Boarding Tribulations

As I am not home, I can only report what Mom has told me about what Stella has done. And today, she did not do much. It was already in the mid-70s when mom went to the stable this morning, and Stella didn't feel like running around at all in the arena. So they walked around a bit, then headed back to the stall for some grooming time. No complaints from Stella over getting pet and rubbed on without having to do much work first.

Stella didn't feel like playing with her ball.

This evening the woman who runs the stable told Mom that they had found Stella standing with both feet in the automatic waterer, so they are going to put a barricade up to keep her from putting her feet in her water again. I texted to make sure that they let us know when they want to do this so we can come and take Stella out while they are working. I don't need to come home to my filly having more mystery injuries after strangers have been in handling her again. I also want to have Mom there to make sure that Stella can still access her water once the barricade is up. When the barricade was there in the beginning it was set up for a mature gelding and was too tall to let little Stella her get her head over the barricade to get a drink. Allowing Stella constant comfortable access to clean water is more important to me than having to clean the water container more often than the apparent current schedule of once a week.

It's also troubling that the horse who has been put into the paddock next to Stella since I have been gone is apparently a bully. Mom says that when she brought Stella back to her paddock this morning and they went out to get a drink, the neighbor horse ran out and tried to chase Stella away from the water. Need to make sure he can't successfully deter Stella from drinking when someone isn't in the stall with Stella to block him and keep him away from biting at Stella when she tries to get a drink.

Those were the problems of the morning. The evening got worse.

I guess the stable owner lectured Mom this evening on how she was leading Stella. Mom had been leading Stella around the barn instead of going to the arena, since that was where Stella had headed for as soon as she came out of her paddock rather than listening to Mom who was leading her. We don't want to get her into the habit of always heading to the arena when she comes out of her paddock. She needs to follow us, not try to dictate where she gets to go.

There were other people around, and dogs, and cats, and other horses being led about, so Mom had Stella on a shorter lead than she gets when she is leading without distractions. The stable owner apparently decided that Mom was holding Stella's lead too close and not giving enough distance on the lead rope and needed corrected. Now, Mom has spent her entire life around horses. I don't care how much experience the stable owner has, and I don't care that she gives lessons. I don't think the fact that we are boarding our horse with her gives her the right to lecture us on how we are walking our horse, how it is wrong, and how we should be doing it. Mom hadn't asked for help and hadn't been in need of assistance. The owner may have only meant to be helpful, but she ended up being insulting and belittling by lecturing someone who wasn't having any trouble with her horse, and hadn't asked for an opinion or assistance.

We shall see how tomorrow goes with the water issue. Then we will see how the rest of the weekend and the following week goes. While there are certainly things I like about this stable, there are also things that are problematic for me. Unfortunately, there are not many other stables near Pocatello that fit the BLM requirements for stabling and stall space. Hopefully interpersonal relations at the stable will settle down and things will go smoothly again. To be honest, everything was fine when we first brought Stella home and the owner was away on a trail ride. It has only been since she got back that there has been friction. Somehow it has felt like because we pay to board our horse at this stable, the owner feels like she has the right to do with our horse whatever she wants and tell us how to handle her. That is not part of the boarding agreement.

Such a pretty girl.

Sorry for the rant, but I am away from my new horse and getting reports that the situation I left her in - which I thought was at least decent, though not perfect, and which I just wrote the check for to pay for August's boarding (although the check has not yet been deposited) - is turning out to be problematic. Mom says it feels like this owner is trying to find a reason to kick us out, and maybe if she gives us enough problems and messes with Stella enough we might give up and leave on our own instead. I hope this is not the case. We shall see how things go, and how things continue once I get home. Here's hoping this has just been a hiccup and things will settle back down and begin to be comfortable and pleasant.