corfilgi
New User
I thought I'd found a lovely new place for my pony but as the only person there over 13 (quite a bit over...), I'm beginning to feel out of place.
At first sight everything seemed lovely -- the parents of one of the children had obviously thrown a lot at kitting it out to begin with, good paddock arrangement, nice ponies to share etc, and now all her friends have their ponies there too. However the parents now seem to have vanished and leave the whole management of the paddocks to the 13 year old.
The worst problem is that the electric keeps going off -- either batteries aren't changed often enough or lately, they go flat very quickly. The very first week he was there, mine got out of his paddock into the gap between the post and rail/barbed wire and badly scratched his face, narrowly missing his eye. When I went to explore the paddocks grazed by the owner's ponies on the weekend, I found the over hanging trees/hedging/grass was badly overgrown and shorting it out down my end, but neither parent or kid hadn't done anything about it. But when I brought it up with her, all she wanted to talk about was bringing up every niggle she had with the way I manage my pony (never having bothered to ask anything about his little ways e.g.The reason I don't bother with fly masks as he whips them off with his back foot asap or No, I don't like using rugs all year round 24/7 like you, as it prevents mutual grooming and being a native he doesn't need them, plus he's clever enough to find a way of getting one off if I did etc).
I spent all weekend removing the excess hedging/grass on their side so the fence works again, while they were all off bombing about on lovely hacks in the sun and got the electrics working again. But last night one of the friendlier kids turned up and spouted the same niggles as the first one, as if they'd all been whispering behind my back.
I'm beginning to feel like the fat kid at school that everyone talks about behind their back, and a drudge that lugs all the water and does all the picking up while the cool kids waltz in and bomb off to have fun. Once, I offered to come out with the first on a hack to give her outgrown 13hh mare a bit of exercise, but she looked at me in horror and told me I was too big -- I'm 5'nothing and yes, my middle age spread has taken my weight up to 8.5 stone; (at 13 she and all her boyfriends are towering over me yet they're allowed to ride her when it suits).
I'm afraid that I'm too blunt about my concerns, we'll get our marching orders and it has the potential to be a very nice place. Now mine is finally settled there, I don't want to move him, but it's very awkward having to take control of the practicalities as an grown up, yet being treated as rather junior partner by the 13 yr old.
At first sight everything seemed lovely -- the parents of one of the children had obviously thrown a lot at kitting it out to begin with, good paddock arrangement, nice ponies to share etc, and now all her friends have their ponies there too. However the parents now seem to have vanished and leave the whole management of the paddocks to the 13 year old.
The worst problem is that the electric keeps going off -- either batteries aren't changed often enough or lately, they go flat very quickly. The very first week he was there, mine got out of his paddock into the gap between the post and rail/barbed wire and badly scratched his face, narrowly missing his eye. When I went to explore the paddocks grazed by the owner's ponies on the weekend, I found the over hanging trees/hedging/grass was badly overgrown and shorting it out down my end, but neither parent or kid hadn't done anything about it. But when I brought it up with her, all she wanted to talk about was bringing up every niggle she had with the way I manage my pony (never having bothered to ask anything about his little ways e.g.The reason I don't bother with fly masks as he whips them off with his back foot asap or No, I don't like using rugs all year round 24/7 like you, as it prevents mutual grooming and being a native he doesn't need them, plus he's clever enough to find a way of getting one off if I did etc).
I spent all weekend removing the excess hedging/grass on their side so the fence works again, while they were all off bombing about on lovely hacks in the sun and got the electrics working again. But last night one of the friendlier kids turned up and spouted the same niggles as the first one, as if they'd all been whispering behind my back.
I'm beginning to feel like the fat kid at school that everyone talks about behind their back, and a drudge that lugs all the water and does all the picking up while the cool kids waltz in and bomb off to have fun. Once, I offered to come out with the first on a hack to give her outgrown 13hh mare a bit of exercise, but she looked at me in horror and told me I was too big -- I'm 5'nothing and yes, my middle age spread has taken my weight up to 8.5 stone; (at 13 she and all her boyfriends are towering over me yet they're allowed to ride her when it suits).
I'm afraid that I'm too blunt about my concerns, we'll get our marching orders and it has the potential to be a very nice place. Now mine is finally settled there, I don't want to move him, but it's very awkward having to take control of the practicalities as an grown up, yet being treated as rather junior partner by the 13 yr old.
