after bathing his eyes. The poor love was walking around all night, probably tripping himself up every few seconds. Ooops!