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The tack room

Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

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Original poster

aibu to GRRRRRRRRR?

46 replies

MitchyInge · 21/10/2009 21:00

horse has no bed, is dripping wet and no rug and no haynet

possibly he is eating his bed, looks like there is some hay on the floor but lots of bare concrete patches although lovely high banks

I only just called in briefly because I felt a bit guilty about not seeing him today and am GRRRRR - just spoke to YO's deputy who promises a meeting in the morning, poss change from straw to shavings. I want to get a rubber mat anyway so that might help. It was just awful to see him soaked and with no bed and nothing to munch on in the night

OP posts:

Pixel · 21/10/2009 22:07

They hadn't left the bed banked up to dry the floor had they? If not, and that was how he was left for the night then YANBU. Especially as you have been worried about him losing condition. I would be too if I was paying for livery and found my horse like that!

Did they know you wouldn't be around today? (or weren't expected to be)

Original poster

MitchyInge · 21/10/2009 22:21

he was left like that for the night, yes, it was past 8pm - everyone has gone by 7ish

don't think his feet were picked out either

it wasn't totally bare, but big bare patches, not what you'd expect after just a couple of hours in the stable - by morning possibly, but how much bed can one horse realistically eat in that time?

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Pixel · 21/10/2009 23:55

Well that's what I thought, especially since he'd presumably eat his feed and haynet first? If he's that hungry they ought to be giving him extra hay when he comes in all soggy.

kormaAAAARRRRGGHHchameleon · 22/10/2009 00:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/10/2009 08:51

well the feed takes about 18 seconds to demolish, don't know why there was no haynet but if they have just put a few sections of hay on the floor then it's possible he's scoffed the lot plus 60% of his bed in a couple of hours - does that sound plausible?

I think the problem is that various other horses will be put in there throughout the day while he's turned out and then it's not skipped out or topped up when he goes to bed, and there was nothing I could do about it last night because the barn was locked for the night

depending on the outcome of this morning's discussion I might have to do the unthinkable and start looking elsewhere

OP posts:

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/10/2009 08:52

what if they forgot to give him any hay at all?

OP posts:

skihorse · 22/10/2009 09:32

YANBU - however my fury would lie with the lack of hay rather than lack of bed!

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/10/2009 09:40

I can't imagine moving him to another yard (just letting my mind race ahead, hopefully we can resolve this satisfactorily), I could imagine going DIY by renting grazing or whatever but his behaviour when stabled can be a bit of a problem - he certainly couldn't go in any sort of communal barn and of course there is the scraping and kicking and breaking of doors and aggression to other horses (not in the field, just when he's in)

OP posts:

skihorse · 22/10/2009 09:45

Well aside from the digestion stuff you want him to be occupied in the stable at night - because of course they don't lay their head down on a pillow and sleep like us humans. So, once you've established that they ARE giving hay maybe you can get hold of a haynet with very small holes which will slow him down a bit. I mean logically, hay cannot be "scoffed"... it needs chewing. So if he's scoffeed it that quickly are they giving him hamster portions? Not good for the digestion at all and you don't want to end up with colic or worse still - twisted gut - just because they're trying to save 50p on hay.

Sorry, not enough hay is one of my real bugbears - never mind me and my OH don't have enough money to eat this week - I make sure hermajestygingeypants is eating well!

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/10/2009 09:54

yes the person I spoke to about it last night said he should have had a small holed haynet, it was awful to know that he had a further 10 hours or so before breakfast

glad I'm not making a fuss about nothing

I could go DIY less than a mile up the road, so same hacking, for £22 a week plus feed and bedding but including use of trailer and lorry and lovely private land to bomb around on. Full livery would be £9 a day. If I haven't fallen out irrevocably with current yard I could hack there for lessons.

OP posts:

skihorse · 22/10/2009 09:57

Don't burn any bridges just yet - just see what happens this morning but at the same time be firm, that's not acceptable! If he'd gone down with colic for having an empty tummy so long, who'd have covered that bill?

DIY can be a real pita... don't forget that!

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/10/2009 10:14

still no call about it

there is a really shiny new yard a bit further up the road that I am terrified of, unfortunately current place no longer does DIY otherwise would do that so any mistakes are my own fault and not someone else's at my expense

a bit late in the thread to mention it now but the bed has been an issue since his first night in, this must be the third week and if he is genuinely eating it then he should be on shavings already

I do feel like burning my bridges actually! I suppose this is why God invented Lucky Strikes, better go out and get some before I do something I regret

OP posts:

skihorse · 22/10/2009 10:58

Maybe it's time to move...

Why so scared of the new place? Because it's a posh intimidating wanker place? I know what you mean about your mistakes though, if I mess up I accept it - but it really annoys me if I've paid someone else and they've screwed up.

Let us know how it goes?

Butkin · 22/10/2009 11:30

I've had horses on livery and I'd expect them to have rubber mats, plenty of bedding (shavings would be fine if Straw is poor quality) and hay and water topped up before they leave at night.

I agree with Ski that we use hay nets with small holes for the M&Ms to stop them eating too quickly or wasting it on the floor.

The big ones have big holes but their haynets are massive.

When your horse came in wet did it get dried off with a towel? Did they put a stable rug on it?

Ebb · 22/10/2009 12:16

I think for the sake of your horse, you should look else where even though change can be a bit daunting. Your poor horse shouldn't be left all night with no feed and hardly any bed. If he's soaking wet, I can understand not putting a stable rug but surely then he should have had an extra deep bed to snuggle into and dry off? Does he not wear a turnout rug?

I had my cob at a really bad livery yard once. He went from being really lazy laid back to bucking people off. It turned out they weren't turning him out at all because they didn't want to have to clean him! He was being fed 3 hard feeds a day and only being exercised on a weekend. One of the other livery owners told me she'd seen him in all day for over a week. I was working full time and he'd come back suddenly off loan so had had a week to find a yard that could do full livery until I'd got myself sorted. I moved him straight away and he changed back to his old self with in an hour of being turned out.

What's wrong with the posh livery yard? Always worth a look? Hope you get it sorted.

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/10/2009 12:55

His nz was nowhere to be seen, he blatantly hadn't been turned out in it and his stable rug was over the door. I didn't change anything because I wanted whoever was in charge to see for herself, she got there about 30 mins later, plus I couldn't get into the barn anyway to get more straw/hay. I know rugs are an issue, in that there is disagreement over my decision to try again, and I suppose I should be glad they didn't put it on him when he was so wet, but even so?

Possibly he'd been worked in the rain, although he was wet all over, no sign of him being half-heartedly towelled off. It was dripping off him. It's making it even worse that nobody has called yet, the longer I wait the more upset I feel. I'm working just around the corner and I can't decide whether to go there and talk it over in person or just call in to the DIY yard and see if they can offer some part/full package. At the moment hot angry tears keep coming out

OP posts:

skihorse · 22/10/2009 13:02

Go to the other yard and have a poke around - it puts you in some control because you're figuring out plan b). x

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/10/2009 13:49

Come home for much overdue bath instead, next job is in 10 mins, yikes. I just want to be calm and reasonable and talk it over with them instead of the seething mass of anger I still am.

OP posts:

Owls · 22/10/2009 14:39

Mitch Agree go and look at the other yard you've got nothing to lose have you? I'm stunned that somebody thought that was an acceptable way to leave a horse for the night.

Pixel · 22/10/2009 16:30

Well sometimes it's unavoidable that they come in soaked and if the stable isn't draughty I don't think it does them any harm to be rugless while the weather is still so mild provided they have a good bed to roll and dry off in, and lots of hay so they can generate body heat. If your boy has been eating his bed for weeks they must have known he would be standing about on a bare floor for most of the night, which just isn't on. Plus I'm with Skihorse, can't stand people who skimp on hay. Even a dieting horse needs to keep the gut moving to stay healthy.
I must say I wouldn't be very happy to think other horses were put in my stable during the day and if it wasn't skipped out after them I would be livid.

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/10/2009 17:49

sure, although he shouldn't have been soaked because he has a turnout rug he could have been wearing - unless he got wet working

I just phoned YO and got slightly short shrift but she will call me back - upshot of the conversation is that he's eating his bed, which I don't want him to do and I said 2 weeks ago I'd rather he was on shavings and that I'd buy rubber matting myself but nobody was sure which stable he'd be in more permanently

I don't know, I come on here and I feel sort of justified and backed up, I speak to her and feel like I'm making a fuss about nothing

OP posts:

Owls · 22/10/2009 18:08

You're not making a fuss about nothing Mitchy. If you decide you are staying there I would make sure a dedicated stable is yours. Then you can put the rubber matting/shavings in and hopefully others wouldn't just help themselves to it in the daytime then when they know it's your stable.

Agree sometimes putting them away wet can't be helped (I've just put my two away wet - unexpected rain shower and no rugs on) but they have rubber matting, shavings bed and loads and loads of hay.

Did you go and look at the other yard in the end? Chin up.

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/10/2009 18:10

Upshot is that he had a deep bed and 3 sections of hay when they fed him at 6.30, so within an hour and a half he's ingested most of that straw and almost all the hay.

They are almost out of shavings until next week so will take 6 bales in myself tomorrow. Made me feel awful for suggesting the girls hadn't looked after him properly, but isn't even worse that he's eating all that straw?

OP posts:

Pixel · 22/10/2009 18:13

I think I'd tell her I want him on shavings straight away, the rubber mat isn't essential.
Or you could try the old-fashioned method of sprinkling the straw with Jeyes fluid to stop him eating it.

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/10/2009 18:14

Oh x post

thank you for all being so supportive, somehow am left feeling like the Bad Guy after last phone call

OP posts:

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