The Characters

Everyone knows barns are full of characters, each having a different role to play to make the dynamic of a barn interesting, let me start by giving you my classifications of the different types that have graced my allyway.

The Worry-wort- This is the classic older rider who got back into it when the kids left the nest, extra income to spend and lots and lots of time on her hands.She is a great example of the honeymoon boarder(its great for the first two months then they make your life living hell). Usually Worry comes with a horse that some jerk sold her that is too tall, scared, abused,jumpy,sensitive,playful, ect,ect. for her to effectively ride, or enjoy; and her knowledge of horse care and management is limited to non-existant. She seems sweet and harmless enough, but will soon either drive you and your boarders crazy, or cause such a disturbance that people will look to get away.She is constantly worried about her horses health and every article she reads about horse health applies to her horse, so for example if one week she reads an article on west nile, two days later her horse is showing signs, and why didnt i notice. the next week its an article on navicular, and guess what-the horse now has a new lameness and thats whaT IT MUST BE. The horse trips over a rock in the ring and it must have lymes disease, All the while you are getting reamed for not seeing all these imaginary signs of impending death, you must not be very good at what you do, let me give you all the articles to read so you can be more aware of what is going on with my horse. The horse meanwhile is enjoying all the time off he is getting to recover from his illnesses, happily eating and getting fat in the turnout, trying to kill you because he isn't getting the exercise he needs. The vet is getting aggravated at all the false alarms and is now happily charging the aggravation fee, he so richly deserves for being brought out to look at a perfectly healthy horse week after week.The final straw comes when another boarders geriatric horse who is actually very ill, with a twisted gut has to be put down, and you are sitting with them crying and assuring that they made the right decision, when worry walks in and says that she better move her horse out of the barn because she doesnt want him to CATCH colic too, and what kind of place are you running that all these things are happening to the horses, meanwhile you know she is referring to her horses imaginary illnesses, but the other boarder who walks in during the middle of all this is like WTF is going on, should i be worried? Then on top of it all, she cant even load her own horse when the new, better barn that she found who is going to take such better care of her precious has no idea how to load a horse either.Leeson learned: If you go to pick up a new boarder and the barn that they are leaving happily, happily helps you load the horse and wishes you good luck with your new client-you are definatley in for a ride. Oh the joy of having boarders!