Yes, working with horses before we had any other than straw for bedding, there were many horses that ate a bit or a lot of straw.
Straw nutrition is very poor, no reason to restrict a horse unless there are other reasons than he may get too fat?
Tying a horse up as that horse was supposed to be tied and leaving it there without direct continuous supervision, even if nothing had happened, was still an accident waiting to happen, and it did.
That was not good horse management, no excuses for that.
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One of mine was boarded at a place that bedded in straw, he would eat every stick of his straw over night. His stall in the morning was manure soup. It was gross.
But their waste removal did not want shavings, only straw/manure, so it was either leave there, muzzle him, or have manure soup.
(He was an easy keeper, given plenty of hay, but always felt he should eat whatever he could reach.)
My 2 yo chomps down for a bite of her pelleted bedding each time I dump it, regrets it each time, doesnāt stop her. 
However it doesnāt explain why she has the horse tied because he eats the straw but also instructs her worker to remove the beddingā¦ errr?
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Regarding eating straw, I havenāt used it in many years as bulk shavings are much cheaper and easier to get, but my dad always insisted on getting wheat straw. He said horses were more inclined to eat oat straw and less likely to eat wheat straw.
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Iām not licensed in SC either, but based on a very high level look at the local law and a published overview from a local firm, it seems that when private citizens are involved and non-media sources, the burden is on the defendant because private individual claims are afforded certain presumptions that wouldnāt be present in a case involving a media outlet and/or public figures.
It is certainly risky that the claims will be fully litigated because who knows what would come out in evidence or how any individual would perform as a witness, but maybe the strategy in naming so many defendants from all over is to get early settlement and takedown of all the posts. And deter others from posting anything or sharing posts. Even if the defendants have a strong case (and I havenāt looked up all of the individuals named as defendants, but some posts I saw on FB were claiming personal knowledge/witness of behaviors), itās not cheap to be involved in a lawsuit, especially for the out of state defendants.
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Our stables had both, oat straw that was chopped with alfalfa to be their fiber part of the diet and wheat straw for bedding, didnāt have other in the earlier years.
Later we had shavings or peat moss or assorted, but years ago, straw was the traditional ubiquitous bedding in all stalls.
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To be clear, I donāt believe this defense, but I read it as they thought the horse was colicing since it was acting weird and they didnāt want it eating anything.
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Oh wow, I had not read it that way.
Thank you for that insight, because I truly had not taken it that way (and now feeling silly because now that you have said this I can totally read it that way too).
But that leads to a whole list of new questions for this ātrainerā. If she thought the horse was sick, why did she just leave it and go and not instruct someone to contact the vet or otherwise?
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As above, if the horse was colicky, tying him and leaving him there was even worse management!
That may be why horse fought being tied, if he was hurting with colic.
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Yeah, I canāt imagine tying up a colicky horse and leaving it under any circumstancesā¦
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One of the defendants is a tiktoker who fashions herself as bringing injustices in the equestrian world to light. I wonder if she will try to frame herself as a media outlet - in this day and age it probably is a colorable argument. She started a gofundme for her legal fees but it hasnāt gained a ton of traction.
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This is even worse! So they thought the horse was colicking, so they tied it up SUPER HIGH and left it alone for 4+ hours?? Poor thing probably tried to roll and as the colic got worse and worse finally fell/ rolled, severing his spinal column. On what PLANET is that proper horse management for a colicky horse?? If they did, in fact, think the horse was colicking, and there was not going to be a soul on the property, at the bare minimum, turning him out in the ring/ small paddock would have been betterā¦
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Makes sense.
I have to imagine C&Ds were sent to the defendants and likely ignored, so this may have been her only resort to try and quell things.
As someone mentioned above - one of the defendants is a tiktoker and has already started a go fund me for her legal fees š„²
This story has gained national traction. The defamation suit is just going to keep fanning the flames and practically guarantees the demise of her business. Maybe the suit is just a money grab situation? I mean, her legal fees must be exhorbinant with all the current lawsuits she has going.
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Lawsuits? As in multiple lawsuits? Why, what is she doing in her business that causes so much trouble?
I remember feeling shocked when I read about all the lawsuits that Kanarek woman was involved in. But I donāt know why it shocks me, I mean just look at the whitehouse 
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The fact she abused a horse to the point of its death might be a good reason why her business bothers people? I havenāt seen one person who has worked or been around her to say something nice.
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noā¦I have worked with a lot of trainers who use rope halters and they say NEVER tie with one.
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You mustnāt work with western trainers.
I think the first article I read about using rope halters was by a western trainer who said they arenāt a good thing to be tying with. Canāt remember who it was, it was many years ago when rope halters became a new big thing for training.
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The one who helped me start my horse last summer was a western trainer who also does not tie a horse to anything in a rope halter
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