Bad outcomes/luck linked to a specific place?

I've got a stinking cold, my field has flooded (again) and I had to mend a broken fence in sideways rain this morning - I am not living the dream!

Things like sarcoids can spread and I had a laminitis case this time last year when there was zero grass and my usual hay. Cushings negative and the only thing we can think of is 1) something else underlying caused the insulin spike or 2) it wasn't actually laminitis but something that presented like that. Never got to the bottom of it but the horse is rugged to the eyeballs this winter to try and keep her insulin levels lower.

Its very, very easy when things are going wrong for no apparent reason to blame the environment and I would probably do a soil test as a starter to make sure it wasn't massively short in something. My summer field showed up as really low in manganese and I'd had some odd issues with the horses so have started to supplement it. I already knew we were low in copper and selenium so was on top of that.

There are definitely places which give off quirky vibes but if your friend is otherwise happy - and it sounds like on paper it is perfect - then I'd plod on regardless
 
Orangehorse said:
I haven't any good suggestions to offer, sorry, but it does sound really awful. It seems with horses that there often runs of bad luck, injuries and we scratch our heads and wonder what on earth is going on, when we are doing everything we can to keep them well and healthy.

I think the suggestions here have been good. Get the water tested, see if she can have a break away. The only other thing I can think of is a sort of blessing of the place - sorry about that but it is the only thing I can think of.
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What a nice, positive idea - covered all the empirically- testable bases, ensured your friend has a break - and even if she has no supra-natural beliefs whatsoever, the experience of so much positivity and well-wishing is bound to be a psychological lift.
Think she’s just been unfortunate, ‘runs of ill luck’ are common enough if you keep numbers of livestock, or farm.
 
Not having read all the replies I have to say sometimes I feel similar. I feel like since being where we are, which should be heavenly that just everything go's wrong.
Last year alone, In fact in less than a year I lost no less than 3 horses. Since being here I have had 9 pts and retired a further 2. Have problems with current horse that have again been going on for a while.
None of it linked, eg one was a broken leg

It's pretty soul destroying. I secretly look forward to having to leave and the possibility of starting fresh because in my head I know its not this lovely place but.....
 
Barklands said:
A little woo-woo of me but I'm sure a bit of sage and some evil eye jewellery wouldn't do any harm!
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I was gonna say - it does no harm to wave a bit of sage around & maybe have a session with a Kinesiologist or a Reiki session for herself or her horses aswell. Sometimes when things all seem to be going the wrong way, changing your mindset can help - woo-woo or whatever works but sometimes it takes just feeling like you've cleared out old patterns to allow new ones to form. And doing something you have never done before can help with that - placebo effect can come into play aswell - its just something to feel like you've changed something!

Also while there are lists of things that have gone wrong - has she made a list of things that have gone right in her time there, like could it be perspective??

But no harm in also doing things like getting soil or water tested - something mineral wise could be adding issues that are unseen.

I think when you feel something is wrong - no amount of sane suggestions can help sometimes - sometimes you have to change something, anything to make it feel like you have affected change!
 
I do believe In bad vibes in certain places or situations. I used to work on a race yard that had awful luck and what looked like a stunning yard but extreme dust in the stables despite what looked like good ventilation. If an horse was in for a few nights without a stable sheet on you could write your name on it with your fingers they gathered so much dust and the water tasted like shite. I guzzle tap water when I’m thirsty and it was undrinkable.
I also have kept hold of my old mare much longer than I would have otherwise because I know 2 of her previous owners who have had horrendous luck scince selling her. I think she is a good luck charm and is going nowhere.
So yes I am superstitious.
 
Sometimes I wonder whether it’s the fact you notice that is the reason you feel bad luck.
For example, some people’s horses get sarcoids or asthma or ulcers or whatever and the rider doesn’t take a blind bit of notice just carries on until the horse dumps them (from pain) once too many times then it gets shot or sold …. and replaced. How many shows or adverts have you seen with a noticeably lame horse and a totally unaware rider?
So if you are the type who notices every cut (which might or might not heal itself if untreated), every runny poo etc, then you do tend to find horse care harder than a ‘chuck it in the field until it’s useful’ type.
 
I've got nothing particularly useful to say but I hope things improve for your friend. I agree with some of the previous posts, more horses could just equal the probability of more issues, and it is easy to focus on the things that go wrong. That said, sometimes people just seem to have all the crap stuff dump on them at once.

A break away from the yard, a mind reset (sage or something woo woo) won't do any harm and may help her feel better.
 
nettle said:
Are they on mains water or a private supply? Definitely get water tested if on private supply.
Have the vets made any comment re ongoing issues?
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Mains water I think, though I’ll suggest testing. I’ve not been at many of the vet appointments, I’ve been emotional support on a couple of PTSs and it’s always been comments of no one could have done more etc. I’ve spoken to one vet aside and they’ve said they’ve never known so much bad luck, lots of use of ‘odd’ etc. I know there’s been several cases the vets haven’t ever seen before and have had to consult niche specialists even then with no conclusion. There must have been six different ‘one in a million chances’ conditions.
 
Ceifer said:
I would agree with the sensible posters on here in that it’s bad luck.

But I have also worked on a yard that seemed cursed. Beautiful yard but a huge amount of illnesses and injuries that were odd.
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Thank you for sharing that. It’s at the point now where maybe she is better leaving just to get a fresh start away from a place associated with so much bad luck and oddness, even if it’s not actually anything more supernatural. Cursed is the word she keeps using about the yard.
 
Orangehorse said:
I haven't any good suggestions to offer, sorry, but it does sound really awful. It seems with horses that there often runs of bad luck, injuries and we scratch our heads and wonder what on earth is going on, when we are doing everything we can to keep them well and healthy.

I think the suggestions here have been good. Get the water tested, see if she can have a break away. The only other thing I can think of is a sort of blessing of the place - sorry about that but it is the only thing I can think of.
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Thank you. The suggestions have been great - I’m very appreciative. I know she’s already tried a reiki type thing for the land, but I’ll maybe delve more into whether there’s any other blessing-y methods out there with her as a (last last last) last resort!
 
AppyLover1996 said:
I went through a stage when I first got Baggs where it seemed like we had endless bad luck/ weird things happening/ injuries and issues that were totally unexpected and had no logical way of happening x

I joked to my vet one day that perhaps I'm either cursed or the yard must have a spirit somewhere with a grudge to bear, and she said how that whenever she visited the yard and no matter who had the vehicle that she was driving, it would always cut out half way up the lane and be a pain to get going again. They took the car into the garage to get it looked at, had the thing entirely rebuilt, different drivers drive it - and you could count down to the exact place where the vehicle would cut out.

We even did a run of driving the car in from a completely different direction and each time it got near the red zone as we called it - you guessed it - clonk and the car would cut out.....

It never did it at any other yards she visited and continued to do it, even when it became her personal car and she had her horse on livery at the same place x

I'm not one to go 1000% into the supernatural side of things, but I do believe that certain things happening to people before they pass, can have an effect on their spirit being left behind etc x

I would say that maybe it's worth your friend getting some freelance help in (even for a few days) so she can step away, breathe and gather herself whilst having a break and knowing that her horses are all sorted and then go from there x
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Thank you for sharing this. Very interesting indeed. Did things improve for you there in the end with Baggs, or did you move on?
 
I can absolutely empathize and I very nearly did give up and sell my land a couple of years ago. I lost 2 very young ones to cancer- something so rare it's almost unheard of- years apart, but they had grazed the same field and then my absolute pride and joy was referred to horspital with suspected cancer too. It turned out not to be that, but I honestly would have jacked it all in if it had been as I just couldn’t face the sorrow again.
I have reflected a lot (said pride and joy has also had 2 massive traumatic wounds) and improved my management in every way I can, but sadly horses are fragile and tragedies will happen
 
BlueFire710 said:
Thank you for sharing that. It’s at the point now where maybe she is better leaving just to get a fresh start away from a place associated with so much bad luck and oddness, even if it’s not actually anything more supernatural. Cursed is the word she keeps using about the yard.
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Does she know the history of the land/place? When we use words like cursed, we tend to feel like nothing we do ever helps.
It reminds me of experiences we read/hear about people that live on old burial sites, places of massacres etc - where seemingly good intentions turn bad because of the assumed bad ‘juju’ of the place. Science tells us everything is energy, so trauma has potential to cycle perpetually in a location…just like it does in a human subject to trauma. Healing it tends to focus on clearing it, neutralising with positive experiences etc. someone mentioned blessing the land…I’m sure many end up down that road!

These places require consistent and powerful influx of abundance and thriving energy to ‘over-write’ its history, and the potential latent energy the history can give the place.

Did she buy the place solo, or are there other financial interests that may oppose her in some way? I don’t personally need to know, just something for her to ponder. Millionaires and billionaires top advice for successful business achievement is to go into business with others who are on the ‘same page’.
If there’s difference of opinion or feelings not aligned, then the best intended plan can fall on its face. I’ve experienced this kind of ‘financial/project success sabotage due to misaligned aspirations between group members’ personally. No amount of effort can make it work when everyone is working at cross-purposes to one another.
Everyone involved needs to support the one aim, one vision, one intended result, otherwise it can become pure conflict all the way.
 
I obviously don’t have all the details on the oddities but my thoughts are that horses are accident prone so some of the issues will just be bad luck but I did wonder if there’s any less obvious link with the others. So for example, is there an issue with the land that’s making the horses more prone to illness or infection. Something that’s reducing their immunity. I’m a great believer in there being a scientific explanation for things although I can fully understand that your friend may want to move regardless, to get away from the negative association with the yard. As someone who’s had a horror year with vet bills, I truly wish her better luck!
 
dorsetladette said:

This is the thread I was referring too. some interesting info from posters in here regarding the OP's issues and things to try.
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Funnily enough I saw this thread and thought of myself. I moved to this beautiful little plot of land and then lost our two OG heart horses both to cancer, one to a rampant escalation in internal melanoma that we didn't even know existed, and one was a complex series of events but ended with an extremely aggressive sarcoid that developed when he was in his late teens. We also lost my little companion pony to severe asthma not long after moving. Life since then has been a chain of disasters, vets bills and heartache.

I'm not an idiot, or a novice, I have groomed for horses that have been around Badminton and Burghley, and worked as a groom around the world, and but I am very much starting to feel like the worst horse owner in the world, like I shouldn't be allowed to have horses. But honestly, a lot of it isn't something I have or haven't done. Some is what the people before me have or haven't done with the horses I now own, some is just bad luck, some is just horses, and the last little bit probably is my fault.
 
If you’re thinking “woo woo” maybe try and find a well recommended medium/physic investigator that can come and investigate/clear out negative energy. Or what ever the correct terminology is!
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
See, I have to confess that I'm a bit of a "believer" when it comes to continuous bad occurrences in a place which keep happening over a period of time. When this becomes a recurring theme, it does make superstitious people like me (or perhaps I should say psychicly aware) think that there may be some kind of bad vibes, or something awful which might have happened, in this particular area. I do believe this. I think the psychic term is "negative vortex"; where perhaps something has happened - many years ago even - and that has somehow passed into the residual "energy" of a place, and thus there is a continuity of negative (or even sad) occurrences.

Also I believe in "ley lines" and their influence upon the earth.

Call me as daft as a brush if you will: but I once had a very interesting conversation along these lines with a pigeon-racing guy who came out to collect a stray racing pigeon we had in the yard....... I will never forget that conversation, it was very insightful indeed.
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LegOn said:
I was gonna say - it does no harm to wave a bit of sage around & maybe have a session with a Kinesiologist or a Reiki session for herself or her horses aswell. Sometimes when things all seem to be going the wrong way, changing your mindset can help - woo-woo or whatever works but sometimes it takes just feeling like you've cleared out old patterns to allow new ones to form. And doing something you have never done before can help with that - placebo effect can come into play aswell - its just something to feel like you've changed something!

Also while there are lists of things that have gone wrong - has she made a list of things that have gone right in her time there, like could it be perspective??

But no harm in also doing things like getting soil or water tested - something mineral wise could be adding issues that are unseen.

I think when you feel something is wrong - no amount of sane suggestions can help sometimes - sometimes you have to change something, anything to make it feel like you have affected change!
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I do believe that if something is not meant to be, things will consistently go wrong. But I also tend to get a gut feeling alongside this that tells me that something isnt right and not meant to be in this instance. Were there any roadblocks or issues when she took over the place?

There are also times when things just go wrong and go wrong for almost no particular reason. Strings of bad luck and insane things do happen.

If she tests her water and everything a-ok and experiments with a few different set-ups and still goes wrong, then I am likely to lean towards this was not meant to be. As an FYI my horse has never had a sarcoid in his life and it wasnt until I moved and about 5 months later, a sarcoid popped up...then more popped up. He is now managed on oily herbs. He also has a severe vit E deficiency but only came out as an issue after having moved. He moved from clay to chalk soil so makes me think the soil and therefore grass is an issue.

On the reiki - I was really down in the dumps last year after a few months of not landing a job after redundancy. I was really starting to worry about having to sell the house and all sorts. I was having a string of bad luck with people passing away and all sorts at the same time. My PT did a quick reiki thing on me. I thought "ok whatever" not really sure about it but the next day I genuinely felt different. I was still worried and upset but not in the same way. I also finally had a huge cry and was able to let out a lot of emotion while feeling on a better emotional plane if that makes any sense!
 
BlueFire710 said:
Thank you for sharing this. Very interesting indeed. Did things improve for you there in the end with Baggs, or did you move on?
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I ended up moving on from the yard due to a few reasons, and strangely enough the day I drove down the driveway for the last time, I felt this massive weight lift off my shoulders.......

Baggs behaviour has improved no end at the new yard, he is a lot happier to see me every day, I'm getting so much more riding done, the new yard is everything and more that I could have dreamed of x He's now retired due to his prior history (I rescued him) but even so, he is still content to pottle to his field with his baby brother every day and is still his cheeky self.

Rabbit my rising 3 year old has also had a complete personality transplant since we left the old yard - so much more settled in his behaviour, willing to work and learn new things, nicer to handle and back to the young horse I viewed when he was 8 months old up country x
 
Can I strongly recommend a Reiki practitioner - a good one so do some research first. When you have tested for everything practical I don't think there is any shame in consideriing "other" reasons and I do believe "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy........."

It could be one horse, the place or even herself that is attracting all this so there is nothing to lose in considering this before throwing it all away.
 
BBP2 said:
Funnily enough I saw this thread and thought of myself. I moved to this beautiful little plot of land and then lost our two OG heart horses both to cancer, one to a rampant escalation in internal melanoma that we didn't even know existed, and one was a complex series of events but ended with an extremely aggressive sarcoid that developed when he was in his late teens. We also lost my little companion pony to severe asthma not long after moving. Life since then has been a chain of disasters, vets bills and heartache.

I'm not an idiot, or a novice, I have groomed for horses that have been around Badminton and Burghley, and worked as a groom around the world, and but I am very much starting to feel like the worst horse owner in the world, like I shouldn't be allowed to have horses. But honestly, a lot of it isn't something I have or haven't done. Some is what the people before me have or haven't done with the horses I now own, some is just bad luck, some is just horses, and the last little bit probably is my fault.
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Sorry BBP - I wasn't trying to make you feel bad about your situation, just show the OP that it could relate to similar issue your guys and you have faced. I've just noticed I've shared a thread from club house - If you would prefer it wasn't so public I'll ask admin to delete my post.
 
These runs of bad luck just seem to happen sometimes with no reason. We had a spell around 35 years ago now. Started when a mare came to my stallion with a foal at foot. Owner was going on holiday abroad. Literally as she was flying out I found her foal with a broken leg. Next thing a good friend of mine sent me a mare with foal at foot. Duly covered and went home in foal only to have the foal break its leg shortly after arriving home. Another friend had a mare with a foal at foot by my boy. That foal somehow managed to go over the fence and also broke his leg. Not displaced and he was sorted with box rest thankfully. All this was within a few short weeks. Didn't stop there though. His mum had to be PTS before foaling the next year as her pubic ligament ruptured. My friend's other mare was running out with my stallion. Found my stallion in a bad way one morning and lost him to a grossly enlarged heart. The mare went home in foal but lost it about a month before foaling. She then lost the next one and it was determined she had an incompetent cervix so as she was in her teens and not a riding horse she was put down.

It didn't seem possible that so much bad luck could happen in such a short space of time and all somehow connected to me. Thankfully it did stop after my friend's mare lost her 2nd foal which was by a stallion I had on loan after losing mine.

Hopefully your friend's run of bad luck will soon have run its course, fingers crossed.
 
dorsetladette said:
Sorry BBP - I wasn't trying to make you feel bad about your situation, just show the OP that it could relate to similar issue your guys and you have faced. I've just noticed I've shared a thread from club house - If you would prefer it wasn't so public I'll ask admin to delete my post.
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Don’t worry about it, if I can help anyone out through my random bizarre problems then that’s a positive, and is part of my motivation for sharing. We managed to resolve some pretty scary liver results in just a few months so that was another positive. Although I don’t want to speak too soon as I have the next round of blood tests booked for next week. My newest rabbit hole for investigation is vitamin e responsive myopathy/equine motor neurone disease but let’s keep fingers crossed that the latter is me catastrophising.
 
Hopefully the bad luck will end soon!

I did move from a yard where I felt like we were on a never ending cycle of 'bad luck', vet bills, pts, horses not settling, both ridden prospects both being ruled out of being comp horses anymore, all the space of a few years, when they'd both thrived before. However, in that case although the yard looked wonderful and set up for horses, actually the management was just a bit off to upset the girls.

The turnout wasn't managed so the grazing got poorer and poorer, the stables had little privacy which didn't help them settle, the school looked amazing but poor management led to a poor surface, winter trash paddocks went from only in the worst weather to the entire winter, etc, etc. Although on the face of it they were small things and not enough to shout about, they all added up to causing big issues. We've moved to a much less polished yard, but the grazing is right, the turnout is right, the stables fit better and everyone is happier and sounder (so far)!

So it can be useful to look at the little things but really it sounds like they've already looked at that so it does just sound bad luck.
 
I had some horses on some land that I later found out had been used for landfill back in the 1960's, they had lots of random issues including liver problems, repeated abscesses, weird blood results indicating some kind of myopathy that culminated in one youngster being PTS. All resolved when I moved them.
 
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