Hi! Well we arrived at the new place on Tuesday and it seems the owner of the old barn on the pretense of telling us her cats might hitch a ride in our trailer while we were loading up took the licence number to her barn boarder who is a cop and he ran it to get them the new barn ladys number. This has to have happened Fri because Molly was kicked by another horse there through the electric rope wire which seperates the pasture. There are six pastures. They are all electric rope strands, all but one run central to right or left of a rope hallway to them. One pasture the far one only ajoins one other pasture. The first day she said she usually shows them the borders. This after we unloaded them and put them into round pen to settle with hay. What I didn't know was four of the six horses were in the adjoining pasture and came running at us. Molly really felt threatened and then they seemed to settle down. The next day the new barn owner told me Molly reared up across from the horses and she was worried she might get caught up. (Molly has taken the 2 yr. old Faith as her baby when it comes to herds) The old barn just let them out to settle it all, then complained because initially Molly fairly ran when chased, taught Faith to stay near her and met challenges in center of field when offered. The horses squealed and kicked and the other boarders complained there. After about two days they had joined the herd. Now all I need is some time to aclimate them to these new surroundings and I am feeling alot of pressure to make it all happen NOW! Basically I have walked them along a common rope line and let them meet. Today I had to take one at a time and each got upset in the roundpen when left. They are a herd of two in a new place, with strange horses and stalls and people and now Molly gets kicked and cut on shoulder. Today I went alone and the new barn owner didn't realize she alluded to a situation I had never discussed with her about the old barn which means she has been contacted by them and I just know thats how they did it. She basically said Faith was welcome to stay but if Molly did not shape up she had to leave! Its been 4 days! One and a half of which Molly had been injured by another horse! Then the nightmare got worse, she took the rope halter I had put on to bring Molly in and work on stall manners with her and proceeded to show me "Parelli" rear backing with yo yo! Then did rear disengagment and Hit my Horse with the popper of the lead rope! I was without my husband and thought I had entered the twilight zone. I gave her a look that told her not to hit my horse again because I could not find the words my throat was so clogged. She did not hit her hard and Molly moved out of the way and I did see recognition in her eyes that tells me her former owner must have used it so she did not freak! I was polite and thanked her for the demonstration, and said I needed to fly spray them the flys were getting bad. I again walked them the borders and let them loose in a pasture that bordered the horse that had kicked Molly. The lady said the horse to horse stuff does not bother her that they will settle it. I said I did not want Molly to hurt anyones horse and suggested leaving them in their stalls until I come out in morning and I will clean stalls for the extra time they are out in them. Or put them in one of the two round pens and I will again clean them. I tried to tell her I did not want her daughters near Molly. (I was told by the ten year old the morning after settling them their that the night before she had brushed their manes and braided Molly's!) That to me was just nuts to let her child near a strange and upset horse! So I feel like a hostage once again! I totally understand that she has kids, her own and students and needs them to be safe. But if she would just give them time to adjust I know it would be fine, I am working as hard phyically actually past hard with having 8 back and one neck operations to make this work. I think she is under alot of ego pressure because she is hosting the local ride for the big national trail ride Monty is talking about and she thinks Molly will make her look bad or hurt someone. I cannot camp on their property 24/7 but it is the place I have dreamed of having for my horses, bordering State Park trails, by the lake even for the horses to swim in the future. Meadow trails as well as woods. The potential for learning by the horses and my husband and I is incredible. I appreciate any suggestions. All I can think of doing now is tolerate her behavior but ground work them as early as I can get up there., Walk them next to herd and beat her to the punch by makeing Molly respectful. In the meantime again I feel I have to get a back up barn to go to if she decides she does not want Molly. She holds all the cards. I am so tired of doing this. Each barn has been all smiles and understanding when I tell them Molly is green only has 25 or so rides. Has gotten bad behavior from rough handling in past, and actually the last barn is responsible for having her give warning mouth bites. Short of putting my house on the market (which would break me financially) and finding a house and land with barn of my own I see no way off this marigoround! Everytime I have been the one totally honest. I had to get the horses out of the last barn though for their safety by "going on a trail ride" even though the people had let the air out of our trailer tire trying to prevent us from leaving! (we brought the tire home, it is fine has not lost any air in 6 days) and it was fine the day earlier when we trailered our stairs to new barn. But I fairly settled financially with the old owners, they even offering a reduction by eliminating cost of Aug hay, grain and bedding! Mostly because I shared with the owner who is the mother that her daughter and son in law are so disrespectful of her, talking about how they are the "parent and she is a child" to us (who were just there to enjoy our horses) and in front of other boarders. How they were totally uncooperative about enlarging the round pen though I was told it would be there for me to use. How no trails through the woods had been cut or path through hay field. (Well hayfield got cut a week before we left so for 2 1/2 months no where but indoor to ride!) So we parted wishing each other good luck and now they call my new barn lady to lie to her!!! What happened to people that cared about people, that just spoke straight to you. I told the new lady I can take anything but that communication is key, well I guess she took it to heart because though I appreciate her views, it has only been 4 days! I am a mom and understand worry over her kids if a horse bit, over kids coming to lessons. But Molly had not showed it initially, and still has not to me. She had to have heard it from her. I asked if she tried to bite her she said no but she had heard, then changed her direction of the conversation. Well hitting Molly is not going to stop her biting and she out and out told me that if she tried to bite she was going to punch Molly in the muzzle hard! That it would not hurt her but make her think about biting the next time. I am lost, I am disheartend, I am over challenged by a time factor I never knew existed and now has been thrown down to me. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Irish
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Perhaps this place with its dreaming trails and opportunities for learning advancement is NOT a place for you at this point. If it were me, I'd sit down with this lady and ask EXACTLY what the rules of the stable are; use your common sense and not your lack of control of the situation to determine if the rules are reasonable or not. You should NEVER allow anyone mistreat your horse and break YOUR rules of owning and teaming up with a horse. This is a submissive approach by the person who is to watch out for the horse. You need to stand up for what is right and since you have no saying in how these people run their place, you need to decide to leave for another friendly, humane place. Owning a horse is to be a pleasant experience and if you are going to be treated inappropriately and your horse be mistreated, then you need to leave.
It's never easy to move horses, and keeping them in separate fields for a couple of days so the new ones get more acclimatized, should be standard procedure. Some horses take longer, but they usually solve it amongst themselves given the time. Maybe just let them in with a few other horses at a time.
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I think horselover gives exellent advice. You really should sit down with this lady, and make sure you have plenty of time and no one disturbing you, so you can sort stuff out in a manner that leaves you on friendly terms if nothing else. Miscommunication and preconceived notions will only be in the way for both of you.
Make a list of things you want to discuss; what you can "give" and what you won't tolerate.
I do hope you can sort this out!
Well I was not feeling well day before yesterday and we went up to wipe horses with fly spray, put on fly masks and generally see how they were doing. They were in the back right pasture that only had one horse in it before and now it had two and the mother and foal were in another pasture but they had connecting corners. Everyone seemed relaxed and when we were walking away the paint horse approached Molly and she was fine. I went up tomorrow as it was pouring rain and worked on the girls learning to back up to the back wall and whoa as I entered and exited the stall until I released them. They both did very well and that gives someone time once they enter the stall to go to buckets while horse stays out of way. But moves if told to get over. This morning we had horrible thunderstorms so I am about to go up and see how they are doing. I have not run into owner on my previous two trips, maybe today. I agree about the sit down. I had no idea she was going to hit Molly with the lead rope! I did tell her last time before I left we would talk again about it but to please in meantime use the step on hoof that I have used. Sorry I was upset and did not clarify in the email. I was at first stunned totally and could not even talk. And was pretty upset when I wrote the email. I intend to tell her again she can block my horse with her arm but to use the leg idea if possible. I really cannot control how she acts with horses when I am not there but the horses tell me by their behavior since that they have not been threatend physically as they are showing no signs of head shyness, aggravation, or anything else I would sense from them. I will hopefully have that sit down today and write a list up of what we agree to Thanks to all, Irish
I was upset for you and hope everything can get worked out.It makes me really appreciate that I have always had my own place.It seems like the people from the other barn has giving her a ear full of crap and making you the unreasonable one.
You do really need the sit down with the lady. Really hope it
works out for you!Since the horses seem ok maybe the lady was testing you.
Hi all! Just a note to let you know that so far all seems well. I have been trying to get up every day if not every other day to spend time with the horses. That ACTHA ride is this Sat at the lady's place and I have been working with the horses on gate manners, and stall manners. Last week one evening I went up with my husband helping me and got on Molly after putting Faith in the round pen next to the big one. I mounted in center with the aid of the steps Molly stayed still long enough for me to get my feet in stirrups. She was very sensitive about my boot being near her shoulder where the cut is healing. She walked, even jogged a bit. Whoa'd, backed up several times but going one direction was better then the other due to the fact of the cut. She even bent her head all the way around to my boot then paused a bit at the cut trying as hard as she could how she felt about the relationship between the two, LOL! She came to a stop at the steps and I dismounted perfectly centered on them! She really made herself and I look good. When I was untacking her the owner seemed like the person I had first met before the other barn had called her. They must have really over-done it making Molly seem like the horse from Hell! Once they saw the connection I had with her they relaxed. I could tell the next time I was up because the ten yr. old girl was glued to me once again, all excited! Yesterday I tacked up to ride, got to the steps and a big bolt of lightning hit so had to walk back and untack. But Molly did well in cross tie except about picking her hoof up on the sore leg. The lady at the barn kept saying she is "Heavy" and I need to do exercises dealing with pressure. I waited out the storm grooming Faith and when it cleared since I came up alone without the help of my husband I was not up to pulling everything back out to resaddle, I took Molly lead in hand walking for the first time on the grass trails they had cut through the meadow. She seemed very interested in the fact that the trails were wide enough for us but there was growth on both sides. Previously we just rode the edge of a hayfield. She seemed puzzled when I came to an intersection on which way we should go, seeing that there were choices! LOL! I basically just took her on a circle path but she did not call out to my other horse and I did not hear Faith call out to her. Before they could not be out of site without calling out to each. Matter of fact Faith only really found out we had left when we came back, she must have been asleep on her feet after I groomed her, lol! So the big ride is Sat and I am just gonna get Molly ready to ride the grass trails. She is too green yet to be in a set line with strange horses. She has ridden with four other horses in a field before but they were barn mates. After this ride is over and tension released since this lady is hosting the ride and bonfire at her house that night, we will begin to integrate the horses one at a time. I am grateful to all who wrote, I do think Cherosnowball she was testing me to see if I would lose it as I am sure the other people painted a wild picture of me also. If we get the integration done I expect to be able to once again pull Molly from stall or pasture and Faith will have other mates to turn to while I work Molly and visa versa. I have been very careful to make sure the horses are not showing any signs of head shyness or fear and they are doing just fine. So thanks guys for being there for me I would have been lost without being able to tell someone about it. Having no friends with horses at the moment it was hard. Irish
I'm really happy to hear things are turning the sunny side up for you, Irish.
I doubt you will see much trouble integrating your horses with the flock now that they are more at home. It's always a big affair the first week.
Fingers crossed it will keep getting better and better.
Have fun with the ACTHA ride!
Well just an update...Molly and I did not go on that trail ride a few months ago. A horse from another farm joined in just as we were set to go and she was too overexcited in my view so I unsaddled her,roundpenned her and an hour or so later walked the trails (she let three horses pass us on the trail as I moved over to yield it like a champ. Since then I have taken her riding a bit more of the trail each tie carrying a walked and my husband having.g one at the car. That lasted till winter hit and she went on a rise with some barn horses a few weeks ago. As our contract was coming to a close I asked the woman if she was agreeable to us staying Molly has been fine and she said yes. Two weeks ago her mare and Molly.had a dispute and her mare needs town her 8month d foal. I thought that would be time awile away from each other. This week as our contract is just about up I understand this woman was not paying attention she says and Molly got away.from her putting her into the pasture and it took her an hour and a half to catch her. She put her in a pasture by herself and Molly was so upset and very agitated when I got there that afternoon. I put her in the roundpens and began exercises with her, ground was messy so I was trying to be cautious. The lady came.flying out of the barn screeching.loudly that I needed to match her energy that she had seen me send her off. What. I really needed. To do and while I had stopped was my bootlace was dragging. I bent to tie it and she raced past past my husband who.was right outside. The roundpens and Molly.went on high alert. He said she looked at the lady, rolled her eyes back in fear and turned with a warning kick. Not at me but in result to her aggression. I got back up and I guess the look my husband gave.theady upset her and she went back in the barn..From that moment on Kit.was a wild mustang, working on survival mode. I noticed each time I moved the lead rope to encourage her to go to edge and begin working she would act as if I.was going to hit her with it. Then the woman yelled again "bite her with the leadrope like another horse would!" Mystery solved as far as I was concerned. I did the complete opposite. I stepped away, walked around her a distance giving her a chance to get her adrenaline down. Then walked up to her petting her test spot and retreating again. Eventually she calmed down but I have no doubt now as to what likely happened once this lady.did.catch her that morning. I backed her up, brought her forward, and did basic respect ground exercises to keep her adrenaline down and her mind focused. By the time I was done this lady told.me that unless she saw improvement in Molly she would have to leave. I have two horses there. Believe me we wi be taking both with us. It's a shame this woman fancies herself a natural horsmanship trainer. I have never seen more then on older lady take all of two riding lessons. This lady's daughter desperately wants a close bond with her foal and other horses shown in the follow up mine do but she tells her I have food in my hands and lure them. Just another case of someone with too much money and not enough knowledge to admit or at least not force her way of training on my horses and myself. The fact that she asks her 10 yr. Old daughter to care for them a lot of the time is just wrong. I am paying her to care for them, if the ti or a friend get hurt I do not want to.eve. think about it. But she says they should.be able.to care.for them. We have been there 6 months! Only due to the.fact that when she saw improvment in Molly.from before she backed off. So once again I am looking for a place.to board my horses who yes are green but not more dangerous then any other horse obviously made to.be.fearful by her. She calls the training "MontyCrap". Maybe this will not set my horses back too far but now they go somewhere new with new horses to bond with and the beautiful trails Molly and I came to learn on will be gone. Anyone knowing any place near Columbus, Ohio that teaches or supports Montys methods pleaseet me know. For now all I can do is find a place soon and work with Molly and Faith as often as I can. Irishwabbit