Monday, May 20, 2013

Evicted?

It's not every day that you show up to the barn to find an eviction notice stapled to the door:


Obviously, with the typos and everything, this is not real but why was it there? I texted my Barn Owner right away and when she got there she explained that she's had an ongoing feud with the man who owns the property (she leases the barn from him) and after an unsuccessful two year battle to have him make certain improvements to the barn - namely regrade and refill the indoor ring - she finally told him she wasn't paying him next month until it was done. So he typed up an eviction letter and posted it on the door. What a nice guy!

I figured that would be the end of it, or at least the end of what I would see, and went to ride. Just as I started to canter Charlie past the previously spooky tractor at the end of the ring the end doors were flung open and two men I've never seen before waltzed in and started tinkering with the tractor. Thank god for Charlie's beautiful sane head right now, he didn't do a thing. I didn't know who they were but I did know if they were planning on moving the tractor I'd like to have a bit more warning than they gave with the door. When I said something and asked if they were planning on moving the tractor, they said, "We're gonna try." Hmm....fishy.....

They eventually left when they realized there were no keys but came back as I was untacking. After finishing with Charlie and letting my BO know they were back (she was giving a lesson outside) I then went over to have a quick word with them about safety precautions around horses. "Look," I said, "I don't know what's going on between you and [BO] and honestly I don't really care. It's not my problem. What is my problem, though, is that you threw open the doors to the indoor while I was riding my horse without any sort of a warning and that's extremely dangerous. This is an OTTB and you are really lucky that you didn't cause him to spook and freak out and hurt someone." I told them go ahead and do whatever it was they were going to be doing in the ring, but please do the smart and courteous thing to those of us who are trying to ride and give a warning. Otherwise have fun getting sued. Well, they weren't too happy when I mentioned the word "sued" and then started bringing up all the beef they have with by BO, but I told them I didn't really care. That's between her and them, so I just said politely (well, maybe with a little sarcasm) "thank you" and left.

Apparently this guy is a real dick and bully (I definitely got that impression as soon as I met him) and my BO isn't too concerned that he's going to cause any major issues. However it makes me wonder what he might start doing if he feels too pressured. What if this guy decides he's going to "get back at her" by opening all the horse's doors in the middle of the night so he can blame her for negligence and endangering the public with loose horses? Or something similarly crazy? I really don't want Charlie to be collateral damage. I'm going to see where we are in a few days and then make a decision whether to move him out until things blow over. Whew! Drama!

15 comments:

  1. Anything you need just ask! I know it's far but we'll have that stall when S moves Ms. Pretty home. Not sure what's going on with the stall we've got now. <3

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  2. Oh barn drama. Gotta love it.

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  3. Yikes...he sounds like an ass. Hope everything gets cleared up!!!

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  4. I checked with Pru and you are absolutely welcome at any time. :)

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  5. Barn drama sucks. Why can't everyone just get along?1 Sigh. Hope things work out!

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  6. Good on you for sticking up those guys! How rude. I might, personally, look into moving because I would definitely be afraid of him doing something stupid that could seriously hurt my horse. I understand that's hard thing to do though, especially when you have a trainer or people at the barn that you really like.

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  7. Creepy! Glad you stood up for your safety.

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  8. Wow. That's drama alright. Definitely monitor the situation!

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  9. Yikes! I would have told him off if he came flying thru the door, it was nice of you to be polite and wait till you were done riding :)

    Hope things blow over and the drama ends!

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  10. Oh, ew. That just sucks. I'd be paranoid and calling the BO to check in every five minutes.

    Hope this works out!

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  11. Yikes. Hopefully it's resolved. That's not safe behavior for anyone riding any horse regardless of breed. Hopefully for you all it will be resolved quickly and if not I hope you're able to find a better place.

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