This evening my husband and I were on our way into town, when we saw a horse loose on the side of the road. It had gotten out of its field. The fence is in horrible condition, a mismatch of wire, thin pieces of wood and all of it held together with twine. This was my second time putting the horse in the barn. The house is a very nice, well kept.
I would have put the horse back into the field, but I can't figure out how to open the gate. The barn door was wide open and a bag of sweet feed was just sitting there. I don't know if the horse had gotten into it, it was not spilled over but there was some grain on the floor.
We left a note saying that we put the horse in and our phone number. On our way home we stopped in to make sure that they knew that the horse might have gotten into the grain. Our note had not been read, they must have used a different door. A man came to the door, he did not even know that the horse was in the barn. When I told him that the horse might have gotten into the sweet feed, he said that the horse does that and it was not a big deal! He can't believe that the horse had gotten out again, they had fixed the fence a couple of times.
I feel sorry for the horses (two old Standardbreds). They are both underweight, maybe by 100lbs or so. Their feet tell a pretty sad story, full of ridges and over grown. I don't think it is intentional, maybe they just don't know that horses need to have hay ALL the time and that they need there feet done.
I don't know if I should stop by again.