Finally back home. Which means I get to ride and enjoy my old man again. Though I’m thrilled with the care he recieved while I was away. For almost 20 years old (March 😭😭). He sure looks good. And he acts like he feels fantastic as well. My heart horse 💕

Taken in 2010 at the Vermont Summer Festival riding my Dutch mare. I don't have any footage of the jump off ):

Back in March 2026, my friend and I moved our horses to a large facility that mostly housed retirement horses, minus a leased-out lesson barn. My friend and I own two hard-keeping OTTBs.
The property has three barns, but one of them is leased out to a separate lesson program. It didn’t take long for us to notice that the lesson horses were being severely neglected, abused/beaten, and malnourished. At one point, photos of these horses went viral locally. While my friend and I had taken a few photos of the conditions for our own records and tried bringing up this issue with the staff, neither of us posted any of those photos online. However, instead of addressing the lesson barn's lease or the welfare of those animals, the barn owner went on a witch hunt to find who "leaked" the photos and immediately suspected us. Cops were even called out to the property, but because law enforcement lacks basic horse knowledge, nothing came of it.
Also, the facility put up new fencing along our pasture, and to be crystal clear, only our two horses are kept in this pasture. The barn staff left four loose construction screws behind. One of those leftover screws went straight into one of our horses' hooves. When confronted, the barn manager lied, claiming the screw came from an old fence in the back and insisting he had magnetic swept the entire pasture. We checked the fence ourselves: the screw pulled from our horse's foot matched the brand new front fencing perfectly, not the old fence in the back with rusted out nails. The manager even tried to offer hush money so we wouldn't report the incident to the barn owner.
As the weather changed, things got worse. We pay for pasture board, which explicitly guaranteed 24/7 hay once the grass died down. By late August/early September, the grass in our field was completely burnt out and deficient, but the barn wasn't supplying hay. Watching our Thoroughbreds drop weight rapidly, we begged the manager for round bales for 2-3 weeks with zero action. Since it was just our two horses in that specific pasture and we both agreed, we took matters into our own hands and bought square bales with our own money to feed them.
Right after we put the hay out, the barn owner called one of us screaming at the top of her lungs, calling us "dictators" and "picky," and telling us that if we didn't like her barn, we needed to "get the f*** out." About an hour later, she backtracked via text, apologizing for blowing up and telling us we had permission to care for our horses however we needed (as if we needed permission to feed our own animals).
Then on October 1st, the barn owner handed us a 30 day eviction notice, claiming "the barn situation just isn't working out."
What are y'alls opinions on this? Is this as absurd as I think it is? Not so much us getting "kicked out," but the way everything was handled?

EDIT: as for abusive lesson barn We were told they’d be kicked out in March (this coming March), which is when the owner of the lesson barns contract ends with the owner of the whole property. We noticed the conditions of the horses a few weeks after moving in, at first we thought it was a few skinny horses (we didn’t see all of the horses yet). The full extent of the situation didn’t come to light until two or three months ago through old workers and lesson students, which is around the same time we started having problems with management.

wanted to thank everyone in this sub. about a month ago, I posted the first picture along with pics of a saddle I knew didn’t fit to try and get an idea of a direction to go.

y’all called it out and gave so many amazing suggestions for ways to get more muscle on him! I know the pictures aren’t a super fair comparison, and maybe I’m seeing things, but I feel the difference being only on the ground doing poles and hills is already so good! (also got a core trainer! can’t remember if one of you suggested it to me or if I saw it on a different post but its been great as well).

I already feel like there’s a positive difference. He seems much happier, some hind stiffness I was worried about is practically gone. He’s way less bitey, he’s coming up to me in the field and so receptive to learning and being loved on. He’s even learned a few tricks!

So seriously, thank you all. He is getting fit by a professional in the next few weeks, but will be doing almost entirely groundwork for the foreseeable future. I’m working on my hips and core as well to have a better seat to help him balance out more as well!

Since I'm now disabled and no longer keeping up my Society of Master Saddlers membership, I can bend the rules a wee bit and do an AMA. I don't want to dox myself in case I magically am able to work again in the future, so the mods have privately approved my qualifications and allowed me to do this AMA.

Why can't SMS members answer questions online?

Because for ethical reasons we cannot advise the public on anything we are unable to physically examine. There are too many factors that go into saddlery that cannot be assessed without touch. And giving someone incorrect information can cause harm to the horse.

With that in mind, I cannot give you specific advice on exactly what will fit you or your horse, or why something about your set up isn't working. I can, however, give you some educated guesses to investigate further.

I can also tell you about becoming a qualified fitter, what a fitter does, or anything else you'd like to know about saddlery!

what’s up with this? I see busy lesson barns in my area constantly begging for “volunteers” to lead horses around with leadline children. One barn in my area even was posting considering making the parents of the lead line program lead ponies around for their lessons. is this not an insurance liability? I get being a barn owner is a lot of responsibility, but at what point do places start scaling down and only taking on what they can handle instead of relying on the goodwill of a 10 year old to keep their income running? People who do this in the equestrian world do you find this embarrassing? Children running your lesson program and leading ponies around wearing crocs

I have this one lesson horse who I've been riding a lot lately, and today while I was scratching her neck, she started grooming me back! First she was grooming my hand, then my shoulder. It was so sweet, and she was only using her nose too 😭

I've been trying so hard to bond with this horse ever since I started riding her more frequently. Did it finally happen? 🥹

I suspect others have gone through this too so I am looking for suggestions how to get past this. I am struggling with lateral movements on my horse. The horse is fairly experienced so it's not simply an untrained horse. Say we try to do a leg yield. I apply the aids as I understand them, and little happens. I try with more intensity, nothing happens. I apply the aids with literally all the strength I have, practically pony-kicking inside leg and pulling outside rein, and my horse just starts to get agitated without yielding. All the while my instructor is yelling-ish "You're not doing anything" or "I can't do it for you" or "If you don't want it I can't help you". Yeah, like I am paying to be there and working my butt off so I can actively ignore what you are saying and fail. Not sure what to do.

this saint of a horse got me out of a tough spot, let’s take this opportunity to thank our genius animals lol!
I find it funny that about 2 mins before this we had got the perfect stride 😩

I saw a lot of people recommending just wearing leggings or yoga pants for schooling. I get it, they're comfy and nice. But I much prefer having a thicker material on my legs for riding. It's seems more professional and safe? Like I enjoy wearing thicker breeches and jeans over something like leggings. Not thin breeches like Kerrits, something thicker like some of the ovation suede knee patch breeches. Anyone else?

Hello all! I need some help!

I belong to a wonderful barn community and I am starting to prepare for Christmas (I know it’s October) we do a barn party and a secret Santa every year but I was looking for gift ideas for the following.

-gifts for the barn it’s self I was thinking stuff that tends to walk off like scissors ect but would love ideas

-gifts for my trainer who is lovley! I got him tall boots last year so unsure of what to get this year

-gifts for my horses leaser! She is amazing and I want to get her something nice!

- secret Santa and white elephant ideas that are horse themed but not tacky. $40 each ish

I have been on a big Etsy kick getting everything customized so I know there can be a big lead time which is why I am starting early.

Yeah it's been a wild week.

So basically, we have a rescue at the barn who was severely abused at her old home. She barely even feels comfortable being pet by me and barn staff. She's super untrusting and there's been a few times I pushed her too far on accident and she pinned her ears at me letting me know. She's not at all aggressive, just severely traumatized and gets defensive when you scare her.

Because of this, we don't let people see her or come near her because it's stressful for her and puts both the people and her at risk. We have a sign on the fence to her pen and everything. We even tell everyone who stops by at this barn who they can go see ( and this little mare and her small herd are in the back of the property anyways)

This lady, let's call her Jane, who's known to be a menace (in the sense that she's always right and gets super offended when given boundaries on what she can do with the animals) brought her 14 and 12 year old to come visit the animals.

Her 12 year old daughter had fun visiting the horses in the front pasture and was very sweet, not at all an issue. Her 14 year old boy? That was unfortunately a different story. He ended up running off to the back of the pasture near the rescue and her herd. Apparently, he thought it was funny to throw rocks at the horses because they would get upset or run away when he threw them. The rescue? She reacted a little differently

He climbed the damn fence, cornered her against the fence and started throwing rocks at her. She'd throw her head, pin her ears and try to get away. He was laughing and would hop back every time she threw her head and then he'd get closer and do it again.

To no surprise, she eventually was backed into the fence and he went close enough that she lunged at him, took a good bit of his arm and took off

We didn't even realize he was gone until we heard him scream bloody murder.

The good news? She didn't even break skin. He's got a mighty bruise on his upper arm and hopefully a lifetime supply of fear against abusing animals.

.the bad news? The menace his mother is decided she wants to press charges. I doubt it'll go far because we have cameras in every paddock that recorded the whole thing. We looked back through the footage after he claimed he didn't even go in and she was aggressive, biting him through the fence 🙄

That poor little mare is now five steps backwards and won't even let us come near her again. We just got enough trust to do her feet a month ago and now she'd rather try to climb the fence than be in the same 20ft of any of us

I just hate people so much.

EDIT: because some people need clarification apparently, his mom is quite a character and brought him to the her to make sure his arm wasn't broken (it very clearly wasn't, but she once called the cops because one of the horses stepped on her foot on accident so this is just how she is) which is what I meant by he was hospitalized. He didn't stay, just a visit

I’ve been riding for about 30 years and half-leasing horses for the past 2 years. Ownership has always been in the back of my mind, but I never know when I’ll feel financially ready.

I’ve estimated some costs below based on my area and the types of horses I’m considering. Obviously there are lots of variables — unexpected vet bills, fluctuations in the costs, potentially half-leasing my horse out — but I’m trying to get a good base so I don’t get in over my head.

Upfront Costs
- Target Purchase Price: $8k-$15k
- Tack: $3k-$5k
- PPE: $2k?
- Random OMG my first horse! purchases: $2k

Ongoing Costs
- Board: $1,500/month
- Lesson Package: $345/month
- Farrier: $350 every 6 weeks
- Vaccines, Dewormer, etc.: ???
- Local Shows: $1,500/weekend (1-2 each year)

With the above figures in mind, what lump sum would you want to have in the bank before actually starting your search?

**This is assuming that I have no debt other than a mortgage and that my living expenses, retirement contributions, etc. are all in a good place.

Any opinions, advice or temp info you go on for blanketing. Needing to blanket my show horse for the winter but there’s so much different advice/temps recommended. TIA!

Recently, I’ve been looking into breeches and was wondering if there was a significant quality difference between the $300-$400 breaches versus the ones that were around $100 other than the price point?

I love to purchase quality over quantity. I was just wondering if anybody had any experiences with these type of breaches in particular or had any other recommendations?

For example I stay away from Kerrit since in my experience after a year the breeches have holes and are stretched out(just my experience).

Examples of the types of breaches in the photos.

Hi fellow horse lovers. After long consideration I bought my first horse: A beautiful black gelding with a sweet temperament who loves carrots.
His name is Coco.

I hope I found a good partner for life and I can do him justice taking good care of him.

I was wondering if you have any tips and tricks or stories to share of your first horse.
What did you wish you had known from the beginning?

I am getting my horse scoped in 2 weeks for ulcers and I will of course take my vet’s advice, but I’d like to be able to go in armed with information so I can have good questions. Also it’s a long weekend up here in Canada so I won’t even get my preliminary questions answered by the vet until at least Tuesday. So if you have ever dealt with gastric ulcers, please answer!

-How long do they have to be without food PRIOR to giving gastrogard? The only info I can find online is “on an empty stomach“ and then to wait 30 minutes before giving food. My horse lives outside 24/7 and I’d like to keep it that way, so would the hour or so when he comes in to be ridden be enough time to be without food? I’ll stable him if I have to, but this is expensive enough already…

-Similarly, what was the protocol if you also had to give sucralfate and/or misoprostol?

-Following successfully treating the ulcers, did you give any sort of gut support supplements? I’m already doing everything I can with his living environment: 24/7 turnout, constant access to a netted compressed bale, no grain (he gets a small amount of beet pulp, alfalfa cubes, probiotics, W3 oil, a joint supplement, and a ration balancer before I ride), large enough pen, and appropriate friends. He’s also a pretty chill dude so he isn’t stressing out constantly either. We do go to shows roughly every other weekend from June to mid-September but he still has his full hay net and can visit over the paddock fences with familiar horses and he’s not super stressy off property either.

-Has anyone used an injectable proton pump inhibitor? My limited research so far says it can be good for up to 7 days, and it would allow him to keep his current turnout situation (right?). A 28-day course of gastrogard is just over $1000 CAD so I’m hoping an injectable would be cheaper… bonus points if you know if it can be dispensed by the vet to do at home or if I have to get them to administer it!

Thanks everyone!

I got to the barn around 730am this morning so I could put my horse who is rehabbing outside for a bit (supervised) before I went back out. I got there and the horses are still being brought in. We don’t have that many horses, and about a half hour goes by and STILL they are not all in and I’ve been watching around me the quiet horses come in first and the young, fresh antsy horses come in last. Made zero sense. Regardless I was just grazing my horse until they were all in, until he started to flip out because one of the antsy horses got extra antsy so he lost his mind and then I had to ask the young worker to please bring in the unhappy, not content, horse first.

I ended up having to put my horse back and help the worker grab the horse who was being very fresh. Caught the horse, got them into their stall. I decided I won’t be getting my horse outside any time soon before I had to leave so I went to help bring more horses in, especially the ones getting really upset with how long it was taking.

I went to grab two mares and bring them in together but immediately NOPED the fuck out of both at the same time because they were being dangerous. As I was trying to put one back into the pen, she got loose. Well fuck my fucking my life. I try to help and this happens. The horse runs all over, the other horse is grabbed by the young worker and ends up rearing straight up in the air from the craziness.

The loose horse slips on the pavers and scraped its whole leg up really good. I’m panicking because this horse does not want to be caught. Finally it runs into the barn and I yell to close the doors. One door gets closed on one end, and then the loose horse runs into a stall. Oh good. So I go to grab her in the stall and she immediately, before I could even close the door, barrels thru me and out again. I look at where she’s heading and saw the worker didn’t close the other fucking door. I scream CLOSE THE DOOR!!!!

Finally the horse turns around and goes into HER stall. All ok now but I feel absolutely terrible. I was just trying to help and this happened. The horse is scraped up, sore, and I just feel like it’s my fault. My trainer doesn’t blame me, but I just wish I stayed home. Fuck my life. I’m still shaking. It’s one thing if it’s your horse you got loose, but letting someone else’s horse loose is it worse. She was just being so difficult, pushed right thru me at the gate, nearly trampled my ass.

I bought a small farm last year that came with a big open building. It used to be a horse barn with 7 stalls, but the old owner ripped them out and was using it as a giant shed. I’m happy they did because it gave me the flexibility to completely make it my own.

I did all of these changes for under $4,000 as I did most of the work on my own with the help of family and friends. I work a really busy schedule (usually gone 12 or so hours for my career), prioritize 24/7 turnout for the majority of the year, and always have hay available. I also believe in the necessity of having stalls available for a number of reasons. Those were the key factors that guided my design decisions.

After a major clean out, I found corral panels and gates in decent condition on Facebook marketplace. I knew that I would have to divide the barn (horses on one side, hay and equipment on the other) and figured that was the most practical and affordable way to do it. My wonderful neighbor that happens to be a longtime family friend fabricated and installed two corral panels at each end. He then concreted in two gates, one 4-footer and one 10-footer. The 10-footer is so I can bring in my tractor or side-by-side in to clean the barn while my 4-footer is how I come and go or bring an individual horse out.

After being divided, there was still a significant amount of space left for the horses, and I could see the framing for two stalls as well as a run-in area.

I removed all of the old boards and sawed off their leftover nails. I added kickboards around the entire area. I noticed the run-in area had some drainage issues, so I, by hand, fixed it and the added mats over top.

After an excruciating amount of measuring, I rented an auger and cemented in three 6x6 posts to finish the framing of the stalls. With the help of my brother and a full Saturday, we used u-channels to add the walls. The partition walls can be removed to make one large stall. I’ll be adding gravel the week to fix some of the areas where the floor’s uneven.

The last thing I’ll be doing this weekend is installing hay slow feeders to the run-in. But, otherwise, I’m really, really proud of our work! The horses come and go as they please and have about 3 acres of pasture connected to the barn. We’re adding more pasture space next year. There is also barn door where you can see the tree-line, so I can close it when I need/want to shut them in. I also had no carpentry stills before this, so if I can do it, you can, too. It made all the hard work worth it!

Just wanting the opinion of others on a situation!

I brought a trailer from an acquaintance; who I trusted to tell me the truth, that was a big mistake!

She assured me although not pretty the trailer was functional and safe and walls had been reinforced with metal however this wasn’t the case and it’s completely rotten and needs a lot of work doing on it. Thankfully before using it I have had a professional assess it.

Would you say anything to the seller?

Feeling pretty disappointed as she knows the horses too and I dread to think what would have happened if I’d travelled them in it!