Moving to St.Thomas USVI, horses there???

[Ciclista]

I’m most likely moving to St. Thomas (US Virgin Island) this spring for work. I have never been to St. Thomas so all I have is the internet to do research. Does anyone have knowledge of stables and/or trainers there? The only thing I found online was a thoroughbred racetrack on the island and a rescue. The rescue looks nice, cute horses, so maybe I could volunteer or lease one of their rescues? I’ll try emailing them. Right now I take weekly dressage lessons but would love to buy a horse in the future. I don’t see any boarding barns, should I happen to snatch up one of those ottb’s

Does anyone know what kind of horse scene is out there? I saw a few scary forum threads that talked about rampant horse abuse and neglect on the tourism website… yikes. Any information is appreciated!

[SerenaGinger]

I don’t know about St Thomas, but St Croix has a Pony Club, and Tortola also has a race track. The horses I’ve seen on Tortola were all very thin yet sturdy island horses (probably honies). The cost to import hay and feed is expensive in the islands. Puerto Rico grows its own hay (and it is less expensive than hay in Florida), maybe St Croix does too? If you don’t find anything suitable on St Thomas maybe you can fly to St Croix once a week?

[Ciclista]

I didn’t think about flying to nearby islands, great idea. I can expand my search a bit. I appreciate the advice!

[jenbrin]

We were in St. Thomas this last November & saw the racetrack nothing fancy but the horses all looked pretty healthy. As far as, the rest of the island the only other horses I saw were running free which I’m pretty sure is normal for island living or at least every island I have visited, probably due to cost of feed.
It was a pretty island and not that far from St. Johns.
Although, I didn’t see any particular discipline just tourist wanting to ride on the beach.

[Ciclista]

Looks like things aren’t all that great on St Thomas and St Croix regarding horse care. I know it’s a different culture but…

TRAINWRECK on another bulletin board… it makes me question how much I want to move out of US. It would be really hard to go there and see these things happen.

http://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/list.php?4

[Halter_Alter]

I thought St. Thomas has a boarding facility? Have you called the Tourism Department, or a similar Department? I’m sure they could send tell you more or send information. Good luck.

[hoopoe]

ciclista If you go elsewhere much of the western hemisphere and much of the eastern as well, be prepared to see animals kept at a lesser standard than what you are use to at home.

Be prepred to see humans living at a lesser standard as well

we are not the global norm others are.

[katarine]

I’ve been SCUBA diving all over the Caribbean and the surrounding areas in the last 15 years: including St. Croix, Exuma, St Lucia, Tobago, the BVI, Turks & Caicos, Dominica, Honduras, Belize, Bonaire, the Caymans, Cozumel, Tulum, Akumal, etc: So I consider myself somewhat informed about horse keeping in that ‘area’.

It is common to see horses tethered by a foot, grazing around the base of a tree. Often those tethers are just a length rope tied off to the pastern, and there is commonly evidence of bad rope burns around those pasterns.

It is common to see very poor looking, worn out horses with tree saddle pads to make them as comfortable as possible…working.

You just don’t see that the majority of horses on the islands are plump horses with well-developed toplines, good necks, in good flesh- you usually see average to poor muscling because there’s precious little grazing and it’s got to be ridiculously expensive to feed them well. It HAS to be, there’s no way around it.

Horses used for tourists are commonly snoozing in tie stalls, tacked up, maybe with a roof to knock the sun off, maybe not. They are tools for a purpose, and little more.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=horse%20st%20croix

I don’t do horse activities on our trips.

OF COURSE there are exceptions: But these islands are largely inhabited by poor people getting by on tourist dollars. There is not much in the way of Middle Class, and a lot of very, very poor people.