2004-08-24 - 11:11 p.m.

Continued directly from 8/20

Basically the whole days work was me being responsible for the well being of 26 horses/ponies and a few other people making me look "uptight". This is a reoccuring theme in my life.

Ok apathy and an unwillingness to do work alone are not enough to alienate me as an employee. It really does take more then that. Really.

The premise of a boarding barn which Summer Stables is/was is that you don't make your money with which to pay your employees via the monthly regula rincome for upkeep of horses. No that money is never enough to really cover your bills- if you charged per stall what it ACTUALLY cost to keep the horses- well lets just say people would be eating equus in this country too.

The income that earns you cash in the bank for the care and feeding of say- your expensive shoe collection- is teaching lessons to riders and horses.

Training horses is incredibly lucrative and not terribly difficult to do passably well. Most riding problems can be fixed through wet saddle pads. Simply by riding the horse consistently you can often solve issues. And the amount of money can often double the upkeep payments. All you as a trainer have to do is ACTUALLY train the horse.

But that would be asking too much fo the trainers at Summer Stables. When I worked there they had between 2 and 6 horses 'in training' at any given time. Between 2 (sometimes 3) trainers that means riding between 2 and 3 horses a day in addition to your own for pleasure assumably. You can even "cheat" and lunge one or two of the training horses, or pony them off one another. But they really do have to get out of their stalls under professional guidence to see any improvement.

My favorite example of Summer Stables exemplery attitude towards horses in training was the case of Schroeder. Schroeder was a small brown gelding who was nothing special. He could do what was asked without falling over, but he had no interest or skill. His owner was a lady in her early 40's who had just contracted lymes disease. She brought Schroeder to Summer Stables to be put in training while she was ill, so he could be kept fit, busy and even perhaps improved.

Ha. Hahahahahaha.

Schroeder isntead of getting special training sessions or learning anything new was used as a lesson horse. Parents would pay the trainer to teach a half hour lesson. Likewise, Schroeder's owner was paying not only for his upkeep but for his "training". The trainer was getting more money by using him in lessons and taking cash for his training. Meanwhile poor Schroeder was learning just how much he disliked young riders, being ridden and people in general.

Somehow his owner never visited during his "training sessions" or illicit lessons. She kep t commenting on how fit he looked, but maybe we needed to increase his food, he shouldn't be losing so mcuh weight. Heck, any animal will lose that much weight if it works in 2 lessons every day for an hour!

Suffice to say the scam was on every angle at this place. Not all boarders were charged the same amount, some were charged less, some MORE if the trainer thought they had the money, and some owed her thousands (literally) in back board and contiued to go further in dept every month by not paying a red cent towards the upkeep of their beloved Jenny the pony. When I left the farm the current twist was that they were selling beloved Jenny pony and then buying a new horse with the money. Of course the trainer would be taking the backboard out of the money they got for Jenny.

Trust me, Jenny wasn't going to bring in enough to pay for another even decent animal AND pay the thousands owed to the farm. Jenny was the kind of pony that should have grown more and been a horse. She was just go-go-go could jump anything. Couldn't stop for shit though. No truely little kid or beginner could sit on her back, she woud lie down and roll them off. But sure, for a trainer or a professional light adult she was a great jumper.

Perhaps the death knell on a for sale ad in the horse world is these two words "Pony Jumper". It means too small for an adult to ride and too wild or crazy for a kid to handle. Not the ponies fault. Just not a big market for those. Anywhere.

The other major problem at Summer Stables was the lesson program. It was advertised through some local free periodicals so people did call up asking for information and new clients kept up a steady trickle. There was however a steady trickle of outgoing clients.

There were a couple of major flaws in the system. The first was scheduling. In theory you take a lesson once a week and come back the next week at the same time. However, due to a variety of very undertsandbale mistakes either the trainer or the lesson horse or both would be unavailable at that time. Eventually this meant that one week you could be teaching 30 lessons and the next only 10. When you get paid per lesson, this is a serious problem. Likewise it is difficult to advance your riding skill when you lesson every other, or less, week.

TYoo tired to type. More later.

-bsg-

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