no backup seahorse I gather
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There was, however, quite a bit of splashing and LOTS of wet, muddy laundry and tack on Monday! Not to mention going to 2 car washes to get all the mud off my Yukon. Underside looked like we had been off roading! Thankfully did not get stuck!
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And that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be done! Sometimes you just have to do the best you can in the situation … and realize there are probably others in the same boat (possibly an actual boat, from the looks of that ring!)
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What about keeping them near the arena? My little Kune Kune pigs just love Horse TV, conversely the horses enjoy Pig TV too.
(OT question, how does ‘pig broke’ look on a horse’s resume? 
)
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Pig broke is excellent. Our horses never knew what was coming out of the stock trailer when we pulled in the driveway, which resulted in some hilarious reactions from them!
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I board my horse at a rather posh dressage barn. (He’s one that ignores the garbage truck roaring past the ring, but spooks at the flower boxes and mounting block.)
The neighboring property sold a few months ago, and has been turned into a little hobby farm, with pigs and goats and, new this week, some charming little calves, all right along the fence line with our turnouts.
Its great! A few boggley eyes to start with, but its the peaceable kingdom out there now.
We are trying to work out how to persuade them to get a Llama or two to add to the collection…
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I first thought, someone has a feral hog problem in their arena, we did.
We had to add a lower board to the sides to keep those dummies out of the arena itself.
Guess it was a perfect place to take dust baths.
Then noticed it was in the dressage forum, not the farm one. 
I can’t believe someone would let any one person tell others to stay off a public arena used for general warm-up for everyone at any time.
I would tell them to go protest to the management and have them come tell me I can’t be there.
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Hah! I know a jack off in NJ who does that. She’s a total ass ( and a vet to boot.)
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There is definitly a dude couple that frequents shows I go to and will ask people to leave so they can run through their tests. Like they will directly ask you to leave and they will go off course the next day on client horses… and I call that karma.
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I’ve literally never seen this in any of the warm-ups here. I’ve been in the equivalent of 1st through 3rd level and never seen anyone run through a test or request anyone clear out (would not happen or go over well anyway). That’s so strange.
I’ve also never had the desire to ride through my test the day of, in the warm-up, or even the day of.
Warm up can be difficult sometimes as it is, I don’t know why people have to make it even worse!
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One of my horses was a fire-breathing dragon as a 3 year old. (OK, as a 4 year old, too). Her sense of her personal space was quite large. Trainers used to tell their students “See that big, black horse? Stay way away from her.” (She was actually dark bay, but looked black in the indoor in her winter coat). It was great! Always had as much room as I needed.
In your case, OP, my instinct would have been to stand my ground. But, unfortunately, many horses, including all of my OTTBs, are super sensitive to rider emotions. Because of that, I doubt that a schooling session with me hiding my irritation at the situation would have been very productive. But I would have stayed on principal anyway.
[
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And helped you move everything. 
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Maybe not weird. Just very entitled.
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Thanks! I needed that.
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Ha! When I moved my gelding from the East Coast to AZ, he had, apparently, never seen a cow before. A couple of cows (steer?) from a neighboring ranch got loose and wandered onto the property. Big, brave TB gelding stood there snorting, shaking like a leaf and finally bolted in the other direction.
,
It took quite a few rides past neighboring ranches to get him used to them. It didn’t help that my DH kept telling him they were “devil horses.”
When I retired with him back to SoCal, I kept him at a low-stress, non-training type barn. (Only place in the county where he could have 12-hour/day turn-out). For his first few years there, his herd included 1 other gelding, 3 mares and the biggest brown cow I have ever seen. Her name was Rosie, and she was a real sweetie. I always teased my horse that it was a very good thing that he had gotten over his fear of “devil horses” in AZ.
Oh, and the farm also had alpacas, pigs, goats and sheep. After much initial spookiness, he became totally fascinated with them. On our way in from the pasture every day, we had to stop at all of the different animal enclosures to say hi and touch noses with everyone. Definitely, the peaceable kingdom. Some of my best memories with him.
His first meeting with a baby black-bellied sheep.
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A couple weekends ago, a a neighbor pig made his way to the barn driveway. He lives across the street and a couple houses down from the barn (this isn’t the first animal missing from these people). We lured him into the barn with some grain, carrots, and bananas thinking someone had dropped him off. I was riding up the drive way at the time and got off not knowing what my horse would do (didn’t care). We put our guest in one of the open stalls where he happily made himself a nice hay bed after eating his snacks. Let me tell you - the one horse next to him lost his mind! Our pony on the other side was upset because of that horse losing it. Had to put another horse in the stall temporarily after our guest found his way home because the one horse just wouldn’t let it go. Pig broke is a thing! I’ll take one any day!
Back on topic - I go to rated shows and there’s still some arena hogging. We just shake our head and try to avoid. Trainer says if you can’t show it 95% at home, you’re not going to get it at a show/off the property. I stick to that - I shouldn’t have to school my test at the show. What’s funny is I have noticed that I get a wide berth when I ride my 18hh vs my 16.2hh. People cut across my lines and into my voltes with the 16.2hh. It seems like my 18hh clears the area fairly well
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Teach the 16.2hh horse that bumper cars is a fun game. People learn respect real fast when they realize your horse will. not. back. down.
Signed owner of a 16hh bulldozer who doesn’t get to use her dozer skilz nearly as often as she’d like, but they’re there if I call upon her 
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My domestic horses have a large VERY MOBILE (they run!!!) flock of sheep and two guardian llamas on one side, also two elderly Highland cattle in there too, a little herd of mustangs on the other side. Mustangs share their pasture with rams and Highland cattle. And when any of them come into their barn …which is their choice 24/7, the have guineas and chickens running around all over the place…laying eggs in the hay bales…flying up into the rafters to sleep at night. Guineas doing laps on the tin roof when the spirit moves. It’s wild here. Just one big mashUp of animals. Tis good. (oh, and mustangs in training share a fenceline with the assisted living crew -blind and or toothless sheep and an elderly llama, plus the chickens and guinns.).
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Absolutely. Great advice. People running these shows don’t want to lose entries. A badly run schooling show, for whatever reason, doesn’t attract entries.
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I’m astounded at what some people who haul their horses into boarding barns expect. Where I now board, this thankfully doesn’t happen. Barn owner runs a tight ship, and it’s sooo appreciated by all.
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