Ridecamp: [RC] Boarding Barn Nightmare

I've been meaning to post this for a week, but with
all the stress, moves, and
sickness Star and I have been through I haven't had
time. I hope that those of
y'all that have your horses at home know how blessed
you are and those that are
at boarding barns do not ever go through what I went
through last week. If any
of y'all want to know the name of the barn/owners
please email me privately. 
 
>>#4 -- A large boarding lesson operation about two
miles from my house, just
reopened under new management (which I'd heard where
wack-o's who beat their
horses). It was my last resort, but I went and visited
this morning. Supposed
to meet at 7:30, they were running late. Before the
owners got there I walked
the 'boarders' arena, it's about a 60' round arena and
the big lesson arena,
visited with the pasture board horses, looked at the
fences, etc... The  horses
were overweight, except for one, really friendly, good
coats, nice hooves,
healthy. I really liked the owners, they seemed to
really care about  the
horses. They have huge stalls for stall bound horses
(14 x 20 - 30).  Great
ventelation in their stalls. They have 33 acres of
pasture, 31 horses between
pasture and stall board. 130 acres of trails; when you
trail ride alone you
have to take a radio and check in. I think I'm moving
her here...<<
 
Some of y'all may remember this message from back in
November; well I ended up
checking this barn out again, always liked it and it
was 8/10ths of a mile from
home. Popped by, talked to the owners, met the
boarders, etc... and still liked
it, so Star moved the end of June. Everything seemed
wonderful until the
weekend after the 4th of July, went on an early trail
ride, got to the barn
around 7:30 came back around noon. Barn owner's son
advised the horses had not
been fed, so I fed my horse... Figured that was just a
weekend thing, with his
mom being gone. She told me later that week that if I
wanted Star fed every day
I needed to feed her myself. Figure it's still worth
boarding there 'cause I
can go everyday.
 
So, about two weeks go by and I've pretty much decided
to stay when a friend
who just purchased a pony at that farm mentions that
they were beating a lesson
horse. That kind of bother me, but I figure that it's
there horse and as long
as they leave Star alone then I'm fine.
 
That next weekend another boarder who is new to horses
comes to me very upset.
Her horse is ill with what appears to be flu, cold,
some upper respiratory
thing, but the farm will not allow her to have a vet
out for her horse. I give
her my vet's #, and tell her to use my name for a
referral and they'll come
out. I call my friend who has a pony there and tell
her to get her horse out,
and I make plans to move Star. However, I'm staying
here in town and everybody
know something (possible Strangles) is going around
this barn, so nobody will
take me, but she gets her horse out the beginning of
August. I'm moving the end
of September.
 
On August 1st I went out trail riding alone on the
power line. At one point I
was way up on a hill and could see strait into the
barn yard. See one of the
kids bareback on a white or gray horse with just a
neck rope. Guess the horse
didn't do exactly right and the barn owner comes over
and beats the horse for
about 5 minutes. Call the farm I'm moving too, see if
I can move sooner, answer
is no.
 
August 6th I take my best friend riding. She asks me
what are those saddle
marks and girth sores on Star? You usually take better
care of her than that...
Turns out someone had ridden her that day; I confront
barn owner about that and
my key not working in the front and trail gates. She
says that my horse has not
been riden and I have no right to be at the barn
unless she's there. Say she
misrepersented and I'd probably be moving.
 
August 7th my horse gets upper respiratory junk. The
farm gives her penicillin
against my written instructions, which are call before
treating, either me or
my vet. I tell her to never give anything to my horse
without my permission and
she says it's farm protocol and I have no say. I tell
her I'll medicate her.
Horse has temp of 104.5, I medicate her with SMZs and
Banamine.
 
August 8th, I go out in the morning to medicate her,
mom is with me. She has a
slight tremor in her neck when we first get there,
there's an extra needle mark
that I don't notice until much later in the day. By
the time I have to leave
for work she's tremoring so bad that I decide I have
to call my vet. I take mom
home, call into work, and call my vet. They say drug
reaction, and put us on
the ER list, but it'll be late afternoon if I can
wait. I go back to the farm
and as to see the penicillin bottle. They refuse.
Advise them at that point
that my vet will be out shortly. They tell me that I
need to remove my horse
from there property if my vet comes out. I call vets
office back and ask them
to send someone quicker. I'm sitting in Star's stall,
she's tremoring so bad
that she can support no weight on her left leg, but
she's still up, she has her
head in my lap, and I'm pretty sure by now that it's
either shock from
something or she's been drugged with something. I
doubt if she'll make it much
longer, call vet back begging them to get me someone
right now, they say he's
on his way. She has no pulse in her legs, face is ice
cold, eyes half shut,
barn workers say it looks like an overdose of
tranquilizers.
 
Vet comes out, doesn't want to tranq her to catheter
her to check for Ace, so
we don't do that. Pull blood, nasal swab, suspects
Strangles or flu. I make
plans to move horse, but nobody will take a sick
horse, start looking for
quarantine facility.
 
August 9th, she's not looking any better, I stop by at
lunch to find my horse
with a fever of 103.5 standing in a 30 foot RP in full
sun, no water, no shade.
Ask them to put her back in the barn, and am advised
she will stay in the RP
until night. I call my vet and he says that will
probably kill her and is
abuse. Call animal control and they will take her.
They finally put her back in
the barn. 
 
That night I moved her to my own leased farm where
she's quite happily
recovering. Still don't know what's wrong with her,
but thankfully other than a
slight tremor in her left fore she seems to have no
ill affects. It's my strong
belief that the farm tried to kill my horse both
Thursday and Friday. I'm
writting letters to the breed associations that they
own registered horses of,
animal control, equine rescue leagues, etc... Do y'all
have any other ideas how
I might get somethign done to these people?
 
 
Stephanie


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