If you’ve ever boarded your horse, unless you’ve been
unusually lucky, you’ve been in my situation:
You found a reason strong enough to hate where you are
enough so that you went out and found a new place for your horse.
I’ve been boarding my horses on my mother’s property since I
moved up in 2000. It’s not ideal, as I
don’t REALLY have a good place to ride, but it was passable. I tried boarding at a local stable, and while
they were very professional, it didn’t work out either.
Early this week, I went swimming with hubby and kids, then
rode when we got home. As I walked into
the barn yard, I was greeted by my 12-yr old niece who was “trying to get my
horse into his bridle” – unsuccessfully of course; and the 7-yr old neighbor
girl who was barefoot and waving her arms at my rescue horse.
"But he's CHARGING" me," is the complaint. This horse IS super friendly - he is NOT mean, and he doesn't even charge the dog at supper time. He certainly doesn't charge at people. This is abusive treatment for this highly intelligent, super-sensitive horse.
I was livid. I’ve
spent seven years working with this horse to get him so I can handle, groom,
clip, spray, and all the other basic things without a fuss, I don’t need some
little twit coming along and messing it all up. I yelled at her – she shouldn’t have been in the pasture in the first
place; gave my niece better directions (catch the horse first, put his halter
on him, tie him up) and had a good ride even though I didn’t know what I was
doing with my horse.
But my sister still doesn’t GET why a small child shouldn’t
be in a horse pasture unsupervised. This
is not a trespassing issue; the kid is INVITED in…
I think we're inviting trouble. What do you think?
