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| Author |
Message |
    
Michelle
| | Posted on Tuesday, Aug 8, 2000 - 6:10 pm: |   |
I have been having problems with my barn manager. I board my horse at a barn that has self care available. (Owner feeds, cleans stall..etc) I basically pay rent to utilize a stall. My horse has a medical condition that causes him to be a chronic founderer, that is regulated by feeding no grain and mostly hay. He has a hard time with keeping his weight on him cause he still has major growth spurts. He is very small and has other medical problems that are a headach. The barn manager knows this and I've been there since October 1999. All of a sudden, the manager tells me that if my horse doesn't look better by the end of the month, I have to leave. He has at least 1 growth spurt a month, causing him to drop 50 to 100 pounds. He is a MAJOR headach with this, but hs's my baby. She recently fed him hay, that I just purchased and was really GREEN. This caused him to founder AGAIN! Just from the 2 flakes she gave him. She admitted she fed him. I told her not to do it again, but she says she has the RIGHT as barn manager (not the owner of the barn) to do what she FEELS Nessessary in the horses best interest. Does she? Can she go behind my back and feed my horse, causing him to have MORE problems? I live in Texas, and there isn't ANYWHERE else for me to take my horse where I am at. in 6 months, I'm leaving the area. Thank goodness. Please help
lil_appy_filly@hotmail.com
Get this, I had to show her how to put a saddle on her horse, and put training into him just so she can mount him. She's very equine ignorant. Listens to everyone, even if they dont know what's going on. |
Nancy Herbert (Gemtwist)
| | Posted on Wednesday, Aug 9, 2000 - 10:45 am: | |
It sounds like you're both concerned about the horse, but not working together. Have you tried talking to her about your horse's problems and asking her advice? Even if you don't take it, getting her involved on your side might help. You have to listen (not listen in the sense of taking her advice, but rather in the sense of taking the time to hear what she has to say) though even if you know something she says won't work. If you immediately argue with every idea she has, it would probably only make things worse. Also, if you don't think she would listen to you, I'd have your vet come out and involve her in a conversation with the vet about treatment. Good, bad or indifferent, she may have more respect for what the vet says than what you say.
You kind of have to see it from her side, too. She has an underweight horse in her barn that the owner appears to be refusing to feed. She finally can't stand it anymore and feeds the horse herself. Until ya'll are working off the same page (whether it's legal for her to do so or not), you will more than likely continue to have problems.
I put a clause in all my boarding contracts that if I feel a horse is not being cared for properly, I must contact the owner to say a change has to be made. If the owner refuses and cannot explain why, he/she is given 48 hrs to find another facility. Thank goodness, I've never had to use it. You might check your boarding agreement to see if this is covered.
Good luck!
Nancy |
Michelle
| | Posted on Wednesday, Aug 9, 2000 - 6:26 pm: | |
I dont' have a written boarding agreement. But the owner agrees with me, she shouldn't be feeding my horse. Her and I were good friends a few weeks back. Until new people came in and complained about my horse. EVERYONE else in the barn knows about my horse, knows that I have tried EVERYTHING people tell me to correct my horses problem. My vet wants x-rays for founder...but either way, the treatment is the same whether his coffin bone has rotated or not. SO it's an unneeded expense to me...(I'm a registered Vet Tech..so I get more inside knowledge) and my vet is 200 miles away that knows the inside of his condition. I feed my horse 2x day, tried 1x day, and he eats the same as EVERYONE else, sometimes more. She has ordered me to keep hay in front of him all the time....ok..this is costly PLUS he founders off of that too. Even on yellowed hay. He's a problem. My vet is confused at that one. She said that hay doesnt' founder horses (green does!!!!!!!) but she won't believe me, told me to bring her information on his problem. It's not my responsibility to educate her. Especially with Founder being a commen enough disease that ALL horseman should have at least some knowledge about it. As far as his other problems, until I can actually PIN POINT his problem, i can't do anything except tell her what the vet told me. And what I am doing for my horse. He is looking wonderful, hips have filled in, but he's about to lose weight again.....growth spurt time!!! Sometimes i want to shoot him, but he's a GREAT horse......
Thanks for the input!!
 |
Michelle
| | Posted on Wednesday, Aug 9, 2000 - 6:30 pm: | |
OH, Question.....
Here is another situation that i'm in....
My horse is 2 yrs and 4 months old. He is broke and I do light riding...maybe 30 minutes at the MOST!!! I usually let him choose what he is comfortable with. Especially since he does have feet problems. But i got the final say though.... He does'nt push things...
People keep telling me he's too young....He's a quarterhorse...and all my other quarter horses have all been started at 2, or younger, depending on development. Plus the manager told me not to ride my horse....THAT i don't understand...She can't tell me not to ride my own horse....
How do you tell people to mind their own business??? Without ticking them off?
Michelle |
Teresa Alexander-Arab (Teresaa)
| | Posted on Sunday, Aug 13, 2000 - 10:46 am: | |
Hi Michelle,
having re-read Dr. O's articles on founder and laminitis I would do the following:
1. do tests to determine why my underweight horse is foundering.
2. have the x-rays done to determine the degree of rotation.
3. not ride for at least a year, for two reasons:
a) because he's young and growing and b) because of his condition.
4. have the vet write a letter outlining the treatment/care for your horse and post it on his stall.
good luck.
Teresa |
Kiersten L Barnes
Member
Username: Kbarnes
Post Number: 6
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, Jun 4, 2006 - 11:45 am: | |
I realize how old this post is - so the original participants in the conversation may not be members any longer.
However - I wanted to say something for others like me who may read this.
I found it odd that a vet tech would make a judgement on the quality and nutritional content of a hay by calling it 'green' or 'yellowed'. I would say in the case of such a sensitive horse that an analysis should be done on the hay being fed (esp by a vet tech?!?).
And showing breed bias on growth development is also a gripe of mine. There has been so much light shed on these old 'myths' that quarter horses are skeletally mature at THIS age while arabians are skeletally mature at THAT age. Dr. Deb Bennett has some very interesting information on the development of the bones & joints (growth plates). Everyone who is starting young horses should be educated in this.
I do not agree with the practice of riding horses that are 2 or younger but I certainly find it disagreeable that someone would be riding a horse that is that young and A. not able to keep good weight B. foundering all the time.
I own a boarding facility and it is very hard to keep balance between boarders and your business reputation. Of course you can sympathise with a horse and its owner if it is suffering from some condition that causes it to show some kind of extreme 'external' lack of condition (ie weight). BUT when you have people fussing and complaining, and threatening to call Animal Welfare Services - as a barn owner fingers get pointed at me.
In those cases I personally keep some kind of case history / information on the horse and its condition to produce it in case any kind of animal welfare officer comes to my property.
That being said, some times 'complaining' boarders see more truth than you think (going back to my concerns that the author of this thread is riding a VERY young horse that can not gain adequate weight and is suffering laminitis/founder on and off).
Just my 3 cents worth on an old topic.
~K. Barnes |
joj
Member
Username: Jojo15
Post Number: 726
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, Jun 4, 2006 - 10:23 pm: | |
LOl... yes 6 years old. alot of things happen in that amount of time. hay analysis although not new, is new to many even now, and mostly only after a cushings diagnosis, or EMS is present. foundering now vs. 6 years ago has changed too. So much has been uncovered in these past 6 years, that would probably have shed light on the situation. and the barn managers education of it.
I don't think that the barn manager/ nor barn owner could be held liable for something if animal control came out for one unfit horse, while the rest of the barn horses were in excellent condition, etc... Do you? I wouldn't point fingers at the manager if a horse was waist deep in manure and it was self board. Now if it was full board, than of course. But thats the problem with partial, or self board. The owner is the keeper of the horse, not the manager. I guess keeping everything documented and have notices in writing and signed and dated would help immensely.... |
Nanette Clare Ferguson
New Member
Username: nanette
Post Number: 1
Registered: 5-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 1:15 pm: | |
I board my horses in Marseilles and the owner knows about the problems created by the barn manager couple (husband and wife). I don't leave because of the friends I have made there with other boarders. The owner is elderly, but we have told him that if he got rid of the problem couple, he would not be with out EVER. I can adjust my schedual at work and three other boarders said they would love to help out. We all like the owner and his farm, but not the couple (husband and wife). Any suggestions? We are desparate, no other farm has enough room for all of us to move ALL of our horses so we can all stay together. Us boarders like each other and would miss each other alot without this common ground. What should we do? |
