Why?

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Tia

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Why are some horse owners so interested in how other horse owners look after their own horses? Why, when we all have something in common is there so much complaining about why someone else chooses to do things differently from others? What does it matter?

I'm sorry, and perhaps people just like to have a little whinge once in a while, but there seems to be more and more posts telling people how they should look after their horses and I really can't see why some people are so obsessed with how often others muck out their horses, or whether they don't visit their horses from one day to the next. You know, some people DO have other things going on in their lives - horses are not always the be-all and end-all in some peoples lives - doesn't mean they shouldn't have them.

A way I figure whether there is something amiss is to look at the bigger picture; is the horse being fed? Is it being turned out? Is it being cared for competently by someone? Is it being treated fairly and has enough going on in it's life to keep it's mind functioning? Well then that is good
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Who cares who is doing the work, so long as the work is being done. There really are worse things going on in the world than having someone else do your horse LOL!!

Just as a point of interest; at least half of my boarders come and visit their horses about once a month. Do I care? No. Do the horses care? Nope. Are the horses happy with this arrangement? Yep. Are the owners happy with this? Yep. Am I happy with this? Yep. See, no big deal.
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I agree

as long as the horse isnt suffering...isnt putting anyone in danger...i dont really get involved

unhorsey family in the village have bought a youngster to bring on.... im concerned yes, but wont go out of my way to "help"
 
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Why are some horse owners so interested in how other horse owners look after their own horses? Why, when we all have something in common is there so much complaining about why someone else chooses to do things differently from others? What does it matter?

I'm sorry, and perhaps people just like to have a little whinge once in a while, but there seems to be more and more posts telling people how they should look after their horses and I really can't see why some people are so obsessed with how often others muck out their horses, or whether they don't visit their horses from one day to the next.


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in the light of our convo regarding my 'problem horse', is this not a little pot-calling-kettle-black????

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i know, on a personal level, im interested not because i want to tell people how to do things, more because....well, i guess im just nosy................!!!
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No it is not comparable to someone having trouble with their horse. Having problems with your horse is something entirely different and something positive can be done about it. Who does the training/riding makes a massive difference.

Feeding, mucking out, turning out etc. it makes not the slightest difference who does these jobs so long as they are done.

I can't imagine why anyone would think they were the same, LOL!!
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No it is not comparable to someone having trouble with their horse. Having problems with your horse is something entirely different and something positive can be done about it. Who does the training makes a massive difference.

Feeding, mucking out, turning out etc. it makes not the slightest difference who does these jobs so long as they are done.

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ah i didnt realise you were just talking about feeding/mucking out/turn out...i thought you meant on a broader scale.
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and but in the context of the previous thread, i disagree anyway - the 'problems' previously brought up are, to me, a general part of day to day horsey life. i just like talking about them!!
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You know, they'll possibly surprise you. Funny how things can turn out fine for people. I know that over the years I have seen the most odd situations turn out absolutely fine.
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yep completely agree...I stopped using yards because of what you have mentioned...Im an easy going person and like to do things at my own pace and my horses are just as chilled...people would moan about my feeding routine...im feeding too much/not enough/odd times of the day etc...In the end I would blow and tell them to mind their own buisness but like you have said...why do they care/why do they have to get so involved....
the main things are important...is the horse being feed, groomed, grazed etc...the rest is just due to busy bodies....urrr...horrible species...
 
Thanks Lozza - cool name eh?
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I have to say when reading some posts I do often wonder whether some of these people actually enjoy doing their horses; particularly when they go to such lengths as to tell us how early they get up to do them, how diligent they are, how many sacrifices they have to make etc. and then go on to complain about others whose horse-keeping is easy in comparison, and somehow they believe that because they do more, are up earlier, spend more time with the horse, that their horses are better looked after than any others....

.....well sorry to say it but that really isn't the case. Horses don't care one iota who feeds them or who brings them in or who fixes their feed or who changes their rugs. So long as they are fed and watered and live a decent life then that is all that matters to them.
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yep your right again tia...blimey your a brain :0)
I completely agree with this post and am really pleased you posted it as for years I was made to feel I was not good enough or dedicated enough to own one because I didnt do this, that and the other...and just last week from a uni girl 'oh my word your horse has not been sent away to be trained...god no...'!!

My horse used to be stabled all day, have food thrown at him 3 times a day and not be ridden for months...he looked great but was completely bored. overweight and became naughty...I have to add this was before I bought him...
When I got him he still expected this treatment but to his surprise he is now turned out 24/7 - is stabled if there is snow but has 1 feed a day, is rugged when it is cold and the rest of the seasons is slightly spoilt but not half as much as he was...horse like to be outside...if you think about them they are natural animals who run in a herd...so I can not see why pampering them...(well occasionally is fine) but all the time is a must....sorry but my horses are not over fussed in any way and seem to be happy and polite...horses are there to be enjoyed and have as a companion...there are no rule books behind owning horses and people unfortunately tend to think they are rule books if people allow them
 
I so agree Tia, when we had a DIY livery yard virtually every arguement was started by someone talking to someone else about how another livery did things differently.
I reckon 95% of fall outs on yards are because people don't mind their own business.
If I've learned one thing about keeping horses, there are a great many ways to keep them!
Many of the ones who retired here had never lived in fields that weren't dead flat with post and rail, had their food given at regular times of the day, and never lived out at night.
To start with they looked worried, but after around 10 weeks you would see a totally different sort of horse, one who looked contented, was agile, and discovered they had to ensure they ate for themselves.
The horses here don't ever get groomed, get their manes chopped shorter with a pocket knife, rarely get their feet picked out except for the farrier and live out 24/7. They get wormed, rugged if needed and anything other than a minor injury attended to.
I defy anyone to say they don't look a picture of health the majority of the year.
The only real problems being lice at times or rainscald.
My way would bring gasps of horror to many people, but like you , I couldn't give a stuff. I am damned certain they are happy, and that's ultimately what counts.
The poster who tut tutted because a horse was brought inside to a still unmucked out bed, do you know what, my horses choose to sleep on poo!!! We used to scrape out their barns, add straw etc but they actually prefer a layer of muck because it's warmer to the touch. They don't get anything wrong with themselves from it either. We leave the hay and muck and only scrape back to the base twice a year.
I suspect if you offered them the chance of a being confined in a nice clean banked stable they would still choose their free range mucky barn.. Things that are important to humans aren't to horses. What they think of is food, company and warmth. They don't think euch, a dirty stable, they look for food and their friends first.
I am a stickler for a clean stable and moan incessantly about the yard never being swept enough, but it is no-one's business but the horse owner and her yard owner how they keep their horses, and I wish people would rememebr that.
Like Tia I am lucky, I have one owner in India (visits twice a year) one in Australia, several who I have never met and they have never seen where their horses live except in the email pictures of them looking fat and happy..
I agree with Tia, whether you pay someone to feed.turn out/muck out is immaterial, it's YOUR business and no-one else's...
 
Live and let live is my philosophy on this subject! I wouldn't give advice to a livery unless I was asked for it. I keep my beak well and truly out of other peoples' business.
 
LMAO about the lying in poo, yes they do prefer it, we think its just to p*** us off before a show! As the saying goes 'there's more than one way to skin a cat!'
On the other end of the scale to Tia and HH, I have a small amount of land (1 acre, half of which I made into menage) but my horses are happy content and well cared for, just because they dont have acres of fields to run around in (which Touchy wouldnt anyway!) doesnt mean its right or wrong!
ETS when I was a child our horses and ponies (plural usually 3 or more) were kept in council allotments in Seaforth right next to Liverpool Docks! Ok cruelty folk go to work on that one!
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BTW I am in my third decade, so we are talking 1970's.
 
Nope you won't hear any shouting from me - I have no issue with what size of fields horses are kept in. Providing they have food, water, shelter and some stimulation then that is what is important. I choose to have large fields purely for ease of field management.
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Your horses live pretty much identical lives to mine HH, and I'll bet your horses are as happy as mine.....and yes mine do love sleeping in mucky barns which are also only cleared out twice a year
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. Fresh bedding is put down a couple of times a week but I don't see them getting overly smiley when I do this - they don't care.
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Totally agree Tia, its one of the things I despise about the horse world.

There are lots of lovely people, but there are vast numbers of people I've met who spend the whole time trying to get one up on you and looking down at the way you look after your horse.

As far as I'm concerned, if horse is happy and healthy, its nobodies business how its cared for.
 
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Your horses live pretty much identical lives to mine HH, and I'll bet your horses are as happy as mine.....and yes mine do love sleeping in mucky barns which are also only cleared out twice a year
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. Fresh bedding is put down a couple of times a week but I don't see them getting overly smiley when I do this - they don't care.
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Same here.
 
There are far too many people who voice their opinions regarding standards of care and NOT ENOUGH people who do anything about real neglect and cruelty!
 
Totally agree, hope I don't sound too heartless but other people can do what they want to their own horse, I don't actually care.
As long as my horse is ok and not affected by it.
I used to get myself really upset about other people's horses and what they did or didn't do with them but it did me no good at all, I just got worked up over something I could do nothing about anyway!
 
Agree with you 100% on this one Tia and I have repeatedly stated exactly the same thing several times on here today. Most of us have horses for fun, not to see how much of a martyr we can become by running ourselves ragged trying to look after them "better" than anyone else.

A lot of us also want and indeed, should, spend time with our partners, children and friends. We want to walk our dogs, do our housework, gardening, cooking etc, etc as well as holding down demanding full time jobs. As long as our horses are well looked after, even if we pay for it to be done by yard staff, we have done our bit and can breathe easy without any need for guilt trips that some people on here seem to want to lay on us!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Why are some horse owners so interested in how other horse owners look after their own horses? Why, when we all have something in common is there so much complaining about why someone else chooses to do things differently from others? What does it matter?

I'm sorry, and perhaps people just like to have a little whinge once in a while, but there seems to be more and more posts telling people how they should look after their horses and I really can't see why some people are so obsessed with how often others muck out their horses, or whether they don't visit their horses from one day to the next. You know, some people DO have other things going on in their lives - horses are not always the be-all and end-all in some peoples lives - doesn't mean they shouldn't have them.

A way I figure whether there is something amiss is to look at the bigger picture; is the horse being fed? Is it being turned out? Is it being cared for competently by someone? Is it being treated fairly and has enough going on in it's life to keep it's mind functioning? Well then that is good
smile.gif
.

Who cares who is doing the work, so long as the work is being done. There really are worse things going on in the world than having someone else do your horse LOL!!



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Yeah I agree.

It has always peed me off royally that other liveries stick their noses into your business and ask questions about why you do this and would it not be better to do that. It's even worse when a YO does it, which I experienced once.

As long as the horse is being looked after then it is nobody's business but the owners how they look after/ride their horse.
 
I'm lucky, I'm on a large livery yard (40 horses) but my horse is kept in the owners block with her horse, which is practically in her garden, no one but the grooms go round there, so I have no one 'keeping an eye' on what i'm doing. As I dare say people would voice opinions on feed and rugs etc, however I do things because they work for my horse and he is very healthy and happy.
We had an interesting scenario last week... a horse that is looked after by someone other than the owners was lame, but he was happy being fed, turned out daily etc etc. I have to say that it did get quite bad, was noticeable in walk, however he is getting older, doesn't get ridden, is a bit over weight and therefore I would say is a great candidate for arthritis. The YO had informed the owners that he was lame, but some of the other liveries were up in arms about the whole situation and were thinking of calling the vet on behalf of the owner!!! Yes, if it had been my horse I would have had a vet look at it, but it isn't and there's no way I would call a vet out on behalf of someone else (except in exceptional circumstances)!! The owner would have been the one picking up the bill! They were all happy to sit around discussing it all but not one of them picked up the phone and talked to the owner about their concerns!
This is typical of the mixed bunch we have on our yard!
 
I entirely agree. I do find it surprising that people wouldn't WANT to know how to look after their horse in theory (even if it was just how to tack up/groom/turn out etc) but if people want to keep their horse on full livery, or not check it every day or just check it once a day then why shouldn't they as long as the horse is ok.

I too was irritated by the 'lazy' post. It is all very well fitting a million horse chorse into a busy day when nothing goes wrong but what about when you have a week of car breaking down/dog getting injured/parents going away and fretting about leaving teenagers and wanting you to check on them...??? Life is not just about horses and as long as your horse is fed and comfortable I don't think it matters *who* looks after him.

Some people (not pointing fingers on here) seem to have a very sanctimonious attitude towards horse management and think their way is the ONLY way or the NON CRUEL way and everyone else is lazy/selfish/stingy etc.

Take one of the liveries at my yard who has a lovely quiet cob x mare. When I say politely 'isn't your mare lovely to handle' her response is always to look scathingly at my rather rude and pushy TBx mare and say
"well, *I* wouldn't allow her to behave any other way". I always think these people need to walk a mile in someone elses shoes before they start judging other people's choices and other people's horses.

JMO
 
Completely agree.

It's not just on this forum, either - I love my yard and *most* people are brilliant - helpful and not patronising. I have had to learn to ignore one woman who constantly has problems with the way I keep my horse - he has too much hay, he should have his whiskers trimmed off, I don't work him hard enough etc etc.

Previous post about laziness really got on my nerves.
 
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