Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Monday, 9 May 2011
...and the Mare Stare award for evil yard owner goes to........
......actually, I can't decide, as every day I hear another story that makes my jaw drop, though am happy to share my own experience and personal "favorite".
The first yard Lady Bz and I were at had acres of off road hacking, huge airy boxes, a wash down area, lorry parking, fabulous individual turnout, and a beautifully maintained school with a posh surface and mirrors. I couldn't believe that they had a vacancy (though now of course I know why the turnover was somewhat higher than might be expected).
This yard owner would "help" her liveries to buy suitable horses, and would not take any payment from them, stating that she just wanted the to have lovely horses and be happy, however it transpired that she always "helped" them to buy horses from a contact of hers who:- a) was a dealer and often had horses who were quirky or difficult sellers, and b) would sell them to XXX's livery for an inflated price and they would then trouser the extra between them. She only got caught because of an issue with an insurance company asking for proof of price paid, and somehow the livery got the receipt less XXX's cut (over £2K) - which I somehow feel the tax man would be interested in also.
This scam completed, it wasn't long before unsuspecting livery found out that the horse they had bought was a little more complicated than they had bargained for, which is of course where yard owner would come in, offering to school the horse for the livery (for a fee, or course). Naturally she would also provide lessons, which mostly consisted of her yelling how useless the livery was and that she should "get that horse ON THE BIT-NOW" - without any explanation as to how that should be achieved, and she actually had the front to charge people actual cash money for this b@llocks.
Then there was the little stuff - she constantly yelled at the grooms (who were competent, hard working and pleasant), continually advertised for grooms so there was always some poor kid on an unpaid "trial period" working his/her @rse off in the hope of a job that never materialised, and if she wasn't yelling at the staff then she was yelling at the liveries or her husband, a mild-mannered sort who always wore a personal stereo which I believe was simply to drown out the yelling. Though probably at the time the thing that made my teeth itch most was the meter you had to put a pound in to put the lights on in the school in the winter, having paid £150.00 a week for livery. hmmmm.
We lasted three months (and a month of that was waiting for a vacancy at the next yard), during which time I discovered that she had stopped turning my horse out because "it was eating all her grass" - BAD HORSE, BAD. I also turned up one night after work to find a huge plank from the box wall hanging down in my horses stable, nails up, my horse bleeding, and no sign of anyone on the yard.
There were other things too - for instance no-one was allowed to use the school on the days she was competing until she had left for the venue, as it "upset her concentration".
When I look back now I wonder at what precise point I realised she was a completely crazy bitch, though I do think there was an aspect of the "boiling frog" to it, i.e. she started out seeming very nice and just gradually revealed the craziness until you accepted it as normal.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Totilas - dressage horse or circus horse - you decide!
Also, am I just an envious old cow or does Matthias Rath have the smug look of the pony club kid who knows his parents have just bought him the best pony on the circuit?
If you want to be taken seriously in the horse world......
.....always be sure to have your picture taken riding with pram-pusher hands and wearing pink wellingtons, it really impresses people who may be thinking of loaning their horse to you free, gratis and for nothing - not.
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Even in a recession, there are still 6000 people in the UK prepared to part with serious money to see the Parellis.
http://central.parellinaturalhorsetraining.com/2011/04/horse-riding-parelli-community-rocks-the-lg-arena-at-the-uk-celebration/
Apparenly:-this was a Celebration of community, core values and the common cause of ‘creating a better world,’ 6,000 attendees smiled, laughed and learnt more about the art of natural horsemanship and how to ‘read a horse.’
I think it was about £90.00 to get in - but if Mr and Mrs P are now "creating a better world" then surely that's well worth anybody's money?
Surely it's time that PP was beatified - or should he be fast-tracked straight to sainthood? Next he will be claiming to cure blind and lame horses with the laying on of hands - for a fee of course.
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