[Alagirl]

Wow--I really did not mean to touch such a nerve or start such a thread! Just a few things to clarify:
1. MY children were not the ones being rated. My friend asked if I had ever heard of such a policy and I hadn't so I said I would check around. I have been out of the Pony Club/horse show world for awhile but I asked a few people & no one else had ever heard of it either, so I turned to the trusty Chronicle forums.
2. I was aghast that my question might have influenced the outcome of her childrens' ratings. (Fortunately for all involved, they ultimately decided to do the rating elsewhere.)
3. I never posted the name of the facility, the state it's in, or any other identifying factors. Believe it or not, I don't even know where it is.
4. I definitely did not post this question to be a snark, or with any ulterior motives: I seriously had never heard of this policy or anything like it. Having said that, I appreciate those people who defended me on this thread!

sounds like you earned yourself the box wine award!

[ccoronios]

Huntmeet, I believe only one person (who'd usually pretty sane and reliable on here) took your question in any way other than the straightforward question it was. Unfortunately, there seems to be something terribly wrong in her life - or the life of the facility owner - currently, and your question just caused a 'snap'.

I'm glad your friend (and her PC children) had a rating option - I hope they did - or DO - well, and pass their D2 with flying colors!

Best wishes,
Carol

[fargaloo]

Look folks, Laurie is a VERY nice person. On the boards and off. There has to be more to this story than meets the eye, perhaps something that happened IRL before the OP brought this here. Perhaps the OP posted this here with the intention of being a snark. Who knows? People's motivations aren't always clear, it is entirely possible we've all played right into what the OP wanted in the first place. Honestly I'm going to give Laurie the benefit of the doubt here.

I don't doubt she's a nice person, or that there is definitely some history we don't know. But there was nothing rude or libellous in OPs post. It was a neutral question about a situation that she reported factually and without distortion. Laurie has every right to think whatever she wants about the OP's question but it wasn't appropriate to blow up on the BB and threaten PC kids with "examiner's retaliation". There's no way to spin that.

How weird would this place get if every time someone asked a question like "Hey, do you think my trainer is charging me a fair price for trailering", someone would come in saying "there's more to this than meets the eye!! Why don't you ask her how her husband feels about her going out of town with her so-called "trainer"!!!" Yeesh.

[HungarianHippo]

Time to let this one die, don't ya think? The original question is unanimously decided. The side story (whatever it actually is) is entirely irrelevant. Laurie has a long history of helpful, informative, and fair posts on this forum. Her (completely wrong & over the top) response here does not make me think she's not who she seems (which is a nice, smart, competent horsewoman). It makes me think that the situation behind the scenes is truly so bad that she momentarily and uncharacteristically lost her cool. Time to forgive that--or not, but no matter what, time to move on.

[LauraKY]

For the record, your sleuthing turned up the wrong place as that is clearly not a private home but thank you for your attempt to add insult to injury.

She's right. Bowie is not in Baltimore County. Color me very curious though, I'm from Baltimore County.

However, even if I do figure it out, don't expect me to out her. Weird rule, but the arena owner is not the one on COTH foaming at the mouth.

[wireweiners]

As an attorney, I just want to know how the arena owner plans on collecting this pissing fine in the event there is an offender. If someone approached me and said your pony peed in my arena, you owe me $100, I'd tell them to piss off (pun intended). What are they going to do? Impound the offending pony and kid? Granted she would have the right to ask them to leave, but a fine? That is ridiculous.

[cloudyandcallie]

I don't think that any pony club should hold any event at a location with such rules.

And I don't think anyone who threatens pony club kids should be allowed to have any connection with a pony club, much less rate kids.

(I've never had a horse urinate when I was on him/her in decades and decades. Nor have any of my 4 mares every displayed any winking when i was on them. But good grief, punishing kids and their ponies for the ponies urinating?)

The OP did nothing wrong in asking about this rule.

This rule reminds me of all the people here in Savannah who didn't let their families use their living rooms or dining rooms except for special occasions. i guess if those people had horses and indoors, they'd have made everyone put a diaper on his/her horse.

[planetlisa]

Am I the only one wondering what kind of footing this is? And all krazi-ness aside, is there concern that urine plus footing creates an especially slippery surface that would compromise safety?

Trying to put some kind of logic on this otherwise entertaining thread...

[Ambitious Kate]

Maybe the Pony Clubbers aren't allowed to pee in the arena.

This is what I expected to find when I opened the thread. The rest? Head shake is all I have to say. To the thread.

I agree the wording was unfortunate.

[Casey09]

Am I the only one wondering what kind of footing this is? And all krazi-ness aside, is there concern that urine plus footing creates an especially slippery surface that would compromise safety?

Trying to put some kind of logic on this otherwise entertaining thread...

Since I was at a barn years ago that didn't want horses urinating in the arena, I googled it. I found a couple of barn websites that said that horses weren't to urinate in the arena. Really, maybe it has just been my own experience but I would not have any problem with such a rule because I just haven't had horses urinate in the arena all that often. I would have probably just risked it happening. It just doesn't seem that weird to me, but maybe it is because I have experienced that rule without issue. I think maybe it has something to do with the dust free hypo allergenic footing, but I could be way off on that. I'm not a footing expert, but I am surprised that the rule is so unheard of.

[ldaziens]

What I love about COTH is that it is a FREE FOCUS GROUP. It's just a shame that a draft of the email wasn't run by the group before being sent out

But, Laurie is a good person who had a bad COTH day. It happens. There are far worse crimes than coming to the defense of a friend. So, she overreacted; and she has acknowledged that.

On the plus side, we've learned that while some people have heard of and are okay with the "No Pee" rule; most people are NOT okay with humiliation & fines -- especially involving kids & Pony Pee. Also, before you send out your list of rules; maybe run them by a few people (or please let COTH help) to make sure that you are communicating effectively & not offensively.

For more examples of communication gone awry, passiveaggressivenotes.com is always entertaining.

[Ghazzu]

Who said it would damage anything? She doesn't want pee in it. Big freaking deal. Glad you are getting your entertainment out of it. Hope I am in a laughing mood during the rating but somehow I doubt it now.

Then she shouldn't allow horses in it, period.

[Ghazzu]

Just like at Devon, there are pieces of felt and other absorbent fabrics in the footing that soaks up and retains the urine smell. It is akin to asking someone not to scratch your new Ferrari when you generously allow them to drive it. I don't think that is an unfair request.

No; it's more like it might cause you unberable anguish to have a dog pee on the tire of the prisitne Ferrari.
And in that case, you refrain from loaning it out.

[HighFlyinBey++]

As an attorney, I just want to know how the arena owner plans on collecting this pissing fine in the event there is an offender. If someone approached me and said your pony peed in my arena, you owe me $100, I'd tell them to piss off (pun intended). What are they going to do? Impound the offending pony and kid? Granted she would have the right to ask them to leave, but a fine? That is ridiculous.

I'm not an attorney, but I had the same thought and same imagined response!

My horses rarely pee in the ring, but sometimes it happens. When you gotta go, you gotta go.

Now the trailer? That's another story. Bailey refused to pee from Baraboo, WI to the KHP (including a stop to pick up a mare in Milton, WI), from the KHP back to Milton, WI; from Wisconsin Dells to the east side of Indianapolis (where he finally gave up and peed at a rest stop) and from Indy to NoVA. My mare won't pee in a trailer, either.

[Ghazzu]

More hurtful than we can possibly imagine, even.

The facility owner was once doused with a carboy full of fermented urine by craze AR activists, and the mere smell of horse urine makes her PTSD kick in perhaps.
Or maybe not.
But the repeated references to the unkown "back story" do tend to encourage speculation...

[Foxtrot's]

If a public barn has a rule about no peeing in the arena, it is probably because, out of experience, they found people turning their horses out in the arena after a ride, letting it roll and pee in there.....otherwise we all know they go straight into their freshly made fluffed up beds to pee. We can certainly understand that the resulting smell would build up if it happened a lot and who wants their arena turned into a bathroom. But the chances of even one pony going in the arena is fairly remote if they are being ridden around.

Enough of chewing the fat. It has already all been said. Time to move on.

[michaleenflynn]

I wasn't sure where to post this, so I'm starting here. A friend of mine has two children who are getting ready to do their Pony Club ratings (D-2). The ratings are going to be at a farm she was unfamiliar with, and when she got the directions and releases by email, there was also a list of "Dos and Don'ts." Such things as: "manure must be picked up", "if it comes out of your horse or your trailer you must take it with you, etc." (Fair enough.) But there was one condition: "Under no circumstances will any horse be allowed to urinate in either the indoor or outdoor arenas. Any owner who permits their horse to urinate will be fined $100 and asked to leave the premises immediately." So, is this a new thing? It IS a dressage facility, and I'm sure has very nice footing, but can it really be that much nicer than some of the A show barns and facilities that do not have this policy? My friend actually called the woman to see if this was for real, and the woman was quite serious when she said it was. When my friend asked what would happen if her 10 year old son's pony mare started to pee, the BO said they'd just get a bunch of people to start yelling and clapping their hands & run into the arena. So...Really?

This actually infuriates me, striking that same chord that is plucked every time I hear about a teacher refusing to allow a student to go to the bathroom during class.

What kind of mind tries to control the involuntary bodily functions of another being?

What's their proposed penalty for equine flatulence?

Edit: gah, I should have realized by the number of posts there was fisticuffs going on, didn't mean to throw gasoline on the fire

[cowboymom]

Not that my two cents are needed here but what the heck.

Sounds to me like the arena owner went out on a limb into territory she wasn't entirely comfortable with in order to do a favor or do something nice for the Pony Club. When the uncomfortable territory took center stage it resulted in a WTHeck moment for at least one person (and me, this 'no peeing' in the arena is new to me) and the reactions to the situation bothered Laurie, who obviously is coming at it from an entirely different angle.

The thread could have lived and died without Laurie's contribution and she would have been the only one to know but people are peeps, she has an emotional reaction to this situation based on things that we don't know.

I'm willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and just realize that at some point someone should have realized that pony club and "no peeing" just don't jive.

For most of us, it's an academic animated discussion. It obviously means much much more to Laurie and I hope that she's able to put this aspect of it aside and hopefully the whole situation is resolved soon.

[cutter99]

If the barn owner gets this upset over pee, what happens if the horse takes a dump?

In over 40 years of riding, I have never encountered a rule like this! When did we start teaching our horses that it is not acceptable to urinate?

[ElisLove]

I boarded at a barn that had virtually WHITE footing, with absorbant fibres in it (it was the fancy shmancy european footing). One of the horses in the barn ALWAYS peed as the rider was dismounting. The arena never smelt and the footing was never discolored.
I know of no rider that goes 'yay, my horse is peeing in the arena! Awesome!' A very FEW horses have a tendency to pee in the arena/while mounted at least from everything I've seen. If my horse were to pee while I was mounted I would know it's cause he desperately needs to go and it would be cruel to stop him, and if he had to go that bad it would probably be super quick 'get into pee stance" that would not allow much of any time to stop him. I don't ever recall my current horse peeing while mounted, and my last horse maybe did it once or twice in the 5 years I owned him.

I don't think it's terrible to say 'please discourage horses from urinating in the arena(s)' but to give a fine (a large fine) and kick someone out is definitely ridiculous. I have never boarded at or heard of a barn having this rule.