somebody riding your horse without permission

MagicMelon, he is on part livery (no exercise/grooming), I too felt like I was being extra cautious when I was asking them not to ride him, and I felt a bit awkward because I faced mega big eyes :eek: "of course nobody would ever ride your horse! out of question!" I thought I could trust them... however just for precaution I tool my tack away so there's no temptation... my boy, he's just so pretty nobody can pass him by and not compliment him, he really is lavished with attention on the yard to the point when I feel uncomfortable about it, because every time I walk in there's someone petting him. I wish everyone would just leave us alone :( is it too much to ask when I have been dreaming of a horse all my life and saving up and just want to enjoy him now?

Thing is, this woman who rode him she is like the senior instructor, she's not just some kind of girly girl, she is way older than me and has been there forever. I thought she was being helpful when she offered to lunge him, but in the hindsight I see she was way too enthusiastic about that. :( I am seriously now thinking she might not admit to anything and the YO would back her up... I know they're BHS approved, could I file a complaint with them at all or is it too petty? I know also many people's things are stolen on this yard... :(
 
Although I agree she shouldn't ride your horse without permission perhaps she thought you had said lunge him just to save her time. Maybe she had some time spare and thought she would ride him instead. If she is a senior instructor too I don't see why this should make you feel sick.
 
Is he kept at a riding school? Just wondering that if he is the instructor may have interpreted no-one to ride him as meaning no clients to ride him (may be a charitable interpretation!).
 
he's not on riding school, he is on livery. I will get back to London and will ask questions and find out what was she thinking and kick some ass.
I don't care how senior an instructor she is but if she thinks that is the reason for her to use my horse she will have to find out she was wrong. I am certain I have asked her to lunge him twice a week for 20 mins and have specified that no riding is to be done by anyone at all.
 
horsegirl, would it not make you sick if you have asked for your horse NOT to be ridden and you have found out that someone was breaching your request behind your back? gets me thinking what other things they have done/not done and how often was this happening :/ quite simply I think it is my horse and I would like to decide what is being done to it, I don't care what was she thinking if she was breaking the promise she gave to me. to me it means I can't trust these people.
 
eva said:
... however just for precaution I tool my tack away so there's no temptation..... :(
Click to expand...

So...................if you removed YOUR tack, was any old set "borrowed"? I would be just as concerned about ill-fitting saddles,especially as you say, he's a youngster. However galling it is, at least the person supposedly riding him is qualified, and, one would hope, be experienced enough not to upset your boy unduly. An ill-fitting saddle, however.....
 
On any decent yard there should be communication, my boy was on a comp yard on assisted DIY, I was having the owner of the yard do some schooling on him, it was clearly in the diary on what to do and who was to do it, if there was nothing in the diary on the days that they schooled him then someone would call to see if I wanted it or not :).
When I worked on yards if a horse was down for lunge then no way on this earth would any member of staff ride, its taking the p**s. There may have been a reason that the horse was to be lunged only ie bad back. I would be so cross
 
I'd be furious, it is up to the YO to communicate with the staff what the clients have asked to be done with their horse.

If I was in your position I wouldn't be able to trust the YO or staff again and would be moving yards.
 
Until you get home you do not know for sure your horse was ridden.

Making comments such as;

I know they're BHS approved, could I file a complaint with them at all or is it too petty? I know also many people's things are stolen on this yard...

Is maybe a little harsh without knowing the full picture of what has gone on?

Is it possible this instructor has 'upset' someone on the yard who has started this as a rumour?
It is a livery yard after all -nothing surprises me now!
 
i'm not saying it's right at all but just another thought; would there be any reason why he couldn't be lunged that day? say the lunge arena was in use/too hard/flooded etc. not saying it's right to ride, especially seeing as you said not to, but perhaps against her better judgement she thought some exercise of some sort was better than none?

I often worry about this with my horse, although I don't think they ever have ridden her, with her being ex riding school and them short on ponies it always worries me. I'm paranoid about checking for sweat marks or tack moved etc.

If you can move yards and not compromise on facilities and care for yourself or your horse, I would move now you're going to constantly worrying about them riding and will be checking ever detail like I do!
 
This happened to me and I did have my doubts to be honest but every time I asked it was denied and I asked the YO to keep an eye and tell me .. and he never did.
Until I went up and found him with saddle marks on him and I went ape *****. The bloke in question left and I never saw him again..
The cheek of some people eh!!!!
 
'livid'..'sick' really some of you need to get a grip - it really isn't the end of the world

yes it is wrong but if this is a senior instructor there were hardly likely to be disasterous consequences.

OP just talk to them - threatening to leave is hardly going to impact though, they will just get another horse in. Decide if you are happy with your horse there, or not - and then accept your choice
 
The fact that it was an instructor that rode your horse, is plain rude. She/he should have known better.

Before you go mad, i would double check with everybody to make sure it happened. As you dont want to unleash your fury if you or someone else has got the wrong end of the stick.
Also before you go mad, you see if the person responsible has a valid reason. There may be a reason that she rode your horse.

Make sure, if you do go mad, do it properly! Teach them a lesson, riding someone elses horse without permission is unforgivable. If he'd been injured, or the rider, think of the insurance and suing!!

Make them clean your tack and muck out your stable!!
 
the watcher said:
'livid'..'sick' really some of you need to get a grip - it really isn't the end of the world

yes it is wrong but if this is a senior instructor there were hardly likely to be disasterous consequences.

OP just talk to them - threatening to leave is hardly going to impact though, they will just get another horse in. Decide if you are happy with your horse there, or not - and then accept your choice
Click to expand...

I don't think its an overreaction at all. Its about as blatant and clear a breach of contract and breach of trust in livery as you can get. The OP isn't paying livery to give someone else a free horse to ride and she should be able to go away on holiday safe in the knowledge that her horse will be looked after, and nothing more, while she is away. The YO should be paying more attention to what is going on in her yard and stopping things like this happening. I know at my yard they make a point of asking who is up at the yard if they don't know them, or if I have a friend up, asking me if they are allowed to ride if I'm not there (they're not - I'm reschooling my horse from being very strong to being nice and soft and frankly it would be a disaster if anyone else rode him at this stage).
 
eva said:
. I have agreed for her to lunge him 2 a week and nothing more than that. Does "lunge him 2 a week for 20 mins each time" sound like "you can ride him to your heart's content"? :(
Click to expand...

I'm a bit confused. Has this lady ridden your horse once, as your OP suggested, or ridden him many times, which this post above would suggest?

You say you've already taken your tack away from the yard to discourage people from getting on him so that would suggest you don't trust them in the first place. Why not move if you feel you have to take tack home to avoid people "having a go" on him. I can't imagine being on a yard where I felt that I had to take my tack home because other liveries might randomly decide to ride my horse!

Talk to the lady in question, don't be confrontational, just ask her how she got on with him whilst you were away and take it from there. You can casually say that someone said they could have sworn they saw her riding your horse and ask whether something had happened during a lunging session that made her feel she had to get on. How trustworthy is the livery who told you about it? Does s/he have an axe to grind?
 
No I wouldn't be happy if someone rode my horse without my permission but there are at least two of my fellow liveries who do have my unlimited permission to ride my mare as I know that they are fantastic riders, would ride her with the same consideration as they do their own horses and I trust them both 100%. I even make sure that my insurance covers them to do so as it would be remiss of me not to do so. They would however always ask me first. What I do wonder in your case though, especially as you have a spanish horse and they can often be extremely wide and therefore hard to fit an off the peg saddle to is that if you have taken your tack home and this is a livery yard not a riding school who's tack did they use to ride your horse if this is indeed what happened? If this is not someone trying to stir up trouble then I would be concerned that the lack of your horses tack was not enough of a message to suggest that you did not intend for the horse to be ridden. To go to the effort of using someone elses saddle and bridle suggests an intention to do something they knew they shouldn't be? Also unless they used their own tack I'd also be pretty annoyed if I was the owner of the tack that was used unless of course they were aware of this being done? I would certainly find out the facts first on this one as a few things suggest it may be someone stirring trouble rather than the event actually having happened. Best of luck with whatever you do or find out anyhow.
 
I was away when my friend rang to ask if one of the other livery owners could ride my horse to accompany her. I gave permission on condition that they stuck to this arrangement. However, when I got back, I found that this other person had been taking my horse out on her own whenever she felt like it. I simply told her that she was no longer welcome to ride. A lesson learned! No need to change yards, as long as you make your requirements clear.
 
I had my old horse at a small private yard many years ago, and was told by another livery that the yard owner was using him to give her friend lessons on, he was well manered and schooled, I was already looking for another yard with more turnout so I took my tack home and moved him as soon as poss. I was quite young at the time, now I would confront the person, at the time I didn't the the upset.
 
To be honest at first I would be fuming and if I was back the same day I was told I would tear them a new one but if I had chance to calm down and see that both my horse and my tack(that cost a fortune too) was intact I would ask person responsible if she did, why she did so and could she not do it again without asking me first.
Odds are if she had called and explained a reason she couldnt lunge him and asked if it would be ok to ride him for a short while instead you would probably have agreed. If your happy with the yard I wouldnt move
 
i would just have a talk with the person who rode her. she dosnt have permission and if ur on holidays you should know as its ur pony x
 
Thanks everyone for your opinions and advice, here's a little update:

I'm not back yet (will be back day after tomorrow), but the yard manager has got back to me with an email with her investigation into this and according to her, it was a different horse not mine being ridden. I then contacted this "friend" who told me about this happening in the first place and asked her if she is 100% sure it was my horse. she said yes, she was positive it was my boy and asked me to trust her. I then asked her if she could put me in contact with the owner of the "lookalikey" horse and at this point she said she actually thinks it COULD have been a different horse after all :o

therefore so far it looks like this lady who told me about my horse being ridden was wrong?
when I get back I will however talk to everyone involved in person and determine what is going on. although at the moment it seems that it's a case of good old classic bitchiness of my "friend" against this instructor.

I feel very silly to be involved in this if it's so. I do realise I have fallen for this because I am a bit paranoid, but you have to see that it's my first horse, which is a total dream come true and I am a real control freak at this moment.

Will update you when I talk to people on the yard.
 
Nah dont feel silly. You've done the right think by finding out all the facts before going off the rails. Just a shame you've had this to deal with whilst you're away!

Hope it turns out OK
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top