My Wellington peeps are unaware of any unusual ICE activity on the showgrounds as of now. If that changes it will be the Leopards Eating My Face episode of all time.
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I’ve been running a barn for decades and do the work myself. I am an amateur. If we want to keep it affordable, people need to be willing to do more of the work or pay more money so that workers can be paid enough.
There are people to do these jobs if they are compensated appropriately. Many barns who say they can’t find anyone aren’t exactly offering decent conditions. And the industry as a whole needs to work to make legal immigration possible. There is no reason racing commissions and USEF couldn’t help barns with this, providing guidance etc.
In the UK, many more people do their own work at livery stables. Middle class horse girls tend to do self care there, or partial care/trades with other horse people.
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This.
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No, they work under stolen SSN’s. Got my nice little gov’t letter informing me that they were cool with that. The even politely identified the name associated with it and what state. The least they could do is give me the SS credit for xyz in NY’s work as a rental fee.
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The hell?
Maybe that comes from folks mostly posting problems and not always sharing all the little (and big) things that make being a boarder at a particular BO’s place worth it?
Just this morning, as I drove in the barn lane to check on my horse, I marvelled that the laneway was in better condition than the roads. As I went into the barn, it was nice to see happy, well-fed, contented horses waiting patiently to be dressed and turned out after having sufficient time to eat their breakfasts. The one horse that absolutely cannot learn to wait patiently munching on hay had already been turned out so as not to destroy the stall or upset the other horses.
Hardly anyone posts about that sort of thing because those things are not exciting, don’t require help or brainstorming, or commiseration, etc.
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Eh, there’s been a vibe that all barn owners are clueless idiots who just want to enrich their own pockets at the expense of barn workers and horse owners.
I’m glad you appreciate your barn. It’s not often that people do!
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People definitely don’t appreciate barn owners.
I’m fortunate to have my own small farm, where my retirees and happy hacking horses hang out, and also be able to board out one or two close by to take advantage of easy access to training, and have access to professionally maintained arena space, etc.
I’m definitely very fortunate to be able to do this.
I think having this experience, and being accustomed to doing all my own mucking and farm maintenance at home (DH and I do 100% of everything ourselves)… it makes me much more appreciative and cognizant of the labor and expense that goes into maintaining the facility where I board out the horse that’s in training.
I admittedly cringe at times when I hear some of the things other boarders say concerning their wishlist on various aspects of farm maintenance and improvements, and how much they think these things cost…
A lot of people just don’t understand what goes into the facilities where they board.
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This can screw up people’s credit for years and years, and impact their ability to get things like scholarships, student loans, and security clearances. A friend of mine has a son who is now a young adult, and has struggled with this for years. Someone used his social security number when he was still a child, but the fallout from this has followed him for YEARS.
Identity fraud is NOT a victimless crime.
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Yes, I’ve had this issue too. My identity has been stolen and my SSN used. It really has made taxes complicated because while they did pay taxes, then it appeared that I underreported to the IRS which caused some issues that I am still trying to detangle.
On the bright side, if Social Security still exists when I am of age, their contributions count toward mine.
Small consolation. But it is one.
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I’d worry about SS in your shoes. And that when it comes time for you to receive it, the person using your SSN will somehow pop back up and get ahold of your SS benefits too.
I think identity theft should be prosecuted. It can cause so many problems for people.
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Hate to burst your bubble, but that isn’t true. At least not according to my gov’t letter. Those contributions are identified as not yours so they get lost in the void and are held up as some way that the system “benefits”. Goes in, but doesn’t come out; at least not out to you.
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My SSN was stolen from my bank in 2001.
Though I have reported it and done all the freezes, and it’s been reported to interpol as well since one of the incidents involved someone clearing out my bank account at a foreign casino, I still suffer ramifications.
Not much I can do. The one nice thing that I can do is prove I’m me, but otherwise I just have to kind of suffer through it.
Am I angry that someone used it? Sure. Am I angry at a system that makes it dang near impossible to fix? Yup.
But I’m resigned to it. It happened. Not much I can do at this point other than continue to whack moles as they pop up.
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Ahh damn, well I was hopeful anyway.
I’m sorry you have to suffer through it. I totally get what you are saying and it sounds like you have a great attitude about it… but… I still think it’s awful.
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Identity theft for profit is done by a lot of white Americans too. It’s not just those illegals. 
I’ve dealt with more good barn owners than bad, I can only think of two barns I hope to never board at again.
@Alterration Me oh my horses are different when going to turn out! They are anticipating: rolling, eating grass, hanging with friends, running and bucking, just a few of these their favorites things 
A lot of silliness to control on that walk from the barn to the paddock or pasture!
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Yep, pretty much.
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The days that are the worst are when they either want to come in because it’s hot and buggy or they are dying to go out because it has been raining for 3 days solid.
And transitions of season, my god they suck! 
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Nobody said it was just illegals.
Nobody else was talking about race as part of this side discussion.
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Oh, and mine was originally stolen definitely overseas. It’s been used by many people. I’ve been a Mexican man living in NYC renting an apartment, a French young man gambling at a casino in France, and at least one Russian national.
The only one of those that contributed in a positive way to the American economy was Juan.
The others just used my identity to obtain access to bank accounts and other services online. The whack a mole is really hard to stop once it starts.
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That’s a sweeping statement that is just not true of everyone. I’ve had lots of conversations (not just with myself driving in various lanes over the years lol) where the theme is “I don’t know how they do it, but I’m thankful that they do.”
In terms of wish lists - well of course we’d all love the most wonderful, modern everything, but talk about this sort of thing is generally not any sort of insistence - it’s more like lottery dreaming. It’s kind of the BO’s responsibility to pick out and focus on the things that are really important or are safety issues. I mean if you’re having 10 people tell you that the arena footing is unsafe - that’s going to need to be addressed one way or another. Ask folks to leave, raise board, put it higher on the list than another project on the list that can actually wait a year or two. OTOH, if you get a few people wishing for the fanciest new type of footing when your footing is perfectly safe, you pick your way to deal with that too. "I wish it were in the budget but it’s not unless I triple your board fees 
" or “I’m sorry, but it’s just not in the budget. We’re not that fancy here.” or “It’s in the 10-year plan, but is lower on the list than these much more pressing issues.”
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