What to do about spike poles with NAILS (not plastic nubs or carpet tacks)?

[mvp]

[QUOTE=casey0916;8509656]
What should I do if I find that my trainer takes ponies and horses with young riders over spike poles? I don’t mean the kind with plastic nubs or carpet tacks. Instead, these poles have dozens of nails with their heads cut off. [/QUOTE]

You take your money elsewhere. But you are disturbed enough that, I take it, you already did that and you want to do more.

Horse training is unregulated in the US and, in addition, this level of “abuse” or “bad practices” would pass under the threshold used by most county animal control officers. They have worse fish to fry.

But I think it could be effective to TELL the trainer that you disagree with her practice and that you will also tell anyone else within her range that she does this. You need to use steely eyes. You need to tell the trainer first that you are prepared to make it your business to warn others off.

The pro won’t like it. But if you walk in with enough conviction and are prepared to follow through with what you say, it may convince her to stop.

I see this kind of animal-hurting technique as one practiced by someone pretty hard. After all, they didn’t start out as horse crazy girls thinking that jumping horses over poles with carpet nails was the way to go. And they didn’t get into the biz of training horses expressly to intimidate horses into jumping cleaner. But insofar as they decided to “go there,” I think the person will be a tough cookie about it.

It is too bad that we don’t have any of the systems for regulating (and educating) trainers here as they do in the UK and Germany. I’m sorry you feel that this “buck stopping” falls to you, OP. Stick to your guns and do what you think is right.

[AmmyByNature]

[QUOTE=JustJump;8510105]
What’s most implausible about this is considering whether anyone would go to the trouble of snipping all those nail heads off…just think of the practicality of actually building such rails. It would take a whole lot of time.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. These rails would be hard as hell to make. Wrapping poles in carpet tacks (plastic or otherwise) is way easier and doesn’t lead to a vet call when someone knocks it.

I think a nice slow-played thread about someone using carpet tacks would have led to a lively discussion - a few posts later she could even have thrown in something about seeing these “nail rails” behind the barn and questioned them. Would have been exciting for a few days!

[grandprixer]

I’m kinda bored, I wish OP had been smarter about it. Where is OP anyways? Usually by now they’re all defensive and making it more fun.

[AliCat]

Maybe trainer in PA bought the rails I saw in NJ in the 90s.

[HP_sblueskyenterprise]

Like putting plastic tacks or nubs is sooo much less bad/painful than nails anyway, and that would be perfectly acceptable IF it wasn’t nails, and you know we all have to have a written law about everything in order to tell if it’s animal abuse or not.
:lol:

[AmmyByNature]

[QUOTE=HP’sblueskyenterprise;8510563]
Like putting plastic tacks or nubs is sooo much less bad/painful than nails anyway, and that would be perfectly acceptable IF it wasn’t nails. :lol:[/QUOTE]

Nope nope nope - not ONE person has said what you’re saying. Please read carefully as there is a lot of sarcasm in this thread.

What we’re saying is that plastic carpet tacks are something that DOES happen and HAS happened, and if the troll had said she saw that we probably would have believed her.

Please show me where someone said that tack poles were acceptable??

[roseymare]

I would think that nails would cause a horse to want to avoid jumping and start refusing not just use his knees more…but heh what do I know?

[supernatural]

Spiked poles

I have run into several training situations that use plastic spikes. They sure were pretty sharp and hurt my hand when I removed them from the jump. I had not seen these before.:no::no:

[NoSuchPerson]

[QUOTE=HP’sblueskyenterprise;8510563]
Like putting plastic tacks or nubs is sooo much less bad/painful than nails anyway, and that would be perfectly acceptable IF it wasn’t nails, [/QUOTE]

That’s the first thought I had when I read the title of this thread: “What? If it was only carpet tacks or plastic nubs it would be OK?” :lol:

[QUOTE=AmmyByNature;8510573]Nope nope nope - not ONE person has said what you’re saying. Please read carefully as there is a lot of sarcasm in this thread.

What we’re saying is that plastic carpet tacks are something that DOES happen and HAS happened, and if the troll had said she saw that we probably would have believed her.

Please show me where someone said that tack poles were acceptable??[/QUOTE]

AmmyByNature, I think you misunderstand.

The OP titled this thread “What to do about spike poles with NAILS (not plastic nubs or carpet tacks)?” The implication being that if had only been plastic nubs or carpet tacks, then she wouldn’t be concerned, but since it’s NAILS, she is concerned.

[nu2u]

[QUOTE=AmmyByNature;8509863]
Troll. Even terrible trainers aren’t this stupid.

I’d have stuck with carpet tacks - you’d get a better thread response. Perhaps even a nice lively debate.

I feel like you shot your load too quickly with the nails thing.[/QUOTE]

YEP but now…how many nails are in a fully loaded nail gun!!!

[HP_sblueskyenterprise]

[QUOTE=NoSuchPerson;8510612]
That’s the first thought I had when I read the title of this thread: “What? If it was only carpet tacks or plastic nubs it would be OK?” :lol:

AmmyByNature, I think you misunderstand.

The OP titled this thread “What to do about spike poles with NAILS (not plastic nubs or carpet tacks)?” The implication being that if had only been plastic nubs or carpet tacks, then she wouldn’t be concerned, but since it’s NAILS, she is concerned.[/QUOTE]
Thanks NoSuchPerson that is what I meant, I was being sarcastic and thought it was funny that the OP made it sound like if it wasn’t NAILS she’d be fine with it, not meaning anyone else thought/meant this.

[AmmyByNature]

[QUOTE=HP’sblueskyenterprise;8510662]
Thanks NoSuchPerson that is what I meant, I was being sarcastic and thought it was funny that the OP made it sound like if it wasn’t NAILS she’d be fine with it, not meaning anyone else thought/meant this.[/QUOTE]

Okay - phew!

I see the laughy face now. My apologies!!

Here’s a winky face for your troubles!

[MaritimeH_J]

[QUOTE=AmmyByNature;8509863]
Troll. Even terrible trainers aren’t this stupid.

I’d have stuck with carpet tacks - you’d get a better thread response. Perhaps even a nice lively debate.

I feel like you shot your load too quickly with the nails thing.[/QUOTE]

Lmao. Definitely seems troll-y. But for what it’s worth, I once worked at a barn that used the carpet spike polls on a regular enough basis (and those do draw blood too, ugh), and I did see some old poles kicking around in a less visible corner of the pole storage that had some nails in them, tho they didn’t look like they had been used recently. But still. I wasn’t there long.

[Foxtrot_s]

At a prominent show barn here I have seen poles with nails that had been bent over to form a little triangle and then painted over. Not damaging to cause blood, but enough to cause a wake-up call to anything that hit them with open fronts.

[GraceLikeRain]

I’ll bite.

If I were a parent in this situation I would (a) immediately arrange shipping to get any personal animals off property and all possessions (and eat the 30 days of board for an unnoticed leave) (b) Take ample pictures of said poles © Send photos to local Humane Society and because I have zero tolerance for this type of crap I’d also light up Facebook with photos and the trainer’s name (d) I’d accept that despite the unethical behavior some people will defend the trainer out of fear or politics.

Who knows if the OP is a troll or not but crap happens. I was at a barn where a trainer started beating a lesson horse in the face with a whip in front of a large group of boarders (upper end hunter barn). I’ve watched people bite their tongue when a “trainer” galloped a client’s hunt horse up and down a gravel road before tying it up heaving and dripping to stand unsupervised for a hour. Need I continue?

Whether the OP is a troll is irrelevant because swap out the scenario for countless other things that go on daily. What do you do when you witness inhumane behavior? Is there ever a time when it is appropriate to use social media or other means of notifying the general public? What is the line between “MYOB” and knowing that it is truly not if but when a horse is permanently injured?

[skydy]

I would take photos of the jumps and the facility, so people know you are actually there and not making this up, and then post your photos and concerns on your face book page (surely you have one).

[aascvt]

I’m voting for troll, but I don’t entirely understand the motivation for this specifically. That said, occasionally we find out that BNT’s are still doing things that are pretty shameful. : /