What would you do?

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goldie12

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I've only had my horse a few months on a working farm with 24/7 turnout. She had a place in a field ready before i'd bought her and has settled in really well with the other horses. Theres just myself an another lady that share the field, she owns the others and i just have the one. However a few things are starting to bug me 1. The field is never poo picked and i dont see why i should have to do the it for all of them (4 acres) 2. She is late with worming 3. The others are crawling with mites and are rarely handled and i just cant get rid of them on mine.
She could be moved to another smaller paddock but the grazing isnt as good and she would be on her own but at least i would be able to manage the above. I just want my horse to be happy and its hard as shes very settled with the others. She will be able to see other horses but not mix with them....so what would you do?

Thanks
 
Your horse would not understand why she has been separated from her friends. Also, if the grazing is poor in the other field, then you may end up having to supplement her feed with hay. I would either have a good chat with the other lady, and ask if there is any deal you could come to to address your concerns, or I would move yards. There is a third alternative, that you treat her horse for mites as well as your own at your own expense, leave the poo picking and just ensure that your horse is regularly wormed. Not ideal, but I doubt you will get her to do her share TBF.
 
Bear in mind that if the poos are not picked up then where they lay on the grass the grass will die underneath them causing weeds to take over. Not good field management!
 
Wagtails plan has summed it up for me too. Assume with you saying farm livery that no chance of help from farmer?
 
Don't all of the horses have to be wormed at the same time for it to be effective? I couldn't afford to do all of them and have the same concern re treating they mites, they are vvv big horses and rarely handled (maybe im just being a wimp) but find them intimidating! I dont think the farmer will too pleased as hes kept the space open for me in that field until I found a horse, soooo stuck!

ps the field does get harrowed but only every 6 months by the farmer.
 
I used to be on a working farm for many years, the farmer wasnt bothered about worming, etc, so it was just left down to the owners to sort out themselves! I always wormed mine, not knowning whether everyone else done theirs or not! we had a 10 acre field with between 4-7 horses in it, so we never poo picked, the farmer would just harrow it and roll it and put his cows out with the horses every so often! I never had a problem with worms.

but i wouldn't be happy about the mites. If you can speak to her and think she would be alright about it, then do it! if not, I would speak to the farmer and see whether you could section part of the field to keep your mare away and maybe just be sneaky and treat hers while she's not around, I know thats rude, but you can't cope with that all the time!
 
In that case speak to her. If that fails, speak to the farmer if he liked you enough to save you a space. If that fails too, move.
 
Lice can be so detrimental to a horses health, she really does need to deal with it.

As for poo picking, I wouldn't poo pick 4 acres, preferring to harrow and rest them.

So, you need to have a chat with the farmer, about the management of the field, and chat with the other lady about worming. And if none of that can be done - move.

EDT: Jinx littlelegs!
 
goldie12 said:
! I dont think the farmer will too pleased as hes kept the space open for me in that field until I found a horse, soooo stuck!QUOTE]

Tough, if he is upset with you, you wouldn't have been aware of the state of the other horses in the field, if he doesn't have rules set out for his yard and the way the horses are kept then he cant expect to have happy liveries that want to stay! I wouldn't keep my horses there! if you worried about handling the horses, then maybe thats because the owner doesn't do anything with them, and that might be why shes not treated them for mites, she's probably scared of them too!

If I were you, I'd look for somewhere else!
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goldie12 said:
Don't all of the horses have to be wormed at the same time for it to be effective? I couldn't afford to do all of them and have the same concern re treating they mites, they are vvv big horses and rarely handled (maybe im just being a wimp) but find them intimidating! I dont think the farmer will too pleased as hes kept the space open for me in that field until I found a horse, soooo stuck!

ps the field does get harrowed but only every 6 months by the farmer.
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The reason you worm horses together is to minimise the spread of the worms. This can also minimise the regularity with which you need to worm too (so long as wormcounts are done). However, horses are picking up worms all the time. On our yard the only ones that have a positive wormcount are the ones that have been to other yards for shows, or to the stud etc. Regular worming for such horses is therefore essential. But so long as you worm your own horse regularly, it will keep her worm burden down to harmless levels, even though she will be getting reinfected from the others. What I am trying to say, is that this happens in any case to horses that travel to shows etc, so your horse will be no worse off than them.
 
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