Problems with boarding a draft??

[lisakaye]

I am thinking that Chance needs a bigger place to run than where he is now so I started to look around. The problem is that I have had several barns tell me they don't board drafts?? Is this a common thing? He is such a mush and never causes a problem with anyone,. he is always the low man in the pecking order. he is the one that gets beaten up.

[GrungeEquestrian]

I've heard some places like that. At both barns, one I took lessons at, and the other I board at...both accepted drafts. They did have big enough stalls for them and turnout. Some BOs I'm assuming are either not comfortable with handling drafts, don't have the facilities for one, or are afraid of the damage they will do.

[CaddoCinnamon]

That is what I was thinking to. I know that there are some barns around me that won't exept the drafts because of how tall they are. Their facilities aren't set up for it.

[Toodlestoo]

I know that almost all my pipe gates are bent from Jack scratching his big ole butt! Same thing for a lot of my rails. He's a puppy dog but he's just so big--he's a wrecking ball. Size of the stalls they have to offer may have something to do with it also.

[Buckpoco]

I think some barns don't want drafts because of the amount of hay they consume. And, as everyone else said, they don't have big enough stalls, etc.

[Buckpoco]

Lisakaye, is Danbury too far for you? It's my friends' barn, they accept drafts and do all kinds of western things...team penning...etc.

[natisha]

I would board a draft. I'd worry more about the person that comes with it.

[Equine_Woman]

In my experience Drafts are REALLY hard on fences and gates, not to mention feeders. If I had a boarding barn I wouldn't likely board them either. . . Sorry! Hope you find a great place soon!

[lisakaye]

No, Danbury isn't to far from me. Can you find out if they would accept him and email me the contacts? He is outdoor board and loves it. He doesn't need a stall. He is so wonderful with everyone I would never consider him a threat except that he does weigh a whole lot.. He is actually afraid of the barn.. he thiks it will eat him but he does fine on being tied up outside. I am working with him on that. he will walk through and check it out but trembles if I try to cross tie inside. I don't want to push him just yet. he is amish rescue so I take it very slow with him. He has a wonderful steady smooth trot. As soon as hubby gets home from work with my purse and keys I will get newer pictures oh him. You won't believe just how good he looks now.

[CaddoCinnamon]

I can't wait to see the new pics of Chance. You need to do an avatar of him and Easter together.

[IrisGreen]

I think it's mainly the damage they cause or can cause.

I know when I put Muffin into boarding they were fine with drafts and had a few on the property. But, this place was huge with over 100 horses and all heavy pipe corals. Muffin did bust there metal hay feeder because at first they put his cubes in there and he couldn't fit his head down in the grain area of the feeder so he clobbered it with his hoof and busted the welds to get to the cubes. I can't blame him, they should have known that feeder was not going to work with him. lol

They charged the same for all horses, draft or light horse it was the same boarding price. But, I do know some places that charge up to $100 more for drafts.

I also think draft owners have a bad rap at boarding stables, at least around here they do. Most all the other draft owners I met were loony. lol I'm not joking they were a bit on the crazy side and everyone stayed away from them.

One was a Parrelli fanatic that was an accident waiting to happen and the other let her draft get away with everything and anything. The Parrelli fanatic is the one that would "introduce" her mare to Muffin because her mare "liked him"!! Yeah, her mare was in season and she would lead her mare to his stall so they could "meet and be freinds"....:huh: She knew Muffin was a stallion but she was so clueless to the danger she was putting herself and the horses in by allowing her mare to "make freinds". That lady had no brain at all, she thought her mare liked Muffin because he was a draft horse too.....the whole Stud thing never clicked with her even after I had a detailed talk with her about what could happen and how the horses would get injured trying to get to each other through the stall. My goodness that lady was dense!

Honestly, I have only met one draft owner in my city that wasn't loony or a danger to everyone around them. I find that very sad but it's the truth. She's a farrier and doesn't let anyone mess with her boy anymore. lol Both of us got really mad at people messing with our horses at the stables because the drafts stand out from the rest of the boarded horses and people just want to mess with them, pet them, feed them and end up teaching them bad habits. We had to put up signs and warnings not to mess with them and not to feed them treats because people would always congregate around there stalls and poke and mess with them. Before you know it there nippy, food graby and just not the horse you raised to respect people.

So, if you do move to a new boarding stable I would keep a close eye on what's going on for the first several weeks and make sure your horse is not getting curious visitors messing with it all day long. Or at least put up a sign to not feed him treats. That's the worst when everyone feeds "the new horse or the neat draft horse" treats and they start expecting it and get all pushy and disrespectful.

I was amazed at how fast other people can teach my horse to have bad habits with out even knowing there doing it.

I'm so glad I can keep my horses at home and don't have to deal with strangers always messing with him when I'm not around. If I do have to board again for training I'm going to put up signs on day 1 and let the barn manager know I don't want strangers to be allowed to stand there and mess with him. So, if they see people that shouldn't be there please ask them to read the sign.

[lisakaye]

I promise I am not a crazy lady with a draft..LOL I might be considered clueless with some things but I am still learning. I rescued him from slaughter because no other rescue offered. I really though that William would love him but it turns out William won't go near him.. I love him though and he is really a wonderful guy. Caddo that is a great idea. I will try today to get pics when my hubby comes home with the keys. I left my purse and keys in the truck which is at work with him. He will be home soon . He normally leaves the truck on weekends cause he knows I always do horsey stuff..

[TheBadLands]

I think it's about the fencing etc. I know Elle May likes to sit on things lol

[GrungeEquestrian]

One was a Parrelli fanatic that was an accident waiting to happen and the other let her draft get away with everything and anything. The Parrelli fanatic is the one that would "introduce" her mare to Muffin because her mare "liked him"!! Yeah, her mare was in season and she would lead her mare to his stall so they could "meet and be freinds"....

A similar thing happened to me. Except it was my gelding hating Paint mare loose in her pasture and her paint gelding who she was going to introduce to her. Everyone at my barn knows my mare does not like geldings. Yes...people are dense.

[IrisGreen]

LOL! I wasn't trying to say you are loony.....I have no idea if you are or not :p I think we all are in our own way :D

I'm just saying around here if you say you have a draft people tend to think your crazy. I get it a lot..the "look" of confusion as to why you would have a draft horse and not a light horse. Drafts are not common around here and like I said, most people down at the boarding stables that do have drafts are a little loony for most normal horse owners to deal with let alone there big horse that's half parrelli trained and get away with everything because there big.

I think the bigger the horse the more it better have ground mannors and respect for your space. I don't use there size as an excuse for there bad ground manors like some of the draft owners do. Again, I'm saying some, not all owners use there size as an excuse as to why the horse totally ignores them and drags them around.

I've also noticed that men tend to be more afraid of draft horses then women. This is just my personal experience but it's the men that are taken by there size and get intimidated more then they let that fear block there judgement. There were men that were afraid of Muffin when he was at the stables, you could just see the fear in there eyes when you walked down the huge dirt aisles between the stables. They would turn and walk the other way for no reason, they didn't have a horse with them but they would get that fear look on there face and leave.

There was also a rumor spread by the men that Muffin was aggressive and would take your arm off. lol I about died laughing when I walked up on a group of guys gossiping about how aggressive that horse was and how he will lunge out to grab you. They were all standing 10 feet away from Muffins stall staring at him when I walked up. I started laughing so hard they all turned around and none of them knew I was his owner. They all just looked at me confused as to why I was laughing when they were serous. I walked up to Muffin and made a kiss noise and he put his head over the rail, reached out and touched his nose to my mouth giving me my kiss. I turned and the guys jaws were dropped open. They all dispersed after I told them he was my horse and he's never offered to tear someones arm off. lol

I went and visited other stables and when I told people about my horse they had already heard about "the Muffin" or had even went and looked at him for themselves. Rumors and story's travel fast even between stables apparently. They were either saying how big and sweet he was (the girls mostly) or he was the big bad stallion that was aggressive and dangerous (the boys mostly).

So, I tend to think men are more intimidated by draft horses if there not used to being around them and women tend to get over the size and really start looking at the whole package, personality, demeanor, training and so on before making judgments.

Again this is just my own experiences but I've had many horse guys intimidated by Muffin's size with out knowing he's a stallion and Muffin isn't even full draft horse size. Yet the girls think he's a doll. lol

I'm lucky. My non-horsey husband didn't know anything about horses so when we would see light horses he would think they were baby horses and Muffin is the full grown horse. lol I had to tell him all the quarter horses he was looking at were not baby horses, they are full grown adults. So, I'm lucky my husband had no clue Muffin was a bigger horse and there for he was never intimidated by his size. He though he was normal and the rest were baby's. :hysterical:

[Pi and Tofu]

Fencing is the big thing, but also buckets, feeders, and automatic waterers get broken and the owners don't always offer to pay up.

The other thing is that many barns prefer to use their own vets and farriers, some vets and lots of farriers do not like to work with drafts.

A friend asked if I wanted to keep my horse there for the weekend so that we could ride. I saw the fencing and gave another excuse. No hot wire, no dice.