Talking about horse boarding again, by request! Answering a question in the comments of the first video made on the topic of horse boarding.
See the first video about horse boarding here.
The topic of this follow up video is about how barn managers/horse property owners that board horses might deal with boarders that aren’t doing a good job of taking care of their horse. While this can be completely subjective, some items are not and can also be labeled as abuse of the horse.
The end story really is to be kind about it if it isn’t serious, like brushing, a slightly unclean paddock, possible late trims of hooves, lack of exercise time etc. Remembering that “lack of care” can sometimes be really subjective to how one person takes care of horses in comparison to others. On the other hand for the more serious issues such as extremely dirty paddocks, lack of vet care if sick or injured, no trims at all, total lack of exercise for weeks or months and lack of good food provided daily and of course clean and fresh water, requires a firmer hand.
I believe that in the end it’s really important to stick to your morals and values and if the boarder isn’t up to the barn’s standards then they should be asked to move out and not be a “paycheck barn owner”. While it’s easy to look the other way, it should make the barn owner complicit in any abuse that is happening to the horse, and in some cases there are barn managers/owners that are the cause. I would only hope that together we would continue to raise the bar of how much can and should be done to care for our horses that depend on us for just about everything.
The bottom line here though is that abuse should always be reported to the authorities to be dealt with properly. Abuse could be physical damage being done to the horse, lack of food or a clean and fresh water supply and especially a lack of veterinarian care if injured or unhealthy. This means making sure there is water in the tubs at all times that is accessible in both summer and winter when it’s hot enough to be depleted quickly and cold enough to freeze over. Colic is real and many horses die from it simply because they don’t have a good water supply. While simpler things can be dealt with carefully and maybe as a team if possible. Not everyone knows how to care for a horse and some education may be required here and there. We’re all learning all the time.
I will do another talk about it, but I think that the same should apply to boarders that feel their full board location isn’t taking care of their horse properly. Horse husbandry is very important and should be taken seriously.