Surprise! No picture.

I’ve told you that years ago I got into a habit of looking over a horse to see what tell-tale signs I could find.  Like injuries, conformation, scares, etc.  It’s become a game ever since.

Well did you ever do those hidden picture, or games that you have to find objects.  I love those things.

Well a friend sent me a message to check out her new post on the “Horse Boarding In Florida” Facebook page.  I did, and had some extra time so I looked at all the current posts.

Now we all love our barns and think they are just the best.  I have had many different barns over the years, and loved each and every one of them.  They were all different and each barn served the needs, and money, I had at that time.  So I decided to look at these posts as if I were looking for a barn for my horse, and did one of those hidden picture/find the object games at the same time.  I did this with the safety factor in mind.

Somethings that don’t bother other people are red flags to me.  So many of the barns had stuff in the aisle ways.  This drives me absolutely insane.  Especially the ones with narrow aisles.  Have you ever had a horse freak on a cross tie or in an aisle way?  You better be sure there is some place to get out-of-the-way.  You get a thousand pound animal who is in panic mode and you don’t want to be caught in the middle of that nonsense.  A lot of barns allow tack trunks in front of each stall.  I understand it is a convenience for the owner, but it is also an obstacle to a person or a horse.  Saddle racks in the aisle way can put a nice gash into a horse.  Any kind of nails are surely going to be found by a horse.  They are like magnets to anything that will slice or dice their bodies.  Buckets are easy to fall over, or get your foot caught.  Halters or bridles laying on the floor will grab your feet as you walk by.  Yup, they just jump right out and “gotch ya!”

There were barns that only had 6, 8 or 10 foot isle ways.  How do you even get a horse out of the stall and turned into the aisle without hitting their hips on the doors?  I’ve had an aisle way that was 12 foot, and now I have one that is 14 feet wide.  I much prefer the 14 ft.   I don’t care how much room you think you have, when it comes down to a dangerous situation, there is never enough room.  You have your nice quiet horse on the cross ties and someone’s horse gets loose and runs into the barn right up to your horse and the games begin.  Get out of dodge and let them sort it out. Or wait until it settles a little before you jump into the situation.

I put a loop of bale cord on the ring and then have the cross ties attached to the bale cord.  It breaks easy with no damage to anything.  Cheap and easy to replace.  No broken clips, or halters, although I use break away halters, but you still have to replace the leather crown piece.

Be a thinking horse person at all times.  It will save you and your horse from a lot of bad situations, vet, and doctor bills.

And when you get a chance, play the game of what is wrong with this picture.  It’s a fun learning experience.  Makes you take notice because we are dealing with those suicidal horses that we love so much.