Thursday, August 20, 2015

Things that go missing.

I kid you not, this is actually July 2015. YES A SEMI RECENT PHOTO! THAT I TOTALLY FORGOT MY FRIEND TOOK... because it was during this ride I realized Digby was lame so I didn't ride. Ha.

I went to the barn to help with turnout, as I almost always do. I help turnout the 10 horses on the property for reduced board, with 2 nights off a week. It's hard now that I'm full time but I'll stop once the horses go back to day turnout sometime in September. I was running late (SHOCK. Haha.) and didn't say hi to Digby before starting to turn out. I grabbed two of the senior geldings and started putting them out in their field. The barn owner came over and asked what I did with Digby's halter. Now mind you, she had watched me pull in and immediately start turning out. I said something along the lines of "uh...?" and she said it wasn't on his door. He's a bit of a player, in that he'll grab his halter/fly mask/blankets/whatever he can reach and play with them and fling them around. The habit is somewhere between funny and irritating. I turned the older guys out and then went to look for Digby's halter. It was MIA. I checked his stall. I checked in front of his stall. I asked if she was sure he came in with it on. She was. I checked the bushes by his stall. Nada.

Hmm. I looked and saw that his turnout buddy, Ghost, had Digby's lead rope attached to his halter. I've been at this barn for around two months now and that has never happened. So that's odd. I also noticed that Ghost's lead, which is longer and thicker, was snapped to itself.... as if someone made a make shift halter out of it. I chuckled and realized the barn owner just probably didn't realize he, in fact, hadn't come in with it and she didn't notice because the guy who does stalls in the morning brought them in. While I have yet to track down Digby's halter in his field, I can safely assume it's out there somewhere. Luckily, I had a spare (two actually, plus a rope halter) so crisis averted. Digby and friend went out and all was well.

That made me start thinking about all the things that have disappeared at barns over the years. I've lost all sorts of things like a crop and a dressage whip, a saddle pad, a feed scoop, halters lost in fields or just MIA, bell boots (and not even in the traditional "in the field" sense, a person wandered off with my awesome Italian gum pull on bell boots which I have yet to replace) and a whole lot of fly spray and treats. I'm not sure what it is about barns that make other boarders think "well, this is here so I'll use it" and then NOT RETURN THE ITEM? I would not do that in a barn and I certainly wouldn't do it outside the barn either. I don't mind the occasional use of my fly spray or treats. I do however mind when someone uses my tack or equipment. I mind this even more when it gets returned dirty or doesn't get returned at all. Someone please explain this to me.

4 comments:

  1. Oh man, lots of my stuff has grown legs and walked away at the barn. I'm really forgetful so that's part of the problem on my end!

    I did have a bareback pad blatantly stolen from me, which pissed me off. I loaned it to a "friend" who was supposed to meet me at the barn at 10am to pay me for it before she moved to a new barn. I ended up arriving at 9am and people told me that she left an hour earlier...classy. She ended up getting hired by my department at work as my assistant - karma is a beautiful thing!

    It's so annoying when things go missing...whether intentionally or not.

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  2. At my old barn in Texas, there were a lot of kids that thought everyone's personal stuff was theirs to use as well. Then, I got a locking tack trunk (from Home Depot, of all places!) and my stuff stopped disappearing ;)

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  3. I hate when things walk away. I always make sure I lock my locker when I'm not in the barn. I feel awful for saying this but I don't even really like to share/lend my stuff (depending on what it is and to whom). A little bit of fly spray sure no problem but my reins because your horse broke yours and you haven't bothered to replace them... I've worked hard for what I've got and I can't risk it being ruined by someone else and then not replaced. I think the main problem I have is that a lot of the boarders at my barn are younger girls that I find a tad irresponsible. Maybe it's a sense of entitlement that causes this problem???

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  4. i'm pretty sure my fly spray doubles as 'everyone's' fly spray... annoying and yet i just keep on refilling it...

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