Woman in next stable is now really annoying me!

Maybe your horse is chucking a wobbler but your not there to witness it...maybe your rose tinted glasses of your horse only make you see a head toss and a tail swish.
This person may be a novice but your also calling her a liar.
If carrying a whip makes her feel more confident handling her horse (her loan horse) then why is it a problem to you...
You've come on here moaning about a novice person commenting on your horses. Maybe if you explain to her why your horses acts like he does and offer her some advise on handling her loan horse maybe you can build up a friendship rather than getting annoyed with someone who is obviously trying to strike up a conversation with a more experienced person.
 
If I were you, I would just ask her in a polite way why she keeps mentioning your horses behaviour. That way you can take the conversation to the next level and find out if she a. disapproves, b. is scared of him c. genuinely thinks you ought to know. Once you understand why she keeps rambling on about it, you will be in a better position to respond. In my experience once people are asked to account for their annoying behaviour they usually become self conscious about it and hopefully stop doing it.

Personally i wouldn't ignore it because it will probably get worse, I'd nip it in the bud now.
 
I do sympathise with you. We had one last summer who was stabled next to mine and she was the 'novice livery' from hell.

She had the calmest, quietest, safest haflinger in the world that she was terrified of. She used to hang polos on a piece of string for her horse (she said he would bite if she gave them to him), he could barely stand up from all the toys hanging off the ceiling and if he moved in his box he fell over another one. He had a rubber itching mat, rubber all round his walls, 2 hay racks and 1 hay bar, 4 chains on his door, the list goes on and on.

She spent everyday telling me what my horses had done in my absence, from lying down, to rolling, to looking out of the door etc and it drove me nearly potty. The worse bit was that when she was around my poor horses were upset because she had a very high pitched voice and she talked non stop to her horse, to me, to the other liveries and my horses needed ear plugs.

One classic was the standard shouted 'Teddy noooooooooo' at regular intervals when bless him all he had done was twitch his ear.

No advice I'm afraid because thankfully she left!
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. I will remember some of the retorts, although knowing me, I'll probably get half way through and then forget the rest of it....
It sounds like we all have similar problems....
Sedgemoor.....I do help her out - I put her horse out for her in the morning as she works shifts, and feed it for her. I helped her out from the moment she arrived and still do. I even let her ride my horse when he is in work, as well as letting her daughter ride him as they are wanting to ride different types of horses! Not sure what else I can do to help her.
There are other people around when she is there and I have asked them if he is problem and they have told me that they barely hear a peep from him, so I don't think it's rose tinted, thanks. I agree that she does mean well, but sometimes at the end of the week at work, I am so tired I just want to be left alone with the horses....
Anyway, farrier came this morning and put a shoe back on, so we went out for a hack in the wind and the rain......neighbour commented that I shouldn't be hacking out after he's been on box rest for two weeks - it is apparently dangerous and I was being irresponsible......now I understand where she's coming from, but after all, I think I know my horse best, and I know that he won't put a foot wrong. If it were the mare on the other hand........then she would have a point!
 
Booboos said:
Your neighbour sounds irritating but probably well meaning. From what you say I don't think she thinks she knows it all, I think she mistakenly believes your horse is very upset and is getting worried about it herself. Why don't you just address the issue directly with her? Say something like "Look, I can see you are upset and I appreciate you looking out for my horse, but really this is quite normal behaviour for him. He is a bit stressed on box rest, but it could be a lot worse and it can't be avoided. Try to relax around him and you may find he relaxes as well because horses do pick up how we feel."
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^^^^^^^ this, totally agree with the above, explaining is the best thing to do to a novice, not being sarcastic or avoiding tactics.
 
kibob said:
Why not tell her pretty much exactly what you have put in your post? He is on box rest, it does stress him out but cannot be avoided. You have done as much as you can to make the situation as stress free as possible. The fact that she keeps running to you with tales of what he has/hasn't done is starting to upset you, you just want to enjoy your horses and she is not helping the situation. End of!!

Blunt is often best;)
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Blunt but fair and well meaning. If she's novicey, she may think she's helping. Explaining as kibob suggests lets her know that your horse's behaviour is acceptable in the circumstances and you can't really do anything more to prevent it AND tells her that her actions are upsetting you. If I were the concerned novice I'd be much happier with someone explaining that to me rather than a pointed put down. If the frank chat doesn't work you're then well within your rights to tell her you've had the conversation and really don't want to have it again.
 
QR
Can I just add to the list of 'know-alls' who actually know very little, those young (and some not so young) tack shop assistants/owners who give 'advice' to people who actually know more than them, or who need to take advice from those who do.
A real bugbear of mine as I see many mistakes being endorsed by shop assistants.
 
Sounds like you have done everything you can do and i honestly think you should turn round and let her know how you feel otherwise she'll just carry on. Try and be gentle with her though she's still learning and its hard when your first getting into this (i only say this from some past experiences of people in the horse world that i have had when i was first getting into it, although i wasnt preaching book knowledge! LOL). I would stop her and her daughter from riding your horses though until shes got enough confidence with her cob as it could make her worse riding horses with different paces and temperaments. I hope that comes across right cuz im not saying anything bad about your horses and i can understand how you feel when you go up there for the enjoyment of your horses and there is someone there ruining it. Hopefully she'll take what you say on board and change and realise how lucky she is to have someone like you there helping her and her daughter. Good Luck chick
 
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