The nicest thing a trainer/BO/HO did for you

[JohnDeere]

In honor of Sidepasser** on the Help Me! thread, why dont we all share something that a horse related person fdid for us that went above/beyond what was necesary just to be nice.

I bought a horse on trainers recommendation. Horse turned out to be , um, less than suitable. :sadsmile: I was offered a trade for a young horse (whose turned out to be VERY suitable) + another favorite horse that was going to auction was aloud to stay in the barn. Trade was reasonable to expect, but other horse staying was just out of kindness.

So thanks to all horsepeople who did something nice for someone. :yes:

**Sidepasser bought a 1/2 arab mare for a horseless kid. Kid went/did everywhere with the horse. When kids parents split, sidepasser let kid work off horses board & took kid to shows free of charge. When horse was taken by one parent sidepasser found the horse & rehabbed it & kept it.

[Gayla]

I was boarding a blind donkey that had uvietis (sp?) so bad that she needed to be PTS. It was a total heart breaker for me. I loved this donkey. The place where I was keeping her took care of anything. I paid to have the hole dug and when the vet came out he did the work on my other horse and then they let me leave. He left word that he carefully looked at her eyes and that it was the right thing to do. The BO's dad used his tractor to cover her. In any case, they were very very kind to me.

[Paige777]

The generosity of BO's and horse owners is what has kept me in the saddle for the past 10 or so years. I can't tell you how many people have been generous in loaning me lease of their horse for a few days a week in exchange for doing stalls or other chores, instead of charging me. I also had a friend whose horse I rode and cared for part time over about 2 years - her family paid all of my entrance fees to an on-farm show so that I had the opportunity to show him before he moved to another farm. I will be forever grateful to these people.

[horse-loverz]

When I had to find a place to put my horse quickly due to crooked trainer selling my horse without permission I had 1 friend generously offer her time truck and trailer to get my horse moved quickly and another friend offer a place for him to stay at no charge that was off the radar for 2 months.

And my current trainer who took my horse in when it was safe to board again and helped keep him safe and accepted me as a boarder knowing the drama that it could involve.

[SarahandSam]

I have found lots of horsepeople to be super kind and generous--including my current barn owners, who helped me so many times as a new horse owner.

My biggest debt of gratitude is owed to a woman down the road from me in NH when I was about 5 or 6. She had a mare named Tinkie and seeing that horse was when I fell in love with horses. That woman put up with me asking stupid questions as I read books ("Is Tinkie a stallion?"), let me pet her and give her treats, let me bring my model horses to meet her, and paid me in Orangina and quarters to groom her sometimes. When Tinkie was gone one day and didn't come back, my heart was too broken to go down there and face the woman again... but if she's reading, thank you a million times!

[JustJumpIt!]

As a kid I shovelled stalls, cleaned tack, and even did my trainer's dishes and cleaned her apartment to pay for board, lessons, and shows with my ugly looking, mean-as-sin little horse. One summer I was working my tail off but was going to come up short to pay entry fees for the next show - I was such a regular fixture on our local circuit that the show manager called my house to ask if anything was wrong. Nothing was wrong, I replied, I just couldn't afford this one. He immediately said that I NEEDED to be there, that it was a wonderful thing that I was at all of the local dressage shows and winning over the fancier horses on this funny little horse, and that he was going to make sure that I was there.

Well, I think he'd had a talk with my trainer, the barn owner, some friends - or something - but my entry was mysteriously submitted and my ride times showed up the next week. That show manager is now handling the WEG - so I guess his karma points are coming back to him!

And when I was a teenager, that same trainer, when a parent losing a job meant that I was horseless and lessonless, gave me a free lease (again in exchange for tack-cleaning and dish-washing) on her semi-retired, schooled through GP mare. She generously gave advice when I needed it and stayed out of my way when I just needed to muddle through a problem myself. I learned piaffe and passage from that mare and cried in her neck when the bank forclosed on our house. We did tempi changes and sometimes just galloped around the training track at the barn. Horse and trainer were the most wonderful teachers I've ever had.

[risky business]

I have loved horses all my life and finally started taking lessons in my mid-20's at one of the larger barns in the area. After 1 particularly frustrating lesson (couldn't stay on to save my life), the BO offered me a horse to use for a month, telling me I just needed more time in the saddle.

Later that year, he had 3 horses coming in and told me I could pick one and it would be mine. The deal was I only had to board there for a year. My poor husband had no idea what this would lead to :)

We now own a farm and board 16 horses plus our 2. You never know how one act of kindness will affect another's life.

I will never forget him.

[cowgirljenn]

Wow... so I've got a few stories.

In College Station, I did self-care board. But I had a fantastic barn manager. When I was working on my dissertation, she did all my feeding for me without charging. And she let me bring in rescue horses to fill empty stalls and only charged us $15/month for hay (which didn't cover the hay). And she would work with and help pay for feed for some of the rescues.

During the hurricane, a friend (and co-rescuer) drove to Houston to get my horses, took them to her house and then let them, my 4 cats, 1 dog, myself and husband stay with her nearly a month when we couldn't move back home. Said friend also kept my 3 horses when we were moving and ended up taking in my other 2 horses with about an hour's notice when we had problems closing on our house (all got worked out).

In 2005, my dearest friend and equine mentor died after a LONG fight with breast and bone cancer. She left me her three horses - but she also left behind a huge (~ $5,000) back board bill. Barn owner wouldn't negotiate with me even though she would have gotten less money had she taken them to an auction. I didn't have $5,000. The people of Horsecity Bulletin Board, where my friend posted, raised about $3,000 of the back board bill (and other friends also pitched in) and I was able to go get them. 3 friends from the rescue gave their time (and one used her truck and trailer) and we went and got them. Above friend from the hurricane kept 2 of the horses for almost a year and one of the horses for about 6 months until we could get moved into a new place and take them home.

I've known some terribly generous horse people in my life - and I'm looking forward to the chance to 'pay it forward' sometime.

[CanadianBlue]

When I bought my horse 2.5 years ago, it was on string and a whim.
I was supposed to buy it with my sister, but she backed out.
And I was already set on having my own horse to play with.
I could afford to board at our low cost boarding barn, but it was going to be a struggle to afford him, lessons, and all of the new tack I needed while still in college and working as a waitress.
My trainer set me up teaching her beginners and working off lessons.
She gave me a lot of her own tack to either keep or barrow.
I paid for the stuff as I could.. but even a year and a half later.. all of my tack is still in a barrowed truck!
When I lost my job, she let me clean her house in exchange, she paid my farrier fees.
Most of the barn is college kids and there have been occasions one of us hasn't been able to pay fees, she has let some people correct homework (school teacher full time) in exchange.
If you really need it, she is always will to help you out.
I finally graduated and have a job that allows me to finally "afford" my horse.
It's so gratifying to actually pay for my lessons...She's still not used to it!

Another time, we were in a bad situation at a barn, it got to a point I didn't feel comfertable leaving the barn with my hoses in it. My friends parents came immediately to the barn, loaded us up, and took to another friends barn within a matter of hours. i was to upset at that point to make any real plans. They had called around an found us a place to stay for a week or so until our new barn opened up.
They were wonderful!

[lawndart]

I grew up in Sussex County, NJ. Very rural at that time, with some big horse farms. Being the last of 5 kids, my parents had no money for lessons, sports, nada.

Once a month the local horsepeople would ride past my parents driveway. Not knowing what Sunday they would ride out, I sat at the end of that long driveway every Sunday, rain or shine, with my book. There was a very kind woman that rode along, probably in her forties at the time, riding a lovely Chestnut mare. She always, always stopped to talk to me, and let me pet the mare, and just inhale the scent of horse. She asked me many times to visit, or come clean stalls so I could get some horse time. My parents, being part of the 'help' in a rich area, would not let me. Probably just as well, they knew how obsessive I was about horses, I read about them, dreamed about them, pretended I was one. If I had gotten on a horse farm, I would never have come back.

I can clearly see her sitting on that mare in her English saddle, looking cool and elegant, and the mare was perfectly behaved. It is probably why I have such a love for TBs. Her stopping every time despite her son's rude comments meant the world to me. If she had just rode by, I probably would have figured all horse people are rich snobs, and never gone farther.

I also can clearly see my new husbands face when I said above all things I wanted a horse. He just smiled, and said, OK, when do you want to get one? :D He has never, ever, said geez, I wish I had said no, despite the money drain, loss of sleep when one was ill, and the work of making hay.

Those two people have changed my life, for the better. I'm so blessed!

[BuddyRoo]

CowgirlJenn...I remember that so well--what a great example of doing a little means a lot. I had just joined HC not long before Red died and was so glad to be a part of that.

I've had a lot of horse folks show me kindness. Usually, it's little stuff that maybe doesn't SEEM big, but it's big to me.

In the last year alone I've really been blessed by horse friends.

1) I had my horses boarded. Due to some scary stuff, the horses had to be moved ASAP. I made 3 phone calls. Each of the three people offered to hook up their truck and trailer and come get them ASAP (at 11pm) AND offered me places to keep them. Within 12 hours, I had my horses moved by friend A and living with friend B--who took care of them for 2 months til I could find a boarding barn. I really only got to see them twice a week when I hauled hay up...but throughout the whole situation, my friend would give me daily updates and just fawned over the girls. She REALLY helped me out in a big way.

2) Now my horses are about an hour away. I wanted to start taking lessons again but have no way to get them to and from the trainer I worked with before. I found a trainer near where I live and work though. My friend offered to let me ride her horse in lessons so that I could do it. I've had 3 lessons now and enjoy every ride. Much kindness.

A few years ago when I was moving from TX to MI, I had to move before the horses. The hauler went and got my horses and kept them at their farm for a bit at no charge until they had a full load to come up my way. I've used the hauler twice now for cross country moves and they've always been great. On that particular trip, I had an older gelding who had some special needs. He wasn't handling the trip very well and when I got a phone call about him being dehyrdated, they were concerned, etc...they already had vets lined up along the way. That is a LOT more than what most people have come to expect from haulers. (Azevedo Transportation)

[Holly Jeanne]

There are too many but I'll mention three.

Most recent:
I lost my beloved OTTB to EPM. I called my neighbor when I knew the time had come. He called the vet. After it was done, he arranged with someone he knew to dig her grave and bury her while I was at work.

Before that:
My beloved OTTB mare was about to foal but I could tell something wasn't quite right. I called my vet but couldn't reach her and knew it would take a while for her to get there so, at 3:30 a.m. I called my neighbor (wife of above neighbor). She came right over and had me call her father up the road who also came right over. By that time, foal was presenting herself properly but mare was too tired to push. Between us, both mare and foal were fine.

And even earlier:
I was riding other peoples horses when some friends told me about one for sale. I ended up getting her and they were my encouragement and support through training and discovering she was a photic headshaker. Even hauled me to a trainer and to my one and only dressage show.

Prior to that, there were several people who made it possible for me to ride during 18 years of being a horseless adult.

[dressagetraks]

My trainer has done so much, but the one memory that stands out comes from a time when she was moving farms. Her students and friends with pickups were helping and moving her in convoy on an appointed day, with no remuneration expected other than pizza. My pickup and I joined the fleet. We met at the old place, packed her, shifted to the new place, brought it in.

So toward the end of the day, things still being carried in, someone brought in a wonderful large signed print of two horses. One of the helpers who was into art cracked as an obvious joke, "You know, I'd be willing to take that for helping today instead of pizza." This got a round going with people proposing their "pay" and the trainer herself laughing along with us. It was totally in jest, and we all knew it. So somebody asked me, "What would you like for payment?" She had one specific horse head statue, about 8 inches high, that I'd admired intensely while I was packing her horse figurines earlier that morning. This was a work of art, carefully crafted and signed, not just a mass-produced horsey trinket. Not sure what it was about that one, but it reached me more than all the others put together. So I said, "I'd like the horse head statue with the pricked ears," and everybody laughed, and they went on to the next person. We then all had pizza and finished moving her in, and nobody else said anything about it. Just a joking session during a break which the trainer was enjoying as much as any of us.

Three days later, after my next lesson, she gave me the horse head statue. I was nearly bowled over. She said, "I would have given it to you Saturday, but I didn't want to in front of everybody."

I replied, "I was just joking. We were all joking."

She said, "No, you weren't. You really wanted it."

I said, "Yes, but you can't always have what you want in life."

And she said, "You've already learned that lesson. Learn a new one: Once in a while, you can."

So I thanked her and took it. It has a place of honor in my living room today, and I like it even more than I did the first time I saw it, because of the memory of her giving it to me.

[4cornersfarm]

This is such a good thread, and a good time for me to remember the good things, after some particularly nasty Pony Club stuff going on in the past few weeks.

My oldest daughter has been in Pony Club for seven years. The first rally we ever went to watch was games. When she saw that, she fell in love, and decided right then that games was the sport for her. Fast forward to last year. She announced at the beginning of the year that she wanted to try for the International mounted games exchange team. That would require her getting her C-2 rating. The club we were with at the time did everything they could to throw up roadblocks, not helping us at all. Daughter got a job with a big name local dressage trainer, as a working student, to work on her dressage. We don't have much money, a real middle class family with three kids and too many horses, but we really wanted daughter to do this, this was her dream. She worked hard, finally found a rating to go to thanks to the generosity of the DC of another club, and my horse, who she was going to use for the dressage portion of her test, came up lame. She used her other horse, not so good on the flat, and failed. Her dressage trainer said "Why didn't you tell me Spud was lame, I would have found you another horse?" Well, daughter still wanted to try, with less than a month to go to the deadline to apply for the team. DC of the other club gave me contact info to find a rater, dressage trainer asked a student of hers if we could borrow her horse - and yes, this lady who had never met us not only loaned us her horse, she gave daughter lessons on the lovely animal, and in two weeks daughter retook and passed her C-2. Then she had to do her video to apply, and it was doing nothing but rain, and her dressage trainer said "Bring the pony here and do the video in my indoor." We did the video in her dressage indoor, with all the dressage riders lined up in the doorway watching my kid vault and dunk, and with her dressage trainer just out of sight with a bucket of grain, because the pony didn't want to go to the far end of the indoor. My kid is going to Canada on the International Games Exchange team because of a few people who didn't have to help her, but did it anyway. And if it's okay to name names, I'll say that Karen Marcotte is the nicest person I know involved with Pony Club, that Mary Howard is the greatest dressage person I know, and although I won't use her name, Trump's owner is also a fabulous person. Without these three people, my kid's hard work would not have paid off. :sadsmile:

[Rider in Training]

I have had fantastic BOs.
Amongst the many things that my current BO has done one tops them all:
three weeks ago she agreed to hold the lead rope when we put my 30 y/o mare down; I was feeding her treats and saying goodbye. It turned out that she was as sad as I was- but wouldn't have let anyone else hold her (a vet friend of mine offered to take it when she saw how sad my BO was but she refused).

[Nojacketrequired]

Oh my...some of my "best things" happened during tragic times.

My forever horse, Echo, died when he broke his neck jumping into the barn..turned out that he had a brain bleed that we couldn't have known about and he likely panicked and perhaps also lost his eye sight intermittently. Luckily, he passed very quickly and, my vet assures me, likely painlessly.

My BOs gathered round and were with me through the last few minutes, called the vet, called my husband, then took me away while they literally took the stall apart and got the tractor to take Echo out. They arranged him neatly in the hay barn, covered with coolers before they let me see him. My vet called back that he was on his way, but I told him not to bother, that Echo didn't need him anymore...His response was.."Maybe not...but do YOU need me to come?" even though he was over an hour away. When I recovered a bit and asked what I needed to do next, the BO said.."Nothing. We'll take good care of him..." and they did, making all the arrangements, and keeping some of his tail hair for me. They also took down his stall sign, wrapped it and left it in my tack box for me.

There is one dressage site that I have been a regular on for over 7 years, and I received many cards, calls and gifts, including a hand-painted oil of Echo.... and when they discovered that I hadn't had Echo insured so was unable to afford another horse, they took up the Echo Memorial Fund and deposited enough my in my Paypal account that I could begin to look for a new friend when I was ready. (They wouldn't take NO for an answer, either!)

So, while I lost my forever horse, I discovered that the people who surround me are so filled with love and generosity, that it makes me weepy just to think of the outpouring of support I had.

NJR

Here's a pic of my beautiful Echo and I , last summer.... http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a15/beautifulbrowbands/echokiss.jpg

[Jumphigh83]

So many people did so many nice things to help me out...From training (when I was riding) to boarding to giving us horses to ride, etc etc, etc....I am a very firm believer in pay ahead Karma and what goes around, DOES come around! I try to do things for others in the same manner that I was blessed with the generosity of those who helped me. They are out there....:yes: Oh and THANKS! (in case those who KNOW who you are, are frequenting this board!):winkgrin: