Unsafe horse owners

[stargzng386]

If an owner leaves a horse loose then I think you have every right to use a whip or rope to maintain your safety. Doesn’t mean you actually have to make contact usually waving at a horse to get them to move away is enough. If an owner gets upset at you for “disciplining” their horse they should supervise it while grazing loose.

I have a low on the pecking order TB and you can bet that I wave my leadrope at any other horse that tries to crowd or follow us to the gate to leave or enter the field. They learn pretty quickly that I’m not their owner and they need to stay away from us. I’ve never had to make contact with a horse just body language, moving them to a safe distance and enforcing that is enough. If a barn or owner had a fit over that I’d leave. My safety is the most important.

[ShenanAnna]

I’ve had very good results swinging the end half of a lead rope around (like a propeller, with a very small hand movement) at the horse(s) you want to keep at a distance. You don’t have to get very close, certainly don’t hit them, and it can be done while leading a horse also.

[OverandOnward]

@S1969

I put a winter coat on my dog once, and my TB mare had a complete meltdown. Literally, she was inconsolably freaked out. Luckily she was in her paddock, adjacent to my backyard. Where she saw the same dog every day for years. But not with a coat.

Where and when I grew up, there were no horse blankets. People also did not clip their horses in winter.

When people started moving in from other parts of the country, mostly from much further north with real winters, bringing their horses, they brought their horse blankets.

It was quickly learned that horses that had never before seen a horse wearing a blanket absolutely lost their minds at the first sight of one.

The blanketed horse could not be turned out with a local group of horses (most horses were in group pasture then). First the herd would run away from the new blanketed horse – much to that horse’s distress as they did not understand and would try to follow, creating more chaos.

When the other horses couldn’t escape the sight of the blanketed horse, and the blanketed horse tried to approach the herd, the herd would attack with their teeth. Just tear into the blanketed horse. They seemed to be trying to kill. It was savage and very disturbing, and very difficult to intervene and keep humans safe.

It was beyond shocking. Word started to go around so that local barns could be careful when newcomer northerner horsepeople showed up with their horses and winter blankets. As far as I know people were there to intervene and no horse was seriously injured before the word went around.

Most of us had no idea to expect that. But we did have a few older well-traveled horsepeople who warned us, and they weren’t wrong. Horses do not like strange things, even if it is on another horse.

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

I think so, too.
But the owners of the horses might not think so.

They might think the BO might need to kick you out of the barn for daring to touch their horse. Especially since the BO said they could. So there!

Disclaimer: I don’t share this viewpoint but I’ve met many people like this.

[Casey09]

My strategy in these situations is always to ask the barn owner. Personally I would say something to the effect of, “When Susan let’s her horse graze over there, I’m concerned about the safety of my horse and myself when we are in the cross ties or in the arena or wherever. How do you think I should handle that?”
BO will either say that she’s been meaning to stop horses from grazing loose OR that it isn’t going to bother your horse, give some kind of tip of controlling your horse, etc.
At that point, there’s no more guessing on your part. You know what the actual barn stance on this, and you can make your choices from there. If it is acceptable to the BO, then you’ll either have to move or avoid this horse owner or change your routine at the barn (such as by racking up in the stall, etc.). In these situations, I think it’s easiest to politely figure out what the rule is and then from there you can decide how to proceed.
I do think that it is REALLY hard for me to change my schedule to avoid someone at the barn. Maybe this is a personal fault, but when I plan my day (in an old fashioned day planner ), I get pretty attached to the schedule. I juggle a lot of things and the last thing I want to do is add someone else’s schedule into the mix. It might be easier for some people to do that, but to me that is Mt. Everest. There can be a huge difference in how much I get done based on when I do things.
I think this can be managed without conflict though by figuring out what the actual policy is. If it’s ok with the BO, then while I agree that it’s dangerous and stupid, I would accept that the other boarded isn’t breaking any rules and then decide what my own options were.

[laddiebuck]

I so appreciate the feedback. The BO did put a "rules of the barn "up a couple of years ago. One rule stated No grazing horses off lead…ever. I have said something in the past to the BO re: the 2 owners that just decide to ignore the rule. There are a few other owners who periodically allow their horses to graze in public places off lead as well. My main concern is safety. The BO has not reinforced this rule at all. I have adjusted my schedule to not be there when these 2 owners are. They are aware of my opinion, which I have let be known in an appropriate manner. We all get along. Except the one who now brings her dog out every day to run loose and leaves her horse unattended. It is a well run stable, BO and her family take great care of our horses. I have come to the conclusion that it is an accident waiting to happen and when it does somebody is going to sue somebody. Luckily, I am going to New Hampshire end of June with one of my horses until January.

[laddiebuck]

Do I dare email this entire conversation to BO?

[OverandOnward]

@laddiebuck

Do I dare email this entire conversation to BO?

Questions that only you know enough to answer …

What is the upside? How likely is that outcome?

What is the downside? How likely is that outcome?

Can you handle the fallout of the downside, if it happens? What will you do and under what conditions will you do it?

Can you handle any fallout from the upside (that is, BO enforces rules, other boarders hate you for it)? What will you do and under what conditions will you do it?

Carefully think through those considerations. I think you will know then what you want to do, both short term and long term.

Good luck!

And you know this thread wants to know EVERYTHING that happens next. Pretty please. We live for this stuff. Plus we learn from it, that’s right, we will learn so much.

[Maybe just send selected posts … but cut that last para out if you pass it along to the BO. ]

[Scribbler]

@OverandOnward

@laddiebuck

Do I dare email this entire conversation to BO?

Questions that only you know enough to answer …

What is the upside? How likely is that outcome?

What is the downside? How likely is that outcome?

Can you handle the fallout of the downside, if it happens? What will you do and under what conditions will you do it?

Can you handle any fallout from the upside (that is, BO enforces rules, other boarders hate you for it)? What will you do and under what conditions will you do it?

Carefully think through those considerations. I think you will know then what you want to do, both short term and long term.

Good luck!

And you know this thread wants to know EVERYTHING that happens next. Pretty please. We live for this stuff. Plus we learn from it, that’s right, we will learn so much.

[Maybe just send selected posts … but cut that last para out if you pass it along to the BO. ]

No no no. Never send a chat thread about an issue to the cause of that issue. They will lose their shit about you talking about them behind their back. A chat thread has no authority whatsoever unless you are personally invested in the group. To everyone else it’s a random Reddit full of idiot strangers.

If someone posted a hypothetical about me on Reddit and asked me to read it and follow their advice? I would be so done with that person. Total passive aggressive sneaky “nobody likes you” move.

That’s why most of us keep things super anonymous here.

I would expect a person to use their words to explain a situation not gesture to an anonymous chat thread.

Don’t do it. Trouble will come. Realize the horse owner will also get to see it and be super super pissed. They will claim you exaggerated the problems and made them look like an idiot to the barn owner.

The only exception might be if someone posted about a coherent problem I recognized on a forum I did not have access to, and found something useful. “I was asking on my vers chat group if anyone had seen allergic reactions to Vaccine xxxx and they reported symptoms like you saw in your mare.”

[OverandOnward]

Very good points from Scribbler.

A better idea is to gather thoughts from this thread and make them part of a sympathetic discussion with the barn owner.

A rule that isn’t enforced is very quickly not a rule, really. If people see one person breaking it, unchallenged, they know right away that they can ignore the rule, too.

Interestingly, not enforcing one rule tends to lead to a group collectively behaving as if none of the rules matter. I have seen this in more than one work setting. If a rule isn’t a rule, soon none of the rules are rules.

On the part of management, some find it stressful to enforce a rule. If one person is out of compliance, they may procrastinate to say anything.

But letting a rule slide with one person can quickly cascade into wider non-compliance and eventually losing the rules altogether. Now management REALLY has a stressful problem. I have seen more than one work group in major corporations who just laughed if anyone asked about the written rules.

OP, obviously you also find it stressful to pursue this with the BO. But you also are tied to the same boat that is beginning to sink under non-compliance where the rules are concerned.

Anyway … good luck, whatever you decide.

[foggythistle]

I would probably be passive aggressive and put the (loose) horse in their stall and go back to whatever I was doing. If HO complains, I would say ‘Your horse is bothering me/us. I suggest you stay attached to Trigger. It’s a general horse safety thing’

Hopefully, after a few times of this the offending HO might get the hint that you don’t tolerate the loose ones even if everyone else does.

[laddiebuck]

Ahhh…the voice of Truth or Consequences speaks. Much appreciated. And a good laugh was had.Nope. Not going to do it.

[Bebe_Falcon1]

@laddiebuck

Except the one who now brings her dog out every day to run loose and leaves her horse unattended.

[Weezer]

I like the suggestion about putting the horse in its stall if you need to move your horse around. Alternatively, I would carry a crop or a spray bottle to lightly tap or spray the horse if it comes close to you and your horse. It will quickly learn to stay away and the owners might be less offended by the use of the spray bottle.

Just like at the dog park, I don’t hesitate to discipline an animal that is bothering me or my pet. I have never received a complaint for doing it.

[trubandloki]

@Weezer

Alternatively, I would carry a crop or a spray bottle to lightly tap or spray the horse if it comes close to you and your horse. It will quickly learn to stay away and the owners might be less offended by the use of the spray bottle.

Other than the periodic horse that finds being sprayed horribly offensive… I can not see how a spray bottle would accomplish much since we are talking about a creature that we typically expect to stand and tolerate being sprayed from a spray bottle quite frequently during its life.

[Angela_Freda]

@foggythistle

I would probably be passive aggressive and put the (loose) horse in their stall and go back to whatever I was doing. If HO complains, I would

… point at the rules stating no loose horses.