Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Alternatives

I was willing to give the studdy geldings one more go, I told myself. I'll go out and get Izzy, but if I have anything close to the drama I had last time, I'm just done. I'm not even putting her back out there.

It was Monday afternoon. I'm always alone at the barn, especially on Mondays.

As soon as I had sturdy boots and a helmet on, I picked up Izzy's rope halter, my lunge whip, and a couple of treats. Not taking chances here. As I walked over to the pasture, studdy gelding #1 who thinks Izzy is his soul mate, was taken out by his owner.

Nuts. I am totally done with this guessing game and I am not going to wait out another day, wondering if I'm dodging serious injury just to get my horse out for a ride. I put everything down and go clean stalls while I wait for studdy gelding #1 to return.

Literally as I take the last wheelbarrow out of the barn, studdy gelding #2's owner shows up. All I can think is wtf? These people never come, and now they're both here when I least want them? Oh, and they wanted to be chatty. I was -not- in the mood. Hey, if their stupid geldings can be hormonal, so can I. Leave me alone, people who have horrible horses.

Oh well... both geldings are out, so I just go and retrieve my pony, sans whip and helmet. She's just quietly waiting--no crazy meltdown because the studdy stud studs are gone.

This is funny, because they are both having huge fits, screaming, acting up, being dumb. Like 5 minutes after I took Izzy out, studdy gelding #2 was returned to the pasture because his owner didn't want to deal with his fit. Yep, great training guys. Any thoughts on why studdy gelding #2 is so awful?

I hand walked Izzy for a while so we could just hang out, then tacked up and went to the outdoor, which is directly across the road from the drama pasture. Studdy gelding #1 was back by now, so he proceeded to scream and run the fence. Fortunately, Izzy mostly ignored him, and I actually had a decent ride, though I did work her into a lather... We stopped to visit with Teri, our western trainer, and discussed the studdy stud studs. She agreed with me that it was a really bad situation and recommended some alternatives to talk over with the BO.

Long story short: Izzy is moving to a smaller private pasture today. It has certain drawbacks, but at least we'll both be away from the awfulness that is geldings.

Success story: I hosed Izzy off after our ride. She stood still and didn't have a meltdown. YAY!!!

6 comments:

  1. Studish geldings, how annoying. Turn out can be one of the most frustrating thing to plan out as a barn manager, especially when you have young horses, high energy mares, geldings, and stallions. Gag

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  2. OK, I just noticed the "I hate geldings" tagline. *gasp* Whhhaaaaaatt??? How about "I hate the stupid sex-crazed geldings that try to kill me"? ;-) Lol. Just joshin' ya, but I assure you that not all geldings are hormonal murderers.
    Private pasture? Wow, that is nice! Izzy the Princess Pony will get quite full of herself, hahaha.

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  3. Glad the situation is resolved. I was worried about you.

    Studdy geldings are a real pain and I'd have to suspect at least one might be a rig. I have a friend who was very seriously hurt by a rig that no one knew was not fully castrated. It's a dangerous situation--worse, I think than a hormonal mare.

    Hope Izzy's new turnout works out well and that she is happy.

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  4. The barn Nina was in last year had mixed turnout, about 5 geldings and 5 mares on 10 acres. I was very apprehensive, but everyone got along fine. The only studdy gelding was only 3 so he got beat up by everybody every time he acted out. But I think this was the exception rather than the rule, mixed turnout can easily be a disaster. Glad you came up with a safer fix.

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  5. I knew a OTTB bought by a *vet* no less that turned out to still be intact... which they only found out MANY months later after mare in field turned up prego. Apparently, he went undetected as he was very ill mannered about being touched anywhere in the backend and his surplus bits were kept tucked up tight ;-D

    Not saying this is a possibility, just sharing the horror!

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  6. I'm so glad she is out of there...that was a bad situation that could have turned dangerous. I admire you for having the guts to say something and look out for both YOUR safety and Izzy's piece of mind. Everything else about the place sounds great, so I hope this was just a bump in the road.

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