This bothers me way more than it should...

[blairasb]

Been there, done that…

Two boarding barns ago was in a very child dense area, including a very cheap rental house on the farm… which was occupied by some real redneck, uninvolved parents with tremendously spoiled kids. I had the ok to be at the barn after hours as was rehabbing my horse and hand walking a horse who was cooped up on stall rest with a bunch of lesson kids running amok through the barn, screaming and actin like fools just… would have ended badly.

several time i was out there after the barn closed and the kids from the rental property even went so far as to tell me they were going to ride my horse. When I told them they were not allowed to so much as look at my horse, they just got sassy. barn’s only response was to post barn hours on the door… HEADDESK

[LookmaNohands]

I think if a random person wandered in and asked to ride one of my horses, I would first ask them to hand over the keys of their car so I could take it for a spin. And since I live above my barn if they wander in they are actually in my house too, which I have had to explain to people before.

I live on a quiet road and this almost never happens but the No Trespassing signs would go up in a nanosecond if it did happen again.

I have no tolerance for rudeness and stupidity but have a soft spot in my heart for horse crazy kids that want to be around horses as I was one–and still am!

[2ndyrgal]

I’ve had the same with barn workers

Really. Hired a gal recommended by a friend of my husband’s, she’d worked in a local TB barn, turning out, stalls, walking hots, and needed some extra cash. So I hired her at a really good wage. Only job? Show up at 7am, turn out, clean stalls, empty buckets, I’ll refill them when I bring in and sweep aisle.

Day four? She shows up with two industrial sized trash bags full of red clover she’d picked along side the road to “fatten them up”. WTH? Uh, no, all are fat as ticks now and the old fat haffie is already IR thankyouverymuch. Told her again, turn out (which meant open 3 stalls and shoo them out) clean stalls (which have mats and are simple) empty water buckets.

Day five? She brings a 5 year old child with her, says her day care closed. Ok, I say, but make sure she stays away from the horses when you are turning them out. Child follows her around, all okay so far, then the dingbat goes out to her car and brings in a camera, and walks the child into the turnout chute and is going to leave her there while she runs the horses down the chute “to get a good picture!” Okay, no, get the child the hell out of the way and don’t bring her back here. Ever. Just call me and tell me you can’t come.

Day six? Dingbat comes in, dragging the biggest, heaviest, oldest, filthiest western saddle I’ve ever seen. I ask her why she’s bringing it here. She said “Well, you’ve got plenty of room and it’s smelling up my back porch, so I thought I’d just leave it here for when I ride”. Ride what? “When I start riding the pony and that TB, they’re just standing around going to waste”. yes, yes they are standing around. The pony doesn’t ride, he drives and the TB is 28 yrs old and has earned the right not to have to do anything other than be King of the Hill.

I had enough. I said “Apparently, you’ve misunderstood the job description and aren’t happy with the conditions of your employment, please take that hunk of leather out of here and don’t come back”. I paid her for the week and told her she was no longer welcome on my property, now or ever.

She called crying for a week, saying I was mean and I should “share the horses with her and let her bring all her stuff out and come and enjoy the place, after all, why did I think she came to work every day?”

We do get the occasional looky loo, but we have very interested neighbors who will walk across the road and ask them if they have my permission to be there call me to double check. it’s a good thing.

[dkcbr]

:sadsmile: This thread reminds me of growing up in the mid-to- late 1960s, in a suburban neighborhood. We were able to walk to several different private houses with a horse or two, and spent lots of time patting them and admiring them. Nobody ever objected, possibly because they knew who we were or at least that we lived nearby. And we absolutely NEVER climbed fences or anything to get to any of the horses. If they came up to see us, great. If not, we just watched them in rapt admiration. I suppose we had all been raised to respect property and we knew our place. Our general favorite was Pal (yes, a Palomino ) because he would reliably come hang out with us at the fence. But we also liked Molly, a bay mare at another house. It’s funny now that I think about it how many places had ONE horse. Then there was Clover who lived next door to one of my school friends.

But the most amazing thing was that the mom of one of my friends used to take us to the golf club and turn us loose to swim at the pool there. She’d go off and golf her 18 holes and we…did swim some… but we had also discovered a place within easy walking distance that had three horses. Two of them, Sugarfoot and Thunder, were even brown-and-white pintos!!

As improbable as it seems nowadays, we eventually met the owner of the horses and were allowed to “help” groom them. Even today, the smell of Wipe fly repellent brings back happy memories of those wonderful times. We were even allowed to “ride” them a few times (I am sure that meant we were led around briefly, as neither my friend nor I had done more than taken a few up-down lessons).

My friend and I were not rude, entitled, ignorant kids, just horse crazy addicts. LOL But, in retrospect, the girl that allowed us to hang around and get hands-on time with her horses was no less than a SAINT, I now realize. :yes: Her name was Jeanie, and she was our hero.

I also remember that friends of our parents occasionally had them bring me out to “ride” (be led around on) one of their horses. Her name was Cherry, and I will also be eternally grateful to the Starks for this privilege.

I love this thread because it has brought back so many memories, and I am so grateful to have grown up when and where I did. From the point of view of a responsible adult now, I don’t know if the horses’ owners were secretly quaking in anxiety about lawsuits or whether they were resentful of us kids hanging around. We never got those vibes, but I do know that nowadays I doubt I would extend so much leeway to kids.

Much more recently, when I had my horses at home, I was happy that my next door neighbor brought her granddaughter over to the fence to pet my horses, but equally happy that nobody else ever came on the property expecting anything. :lol:

It is indeed a fine line between sharing our love of horses with others who are not so fortunate as we are AND putting up with crap from the clueless. :o

[fooler]

dkcbr - you and your friend were polite and respectful. You sat outside the pasture and admired the horses instead of trespassing.

That is the major difference.

The OP and other, including me, are referring to those who believe they can just come in at any time and help themselves to the horses.

[Gray_Horse_H_J]

I’ve always boarded at big boarding/lesson/show barns, so I don’t really mind people wandering around looking at horses. Mine is friendly like a lap dog, so if I’m tacking up and kids want to pet him I always say yes. I’m usually using the cross ties right by the indoor arena, so I get a lot of people wanting to pet the big friendly gray horse.

My barn does trail rides in addition to lessons, so we get a lot of beginners on any given day. I work in the barn office on weekends, and I think the only thing that bugs me is when people call, or stop in, and ask if they can gallop the horses on the trails. Nope, not happening. Some people just say ok, some start to explain what a good rider they are. Most book the ride anyway and end up having a great time on their walk only, maybe trot a little, trail ride. Some aren’t interested when they hear they can’t go careening around on our horses and hang up. It just kills me - do people who have never ridden before really think they want to go galloping? They’d be terrified. And I’d say most experienced riders aren’t going to call up a lesson barn and ask to go galloping on their trail horses.

I also get the random person who learns I have a horse and they want to come ride him. I used to work with a lady who I really liked, but she was always asking when her kids could come ride my horse. I always said my horse really wasn’t right for the job, and would give her pricing on the barn’s lessons. Problem was, she didn’t want to PAY for her kids to ride, so she never brought them for lessons. It was very annoying that she felt her kids should just get to ride my horse for free.

But back to the OP, if it’s a lesson/boarding barn, is there an office you can direct them to? Someone working who can take the wandering kids off your hands and show them around? It’s hard to be too annoyed with curious kids when your barn is also a business that offers lessons.

[doublesstable]

I somewhat sit on the fence on this one. Now, I totally don’t want anyone messing with my horses, like feeding them a lolly pop with a stick - and knowing horses are very dangerous I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt. Most non horse people don’t understand that horses can be dangerous - they often see what is on TV and base their thoughts on that.

But I do think it’s nice if someone was interested in horses to seek it out. But do it with some caution. I would never allow my kids to walk up to a strange horse, dog, cat etc without talking to their owners first. I also wouldn’t want anyone just saddling up my horse to go for a ride - I don’t think they would like it very much if I took their car for a quick drive around the corner.

Where I used to keep my horses there were a lot of non horsey visitors and I would allow them to pet certain horses (I have a few that bite) especially if they asked. I had organized trips for the Girlscouts, grade schools, etc. where they could pet and feed the horses. But it was supervised with less risk someone would get hurt.

I understand that it can bother you. I found myself getting angry about it sometimes too. It’s something you probably don’t want to deal with. I was in a similar boat and made changes with my horses stabling situation so I don’t have that issue anymore.

Maybe something you can look into? Don’t feel bad for feeling the way you do, we all have feelings for a reason. Yours are probably for protection of your animals. Some people don’t know what can be dangerous for a horse.

[Field_of_Dreams_Mini]

Fortunately we don’t get many coming in to the farm, but we sure get a lot of oddballs when we go off property for shows and parades.

Had one guy want me to let his daughter ride with me in the parade in my cart. Um, you don’t even KNOW me…

Others want to know if they can ride our Minis. Really, dude? He’s 34" tall, what do you think? The other horse was 29" tall.

Another woman at the Fort Worth Stock show told be because you can’t ride them, they are, in her exact words, “worthless”.

I don’t mind sharing my guys with the general public. I mean, Minis are cute and lovable and who doesn’t like that?