I try to be as laid back as possible. I try not to get my snout into anyone else's business. I try hard not to judge people and just let them go on with their own stuff. BUT. This time I can't ignore it like I wanted to. Why? Because it's something that is now directly affecting me despite all attempts to rid myself of the obvious problems that seem to be predictably arising.

The short and skinny of it is this: It's the dumbest thing in the world to get a baby horse when you don't know what the fuck you're doing with it or how to handle it so that it is safe for everyone to handle.

I've been an advocate about this for years. It's just ignorant. Why do you think I didn't get one of those $600 Cuuuuute Baaaaaby ponies when I was searching for horses? CAUSE I DID'T CLAIM TO KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING WITH A BABY! Simple, no?

For those of you I haven't ranted and raved to about this lately, let me fill you in.

A woman at my barn just recently lost her horse. So she was in the market to find another horse. She mentioned to be that she would like to try and get a baby horse. This woman is in her late 40's or so, has two 5 and 6 year old girls, is walk, trot, canter capable with ability to jump small cross-rails. For those of you who are non-horsey, she's a novice. Not a professional. Not an amazing rider. Simple just knows how to sit on a horse and make it around the ring without falling off.

So this amateur expressed that it would be wonderful to have a baby for the kids to be around, and for her to learn with along side the baby. Anyone see a problem with this? But I kept my mouth shut, thinking that her trainer would discourage her from going down this path or that her friends would be the voices of reason.

Sooner than later, I find out that the trainer actually CONDONED this and thought it would be a wonderful idea and that she would help train the baby. This trainer can not ride - she injured her back years ago and it is painful for her to get on a horse. Not only that, but the trainer has no time.

So 2-3 weeks ago, what arrives at the barn? A YEARLING STUD COLT. That's right folks. Untrained, unbroke, colt with testicles. *headdesk* Don't get me wrong. Baby's GORGEOUS. BUT that doesn't account for the unbroken, ball-owning, colt's new mom who doesn't know very much about handling anything shy of a dead-broke quarter horse.

Not only this, but I find out that her friends came with her to see this baby. They were to be the voice of reason. And as soon as they see it they go "OHHHHH SOOOO KA-YUTE!!! Let's take it home!" *headdesk headdesk*

Now, keep in mind, the owner of my barn handles all the horses and takes care of them. AND she's probably mid-upper 50's. Point being, she's not young. And she's only had to take care of broke quarter horses or mellow thoroughbreds. NOT A BABY. So not only do we have clueless owner number one, but we have clueless manager on top of it.

Let me point out that I don't claim to know much about breaking babies to ride. I do however know how to train them on the ground so that they are safe to handle. I've been doing that for years. But this brings up another point. When it comes time to break this baby, this lady is going to get hurt. Granted the baby IS pretty quiet and is VERY smart, that could get her into trouble if he figures out how to get out of things. He already knows he can walk all over people. She's going to get bucked off. And she's not that brave of a rider to begin with. I don't think she realizes how scary and dangerous it is to break a baby. Hell, my baby here at the school has been saddle broke for a good month and a half and I'm still a touch nervous when I get on her cause I know what COULD happen. She's dead quiet but every once and a while, she throws in a good buck.

Baby arrives. Mom is leading him around the indoor. He's shying at stuff in the arena and running into her, pushing her around, and pretty much just doing whatever the hell it wants. AND SHE'S LETTING HIM! I made a kind suggestion that she should carry a crop or whip with her just in case. FOR HER OWN PROTECTION. For those of you who don't know, babies have no sense of where their body is not to mention they don't care where YOUR body is most of the time. And they WILL run into you if you don't teach them that that's a no-no. Well Mom doesn't take my advice because she doesn't want to rile him up. *headdesk*

Did I mention she has kids? Yeah. She brings them out to the barn with her. They're running around, spooking baby, wanting to pet baby, get in the stall with baby... etc. In the stall, he's super pushy. He doesn't care that you're between him and his bucket or his hay. Nope. Will run right into you. So you can imagine the heart attack I have when they get too close to this baby despite the lack of affection for kids.

And the barn owner? She isn't much better with him. Her own horses push and drag her around. I'm pretty sure my horse has the best ground manners out of all the horses in the barn. In fact... I know that for a fact cause I've handled every single one of those horses.

So. What's the big deal? Why don't I just ignore it and let happen what's inevitably going to happen? Cause it's beginning to affect me personally. I went to bring in the baby from the indoor arena. He was turned out with the mini-pony out there. Well, he charged for the door... and I was standing in the doorway. Thankfully, I was smart enough to grab a whip before even opening the door. I managed barely to get the pony out without dying. When I went back for baby, he charged the door again. I taught him a lesson. Beat his ass and taught him to lead properly without being in my space. Took only 15 minutes. He's a smart Fucker. But that's all he needed. And he was fine for me. The point of this whole thing is that if it were the barn owner in my position in that situation, she'd have gotten hurt and probably seriously. There was a younger horse here last year and he knocked her over at least two times that I knew about. And he wasn't as bad as Baby. I'm seriously afraid for the safety of EVERYONE at the barn because baby's not getting disciplined. I didn't want to have to do anything with it. But it was that or get hurt myself. Wasn't having that.

At this point I'm pretty livid about the whole situation. I just don't want to deal with it. I don't know who to be angry at.... Mom- for actually going out and buying a baby without the proper knowledge and supervision, The trainer- for actually saying this was ok!, or the friends- who were supposed to talk her out of it... because now it's MY problem.

And the fact that they think getting him castrated in a few days is going to fix everything or the fact that he's a baby, he can get away with things just cause he's young. Do they not understand that babies grow up? And they're no longer misbehaving little babies but now they're misbehaving 1000 lb animals??? Just cause they grow up doesn't mean they'll get any better. In fact it's harder to retrain an older horse than it is to just train them right in the first place when they're in the learning curve. *headdesk*

I can't wait to get the hell out of here....