Went with Rhiannon to look at a horse this weekend. It was at a newish facility that I had never been to, but was interested to see. It had a decent/big indoor, but unheated so once again I realized how spoiled I am at home! Anyway, she brings the horse in and we pull the blanket off...and it is skinny. Play the xylophone on its ribs skinny, but not SPCA skinny. Her response to my question of why? "the barn owners only feed for maintenance".

Really?!?

First off, how stupid to bad mouth the barn you currently board at, and secondly how stupid do you look for leaving your horse somewhere that doesn't feed it enough? And trying to sell it that way (and not cheaply either!)?

I won't name the barn because I question if the barn is really at fault: obviously the horse isn't being fed enough, but the horse is blanketed and on outside board, so it is possible that the barn staff just don't know the horse needs more food.

Which reminded me of the "Tell all" currently of Facebook, where someone is bashing a local boarding stable for endangering the horses in various ways, lying to boarders, and not feeding the horses for days at a time. She listed many good reasons to leave the barn and months and months of incidents...so why did she finally leave? She was told to get out by the barn owners. Why did she stay? By the sounds of it she liked being in the center of the drama.

I remember when we had that barn up the  road (not Pleasant View) that would turn out super thin horses. Hillside rehabbed a few of them. The barn owners were clever and would point that most of the horses looked good, so would blame the horse owner, or say the horse had some ailment. In reality it was because the idiots would only put out four piles of hay for twelve horses, so only the strong got to eat. So why would people stay? It was cheap and close and they bought the barn owners stories/excuses. But once they left they would bash the old barn and not take any accountability for letting their horse get skeletal. Smart people would leave as soon as they noticed weight loss, and not leave it for months and months!

Edmonton has lots of boarding stables. There is no excuse to be at one that doesn't provide the basics of life such as feed and water, and if you leave your horse at one to get crazy thin, don't look to me for support on Facebook or the like. Its your horse. accept the responsibility!

Karen