Grrrrrrrr owners sometime they really should be shot!!!!

[Bosworth]

I have a yard, I have lots of fantastic liveries who all have want the best for their horses and work really hard to provide it. They ask if they don;t know and they increase their knowledge by asking questions, reading around the subject and having lessons.

Except one!!!!! We had to sell her last pony for her as she bought something totally unsuitable which she made worse on a daily basis. It barged, it pulled, it kicked, it reared. It was 8 years old but rode like a 4 year old. She is about 60, has allegedly had horses all her life and appears to have managed to acquire no equestrian knowledge along the way. She does not accept help graciously and works hard to maintain her level of ignorance.

Her new pony arrived yesterday, its on a trial period for a couple of weeks. 14hh hairy cob mare. Lovely little mare. Clearly a very good doer. Should be perfect for her. Just a plod. Not complicated. Easy to do everything with. I go to check her last night and discover the biggest haynet in her stable. and the pony clearly sees it as a challenge. So I remove it , halve it and put it in small holed nets. I also discover they have done her a feed for tea and breakfast. This morning I turn her out in a restricted paddock and they arrive. THey ask for a field with more grass. I refuse as she is clearly a potential laminitic and explain this to them, I explain about hay and grass and they agree she needs to be restricted as they are worried she might become laminitic. They did sound very concerned about laminitis, as though they knew what it was and how serious. I then suggested they did not give her hard feed, just restricted grazing and perhaps a small amount of balancer to ensure the correct vitamins and minerals. They said - oh she doesn;t have much feed, just a scoop of Simple Systems and a scoop of mix. Plus 3 carrots, 2 apples and a hand full of treats twice a day.

Help - dear god are they trying to kill her. I looked at the mix - its conditioning mix, carrots are as dangerous as spring grass, the treats are full of sugar.

Some people do not deserve horses. For a DIY she is more work than a full. I have to check everything they do as they really are dangerously ignorant.

I have spoken to Simple Systems and they are sending me over a laminitis feed sheet - one which details all the dangerous things they can do to a laminitic. If I cannot get them to accept the danger I am seriously thinking about contacting the people who are selling her and suggesting it might be better not to sell her to them. I have also spoken to my vet who is coming out to do the vetting to get him to bring out their laminitic fact sheets and to ensure he really rams home the message about responsible management

Sorry rant over - I really am not an ogre of a yard owner but blatent ignorance of basic facts is criminal in my mind. If you don't know - ask - we are all happy to help.

Stiff drink to everyone who has been through this. You know who you are, the yard owners with the grey hair and the nervous twitch.

 

[charliesarmy]

Do you know the owners that are selling??? Surely thay have told the potential new owners what she has/used to being fed...maybe ask new owner to find out what this horse should be fed obviously baring in mind your grazing situation good/bad/restrictive....seems abit much feed wise but you have to ask where has she got idea for feeds from (seller??)

 

[MrsMozart]

Hm. Sometimes I'm really glad the Coal Authority beat our bid for a local yard...

Well done you for a) looking after the ned, and b) not stringing woman up by the stringed remains of her limited brain cells

 

[fatpiggy]

I'll go and get my shotgun and join the queue!

Unfortunately, this isn't an uncommon thing. The more horses people own, the less they seem to know. I've watched people feeding bigger hard-feeds and haylage nets to a 13hh pony than I give a horse.

People genuinely don't seem aware that carrots are sweet because they are stuffed full of sugar. Try telling this stupid woman how lucky she is to have a horse that will be so cheap to keep! That may ring a few bells in her brain-cell.

 

[Bosworth]

No seller said they fed it nothing and kept it in a restricted paddock.I asked when I went to check out the pony for new owner. New owner told me this as well this morning, but new owner thinks they know better as they have had horses for ever and they want the pony to love them so they will give it treats and carrots to make it love them. Did it with the last pony and it became the most nippy bargey pony ever.

 

[Cobbysmum]

No you're not an ogre, just concerned about an equine in your care. More people should be like you, if there was more challenge, maybe less horses would be harmed. I have quite a lazy neighbour and I have to nag her to pull ragwort etc. I actually took 20 barrowloads of the stuff off one of her fields. I asked to use the grazing so that I could shift it before it blew seeds all over my land. I also asked to have her pony as a companion as it suffered from laminitis and she would not do anything about it, at one point it could not move because of it. I know what her and her daughter say about me behind my back but I couldn't give two hoots, the pony was more important. Fortunately the pony has now gone out on loan.

 

[brighteyes]

You deserve a medal - and I think you are absolutely right to stick to your guns and maybe even swap the guns for cannons. I'm afraid my tact would desert me (kids say, 'What tact?').

Interestingly, I have been on a yard where my measures to guard against laminitis were taken as outright cruelty to my pony.

It's tricky to get a balance between sufficient intake at regular intervals and borderline cruelty from nature's point of view. I hope you get the message across!

Oh and do warn the current owners what she's up to. Silly old fool.

 

[spaniel]

Bosworth if it does go back on the market could you contact me please. I may have a buyer for her.

 

[NeilM]

I am afraid that I never cease to be amazed at just how badly so called 'horse lovers' treat their animals.

I have seen them starved or stuffed in the name of condition, and more often than not by people who have years of experience (which does not equal knowledge).

 

[Dubsie]

Good on you. I would doubt she's had horses all her life! I'm always appreciative of people spending the time to help/tell me stuff I don't know.

 

[lilylotus]

Oh dear I'm glad it isn't me that has to deal with them. I'd say right out they have no right to have a horse!! My last yard there was a mother pretty much like that. She bought her 8 year old daughter a 3yr old after 6 lessons as he was 'soooo pretty!!!'. It took about 3 weeks for the child to have a broken pelvis. He was a really strong pony and as clever as they come. It took a few adults to catch him and the poor child had no chance with him at all. Walked down to the field one day and she came with me and the poor kid was terrified as you couldn't even lead this pony he barged so badly. I couldn't let her take him as the ground was a wet mess and it was pouring with rain so i said that's ok you take mine and i'll take yours. She was so chuffed about this and was happy to lead up a hot blooded 15.2 arab who didn't like getting wet as opposed to her 12.2 pony. My horse was an absolute angel for her and her pony?? Dragged me for twenty yards down a barbed wire fence!! I let him go and it took 4 of us to get him back and into his stable. Fortunately the child's grandmother got involved and sold the pony a bought her a lovely schoolmistress. Hate it when people don't know what they are doing, that woman could have killed her child!!!

 

[f_s_]

Good for you!

Please don't get me started on laminitis management, as, I could go on for ever!!!!

I think the post yesterday said it all!! People who know/have had lamanitics are generally very good, want lots of advice and try very hard to manage the problem,but...there's always one!!!!

I think you are a very caring YM/YO and this woman is lucky to have you!

As for the previous owners, if you know them, perhaps a quiet word would help. They could then pass it on to this woman.

Godd luck...it's never easy with some people

 

[tasel]

Well, it can go both ways. I think it depends how reasonable an owner is, and how reasonable YO's are. You are obviously very reasonable, but I as an owner have to also point out that I have learned the hard way to only listen to the YO's that make sense. Often, some of them can be so terribly patronizing, it can give me a headache.

P.S.: I think you are right though with this particular owner. I do a lot of research on horses, and I myself don't feed my horse that much other than chaff and herbs... she has even been banned from getting treaties, mean owner that I am.

 

[charliesarmy]

[ QUOTE ]
No seller said they fed it nothing and kept it in a restricted paddock.I asked when I went to check out the pony for new owner. New owner told me this as well this morning, but new owner thinks they know better as they have had horses for ever and they want the pony to love them so they will give it treats and carrots to make it love them. Did it with the last pony and it became the most nippy bargey pony ever.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh nooooo....string her up classic case of "killing with kindness" some people are crazy....there were some M+M types on my last livery place which would feed more in one meal than what I used to give my 17.3 IDx in a week....I literally needed two hands to heave the bucket into there manger

not good

 

[Sugarplum Furry]

I'm having a similar scenario, but the other way round, if that makes sense. My YO, frail, tiny, nervous, aged, very inexperienced, inspired by having horses (mine) on her land after a few years without, has gone out and bought herself the most unsuitable horse for herself. I doubt she could have found anything less suitable, a 4 year old just backed TB mare, full of attitude, rears for a pastime, not vetted, unsound. The mare's behaviour is getting worse by the week, not helped by the YO and her husband fluttering helplessly around and shouting at her. And guess who they've asked to sort her out? Yep, yours truly. Part of me wants to walk away but if I do there's no-one else there to help. I quite deliberatly chose not to go onto a livery yard as I wanted to avoid Other People and their Problem Horses....I would just like to concentrate on my own neds.....I think there is a Horse God up there laughing at me!!

 

[Hippona]

My 'beginner' husband, who has a good-doer....(has the benefit of my knowledge, but you know what its like trying to explain stuff to your OH

) - he had the vet out for routine jabs and asked her advice re condition scoring/feeding etc.

The vet was amazed....she spent time explaining everything to him and said how much easier her job would be if people sought advice before, rather than after the event.

PS- just to add....the biggest hefter of a beast you have ever seen lives on my yard- if you have never seen a horse with cellulite, I'll get a tour up.....he is fed on haylage and has 2 bucket feeds per day which would feed my horses for a week...they can't understand why he doesnt lose weight....even though they are the 'yard experts'.....

 

[hairycob]

At my old yard there was a woman like this & she had 13! All of them as fat as whales & most with laminitis. Trouble was she didn't believe anybody who said fat caused it & never called the vet. I think she knew he'd tell her to change her methods & to keep the lammies on box rest & then she wouldn't be able to cope with so many (if you can call chucking them in a field & only getting them out to have their feet trimmed twice a year & chucking bags of barley rings over the fence coping!). Trouble was YO was just as bad & I was always being told mine were far too thin & would get ill on their condition score of 2.5 to 3. Walked a footpath through their fields yesterday & on a scale of 1 to 5 I would score a couple of them at 6! I'm sooooo glad I moved.

 

[abracadabra]

i left my old boy in the care of my mother while i went to uni, with the instruction he could have ad-lib hay and his mineral lick, nothing else as he wasnt in work and is a good doer.
my mother had a terrible time at the livery yard with all and sundry telling her she/i/we were cruel and heartless and she should be feeding him x,y, and z. which she would relay to me periodically asking if she could feed him as everyone else was saying she should.
IMO they pumped way too much hard feed into their ponies/horses which was why they were pretty much unmanegable/unrideable.
happily, when one of the other liveries vet came to the yard for something he told the witches mine was the only one being fed properly (to work) .

 

[Hippona]

yep...overfed and under- excercised...then on the odd occasion they do ride its like 'hey, my horse is mental!'

**wanders off shaking head***