Vent

[blob]

There are two horses boarded at my barn owned by the same people. The horses don't get ridden much, which is fine, we do 12 hour turnout, so they're not cooped up or anything. But the owners also barely come out to do anything with them. The barn of course feeds and cleans stalls and turns them in and out, so in theory the horses could be fine. But both have feet that are absolutely falling apart. One is constantly eaten up flies in the summer and covered in fungus (bad enough that the barn manager ended up just spending her own money to get him a fly sheet and has started grooming, bathing him). The other one recently came out from pasture lame on two legs with a badly torn up heel and frog on the front and a hind leg he wouldn't put down. It was very hard to get in touch with owners and when we finally did it was hard to convince them that he needed a vet. Finally the vet was called and since then the owners have done nothing to keep up the treatment the vet advised for the torn heel/frog (keeping the hoof wrapped) and cold hosing the hind leg. And I'm just so angry/upset about it. I wouldn't want someone doctoring my horse. But I want very badly to help take care of this poor horse who is in a lot of pain.

[Chisamba]

responsibility of the barn owner / manager to enforce care standards. the boarding contract should state that.

At my barn I do vet care and charge per treatment if the owner does not or cannot treat.

[khall]

I completely agree with chisamba. I have boarded horses over the years some were absentee owners so I did everything they needed and charged owners as needed. I tend to have long term boarders. Two are buried here on the farm after being with me 16 years and over 10 years.

[blob]

Unfortunately, I have no control over what the boarding contract says. But I am willing to do what is acceptable in my position to take care of the horse. When the vet left, I had offered to help on days I'm at the barn and the owner said "oh, he's fine. He doesn't need anything". Ugh. He is the sweetest horse

[StraightForward]

That is frustrating! It really does seem like the BO should take action if the owners won't provide proper care. Things like the fungus could end up impacting others' horses, and it's not a good look to have horses in poor shape on the property. I tend to feel guilty about how infrequently I go visit my retired gelding, but when he developed rain rot (very unusual here) at the end of last winter, I was horrified and I was out there treating him, changing his feed and ready to take him to the vet if it didn't get better. Poor horses.

[khall]

Unless the BO/BM are going to enforce a certain standard of care then as a boarder there is little you can do unfortunately. Especially if the owner is so clueless in not taking your offer of help

[Moutaineer]

Ugh, I'm sorry you are dealing with this and don't really have any suggestions. Poor horses.

But it makes me happy that my barn manager, though batshit crazy, does at least throw people out if they don't meet her standards of care.

[Flight]

That sounds very frustrating and sad to watch. I feel for you!

[piedmontfields]

My barn provides exceptional care and is very helpful to attentive owners, too, like me who might need someone to do some meds or wraps occasionally. They haven't had many situations like you describe, but in the less active owner categories, they charge for every bit of extra care and meds and arrange to have the vet/farrier bill the clients. This is part of our boarding agreement.

[PaulaO]

Obviously the horse's owner doesn't give a rap about her horse being in pain. I say do what you want to do. Wrap him, cold hose him. Let the BM know what you are doing. And do not expect a crumb of a thank you from the owner. IMHO the owner has abandoned caring for the horses.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Ugh Blob, that's so hard to witness. Poor horse! I dealt with a similar situation years ago as a working student. This older TB started to decline pretty badly, not wanting to eat. Then it turned into horrible diarrhea (like his hind legs and tail were caked in it), an eye infection, cellulitis and horrible weight loss. The barn
owner constantly hounding the horse owner. It got to the point where did that didn't want him to be turned out because they don't want him to expend any energy. It was a lot of extra work and it was seriously heartbreaking. Finally the burn owner forced the horse center to let her take the horse to the actual hospital. He fell in the trailer it was so weak he could barely get up. When he got to the hospital and they weighed him he only weighed like 400 or 500 lb!!!! This was at least a 15.3 hand TB. Literally skin and bones. Turns out he had cancer.

And then the horse center has the audacity to say that she wants to sell the horse (???!!!) Because she didn't have time to deal with this kind of stuff. Ummm your horse is literally dying a miserable death.

It was infuriating. He was a sweet old soul too who didn't deserve that. People are just mind boggling.

[exvet]

This was a huge reason why I stopped boarding other people's horses many years ago. I evicted one boarder, took over a year, who purchased a horse and came to see it two weekends in a row and then 'poof' never came again. She would mail me her board check or give it to me at work. It was very frustrating dealing with that sort of situation and I felt so bad for the horse. The problem exists, however, that proper care is difficult to mandate given the wide array of opinions and research. As we all know an animal has to reach extreme depths of neglect and/or abuse before those with the power to do something will take notice or take action for obvious reasons.

I've been reading and watching the spiral of arguments going around pointing fingers and demanding that something be done about modern dressage given the recent spotlight of the Olympics. While I don't disagree with some of the issues raised, I sit in front of my computer which is positioned in front of a huge picture window in my office. Just past my screen I can watch the reining trainers and their boarders working their horses. I actually try not to pay too much attention because there are all sorts of OMG situations that inflict negative results on a variety of very level headed horses from my viewing vantage. One in particular I've had to watch, though, for the last 3 weeks and it's very hard to endure (more for the horse than me to be sure). I say one but there are a pair of women next door who recently moved their horses to this barn (one month ago). The horses are kept like most, in a stall 24-7 unless one or the other comes to let them out in the turnouts for 30-40 minutes or rides them. These horses are over 16 hands and look relatively young to middle age. They definitely look Appendix. Both of these women are over 300 lbs - please I am not trying to bash them on their weight because they seem to be relatively 'good' riders in terms of a quiet seat and hands too; but, the kicker is that both of these horses have that crippled lope/canter. These horses/gals are NOT reiners. They obviously are frequenters of the AQHA circuit. I watch as with each stride the physical dynamics of the horse(s) look so labored and lame that it's excruciating. The lift and air time is in such slow motion with their heads positioned down between their needs and you can count the 4-5 beat due to the drag of one foot in each and every stride as they go around a very large arena. As a vet with some knowledge of biomechanics I see early retirement for both of these very nice looking horses. I doubt their owners intend to inflict any harm on their horses. I actually see them come out and engage with their horses far more than any of the other owners save the horses on consignment with the trainers. Still, it's a conundrum and one that weighs heavy on the heart, soul and conscious of this animal health professional.