Welcome to Gaia! ::

So I know I'm not in here very often.. but I've gone and gotten myself into a bit of a pickle.


You see I lease one horse (he's great.. no issues,) help my trainer from time to time with her other students and her new four year old. (again, no issues)

And then I was just asked to take on a training project myself by some neighbors.



That's him, he's a 7year old standardbred gelding, rescued off a kill boat to China.

Now this fatso is nothing too advanced... my only goal is to get him safe enough for his owners to ride again. Shouldn't be too hard, he's a sweety and my overall impression is that he was mistreated when he was started undersaddle, and being the big powerful boy he is.. he 'got rid of' the threats quite effectively. Both of his owners are afraid of him, and have basically just fed and cleaned him up every now and then for the past two years.

So basically he knows to buck pretty hard core and he's damn fat. But again, not the main issue, I have no intention initiating that buck mechanism anytime soon, and the fat will go away once he's in work.


Now here comes the pickle.

His owners are a little.... misinformed. They've overfed him and left him barefoot ( not too bad, he hasn't foundered) but now the poor guy is walking around on his heels in front (hind end is 'alright'.) The husband is a touchy sort, he really doesn't want anyone messing with 'his' horse, but the wife is the one who approached me and asked for my help. She's the one doing all of the work, (mucking the stall, feeding, and other misc none-hands-on-with-horse)

Now my trainer has her four year old barefoot, and his feet are amazing. Her farrier would be willing to do this horse for next to nothing.. but I can't seem to convince these people that walking around with a staggering limp and curled up toes is 'bad.' The wife claims he's 'just stocky' and could be ridden tomorrow.

I've been trying to talk to her for the past few weeks, but after the initial conversation where she hired me... she hasn't given me a straight answer.

Basically, I really want to help this poor horse out, I'd even do it for free! But these people are getting on my last nerve with their stubborn ignorance and I'm just not sure how to handle them.

Any tips on dealing with weird clients from you trainers out there? Should I just throw the hat in and not bother? Or drop the diplomacy and tell'em like it is?

Like Brat said, let them know you'll ride the horse once his feet are done. Explain as best you can that you can't ride him when he's sore because of bad feet or whatever. I would say maybe just trim his feet yourself (that's what I would do), but if you haven't had any experience with that, then that probably wouldn't be a good idea...

If they absolutely refuse to have his feet done, then I would say it's time to throw in the towel. Some people just can't be convinced, and riding a horse with untrimmed feet is only going to make him lamer.

Yes that is considered abuse because eventually, left untreated, the horse won't be able to walk. I would drop all pretenses except still use a polite tone and polite words and inform them that what they are doing is cruel to the animal, that you will not ride him and make him worse, and that if she thinks he is so rideable she can hop right on up and show you how it is done (yeah yeah, probably leave out the last part). But I would at least point out that they hired you to train the horse, meaning they obviously aren't sure of what they are doing, and that what you tell them comes out of concern for the animal. But honestly I wouldn't throw in the towel and leave completely because then that horse will suffer. You probably don't want to report them but eventually I would.

(As you can tell I have very little tolerance for stubborn stupidity sweatdrop )

Edit: I also meant to ask how old you were, because if you are on the younger side (teens) than they might not take you seriously, in which case you will probably need a vet or farrier to tell them the exact same thing you have been telling them before they accept it.