Why owners get stressed.

[carol]

This is part of a reply that I put up on the Horse and Hound forum today, in reply to a question 'Do yards cause stress or is it the owners?'.


"Owner's stress. There used to be two ways of keeping horses, the kind way or the not so kind way. Now, well, take your pick. Stabled, turned out, rugged, clipped, unrugged au naturele, shod, barefoot, Rolkur, bitless, barefoot, plastic shoes...anyone for Parrelli, natural horsemanship? Hay, haylage, a choice of 50 types of different feeds and supplements. For god's sake NO WONDER owner's get stressed, I'm suprised we're not all cribbing like mad on the steering wheel of our vehicles and secretly addicted to Gastroguard. And that's even before we arrive at the yard......where everyone there has their own ideas of How It Should Be Done,...stressed owners, stressed horses.....aaarrrgh!!!"

[Laura Chandi]

ha ha ha! ;D Hmmm....Gastroguard....
It's true when you put it like that!
Have to say; hats off to those on yards 'cos they have so many different dynamics/opinions/personalities etc etc to contend with!

I would be a liar to say I feel stress cos I just do my own thing and love it! I sometimes wonder if I only had one horse then I would no doubt be on a yard of some sort and have to deal with stress in some way. It was bad enough when I brought Becky-Pony up from Devon and had to share with *ahem* an 'interesting' person The only stress was seeing her car at the field when I went there!! Truly dismal!

Like any horse owner I worry about their welfare but I see that as a healthy stress in the way you care for children; goes with the territory!

Saying that I do have a Darcey..... *grabs wine & lights up a fag*
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[yak]

If the horse is happy, so be it. If the owner wants advice, they'll ask for it. Other than that, if you don't like what you see, turn the other way!

'No queerer folk than horsey folk' as my YO says --- and that is so true!

[carol]

I think for a new novice owner, or an owner of a sensitive disposition, yards are where the trouble can start. Please note I'm talking very generally here and not targetting anywhere in particular. Somebody will always offer advice whether it's wanted or not, and then someone else will offer conflicting advice, and whoosh...here it comes...yard politics!! I have to put my hand up at this point and say yep, I'm guilty of being an advice offerer, but only if I've seen that a horse is suffering in some way. If I REALLY don't like what I see it's impossible for me to turn away...but there, that's just me.......although it's often a delicate issue, and tact and diplomacy are the way to go.

But I think the stress that comes from the horses themselves isn't just an owner issue. Some horses adapt easily to being on a yard, and there are lot that can't handle it at all. My theory. Horses, through man's domestication of them, have previously been used in farming, transport, sport or war, but they aways worked, and if they were travelled it was on the hoof.
it's only in the last 70 years or so that we've had such big yards with multiple owners and the luxury of readily available trailers and lorries to transport horses all round the country. The horses themselves are constantly being expected to adapt again and again to new situations, different locations, other horses and people, where by nature they would live and die within the security of their own herd. This 70 years or so is just a blink of an eye in the evolution of the horse and the way that the majority of horses are kept and used now, for leisure and pleasure, is a whole new era for them. So it's in the equine nature, in my opinion, for some horses to find busy yards mentally stressful. There, that's what I fink anyway!!

Laura, I can't see how Miss Darcy-Dancey-Draws would EVER cope with being at a yard...she'd demolish it!!

[susie]

I was DEFINATELY stresssssssseddd in August and well before that too!

Selling my house (break up with BF )
Waiting for it to be all sorted!
Moving!
Moving my horse!
Horse all sad and worried!
Making new friends
All getting better!

Did I use all the smileys? ;D

[carol]

Blimey Susie, that all adds up to stress factor X 1000. Hope all's well with you now, it all sounds like a major life change for both you and your horse!! But they do say 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger', and I always think that we are much stronger than we give ourselves credit for. Onwards and upwards etc etc..C XX

[susie]

thanks Carol!

It was pretty stressful and sad to have the break up but then it was'nt right if you know what i mean so in the long run it would have been worse to stay together.
I am near my family as from Kent and got a good job so can't complain!

Sax is fine now but he was very unselltled to begin with and not knowing anyone was a bit lonely but got some friends now who are nice types. There are definatley some know it all types on the yard who just seem to cause friction but we avoid them!

It's not a huge yard but not small either so you can avoid people easy enough! I don't need anymore STRESSSSSSSSSSS!

[Laura Chandi]

Carol..... *rushes off to put Meatloaf record on the gramophone*

" you took the words right outta my mouth....mustafbin when you were kiss..."
ooh no! No kissy!
But seriously, it's true what you say and for all the good going on in the horse world these days; there's also the bad/stress. A bit like how our kids live today...lots of stuff that's so brilliant and so much opportunity but then more pressure than ever before. Yin~Yang I guess.

Glad to hear you're getting sorted Susie...love your part of the world, nearly moved there. Keep us updated on life!

[glow=red,2,300]Yaks Don't Look The Other Way!!! [/glow]