Wow--this is really scary

[IcouldbeU]

A good friend of mine called me last night very upset. She breeds mainly QH but has a TB stud and a couple TB mares. She was out of work almost all of 2007 and 2008 and finally went back to work in December. She loves her job but misses being a "barnwife" as her husband likes to call her. She lives about 15-20 minutes from work and gets 1 hour for lunch. Last Monday she had the day off and invited a co-worker over to go riding. Since then the co-worker hasnt talked to her or even thanked her for inviting her over.
Yesterday she had AC at her door! The co-worker must have reported her to AC because 1) she used a crop while riding and 2) she doesnt go home at lunch to give her horses more hay. (they have nelson waterers) AC issued her a written warning stating that she must either provide the horses enough hay/grain to get thru an entire day while she is not home or she must hire someone to do an afternoon feeding. And that they considered her use of a riding crop as abusive.
Is there anyone here who goes home at lunch to feed their horses? What about horses at the track. My horses get fed very early in the morning and again about 4pm, so would not feeding them at midnite constitute abuse?
What is going on in this world? BTW this happened in LA.

[Kelly Kip]

How totally bogus!! How does that constitute abuse? Any "certified" person would know that you can't "give enough grain to get through the day". And as long as the horses are in good flesh and healthy, they don't have a leg to stand on!

BTW, is that LA as in California, or LA as in Louisiana?

[skywatcher]

sadly it seems that a lot of AC officers don't know anything about livestock....they either ignore legit cases of neglect until there are bodies lying around or harrass responsible owners due to thei rown lack of knowledge
I had one out recently who was concerned that my 15 chickens are overcrowded in their 20 x 40 run. I told her to go visit a commercial chicken operation and consult someone who knows what they're doing before she came back...

[kimberley mine]

Yesterday she had AC at her door! The co-worker must have reported her to AC because 1) she used a crop while riding and 2) she doesnt go home at lunch to give her horses more hay. (they have nelson waterers) AC issued her a written warning stating that she must either provide the horses enough hay/grain to get thru an entire day while she is not home or she must hire someone to do an afternoon feeding. And that they considered her use of a riding crop as abusive.
Is there anyone here who goes home at lunch to feed their horses? What about horses at the track. My horses get fed very early in the morning and again about 4pm, so would not feeding them at midnite constitute abuse?
What is going on in this world? BTW this happened in LA.

Sounds like she has some major PR to do--with animal control, not the coworker (who is probably a lost cause). Starting with a vet assessment of her animals and their feeding program. If the AC officer just doesn't know about horses, that's a start.

If her animals are in good condition, have access to shade, water, and grazing, that charge right there should fall away.

[Linda_d]

A good friend of mine called me last night very upset. She breeds mainly QH but has a TB stud and a couple TB mares. She was out of work almost all of 2007 and 2008 and finally went back to work in December. She loves her job but misses being a "barnwife" as her husband likes to call her. She lives about 15-20 minutes from work and gets 1 hour for lunch. Last Monday she had the day off and invited a co-worker over to go riding. Since then the co-worker hasnt talked to her or even thanked her for inviting her over.
Yesterday she had AC at her door! The co-worker must have reported her to AC because 1) she used a crop while riding and 2) she doesnt go home at lunch to give her horses more hay. (they have nelson waterers) AC issued her a written warning stating that she must either provide the horses enough hay/grain to get thru an entire day while she is not home or she must hire someone to do an afternoon feeding. And that they considered her use of a riding crop as abusive.
Is there anyone here who goes home at lunch to feed their horses? What about horses at the track. My horses get fed very early in the morning and again about 4pm, so would not feeding them at midnite constitute abuse?
What is going on in this world? BTW this happened in LA.

I'm suspicious. Something is not right in this story ...

Sorry, but I don't think your friend is being honest about what the AC found or what she was ordered to do. If your friend's coworker was upset enough about her use of the riding crop to complain to Animal Control, then I suspect your friend did more than just tap her horse on the rump a couple of times. I also don't see what's the problem with giving the horses enough hay to tide them over while she's at work. AC shouldn't have to order her to have hay available all day -- that's just good practice for riding horses since it prevents digestive problems.

[doublete]

I would agree, something not right. My horses get fed three times a day, but are never hungry and not at all skinny.

Generally even the stupidest AC officer won't make that kind of statement without a good reason.

[Bunty Lawless]

BTW, is that LA as in California, or LA as in Louisiana?

I'm hangin' on that detail as well.

[IcouldbeU]

The LA is Louisianna. I suspect that the coworker was upset by the use of the riding crop and then escalated the issue. I was at the farm last summer and the horses in the barn are fed twice a day and there are a couple that have all their hay gone quickly. Everyone looked good and the pony was on the verge of being obese.
Sorry I do not have more details, just what she told me. I was mainly wondering about how others who work fed their horses during the 8-10 hours while they were away. Or how horses at the track were fed, as I have stated my horses at the track are fed twice and when I go on raceday I never see food in any of their stalls.

[JaradM]

I feed my mares at 7am and 4pm. If something is going on and I cant make it to the farm until late in the afternoon or late in the morning I will call a friend to feed for me. I dont like feeding late becasue the mares will be pissed off at me for at least 2-3 days.

[Sock Monkey]

Is there anyone here who goes home at lunch to feed their horses? What about horses at the track. My horses get fed very early in the morning and again about 4pm, so would not feeding them at midnite constitute abuse?
What is going on in this world? BTW this happened in LA.

Where in LA?

I don't know many riding horses that get fed 3x a day (although track horses generally do get fed 3x and generally have free choice hay in a net all day). Your point about midnight feeding is astute.

Did AC really say she needs to provide enough grain to get through an entire day?

she must either provide the horses enough hay/grain to get thru an entire day

I dunno. The AC statment does seem kind of foolish. If they thought the hroses were in poor condition, it seems they would have said she needs to provide "adequate" hay/grain - and not be as worried about how many times per day.

What is your friend planning on doing?

[Vindicated]

I have frequently had issues with Animal Control-Usually from disgruntled types. Thankfully, the Animal Control officers in this area are pretty knowledgable about horses
Once got a visit regarding using a chain shank-Explained to officer that the animal was a 2 year old colt, that was WAY out of hand-he inspected the animal and found not a hair out of place.
Another visit was for "Lack of Farrier Care" Now this one was practically ignored by AC-as by this time they had been out for ALOT of bogus claims-and just looked around-and of course found nothing amiss.
I have had alot of old-timers that took alot of groceries just to look okay, had alot of calls on them.
Basically, I was being harrassed by a couple of people that I had asked to leave the farm-due to mis-conduct.
Once Animal Control had been out, spoken with me, other employees, and the professionals attending our animals-they still had too come out-but it was never an issue

In regards too the animals given enough hay to last all day-That is a personal preferance as long as the animals in question are in good physical condition.
There are plenty of reasons NOT to feed hay all day long
and just as many TO feed hay all day long-
I don't believe that this is a decision for us/or animal control too make-without having ALL of the facts

Also-in regards to your friend-it is my opinion that she should contact the Animal Control Supervisor, and have him/her speak with the vets (or vets) that attend the horses in question. This should resolve the food issue.
As for the riding crop-once again, Alot of people feel that they should NEVER be used-and base all of their beliefs on what PETA has told them.
The Vet should also be able to honestly tell Animal Control what type of relationship the owner has with her animals-animals that are beaten are seldom affectionate toward the abuser, ect...

[Diane]

Something missing in her story...#1 you don't allow someone who doesn't know squat about horses ON your horse to ride it so the co-worker had some knowledge of horses. My guess it was cleanliness that was the real problem. I'm glad to hear AC made the visit and maybe didn't "need" to. It's like CPS. Nobody wants to have them on the doorstep but OMG if we didn't have them at all what atrocities would never be found....

[wilf]

My next door neighbour is a nightmare and I think that she is in jail now to be honest , on a firearms charge. I have called the Sheriff about the 6 horses on the property including one stallion that are fed large bales in the paddock and then nobody shows up again for a month.....I kid you not! The waterers often fail ,the fences are a disaster and even today I caught a loose mare on the road from that property as she fought over the fence with the stallion! When the Officer arrived he said the horses looked good and was more concerned about my attitude. I replied that next time I will wait until a few have died before I call. Have a nice day officer but have it somewhere else!

[jumper77]

I'm in LA. Don't tell AC, because my horses only eat 2x a day! In fact, I can't think of more than about 2 barns who do feed more than 2x a day, and it's usually just for certain horses with special dietary issues.

Are these horses being fed 1 flake of hay in the morning? Are they in stalls all day with nothing to eat? If that's the case, yeah, they probably should be getting more. Are they skinny?

98% of the time, the problem with AC is that they won't do anything when a horse is skin and bones and in obvious danger. I smell something fishy here with this story. It just doesn't sound right. I'd also like to know where in LA this is.

[Vindicated]

Something missing in her story...#1 you don't allow someone who doesn't know squat about horses ON your horse to ride it so the co-worker had some knowledge of horses. My guess it was cleanliness that was the real problem. I'm glad to hear AC made the visit and maybe didn't "need" to. It's like CPS. Nobody wants to have them on the doorstep but OMG if we didn't have them at all what atrocities would never be found....

I used to let my know nothing friends on my well broke horses all of the time-if they sign the appropiate forms ect...I am always out with them of course.
My husband had never been on a horse before dating me-and I let him ride my high strung jumper (for giggles)
Just saying that nice people do nice things for people often-maybe the co-worker had a fantasy about what horses are like and was shocked by reality.
How do you gete Cleanliness out of this BTW? Just asking