More Barn drama (sadly)

Bagged grain, stored in a metal bin

With a storm looming, I headed out early on Sunday to do barn chores (stipulated per contract to occur between 4pm and 8pm) so I scheduled my trip so that I could be wrapping up closer to 4ish - to get home before I got snowed in (the barn is at the end of a cul-de-sac and those roads don't get plowed here and I drive a tin can with no-wheel-drive).  Everyone got fed/grained, I filled water buckets, mucked as well as I could under inches of snow, and noticed that one horse, Apollo, was basically skating in his stall (this barn leaves the doors open when it is snowing (side note: why??), so the snow comes into the stalls, some worse than others. I felt bad for him, so I spent some extra time shoveling/chipping out as much as I could from his stall (an entire Ursa wagon load, side note: Ursa's are AWESOME I WANTS ONE.)

So I was surprised when I received an irate 2 minute voicemail from the barn owner the next morning, accusing me of shirking my chores: the waters were all very low so I obviously did not fill them up, Apollo's was filthy (it is the responsibility of each horse owner to clean their own buckets, and different folks have different ideas of care), and that even tho' I had bagged my grain, I needed to leave a bag right outside Porsche's stall (OK, guilty as charged here - I have my baggies stored in my metal grain bin (it seems crazy to me to leave them out for vermin to snack on overnight). She proceeded to lecture me that I was staying for free and so it wasn't too much of an inconvenience to do the chores properly - she had spent an hour filling buckets, and she did morning chores as a courtesy to boarders, etc. etc. 

I'll spare you the rest. 

I contacted her and the only reason she finally believed that I wasn't lying was the fact I had cleaned Apollos stall. (side note: What kind of person would deliberately leave horses without water in freezing temps, and then lie about it?!?  I am definitely NOT that kind of person.)

As if that wasn't enough, I heard from the gal whose space I am in that she would be coming back into town Mid-April, rather than the contract date agreed upon of April 30th. The undertone was very clear that I would be expected to vacate ("Shannon had said you'd already found a place"  wait, what?)  so I will need to relocate Porsche 2 weeks early....which sadly will be the best riding weather for the fabulous trails accessible from this barn.....

Wow. Just so much Drama. I've learned some very important lessons at this barn, and I'll be glad when we finally bid this place (and the ladies here) farewell for good.