I need advice on pulling my horse from a lesson program

[Janet]

@skydy

What other big breed shows are there beside QH?

Not my area of expertise, but I know there are BIG Arabian, Saddlebred, and Morgan shows.

[skydy]

Yes, those are the big ones that I know of, but they are for the rule. I was wondering which breeds that have big shows were against it.

[Sticky_Situation]

Per the USEF website, they also oversee the Shetland, Welsh Pony/Cob, and National Show Horse circuits, plus the others mentioned above.

Edit: and Connemara

[skydy]

Thanks.

[candyappy]

@aekowner

I told her honestly that I wasn’t thrilled about his care

@aekowner

I understand nobody likes criticism but she didn’t take this well at all. In the end, she kind of threw up her hands and said fine take him immediately. I was a bit surprised, we have never had any confrontation whatsoever.

Nothing like being brutally honest!

Most people would get offended and defensive when the care of their horses is openly criticized but I am glad you have him back again. Lucky you had a place to take him immediately.

[aekowner]

@Impractical_Horsewoman

The problem is at many lesson barns that there’s a creep from “adequate care” to “inadequate care” when finances get tough

I believe this applies to the situation my horse was in. Upon arrival I had no complaints when I went to check on him. He got out, taught lessons, had schooling rides and went out to graze. I’m not sure what happened in this situation, I know she didn’t have any loss in business or anything. Maybe when people have a school horse with them on care lease they begin to get too comfortable or lazy and put them on the back burner? Bottom line, many corners did end up getting cut and the lesson was learned! And despite the backlash, I’m happy that my horse is getting full care every day of the week and has perked up again!

[Scribbler]

If the horse fit her lesson program she would have been using him every day. Impossible to know what really happened.

[Tini_Sea_Soldier1]

At the end of the day, he’s your horse. I had a friend’s trainer that had my horse that she kept and half-leased or leased out to students since I was working and no longer had the time for him and the other project horse. A year or so into lease, horse got injured at her farm and just wasn’t as sound as she pretended that he was… Sadly, rather than being upfront about him not really being as useful and his current lease person needing to scale back, she made up a bunch of lies and drama that got me very upset (aka strange calls saying he was sick or that he was acting lethargic and like he was dying). I floored it up there and horse looked totally fine, but conveniently was missing a shoe and farrier couldn’t come for that weekend. Uh Huh. THEN, trainer went behind my back to my father to try to get him to just start paying board on him.
End Result: My ridiculously cool cucumber Dad got furious at her games and how upset she had made me about some of the “lies” and told her she was full of crap and that her games were upsetting, so the horse would be coming home on the next trailer in this direction. He called me up, said… “Your horse is coming home. Call your trainer and make sure he has a stall. Should be back by weekend. Bye”. Horse was totally fine. Just off and on sound and had lost a ton of muscle since she hadn’t been using him. We enjoyed him for a year and then retired him when we decided he was having more limping days than sound ones. So lesson learned here: He’s your horse and if you’re unhappy with what’s going on… take him back and enjoy him. The golden years are great for bonding and reminding yourself that they owe you nothing.

[meupatdoes]

Seriously. That is the textbook on how to burn a bridge.

Unless someone is openly abusive or neglectful to the point that other people need to be warned, this is how not to leave a barn in the horse industry.

OP got good advice. It’s a shame OP didn’t follow it.