Ha, well, since one of my responses was quoted from another thread and I got sucked into this thread, I gotta comment! (Not sorry, was flattered!)
I agree with the myriad of other posters that the setup is problematic. The girl may not be a horse person, but this could happen even to an experienced person. I’ve ridden at a barn that blanketed and unblanketed in the fields. I think anyone knows that lots can go south with this setup, but it’s done because time and available hands are short, so it’s done out of convenience.
The setup with a hotwire very, very close to the horse, though WHILE the horse is eating ramps up the level of risk–again, even for an experienced horse person.
OP’s horse may or may not be a PIA–personally, I don’t think he necessarily sounds like one. Just because a horse isn’t so dead quiet they can’t be blanketed/unblanketed while eating in a tiny pen near a hotwire without being restrained doesn’t mean they’re a PIA.
But the owners aren’t going to change the routine. From their perspective, one issue isn’t enough to introduce safe blanketing practices, most likely. Some barns do all sorts of questionable things, like let the horses “run” to their stalls from the fields at feeding time, barely have bedding in stalls, muck stalls with horses in them. They do it until something goes wrong, and sometimes they get lucky and nothing does (or people just leave before things do).
If they’re employing non-horsey family to keep the barn running, I’m going to bet they are short of help, like most barns. Especially barns with “rough” setups, where the owners can’t or won’t afford to make things easy to do the work for workers, it’s tough to get people to work for minimum wage (or less). I don’t know what your circumstances are but the comment about not liking the girl’s “energy” with horses–I get what you’re saying, but there is no way to ensure that every employee at a barn is going to be savvy and experienced around horses, especially with so much barn turnover–even if you like the workers when you move in, 6 months now that may change.
I would have a conversation with the BO, if you like it there. “Look, I have reflected, and I overreacted. For your daughter’s safety and my horse’s, it’s probably a good idea if he’s restrained while he’s blanketed.” Don’t make it an issue about the daughter or the barn’s SOPs.
Depending on how hot/cold he runs, you could even ask to only have him blanketed and unblanketed in the stall, and since you’re out there so much, just take care of the changes he might need in the field yourself, restraining him, and tell the owners that.
