# Your Craziest/Worst Boarder



## JoBlueQuarter (Jan 20, 2017)

csimkunas6 said:


> Ive been a BM for a little over a year now, several of the boarders that were here were remaining from the former's owner's business/relations. Ive met some insane people, but I must say my worst was the woman that spent literally all day at the barn. From 9am-10pm she was here, she brought breakfast, lunch, and dinner, a lawn chair, a beach umbrella, her dogs, and a change of clothes. Overall there is no problem with people spending the day at the barn BUT this way every day, she knew exactly which days each boarders came out and the usual times, started to tell people where and how to do things, even went to the extent of coming up to my house( I live on the property) picking fruit off my trees that were in my fenced yard, looking in all the windows and doors, and going into my personal barn and tack room :shock:
> 
> Needless to say several boarders got fed up with her bossing them around, arrangements were made to bring her horse to a private barn/pasture located on the property for the same price, she refused to move to a nice private 2 stall barn with its own pasture for the same price that she was already paying, ended up giving the horse to the farm as she stated she had been kicked out of every other local barn.
> 
> So thats probably my craziest although Ive had several, and one that may be sneaking up on that one, that we've had here yet. Whats your craziest/worst boarders youve had at your barn?


Having her in your personal tack room/yard must be kinda creepy. Maybe she's a Russian spy! :think: lol, just kidding. (Hilarious that she was kicked out of all the local barns! Maybe she didn't have any social life and had a horse just to be around people.) I've never been a BM, so I don't have any stories, but I really wanted to comment on this one!


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## gingerscout (Jan 18, 2012)

Yes totally weird..LOL although I have been places where people talk about people when they weren't there, and it made me nervous to what was said about me behind my back. I learned a lesson 10 or so years ago.. people can read the stuff posted on the internet.. and if you thought she was crazy then.. what would happen if she thought you were mocking her ( which I don't think you are  ) Just my 2 cents.. but I'm just a crazy boarder myself ha ha ha:hide:


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## csimkunas6 (Apr 18, 2010)

JoBlueQuarter said:


> Having her in your personal tack room/yard must be kinda creepy. Maybe she's a Russian spy! :think: lol, just kidding. (Hilarious that she was kicked out of all the local barns! Maybe she didn't have any social life and had a horse just to be around people.) I've never been a BM, so I don't have any stories, but I really wanted to comment on this one!


Haha! You know she was pretty nice for the most part, but sure had her days! Her horse was her only true friend besides her dogs, so I was shocked when she sent a notarized letter relinquishing her horse! She was a very caring person but sometimes cared a bit too much about other boarder's private and personal things, she was notorious for going through people's brushes and tack. But yes, waking up one morning and looking out my bedroom door to see her looking in at me was quite a shock!


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## csimkunas6 (Apr 18, 2010)

gingerscout said:


> Yes totally weird..LOL although I have been places where people talk about people when they weren't there, and it made me nervous to what was said about me behind my back. I learned a lesson 10 or so years ago.. people can read the stuff posted on the internet.. and if you thought she was crazy then.. what would happen if she thought you were mocking her ( which I don't think you are  ) Just my 2 cents.. but I'm just a crazy boarder myself ha ha ha:hide:


No, not mocking what so ever, just interested to see if others have dealt with anyone like her. She truly was a sweet person overall, just had a few interesting qualities!


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## JoBlueQuarter (Jan 20, 2017)

csimkunas6 said:


> Haha! You know she was pretty nice for the most part, but sure had her days! Her horse was her only true friend besides her dogs, so I was shocked when she sent a notarized letter relinquishing her horse! She was a very caring person but sometimes cared a bit too much about other boarder's private and personal things, she was notorious for going through people's brushes and tack. But yes, waking up one morning and looking out my bedroom door to see her looking in at me was quite a shock!


I've met people like that! Sweet people who kinda try to mother everybody and take care of everybody's stuff even if they don't need/want someone to do that for them! Overbearing, but nice.


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## ApuetsoT (Aug 22, 2014)

Pretty sure I'm _that _boarder.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

@Apuesto. I was going to say the same thing!

I am always sort of 'mothering' people. But, I dont' sneak through their gear or stuff like that. or peek in windows. 
I do, however, often feel the urge to give advice to others at my barn . I see them struggling, and I'm so 'nice' that I want to 'help' them. It's a very bad habit, and I know it , and I work hard to smile, say something nice, and go about MY business. It takes will power. But it's what I need, not what they need.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

There are some pretty dysfunctional people attracted to horses, roughly falling into the following categories:

- Bully: "I heard horses like to be shown 'who the boss is', and I have no power over any other aspect of my life."

- Mental health care: "I've heard about the magic healing powers of horses."

- Mother: "I need to nurture an animal like it was my three year-old child."

- Status: "I can use a horse as a tool to gain social status, even if it's just in my imagination."

Some, if not many, of these are combined in a person who is actually afraid of horses, thus really goes overboard with either discipline (giving no release) or pampering (giving no correction). Either way, you can see the lack of personal connection with the horse...and if I can pick up on it, the horses sure can times ten. 

I don't ride at a show barn, so I mostly see the first and second category; the third I haven't encountered in the wild probably because my barn owner wouldn't let a horse become dangerous through benign neglect by its owner.


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## ApuetsoT (Aug 22, 2014)

tinyliny said:


> @Apuesto. I was going to say the same thing!
> 
> I am always sort of 'mothering' people. But, I dont' sneak through their gear or stuff like that. or peek in windows.
> I do, however, often feel the urge to give advice to others at my barn . I see them struggling, and I'm so 'nice' that I want to 'help' them. It's a very bad habit, and I know it , and I work hard to smile, say something nice, and go about MY business. It takes will power. But it's what I need, not what they need.


I don't mother, but I'm a know-it-all. I have to do things different because I'm right.


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## csimkunas6 (Apr 18, 2010)

I dont think there is anything wrong with helping people, many of our boarders here, the barn is their social life, so they all get along (for the most part), help eachother and what not. Nothing wrong with that what so ever however, I believe there is a bit of an issue where a boarder is going through belongings of another person without permission, and telling people how to do things such as bathing their own horse. Advice being given is great, but IMO when someone tells someone else that their way is wrong with little things such as giving a horse a treat, walking a horse, giving a horse a bath can start to get to people. 

Granted, there is a safe way to do things, and yes there are "better" ways of doing things but just because someone isnt doing it the way you do it, does not automatically make it wrong. 

In the case with this boarder, some people knew how to deal with her, and had no issues with the occasional disagreement, but for others it was an all out war BUT i guess when it comes down to it, that is the business of horse boarding!!


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

I recently boarded at one barn. Before I'd always traveled and was never around enough to notice the other people. 

I park my trailer way off by itself and keep my tack and supplies in it. I'm there to ride. I have intense people contact all day and don't crave it.

But there were a couple owners who jabbered all the time. One told me the trainer (a good horseman) good train my horse to do a (western pleasure) jog. I told her that would make me very sad as it would render my horse useless. She was so dense she didn't get it and would yell tips as we worked out on the hills. The other had some very wild claims of "abuse" that her horse suffered in almost every possible way. Always claiming a certain vet diagnosed the abuse. Not true. She spent hours every day at the barn and be miserable looking. I hauled her horse to another barn for her and she claimed it was traumatized from the ride. Not likely unless it became anxious about holding up traffic like I was! But I think the drivers stuck behind me as I crept along the two-lane were traumatized.

I've gone back to leasing my own pasture. I will only let certain people, well known to me, in in emergencies.


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## evilamc (Sep 22, 2011)

This one time I had a boarder, the first time I met her when she brought her horse over....her daughter played in mud and had to get a bath in the sink in my mud room  That was kinda crazy!

JK JK She was the best boarder ever!

The boarder I had before her though.....not so much. She claimed to know how to ride, been riding since a kid..yet anytime she came out to ride she asked me for help and needed me to tack her horse up. It was just a s***show. The last straw was when she "lead" her horse out of the paddock into my front yard with out a halter on but a lead rope around his neck...then let go of it....so of course he took off. I live on a pretty busy road so I was so worried he was going to go to the road. We had to chase him around for a good 10-15min. Man so many horrible stories with her. Very sweet woman and meant well but just not a good fit for me. I didn't have time or the desire to be an instructor.

I ended up telling her she had 24 hrs to move him after he tore through my electric fence while I was out riding to get to my mare and terrorized @csimkunas6 horse Rodeo. I had already given her 30 days notice to leave...but after that...he had to go. I only have electric fence and if he was willing to tear through it that time whats going to stop him from doing it again?


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Amongst many things I have learned about horses is that no matter what fencing some will manage to injure themselves? 

We had stock netting around the perimeter of the fields with a plain hot wire inset on the inside yet one horse managed to slip and slid on her side and got all four legs caught in the stock wire. 

A big stud had solid post and rail fencing. A yearling colt galloped into this and staked himself on a split rail. It entered through his chest and came out by his elbow. 

I had two brood mares gallop into a metal gate, it was bent at right angles, they had charged down the alley between the fields and then back again. The gate had swung back and was partially closed and in going back into the field one mare had caught herself on the gatep catch behind her elbow. It pulled out part of her lung and broke three ribs. 

Another mare rolled close to the fence of palin wire and got caught in it. That was a real mess. 

I tell you what is being done wrong. You need to have rusty barb wire, sagging in places on rotten posts, dump any old rubbish - especially metal, in their field. Horses kept like this never seem to harm themselves.


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## csimkunas6 (Apr 18, 2010)

evilamc said:


> This one time I had a boarder, the first time I met her when she brought her horse over....her daughter played in mud and had to get a bath in the sink in my mud room  That was kinda crazy!
> 
> JK JK She was the best boarder ever!
> 
> ...




****!!! Yeah that boarder with the mud loving kid was totally insane!! ****! I dont think Ill ever forget that day! I was beyond embarrassed! So much for a good first impression right?! :lol:


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## laffysapphy (Sep 25, 2017)

We've had a few interesting people through our barn.

The first was a lady with two OTTB. They were way too much horse for her and the two years they were with us she never rode once. If something wasn't done how she wanted it she would throw a fit. One of our boarders has a horse that had laminitis, so she is extremely careful when turning her out. She was normally only out while her stall was being cleaned, so the other boarder would tell us to tell the mares owner to turn her out more(the mare is turned out regularly now). There was just so much tension between the two of them. When she finally left, she left a bunch of horse poo caked on the walls of one of the horses stalls, she let it build up so badly the wood has stains, even after a power wash. 

We had a family who had a 31 year old mare and a 4 year old gelding. They weren't ridden often, and they actually sent the gelding to a trainer for a year and a half, and when he got back there was almost no change in him. They sent the mare up to learn barrels for one month and never came back, the gelding has moved barns as well. We still have half of their belongings in our tack room. 

We have a boarder who treats her horse like a large dog, she lets her roll on the leadrope, doesn't reprimand her at all for pushy behavior, she is never ridden, and her owner was guilted into adopting her. She's gotten so bad we went out and bought a stud chain. We also end up taking care of her most weekday mornings, her owner has never offered to pay us more even though she is just renting the use of the facilities, and never cleans up her poop in the turn out stall(It has a large pasture attached, she goes out at night while another horse goes out during the day). 

The final boarder has a 29 year old warmblood who is really starting to show his age. He takes him out and canters for hours, in almost 90 degree weather. He is also horrible with unsolicited advice. When I got my new horse, he started pulling her chestnuts off without asking, and when he saw I was having trouble getting her to pick her feet up he came over and started smacking her. She isn't used to being worked so I have had issues getting her to canter, and his idea of helping with this is to all of a sudden take off while we are out on trail rides, leaving me trying to pull back and stop a 1400lb draft cross who is extremely buddy sour when riding (She has gotten way better, and I have gotten her to canter). He has repeatedly told me to trim her tail, and tells me I don't smack her hard enough with a crop when riding even though she responds well to a light tap. He takes our brushes and hoofpicks and uses them on his horse, even though he has his own. His horse has cushings, and he will ask us if he "needs to take his medicine", and if he "has to update his coggins", and if he "needs his shots". He hasn't had his teeth done in three years, and when we had to call the emergency vet out when he was kicked by another horse he took forever to respond to our messages when we were asking him about the horses medical history for the vet(He had been with us for three days at that point). 

I do think all these people mean/meant well, but I have adopted the saying "not my horse, not my problem."


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