I’m with Mare Momma. I had a similar incident once with a gelding I owned. I tied him on one side of the huge, drive 2 cars through it, barn aisle. He was a known jerk/potentially a kicker and everyone at this small barn was aware and I made great efforts not to let my problem become someone else’s. No-it-all with a Black Stallion complex walks right up his butt with her poor gelding. Mine takes a swing at him, and I promptly gave him a good whack, at which the jerkface them proceeds to pull back and rip the tie ring out of the wall. So I had a broken tie ring and loose horse, and the brilliant owner just stared at my like it was my fault. Not making excuses in any way for what my gelding did, but the genius KNEW how he was, had PLENTY of room, caused a wreck, and didn’t even have the decency to apologize for creating a wreck and nearly getting her poor old guy nailed. Felt sorry for her horse, he was a saint and put up with a lot. As for my gelding, he remained a jerk, despite professional help and being ridden 8 days a week. That’s horse I do not miss.
This is the gelding’s owners fault. First day of pony lessons for a 5 year old: don’t walk your horse close enough behind another horse that they are in kicking range. If there wasn’t room to pass safely she should have waited and/or called to the mare’s owner for help.
It completely depends on the area the horse was tied in. I have been at many a barn where horses are tied in the aisle and your only choice is to walk between the wall and horse to get by. In that instance, a witchy mare should not be left unattended. All gear should have already been set out before tying the horse so that it will not be left unattended, as other people will have no choice of where they have to go. Though gelding owner should be aware of any indications the horse may be a witch, then may have to wait however long it takes mare owner to return so that mare owner can deal with mare so she can pass. Not very nice of mare owner to make anyone wait around so they can pass safely.
If it’s a wide open area then the gelding’s owner should have left plenty of space.
Ranch owners fault: The detour should be easier to travel!
:winkgrin:
:lol:
All kidding aside, it’s PC 101, stay away from the hind end.
Aside from that…‘mare mom’ and ‘gelding mom’, please stop it already! I doubt either woman birthed a 1200 pound hairy beast!
(Keep it up and I will go after your Heart Horse!) 
Sorry…couldn’t help it.
How hard would it have been for gelding momma to wait 30 seconds, or say to the other boarder “mind if I squeeze through?”…
Then mare momma could’ve been present and asked her mare I swing her haunch away.
Unless the mare momma was going off on some serious gallavanting and not to a nearby tack room or short departure.
It’s like judging who is responsible for a bar fight. There are too many factors we don’t know.
Meanwhile, if it’s really close quarters Id probably get closer to the mare, if forced to pass. I always do a “am I more than six feet out of range” calculation.
If I don’t have that space, and absolutely must pass (like right now) then really close is better, there is less force in a kick that can’t get a good arc motion going.
But unless a serial killer with a chainsaw were chasing me, I can’t think of a situation where I couldn’t wait for the owner to return, or yell for her to come out and move/monitor her horse.
I am amused by all the posts by people who say a horse should never be left unattended tied. It is hard for me to believe that those people have never left their horse anywhere tied.
The mare was tied in the designated spot for securing your horse. The owner did not leave the property with their horse tied there, they simply ran into the barn. They did not do anything wrong.
If there is going to be finger pointing I guess the gelding owner is at fault. They should have either gone around, waited for the mare owner to come back, or passed with enough room that the mare did not feel threatened.
In the real world I think it is more of ‘just one of those things’ that happens with horses sometimes that even if you do everything right sometimes crap happens.
Shrug. No contact was actually made, so what is there to argue about? There are no injuries, no vet bills, no damaged property. Why start a feud over nothing? Both women need to 1) learn from the close call and 2) get over it.
Well, it seems gelding momma was not willing to let this episode go. She decided to speak to the BO, apparently she wanted her to instate a ‘no horses left tied and unsupervised while in the hitching area’ policy. Unfortunately for her, that plan seems to have backfired, as BO instead sent out an email to all boarders this morning saying simply that if there are horses in the hitching area, you must have permission from the horse(s) owner before entering the hitching area with your own horse. Sadly, I think this is going to have some negative consequences for her, as I can see some of the boarders at the ranch being either overly nervous (or just plain spiteful) and not giving her permission to enter the area, and thus forcing her to go around the long way via route 2.
Sigh :sigh: I hate barn drama.
[QUOTE=Bicoastal;7959209]
Shrug. No contact was actually made, so what is there to argue about? There are no injuries, no vet bills, no damaged property. Why start a feud over nothing? Both women need to 1) learn from the close call and 2) get over it.[/QUOTE]
From a personal perspective, it just got me thinking a whole lot of ‘what ifs’. What if mare HAD made contact? What if gelding HAD been injured? Who gets stuck with the vet bill? I can’t even count how many times I’ve allowed someone to ‘squeeze by’ me while my horse is on the cross ties because I trusted him not to kick. What if he surprised me one day and kicked? Is it all my fault because I gave permission for the other horse to pass? Or the other persons fault because they are assuming the risk by passing so close? So many hypotheticals…
Sigh. There’s always gotta be that one insane boarder threatening lawsuits and hellfire anytime something bothers their precious Pookie.
The incident was 100% gelding owner’s fault and I don’t blame the other boarders for giving her a wide berth from now on if this is how she reacts to little stuff.
[QUOTE=trubandloki;7959044]
I am amused by all the posts by people who say a horse should never be left unattended tied. It is hard for me to believe that those people have never left their horse anywhere tied.
Agreed.I have to tie my horse to the hitching rail to then go get my saddle and pad, and maybe his splint boots. Or maybe I’m doctoring a horse and need to step back into the office to grab something I forgot. Horse is going to be tied at the designated spot while I do this. I don’t think my BO wants me leading the horse into the office 
…
If there is going to be finger pointing I guess the gelding owner is at fault. They should have either gone around, waited for the mare owner to come back, or passed with enough room that the mare did not feel threatened.
If I am leading a horse by an unknown variable of a horse, it is my safety at risk, and my horse’s safety, so it’s on ME to be mindful and watchful. Now if the mare’s owner tied the mare with 39 feet of slack, then yes, she contributed to the danger. But assuming the mare is reasonably contained - it’s no me to be mindful of her dangerous parts.
In the real world I think it is more of ‘just one of those things’ that happens with horses sometimes that even if you do everything right sometimes crap happens.[/QUOTE]
I could not agree more. Even in fancy dancy barns, horses are left unattended while tied. I wish my Pocket Groom would appear and hold my horse while I go to the loo, but alas, he’s MIA 
[QUOTE=ladyrider;7959213]
BO instead sent out an email to all boarders this morning saying simply that if there are horses in the hitching area, you must have permission from the horse(s) owner before entering the hitching area with your own horse. [/QUOTE]
Now I can’t say if I were Gelding Momma that I would have done this the first time, but in retrospect, it probably would have been a good idea for Gelding Momma to have Mare Momma or even another nearby competent boarder come and hold the mare’s head and distract her while the gelding was led through. Or at least step her up or push her sideways. We have no way of knowing if mare was tied too long either. In that case I’d say Mare Momma shares a bit of blame.
[QUOTE=trubandloki;7959044]
I am amused by all the posts by people who say a horse should never be left unattended tied. It is hard for me to believe that those people have never left their horse anywhere tied.
The mare was tied in the designated spot for securing your horse. The owner did not leave the property with their horse tied there, they simply ran into the barn. They did not do anything wrong.
If there is going to be finger pointing I guess the gelding owner is at fault. They should have either gone around, waited for the mare owner to come back, or passed with enough room that the mare did not feel threatened.
In the real world I think it is more of ‘just one of those things’ that happens with horses sometimes that even if you do everything right sometimes crap happens.[/QUOTE]
This exactly. Word for word.
Guess gelding owner who would not just chalk it up to experience and be thankful nobody was hurt learned karma actually is a bitch and what goes around indeed came around
[QUOTE=findeight;7959394]
Guess gelding owner who would not just chalk it up to experience and be thankful nobody was hurt learned karma actually is a bitch and what goes around indeed came around[/QUOTE]
Should have stuck with Bailey’s and cookies…
I think the OP needs to stock up on them (on the up side, the girl scout cookie season is just around the corner, I hear Samoas - 40th anniversary for them babies - go well with Irish Cream…)
(I suppose giving ‘Gelding Mom’ a bottle of strong booze and an oar would not soothe the tempest…)
[QUOTE=trubandloki;7959044]
In the real world I think it is more of ‘just one of those things’ that happens with horses sometimes that even if you do everything right sometimes crap happens.[/QUOTE]
Yes, you cannot take into account every possible random occurrence. For instance, over the weekend, my horse was standing on the cross-ties in the aisle. I walked to the end of the aisle to sit down to put my half chaps on, when he shook his head and his halter fell off. Fortunately, he just stood there looking like “what do I do now”. Turns out the screw holding his break away strap in place came undone. Everything worked out fine, I put him in his stall while I fixed his halter, but there is now way I could have predicted THAT happening.
Sometimes there is just nothing you can do to prepare for certain outcomes, but you DO have to be aware of your surroundings so that you can take precautions against putting yourself or others in danger.They are both at fault. They are also both acting like children.
Don’t ever come behind a horse, especially within striking distance, with another horse.
Don’t leave your horse unattended in a high traffic area where others may need to pass, for any length of time.
How do we know that the gelding owner didn’t give a wide berth, and mare was just loosely tied and backed up? How do we know that made owner was just gone for a moment? I’ve seen owners walk away from horses, get involved in a conversation and meanwhile someone is left waiting to get by or use the space.
These two both need to repeat the phrase “no harm, no foul”.
[QUOTE=Abbie.S;7959469]
How do we know that the gelding owner didn’t give a wide berth, and mare was just loosely tied and backed up? How do we know that made owner was just gone for a moment?[/QUOTE]
I assumed (maybe wrongly) that if there was details like that involved in the story the OP would have told us them.
[QUOTE=amymoyer;7959463]
Yes, you cannot take into account every possible random occurrence. For instance, over the weekend, my horse was standing on the cross-ties in the aisle. I walked to the end of the aisle to sit down to put my half chaps on, when he shook his head and his halter fell off. Fortunately, he just stood there looking like “what do I do now”. Turns out the screw holding his break away strap in place came undone. Everything worked out fine, I put him in his stall while I fixed his halter, but there is now way I could have predicted THAT happening.
Sometimes there is just nothing you can do to prepare for certain outcomes, but you DO have to be aware of your surroundings so that you can take precautions against putting yourself or others in danger.[/QUOTE]
well, our actions are supposed to minimize the chance of manure being flung into the fan.
friend of mine had a pretty severe accident at work when an industrial strength drill caught his work glove. He got away with a few stitches, but he got lucky and was able to activate the kill switch, otherwise, he’d not likely be able to give you the ‘Looser’ sign with the left hand anymore.
And he is a stickler for safety!
We all know that poop can happen around horses at any given moment. The practice of horsemanship (smart horsemanship, that is) just minimizes the catastrophies.
