By all appearances, this place looks great. But then you board there and you realize it isn't…read more 1st thing is we signed up our horses for the farrier arranged by Joel. They offer to bring the horses in for the trim and put them back out afterwards. Days after a farrier visit I called Joel to follow up on an issue and told him we were on the way over and he informed us one of our horses was limping, but it was no big deal, the farrier trimmed her short. I was surprised this was not mentioned to us prior to this time, so I immediately hung up the phone and called the vet who came right out. As we started to bring our horse out, from 50 feet away the dr says to me that is not a limp from a short trim. Our horse could barely walk and to bring her in we had to walk over the 40 foot long pile of manure that had been dumped outside the barn. Her issue turned out to be serious and unrelated to a short trim. We then had to pay for a stall with special bedding, she was put on pain meds. The next day, it had rained and we get to her stall and shes standing in a pool of mud water, feces and pee. We switched stalls, but every stall available was wet and our horse specifically needed several inches of dry bedding. This problem was very stressful as every place he put her would get wet.
We gave notice at the end of the month and told Joel we'd be removing the horses within a couple weeks. With 30 days notice required, we gladly paid the full month's board for both horses. But, around the 1st the round bale was basically gone. We asked Joel when they would be putting a new one in, he said within a couple days. A couple days passed and there was no round bale. We asked again about the round bale and was told another excuse and that by the weekend they'd have a new one. A few days later, we see they tossed part of a regular bale of hay into the pasture. But no round bale. A few days later, again no round bale and Joel again told us he would be putting a new in one in shortly. Long story short, he NEVER gave our horses a round bale. I guess because we were leaving our horses didnt deserve to be fed properly.
In the 4 days that passed from our last visit, till we came to move them, our draft horse had lost a significant amount of weight, her backbone was showing and it was clear they had not been receiving adequate food.
The water was dirty and sometimes green and we had to stay on top of that too. We asked Joel numerous times for clean water.
The pasture had no grass, it was dirt and full of rocks all over. The small flimsy tin lean to was not enough shelter from the sun.
The other reviews about the inconsistent feeding schedule are also true. In addition, the persons feeding the horses really didnt know who was supposed to get what, as we talked to them directly when one of our horses was suddenly bloated with excessive gas. Turns out they were feeding both our horses the same food even though they were on totally different diets and we provided 2 completely different types of feed. Upon being confronted over this, Joel claimed that is what we had instructed, originally. However, it was not.
We were treated poorly in my opinion and I was very disappointed in Joel and the care or lack thereof, our horses received while boarding here. On our way out, the new barn manager asked if we were leaving due to the food issue, because she could fix that, if that was the case. I thought so you are aware of a food issue and what exactly was she offering to fix that she wasn't already doing? Apparently she was fully aware something wasnt right with feeding. She was fairly new at the stable and she wasn't friendly with us, so I thought it was a bizarre remark for her to make to us, out of the blue, as we were loading our horses to leave.
It took awhile to forgive myself for the lack of food our horses received in the final days, they obviously suffered and nothing will ever change that fact. I will never trust another stable again.
