It's a very nice barn, fairly new, indoor, 20+ stalls, paddocks. From what I could tell with all the snow, from the outside, it looked very well laid out and workable. From what I could see, all but of few of the horses had heavy winter turnouts on. It was very muddy, snow was accumulating in their feet, and they were tottering around. The roundbale holders were practically empty, it was 2:00pm, and they come in around 4:00. The temperature was -6, and the winds were stiff. Only a few paddocks had small sheds.
The owner of the horse showed up and we went out to bring him in. He had 4" of ice underneath both his front shoes and a thin turnout. He had full pads under full bar shoes with a heel wedge underneath the heel of the leg that had a bowed tendon. He was still recovering, a 22 yr old 17.2 hand warmblood. He was cold and couldn't move. I stepped inside the round bale feeder to try to get some hay for him. There was about 1/2 a flake left and there were 3 horses in his pasture. No shelter, no trees, the other two horses, 39 and another (not sure of age), were in there as well.
A hoof pick wouldn't budge the ice block. Liliya found a rubber mallet and I carefully tapped, to remove the blocks. There was no warm or hot water in the barn. Not an ideal situation for horses. We got him into the barn, and he was quite sore, some residual heat in the injured leg from standing on this block, trying to walk in the mud, teetering his large frame to get hay.
The stalls, with mats, were not cleaned-it was 3pm. The buckets were filthy, the bedding was pellets that were straight out of the bag and less than an inch. Not a very comfortable bed to lay down on.
The Barn Owner entered, and seemed pleasant enough. Her ignorance of the situation was stunning! Not only did she launch into defense mode, she spoke so fast you could barely keep up with her.
When Liliya, the owner of the horse, asked her why her horse was not blanketed with his heavy blanket the response was, "he's fine" "he has a thick coat". The fact that the horse was shivering, and Liliya was grooming him and trying to get his circulation going, went unnoticed. The horse owner asked if the horse could please have his heavy blanket on for the next few days. The barn owner said: "I don't have time", put something on him and it stays until you change it." When the horse owner said: "I'm leaving Friday, and I won't be here until Jan. 3rd. Dinah is going to come and check until she has to leave, but may not be able to be here every day."
"Well, it costs extra for me to take off or put on a blanket." (On top of the charge, which is out of line for the care given, that was nonsense.) The blacksmith was coming over tomorrow and Liliya wanted Riley to stay in tomorrow morning until he had his snow pads. Again, the barn owner said: "Well, that will cost extra. It means I have to clean the stall twice, and it's a lot of extra work, more hay..." "That's fine" said the horses owner, "whatever it takes, I want my horse to be comfortable, safe, and healthy."
I have owned and operated everything from a 30 stall barn with an indoor, to an 8 stall facility, and a 6 stall facility. I never charged extra for changing the blankets, giving supplements, leaving horses in, bandaging injured horses, holding them for the farrier or vet. It was part of the board cost. I always had a waiting list at my facilities. With me THE HORSE COMES FIRST.
I had to get water for the horse, Barn Owner threw in 2 flakes of hay, and wandered off-muttering to herself. Rileys owner was practically in tears. She was overwhelmed, in a new place, a new state, in the middle of exams at University, and worried about her horse. I took his sheet home and have washed it and will repair the holes, lengthen the surcingles, and stitch a rubberized cover over the top to protect him from the snow, ice and rain. At this barn, the horses are out every day regardless of the weather, and here we get some very nasty Winters-pure laziness on the part of the barn owner.
My advice to the young woman was to do all she could to get her horse moved BEFORE she went home for the holidays. I offered to move the horse, and the rest was up to her. When you have an animal you are responsible for, and they are not in a good situation, particularly if they are older and have lameness problems, and are not being cared for, then you need to deal with that situation. You can always take an extra few days or a week and go later, but an animal does not have those options, or the ability to make his life better, they have to rely upon whomever it is that is taking care of them, good or bad. Horses are pretty resilient creatures, but they have ways of letting us know when they need help. Sometimes it's pretty dramatic and pretty direct. Be a good listener, and treat your animals like they deserve to be treated.
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