Even more, optionless

(LOL  - that title sounds like it could be a Radiohead song to me)

Tesla went to join Porsche at Barn #2 - she healed up nicely from her scrape (no permanent damage), and was able to finally settle down next to Porsche, without being eaten alive by river bugs and stressed out by hot tape paddock fencing.

While there were a lot of little things that I wasn't 100% OK with at Barn #2, the girls were happy, calm, and well-fed, so I figured I could make some of the other things work by being extra careful, avoiding things I felt were unsafe, and generally trying to avoid the Barn Owner: who was always telling me off about something I was doing wrong....

Summer turnout started, which meant that instead of breakfast, Owner P. would turn horses out on pasture. I opted out for Tesla because (a) I didn't want the B.O. handling her, and (b) they had an established alpha in the group and did no introductions..
Porsche, who gets along well in herds, participated in turnout, but when I noticed she started to look a little ribby, I asked for an extra flake (the barn agreement includes feeding - we can specify the weight of food, my understanding was with no limits) and I got a HUGE pushback.

I was told that 10% of bodyweight was fine for horses X, Y, and Z - and that they weighed Porsche on their walk-on wooden floating platform farm scale (without my permission) and that she weighed 1050 off pasture with a belly full of food. They told me we could try a feed increase until the end of the month and then reassess, and that we would "find out what is wrong with Porsche".  There is nothing wrong with this horse. Her coat is shiny. She is up to date on everything, and receives a supplement of rice bran & a high quality vit/min supplement. She honestly was probably busy socializing during summer breakfasts and just needed a few more groceries at dinner time...

Getting skimpy on food is definitely a red flag.

Handling a horse without permission is also a red flag. The open platform scale at this barn is really old school, the platform isn't solid under their feet: if a horse spooked, it could definitely harm itself and or others...


Recently, this showed up in the arena:




I honestly thought some plumbing work was being done, but now I think it is some sort of obstacle? Looks like a leg breaker to me, especially since horses get free turn-out in this area (not mine!) ...


and speaking of riding arenas, this is ours:



These folks are old school, and think manure = footing, but this was definitely not what it looked like when I moved the girls here, and has gotten progressively worse over the summer...there are now huge sharp wood chunks in there as well..I can't remember the last time it was groomed...

The covered arena is now the turn-out for Owner P's personal horse, which makes the only safe riding in the sand round pen, or off-property.

The scale (pun intended) is starting to tip from "make it work" to "deal-breaker" ....

So I'm looking at several barns this week....the options are slim, and a drive, but...hopefully I can find something safe (and sane!).