Cruelty and ignorance at the barn

Anne and I had a very, very interesting ride on Saturday, but my recount of that will have to wait.  Instead, I will relate the episode where things almost turned violent at the barn yesterday.  I'm still fuming about it.

The only other TWH at the barn is an ancient chestnut.  He is thin, he is creaky, and his teeth and feet have both been neglected at various points in the past.  He gets long cushings-like coats that will mat up, and both Joan and Anne have taken the time to groom or clip those mats out.  The owner insists that he only receive Purina Senior Feed (a brand that an old vet of mine warned me to never curse a horse with), and he became emaciated on it.  At our expense, Joan, Anne, and I have put more items into his feed, and he has begun to put on weight.  He is most definitely not back to a decent weight yet with ribs visible, hips sticking out, and a spine that juts out over his back, but there is an improvement.  He recently had thrush so bad that he was 3-legged lame, and who knows how long he had it since the owner would rarely look at him.  It is a struggle to get this horse to finish his feed, and we have also all seen him struggle for a good 20 minutes trying to get back up after he rolls.  He can barely keep himself upright.

Before he started putting weight back on, when he was a shaggy red skeleton, the owner's girlfriend (might I add the owner is married but he brings his girlfriend to the barn and to the barn parties) was caught riding him.  He got lectured then.

Yesterday, as we came back from a hike (in a car, we drove to one of the Fair Hill lots), we saw him with the horse, his grandkids, and his girlfriend.  The horse had a bridle on and a saddle blanket on his back, and one of the little kids had a helmet on.  The three of us started fuming, and watched as they came back to the barn.  Anne was mumbling under her breath for the horse to be his usual horribly mannered self and take off, but for once he was compliant.  Knowing them, he probably had a twisted wire bit in his mouth.

We weren't going to say anything, not our barn, until the girlfriend looked back and said to the horse, "come on, it's not that bad."

Anne and I lost it.  We lit into them, to the point where the owner actually threatened Anne.  She knew that he had a hip replacement, so if it came to that she would have gone right for that hip.  She's a scrapper, that Anne.  Also, he would have found a 6'1" Dutch man on his back.  All during it, my pacifist Richard had kept himself belted in the car, the window up, because he was going to go out and kick some ass.  He was forcibly restraining himself.

Anne said to the owner, "are you threatening me?" to which his tone changed.

Anyway, the girlfriend was complaining loudly about how everyone has an opinion, no matter how stupid they are, and that they have 20 years with that horse and who is anyone else to tell them anything?

To which I thought (and didn't say) yes, and his condition speaks volumes about your skills.

Anne was teaching someone how to work the barn, they arrived, and went off together.  I got back in the car and we peeled out of there.  I also immediately picked up my cell phone and let Joan know exactly what was going on.

She later went down there, so Anne tells me, and played dumb about the situation.  She did ask if they had been riding them, to which the owner started back-pedalling.  She said that the horse is NOT to be ridden, ever, why he shouldn't be, and if they want to ride a horse to let her know.  They can ride Cheyenne, and Joan will even go out with them on trail.  He supposedly apologized (to whom, I'm not sure), and it was left at that.

If I should see this happen again, my cell is coming out and I am shooting pictures.  I am also going to ask if, in their 20 years, they ever heard of something called a top line and know what importance it has in the ability to ride a horse.  Not that the lack of any sort of top line is the main problem with this horse....

Or, maybe I'll go into how there is no excuse for an old horse to be thin (they were grumbling about his age).  No excuse unless he is sick.  So, he either is not being fed properly or is sick - both reasons not to ride.

Or.... maybe Rick will just call the police?