Findu's horse - update

[Miacoda]

aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm so jealous! Friesians are my favorite horses oh man I wish I could own a horse she is just so pretty <3

[Finduilas]

Awesome horses everyone And thanks to everyone for all the comments.

Last wednesday we finally had a lesson in dressage again. It went very well. My trainer was really pleased with our performance and said that you can see all the work we put in. She now carries herself much better and galopp gets better from week to week. I'll ask my trainer to take some pictures during the next lesson.

[Finduilas]

So I have news and they are not the greatest.

Jantina and I had a great summer, during school times I went to see her on wednesdays in the evening and on sundays. An other girl from the stables joined us with her horse on big tours and we learned how to pass through running water in a little creek.

Then 3 weeks ago things began turning. Jantina was hurt where the saddle girth is supposed to be. On both sides so I could exclude an accident. Someone must have saddled her wrong. The skin was swollen, on one side she even bled. I called the owner and told her I couldn't ride so I put her on the longe for an hour and worked with her. Jantina had lots of fun working this way and she was really relaxed after the hour. But her owner yelled at me "because our arena is too small to work on the longe with a Frisian horse". Total BS. I ignored her, thinking she had a bad day. We had a dressage trainer come to our stables the week after, we took part in his lessons and everything seemed fine.

This week Jantina's owner bought a new horse. A four year old mare, utterly and totally afraid of everything. She can't ride properly and everyone in the stable thought the same "Why would she buy a young, uneducated horse?". She began to only care for the new mare. She left old Wiard and Janni to me or an other girl. You should have seen the hurt look on Wiard's face when she drove home without even saying hello to him.

Then I got a call from my old riding instructor telling me about a young horse in my old stable that needed someone to train it. I went there, met the owner, we talked and I thought about giving Ginger (that's the mare's name) a try.

Two days ago Jantina's owner called me raging about "Why I want a new horse" and "what the fuck was wrong with me" and that "she felt betrayed",... I was so shocked I couldn't answer. Some jerk must have told her a twisted version about Ginger. I was mad. I hadn't decided anything about any horse yet. I love Jantina, but I couldn't get over the behavior of her owner during the past weeks. Having 3 horses is hard work, even if you have lots of time and can train and ride them properly. I was sick of her neglecting the other two just because she had a new "toy". I didn't want her to push me around anymore, when everything I did was only to keep the horses healthy and safe.

So yesterday I called her. Telling her everything that bothered me and she just kept on shutting me up like I had no clue about how to deal with a horse. I quit. I just can't stand the accusations of this woman anymore. I feel utterly sad for old Wiard and Janni to leave them like this and to this woman who doesn't care. I just told her the truth, but she won't hear it.

I was crying the whole Sunday after I came back from my last ride with Janni. It was only a year, but I really loved this horse and think she deserves better. I have to go back to the stable to collect my stuff, but at the moment I can't put up with meeting this horrible person.

I'll keep you updated about Ginger, but I think I will start a new thread for it. This one holds too many emotions.

[Vlentana]

You know, it's funny, Findu. I love animals. Horses, cats, dogs. But I'm deathly afraid of anything that can really hurt me (Horses and dogs). My girlfriend has 3 small dogs. One pug and two Brussels Griffones. And I get very very nervous when I am around them. But when her brother was a bit rough with the oldest (the pug), I literally got up in his face because he was yelling at my girlfriend that he was being too rough. I was defending the dogs that I'm scared of.

Trust me, you had every right to tell the owner off. You love Janni and the other horses. I hope things work out (too bad you can't buy Janni off that horrible owner, Janni seems to love you).

[Boven]

One of the reasons I don't own a horse is that I know I wouldn't be able to spend enough time with it. When I still worked at the stables, some of the privately owned horses saw their owners maybe once a week at best. I remember one woman expressing surprise one day when her horse, who'd been being ornery and crabby, got all happy and bouncy when he saw me, the guy who fed and watered and mucked his stall once a week.

I know it was tough, but I think you did the right thing. Sometimes dealing with an owner is just about impossible. It's one of the reasons I stopped working at the school barn on Sundays after having been there for 16 years.

I do look forward to hearing about Ginger.

[Serendipity82]

You did the right thing Findu. I have been in similar situations myself and sometimes the best (and only thing) you can do is walk away. Usually that's the toughest decision too. <3 You did right,even though it sucks.

[Finduilas]

Thank you all for the encouraging words! It makes me feel a bit better about my decicion.

Vlentana, I had thought about buying Janni. But there are several things against it. I'm still an apprentice, my money wouldn't even be enough to pay for the stable and we need my husband's money for our house, the cats and other daily costs. I work 40 hours a week, so I wouldn't even have time to see the horse from Monday-Friday. And she's turning 19 soon, so it would be only a few years before the vet bills would start to grow bigger and we can't afford that (at least not at the moment). I feel really bad for leaving her. But she's with Wiard and I think he wouldn't survive it (really) to be separated from her.