New barn. Fancy might not be our style (bit of a rant)
Warning! Rant ahead Who could rant about a boarding facility with lovely trim and cobblestone aisles and an attached indoor? ...this gal.
I usually board my horse at a friend's farm. We call it Windridge. It's a lovely place and I'll never take it for granted, especially not now. Big rolling pastures, a sweet little barn, crossties and a tack room, and nice big stalls for when it gets rainy or snowy (the horses usually stay outside however). The cute "little" picturesque farm is complete with a spacious grass ring with smart little homemade cavelettis and jumps, lots of hills to work on, many acres of hay fields to hack along, and that beautiful sunset gets me every time. It's the perfect way to end the ride or the day. I sleep like a baby knowing my horse is happy and 98% of his life is spent being a horse, with room to move out and Bush hogged pasture to graze on. Anyway, I'll stop gloating. I love that piece of land.
For April we moved the horses to a boarding facility with a beautiful barn and attached indoor arena. I cant say enough about the arena, the kind with lots of light, room and air. Kinda fancy! So, naturally, it's not cheap!
But now that we're all moved in and the buzz of the all-weather riding capabilities have worn off, I realize there's more to a horses life than a heated wash stall, fancy tack lockers and an indoor arena.
I'm only posting this here for you guys to read (maybe relate or empathize) because I'd never complain to the barn owners who take us in for one month a year, or to my farm owners who trailer our horses and who deserve a break from feeding for one month a year, but GOD I HATE THIS PLACE ALREADY. You could say I got some beef.
My horse is currently turned out in a tiny, muddy holding area with his girlfriend. It's April so everything is muddy, but honestly the space is so small it's probably just a dustbowl in the summer. Standing in mud all day, what a life! He's a clydesdale and he needs his room. Soon he'll be moved to one of the "bigger" paddocks. They aren't much bigger, and the grass beneath them is patchy and begging for a break from the hooves of 7 or 8 horses. When I take him in he comes to the gate inquisitively, as if to say "are we going back on the trailer to go home yet?". Or maybe it's just me projecting my longing for greener pastures onto my horse's eager looking face.
I noticed he's being fed the same amount of hay in his stall as his neighbors, both considerably smaller horses. If a horse should be fed according to body weight (they should lol) I'm a little worried already. Sure I give him concentrated feed and beet pulp but not only are we taking away that nibble-step-nibble-step that horses need, they're also cutting rations? My horse-mom self is turning into a horse-mama-bear by the end of this rant.
The people are great, mostly older women. I think they set their judgements aside because we aren't much to contend with. Just a big, unblanketed, clumsy clydesdale with a long wizard beard and a girl who loves him, and is polite enough, but really isn't ready to enter any shows yet.
I tell myself it's only a month... and it's been my dream since I was a little girl to own a horse and ride as I please in a fancy boarding facility. I won't raise a fuss with the owners, who really do have a few decades of horse management over me... but I really can't help but feel like a horse's quality of life is more than just an indoor arena. There, I've said my piece.
Submitted April 01, 2017 at 11:37PM by Clydesdale-draft
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