I needed to board my horses while I put up fencing on my property. Initially this facility seemed great, but shortly after my horses arrived my opinion changed quickly.
To start with, the facility, while well contained, was not very clean. None of the other boarders seemed to clean up after themselves and there were often pieces of metal scattered on the ground and always a scary amount of beer bottle caps on the ground in and around the turn out pens. My goat tried to eat them several times and I had to remove them from her mouth before she swallowed them, and one was lodged in one of my horses hooves one afternoon.
Another concerning thing was the nonchalant attitude surrounding feeding my horses. Both are over 25 and have very particular diets. I noticed after a few weeks that they seemed to be going through their feed quickly and when I asked why this was, I was told they were feeding my mare twice the amount she was supposed to have because they "didn't think she was eating enough". My mare was slightly overweight to begin with and after she had what the vet thought was a laminitic episode, I asked about her feed again and the story suddenly changed. After I said she may have laminitis, I was told "she was only fed two scoops a few times", some of those times being by someone I had never met and did not know was feeding my animals. It was extremely concerning that 1.) my horses weren't being fed the way I instructed and 2.) that other people than the farm owners were feeding my animals without my knowledge or consent. After reiterating what they should be getting, I was told "yes, I know what they get", but that didn't seem to be the case. Another upsetting factor was that I was being charged extra for my horses to be given senior feed. I was told the facility considered it "a supplement" so there was an extra charge. Why was feeding grain an extra charge when I was already doing everything else?
I paid $850 a month for two horses and a goat to be given grain and hay. That's literally it. They were only fed and I had to do everything else. Every day for almost 2 months, I woke up and drove straight to the facility to clean stalls, groom my animals, turn them out, fill/clean water buckets, etc... In the end, I actually just bought fencing panels and put up stalls in my backyard to bring the horses home. I no longer felt comfortable with them at this facility since their feed had been changed so much without my consent and I was already doing 99% of the care taking anyways. At least I don't have to drive to them anymore. read more
