I think most of us consider a blanket mishap of a 1000 lb prey animal to be a normal thing. So I think it’s very realistic to think that your barn owners have not bothered to communicate every time your horse hasn’t been 100% angelic. It’s a horse. They react.
But to say “my horse has never ever ever been an idiot while being blanketed” is very bold, unless you were the only one who ever did the blanketing. I think all of my horses have been idiots with blankets, fly spray, fly masks, hood picking, hoof boots, fly ointment, deworming, leading, well… you name it.
They are big and have a brain the size of a walnut. It’s “normal” to be imperfect. The fact that they told you is probably unusual.
Well, The BO very recently told me my horse is easy to blanket, so there’s that. I’ve never heard he was a problem previously, ever, so I’m not sure why you are stating he might be problematic. He’s great with routine and knowledgeable people.
I should be told if my horse is a problematic horse to blanket in a boarding barn and should be made aware of the skills of the people blanketing. I’m paying for competent help.
I guess in general I don’t understand the worry over the horse. To me, the only worry would be over the safety of the person, and/or the positioning of a feed tub near a hot wire.
The barns I’ve boarded at, or taken lessons at tend to have a wide range of help - people quit this kind of job a lot. Shoveling manure and changing blankets for money is either a HS kid, someone who is in the family (your situation) or someone who lacks skills in many other areas. One barn I lessoned at had a long standing employee who rode a bike in winter because he had lost his license from too many DWIs, and couldn’t find other employment.
Yes, there are some great staff at many barns. But I think most boarding barns have had to rely on “unqualified” staff many times to do some of the grunt work of horse care. And agree that “qualifications” is pretty undefined. What exactly do you expect? How much experience with horses do you really think most barn workers have before they start actually handling horses? Obviously, some probably have none or minimal.
Agreed. The hot wire seems like a bad idea if that’s where horse handling will occur. Everyone needs room to exit in case of an incident or they will get zapped.
As a barn owner I agree that actually qualified help are rarer than hens teeth. Getting them to show up consistently is even harder.
To keep boarding costs affordable, we can’t pay much, and it is brutal work. Not many stay in the industry. There are days, like today when the temps have dropped into the negative digits, when I wonder why I didn’t choose rabbits, or some indoor animal to take care of.
Heck, horsemanship is hard to come by period. We do our best to train folks but still - it’s hard work and until people have the experience it’s hard for them to understand why they might need to make sure snaps are fastened the right way or that they need to wait for the horse to put their head in the halter properly. No matter how many times we tell them.
Keeping horses alive requires a combination of hard work and detailed thinking that I’m not sure many are well-suited for. Unless for some mysterious reason you throw them out on 1000 acres with barbed wire fencing and they do just fine lol
This is truthfully what irritates me most about the thread. The variables that made this potentially more stressful have nothing to do with the poor kid–namely the hot wire in the pen and the blanketing in the fields during dinner near the hot wire. That’s the policy of the owner, who felt the horse needed one. You might disagree with that, but if you have issues with the owner’s horse management and attitude to your horse, you’re fighting a losing battle.
Even some very nice facilities pay crappy wages or don’t treat their employees well. This board is full of examples of this. Even the ideal “idealistic Pony Clubber” might be a great employee for minimal pay during the summer, but has other commitments during the school year (and holidays).
Working in a barn during the winter in general is not fun work, even for people taking care of their own horses. And, honestly, horse people (for legit reasons, but still) can be tough employers.
Yes, a horse can be easy to blanket, but it’s a horse. Sh*t can still happen to “unqualified” people or well “qualified” people.
Honestly though, I could see someone not wanting to approach you about your horse. Especially with your attitude on here and how you receive any type of criticism or ideas that aren’t yours. It’d just be easier to deal with the horse vs deal with the owner type of thing. Especially if horse is just a pain for x thing once in awhile. In some instances, the BO will choose their battles.
I get that we all love our horses and are proud of them, but we have to try to not let our glasses become so rose tinted too.
Barn help doesn’t get paid much, and sometimes sh*t happens and someone has to fill in. If you’re unsatisfied with the level of competency, then move. I can bet that the help doesn’t make much, so it’s sort of like, what do you expect in some cases. People(g) often want cheap/affordable board, and highly competent help, but they don’t always go hand in hand.
Could the daughter be more competent? Perhaps. I could also see someone “competent” getting into this situation too. The horse touched the hot wire when he moved forward, so not hugely sensible move on horse’s part but horses do these things from time to time. It’s just that I could see this happening to someone else in the same set up. So I can’t say the heart of the matter was the “incompetent help” it was a combination of things really.
I am all for open and direct communication, but it was bold of you to approach it in the way that you did. I think a bit more tact could’ve been used. You assumed their daughter was the cause. Assumed, yet you almost say as a matter of fact that it was the daughter.
Not sensible isn’t a fair criticism of the horse. Most horses will avoid hot wire like it will kill them, so it’s likely the horse felt trapped and hit the wire because he was out of options.
Going back to the beginning of this thread - most people felt that the blanketing while eating and/or around hot wire was probably the problem. Not the competency of the blanketer.
My first recommendation would have been to come up with an alternative to where the feeding/blanketing occurred, or removing the hot wire from this area in favor of another option. I don’t think I would have assumed this had anything to do with the person, but the setup. And then add in a gust of wind, or an improper throw of the blanket over the back (which have little to do with “competency” and more to do with “shit happens.”) and there you go.
I can see someone tripping, the blanket flapping, the horse forgetting about the recently added hotwire in a odd location and there you go. It happens. I still don’t see the big deal or the need for multiple emails on Christmas. Nobody plans on tying the horse while blanketing, nobody plans on moving the hotwire, and nobody plans on giving the employee a week long training session in blanketing.
Frankly this is a non issue for me that can be solved by a “I’m glad you didn’t get trampled, maybe next time…” then go on about your day. The fact that it lead to multiple emails on Christmas!!! and the OPs responses here lead me to believe this is more the OP blowing it overboard.
So like I told above how when I was unblanketing a fellow boarder’s horse and the horse reached over and touched me at the exact moment I was whisking the blanket off and gave himself a big shock. He was very offended and immediately reared and struck at me. He was haltered.
Thankfully nobody was hurt. But it was just a freak thing that happened. I didn’t even tell the owner because she was a very type A person and I know from past experiences that she would have blamed me for it. She’s the type that can do no wrong in her own eyes but everybody else is an idiot…
So yeah I just handled the situation and didn’t feel the need to bring it up to her. The acknowledgment that things happen with horses is more fitting with actual experience than not.
My daughter says much the same thing to me lately, especially when one of the racehorses (STBs) that she’s trying to get legged back up to be ready to race in a couple of months pulls a shoe, and some days it’s more than one horse pulling a shoe, and there’s a shortage of available farriers in this area, especially to come tack a shoe on, since our shedrow neighbor wreaked his back. He did good work, but alas cannot do shoeing right now. She’s been beside herself lately, especially with all the snow and ice, they can’t go out without caulks.
Fortunately none of the have been flamenco dancing…yet!
I said it a few nights ago. Speaking of horses doing stupid things…
Horse was blanketed. Bucket handle had the little stopper but it was a new bucket and I hadn’t wrapped the handles yet. Yes, I knew better, but we were cold and tired and all the new vetwrap was still in the house so I figured I’d do it the next time I came out. Surely horse will be fine with a bucket for 4 hours.
Idiot. Me that is.
Night check comes and poor horse is stuck to his bucket by the tail, and the bucket handle has poked through the nylon tail flap. No idea how long he had been stuck like that but judging by the paw marks it had been awhile. Thankfully he didn’t injure himself or pull the wall down.
Too many bathroom breaks in girls’ junior high this morning. Too many hormones flying around and into hotwire .
I love horse stories but this one’s too adolescent.
Thanks for the laughs though.
Now back to Jane Mcilvaine McClary.
Years - decades - ago, I helplessly watched as my mare turned away from me while I was putting a fly sheet on her without a halter in her paddock. She then proceeded to take off, running and bucking -so the fly sheet turned around to her front. Of course she went ass over tea kettle. Luckily she didn’t break her neck. She could have.
I never ever blanket/ un-blanket w/out a halter and rope on now. I personally would no longer be boarding at this place. Its surprising to me how many think this is no big deal. It literally terrified me - i thought she was going to die.
When rugging a horse outside a stable, the method is to do leg straps first, then chest strap and then surcingles.
The leg straps, the first one goes from this side around the leg back to it’s own d’ring.
You don’t need to touch the leg from the other side, you hold the leg strap inside the leg that is done up. You can pass the strap to the other hand with your eyes closed, so it can be done in the dark and goes around the other strap and back to its own d’ring.
Then if the horse takes off as above half way through the rug slips off the back of the horse, with (hopefully), no damage to horse or rug.
In a stable you can do the chest strap up first as presumably they can’t run anywhere.
