Some people should not own horses.

There are few things more annoying, to me, than someone who has a butt ton of horses and doesn't give a damn about them. Todays diatribe is brought to you by the pretty dappled gray pony that has been standing outside my paddock for the last two days. I have called the barn manager and left messages about him. He is constantly roaming around loose, and often people don't see him, so they leave the gate to the road open. This is a disaster waiting to happen. This morning, the gate was open, and I drove up to my paddock...guess who was there. You got it. The pretty pony. I called the BM again. He finally answered right before his voice mail picked up. He sounded sleepy, which is unusual because he works nights, and is just getting off about the time I feed. I told him that the pony was out *again*, and the gate was open. That is when he said he was in California, and could I please close the gate! Bwaaahahahaha! I woke his ass up! He mumbled something about the pony's owner needing to buy some hot tape for the paddock, since said menace was such a Houdini. He also said something about the pony not seeming to go towards the gate! Holy Cwap Batman! Uh.... it will only go out the gate and be smashed by a car once. (This has actually happened at this place)

Skip to this afternoon. I drove up to feed, and who is still there? Houdini is munching on the icky alfalfa I threw on the burn pile for the bazillion mini goats that roam loose. He has apparently been there all day, judging by the number of poop piles. When I drove up, he left. He trotted across to visit the bay horse who is three legged crippled (I called the BM about him too, see extended rant below*) I fed my two and went to get their hay. Here he comes. He is smart.... he knows about being caught. He followed along down the stallion lane while I took the hay to the barn. Of course, when I went out with the halter, he left. Bastard.

I went down to the main barn to see if anyone knew who owned Houdini, and where his dappled ass belonged. Apparently, his rather absentee owner doesn't come to the barn often. She also apparently would not miss him if he were loaded up and taken to timbuktu. *Apparently* she has fifteen horses in the far back pasture. She is totally unconcerned that one of her horses could get killed on the road, or worse yet, cause a person or a whole car full of people to die. This is one example of someone who should not own horses in my never to be humble opinion.

*Extended rant: The bay horse I mentioned above appeared along with three other horses in the paddock directly across the road from mine. This is not an unusual occurrence as people and horses are in and out of this place like a revolving door. I noticed that he was three legged. His right hind was useless and he was hobbling around looking very uncomfortable. I called the BM (I love how those initials work out! HA!)and told him the horse was crippled. He said that those three horses were not even supposed to be in there, and he didn't know how they'd gotten there. He supposed they had come through the back fence. Of course he would call the owner... and of course the horse is still out there, still crippled. Rant on! Another former client had about 50 fricking broodmares. The woman's hubby passed and left her an apparently endless supply of dollars so she went to the auction and bought every mare anyone was selling. Then she hauled them all to various stallions to have them bred. Sheesh eh? Well, one of them was a pretty gray mare. I always looked for her. One day she was standing all spraddle legged by the front fence. Hmmmm. I had noticed something hanging down under her belly. I went over to look, and this poor mare had a fricking fist sized hole in her belly. Fortunately, there were no guts hanging out, but it was a nasty wound. I called the BM... of course he would call the owner. He thought they had called the vet.... Uh yeah, sure. Every vet I know who actually graduated from an accredited university and passed the boards would have shaved and trimmed that wound, even if they couldn't suture it. 'Cause you can't suture a wound that is DAYS old. Fortunately it did not kill her.

The BM is the same guy who periodically sends out these idiotic demands... like you WILL vaccinate for WNV, and you WILL bring me proof that you have done this. Uh BM? Kiss my ass. What about rabies you idiot? There are just a lot of people in this world who should not own animals...or breed.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled...whatever :)