If I know it’s a horse prone to do this, or the horse is acting antsy like they have to go, the tack basically ends up in a heap on the floor for a short minute while I get the horse to a better spot (not dead center in the aisle or anything, obviously - against the aisle wall, bridle chucked on the nearest hook). I think that’s fair - please hold your pee for just a minute, and I’ll get this crap off you as fast as humanly possible in order for you not to make an additional 10-15 minutes of work for me (not to mention the smear spot).
A woman in my barn’s horse pees in the aisle after rides frequently. Her solution that works for her is to put him directly in his stall and untack there. Once he pees, she can put him in the crossties to groom.
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Sure, it’s possible to try to prevent a horse from peeing when you notice they’re about to. When I’ve tried in the past, my attempt to move them to a different location made them cancel their pee, period, so that makes me feel terrible and I don’t even try any more. I’ve never known it to be such a big deal, nor to be a “standard policy,” horses pee and poo at inopportune times on the regular. If it’s a barn policy to stop a horse from peeing in the tack stall, they should have a sign in the tack stall saying so. Why would you know that’s the policy if you’d never been told so?
A boarder lecturing me or telling me what to do in a lesson, no matter the topic of discussion, will never ever be okay. The instructor should have told the boarder to mind their own business, and should have instructed the rider on how they wanted to handle a horse stopping to poop. It’s evident, though, that that is the culture of this program. I’d be shopping around for a different one.
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Peeing in the aisle was always a problem for me when I boarded. My mare was on full pasture board, so no stall to stick her in, though we did come into the barn attached to the indoor to tack up. Also, I don’t know where the shavings for stalls were kept, but it remained a mystery to me in the 2 years I boarded there and they were not accessible to put down over the pee to soak it up. It was also a barn that was spotless, so no random hay dust or spilled shavings to sweep over to the pee spot. I still don’t know if there were cameras in the barn or not, but since I often rode when no one else was there, I’d nervously crack open the closest stall, grab a scant shovelful of shavings, throw it on the pee spot, swirl it around, and hope I had guessed right about taking the smallest possible scoop of shavings to adequately soak up the pee spot. I really don’t have a clue what other people did, but I definitely felt like I was doing something subversive when I had to clean up the pee!
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No shavings? If they “prefer” a horse doesn’t pee in the crossties it’s a tacit admission that sometimes they willl. I have no problem cleaning it up. You can leave enough shavings in a garbage can. Leave them on the puddle for a little while. Usually it will be drier when you clean it up, before you leave, of course. That is how our barn operates.
If the bucket isn’t handy and it takes more than 3 seconds to relocate the horse, he got a release. He has moved on to the next chapter in his life. Their brain is not designed to evaluate the situation and make a connection: “Oh, I’m not supposed to pee on the crossties? I need to go to a stall? Okay, I"ll remember that next time.” It is entirely possible that a horse will learn to pee on the crossties if it gets them off the crossties.
I have a vague recollection that you can train a racetrack TB because there usually is someone close by who will whistle when the pee starts. Consistency and repetitions. It makes it much easier to collect the drug test sample.
I think it is unreasonable to expect many lesson students to keep their school horse moving when it starts to poop. If the rider doesn’t feel it they are likely to have an instructor yelling at them to keep moving. Lesson horses have to tolerate a mysterious conglomeration of aids from different riders. It’s guesswork for the horse. No two people do things the same way. It is one of the hardest jobs we ask of our horses. Those who can tolerate it are that much more valuable.
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“My bad, I’m sorry. Just tell me where y’all keep the horse diapers, and I’ll be sure to use them from here on out!”
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Their brains certainly can make that type of connection. My current horse knows that she is allowed to self groom when either all 4 feet are on a mat or she is in her stall. It took only one near accident where one of her hind feet slipped on concrete and skidded into my foot (nasty, nasty bruising but not busted thankfully) for me to learn that lesson. Immediate shut down and repositioning every time one foot strayed from a mat while taking the position was all it took to teach her that there are dedicated places for doing things/not doing things.
She learned that it was mostly just easiest to pop back into her stall for a sec (crossties were right at her stall and I encouraged that because it was easier for her to do her yoga poses without the 4’ wide confines of the aisle mats), have a scratch and then come back out to be groomed and tacked up. She learnt it so well that I actually screwed up a couple of times when I moved her to a place where the grooming area was down the aisle, around a corner, down another hallway. I’d get her blanket off and she’d just march calm as you please all the way back to her own stall to give herself a scratch. “Whoa” and usual tail grab (which she knows is whoa/back) did not work. “No. I KNOW the rules. I am doing exactly what you taught me.” She now understands that the mats in the grooming area are plenty wide for her yoga poses and does not feel the need to take herself back to her stall lol But, it was a learning experience for me to find out just how well they can understand boundaries AND extrapolate to new environments!
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I think my horse has pooped only one time while I was on his back since I’ve owned him so going on 3 years. He’s never peed in the cross ties but pooped plenty of times and then generally steps in it.
Sure. And if it’s YOUR horse and YOUR barn, and you want to do that, great. This is a lesson student riding a lesson horse.
When are they supposed to train the horse that doesn’t belong to them?
Horses pee sometimes. And sometimes they poop. And lesson students can learn how to keep them moving, but that’s for the instructor to work on. Not other boarders. And the instructor should be the one that says something.
I’d assume that these are just conversations for now, and ignore. If it continues, I would plan to say something along the lines of “I’m sorry, I’m paying to taking a lesson from the trainer right now. It would be helpful if you would let me concentrate on what she’s saying.”
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if you would Read the question I answered there was no mention of ownership
the question was
I can’t imagine why anyone would expect they can potty train a horse. Is there an aid we should be using?
I just noted there was an way
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Come on Clanter, you can do better. If you’re not going to read the actual thread, don’t comment.
This is literally the OP’s first sentence: So, I have been taking lessons at a place 5 minutes from my house. Not really my favorite style of riding, but the horses are nice, instructor is decent and safe, and I get a horse fix now that I’ve been horseless for many years.
If you’re not interested in responding to the actual post, just throwing in random comments, you’re just a distraction.
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As most threads go there was a comment that was that inclusive of all the topic, I answered that posters question
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And as many threads go, you add random, useless comments.
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Hey! It’s cool! Clanter was responding to something else. Thanks for clarification but it’s all good.
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It’s okay. I understood you were commenting about something else someone said. Interesting idea! (But, I’m not gonna do it) 
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Of course you can’t stop them once they start peeing. That said, you should be able to tell if they are getting ready to and move them to another area, say their stall.
I had a gelding that would pee in the cross ties. It was a real hassle because the pee would run downhill which happened to be in the next slot much to the irritation, rightly so, of the person using it. Shavings were not at hand. Eventually, I wised up and just put him in his stall after riding, he’d pee and then come back out from grooming.
Depending on how the crossties are configured, the urine can get under mats in the time it takes to locate and put shavings down, that is of course if there are mats. If not, well good luck cleaning that up.
Just one more established barn courtesy at places I’ve been.
Yeah, there’s always one of “those” at the barn. IME, it’s someone who is desperate to not be the newbie. Best to ignore it. I’ve literally ridden by that kind of person while they are talking feigning deafness.
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That’s it. I am going to explain to my horse that she needs to give me a proper warning before she pees. And if she refuses to do a proper warning she is going to to know that she needs to pee in her stall if I put her in there after/before we ride, not in the cross ties.
Darn her for not knowing the rules.
I really think she is just silly and waits until I am not looking to pee.
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I installed a hitching ring (with a quick release trailer tie in the arena), with BO’s permission, so I could have somewhere to stand my mare in the arena while I hitch-up a cart to her.
It turns out one of the other boarders had used it to tie her pony up in the arena (for what purpose, I’m not sure) and he’d yanked the whole thing out of the wall.
I can’t do what it is I go to the barn for if that hitching ring isn’t attached to the wall, so I took a drill and new screws next time I was out to repair it myself. I found it annoying that this other person had used something she really even didn’t need, broken it, and then just left it that way.
If you or your horse broke something at the barn … would you personally see that it was fixed or leave it and hope the BO dealt with it?
The FIRST person you tell when something is broken is the BO. No excuses, you tell them right away, no matter how sheepish it makes you feel. Your horse, your damage, your responsibility.
Whether or not the BO allows you to fix it, or fixes it themselves and back-charges you - that totally depends on the BO and your relationship with them.
Regardless, when my horse breaks something, I offer money (I specifically tell BO to include their labor in the amount).
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