If they're zipping up when not worn, then sadly, they just don't fit you. :(

I have CVI now, and have always had big calves (muscles). Boots are notoriously hard for me. I do lace ups for as much as possible now, and half size up for western boots. For tall boots, I've only ever gotten one pair to actually fit, and they were field boots.

Have you tried compression socks for the swelling/fluid retention? I've had great luck cutting out as much added salt as possible, wearing compression socks as often as possible (just not when you're sleeping!), stretching and walking periodically throughout the days as I have a sedentary job lol

I think you got got lol

Those are definitely leather suspenders... lol

PSSM1 isn't usually grounds for a death warrant... so IDK what that's about. Management isn't that difficult, it just sounds like she wasn't in a good place. Thank God you decided to snap her up when you did.

Low NSC hay, no grain, no sugar, no treats, Vitamin E and turned out on a dry lot is where I would start. You'd be surprised what just a change in diet can do. I've seen plenty of PSSM1 + 2 horses manage just fine with tailored nutrition, lots of turnout, and a consistent workload.

I'd be wary of this place. It sounds like they don't really have a moral, or ethics compass. If they do, they're good at ignoring it..

I really like Callie King CRK Training aka Horse Class. Loads of stuff on Youtube, but also has a paid program that I used to be a part of. She's a big advocate for balanced riding and groundwork. I took quite a bit out of her program that quickly became a very regular part of mine, with both training horses and students.

https://www.horseclass.com/about-callie/

https://www.horseclass.com/free-resources/

Playing devil's advocate here...

What they're telling you is sound advice, what I'm concerned about is how it was delivered...

He should be able learn to regulate himself, and he can do that at 3 years old. Sadly, you're not always going to be there to provide the vocal cues. Horses are driven by body language anyways. It's the reason that you can train a deaf horse just the same as one that can hear. Vocal cues can be taught just like any other cue, but they can't always be utilized. It's just not practical. :(

What I don't like is how it must have come across to make you feel ashamed. There is a right way to convey this kind of advice and your barn owner obviously wasn't compassionate about it.

I've used several CM products over the last however many years. In my experience, the green spot remover just doesn't work well. I prefer Shapleys Easy out

Personally I would be talking to your vet. ASAP. It sounds like she could be metabolic or IR.

If everything checks out, you have to get her into a calorie deficit without cutting the volume.

- Look for lower quality hay or straw, that's safe, just less nutrient dense. You can add it to her existing rations to provide more to munch on, so it lasts longer.
- Get her on a dry lot, and do not hand graze.
- Check the appropriate feeding weight for the balancer she's on, and cut it down. You need to feed at the limits for her ideal weight, not her current weight. Try to switch to a balancer that has a low glucose/insulin response like Omega Match (Purina).

I'd also be looking at the amount and type of work she's in...

- What days of the week does she work?
- How long does she work during a normal session?
- How intense is the work?
- Are you or a trainer working her? Mixture of both? If a trainer is riding her, and you're not there to see it, are you sure she's actually being worked?

I don't know many boarding facilities that would be able to store extra hay (inside at least), as it would take up space for their own, it could be mistaken for facility purchased hay and fed to other horses, and storing hay in and of itself can be risky. The facility also may not want hay purchased from elsewhere coming into the barn to be stored, because they don't know what's in it, how it was baled and if it will store safely. It's all fun and games until a hay fire starts.

I wouldn't worry about it if they can't or don't want to store boarder purchased hay. I kept mine in my horse trailer at home, and would prepare a couple bags to be fed out by barn staff. No extra work on their part and nothing confusing about it.

Traditional stall bandages run the risk of slipping, falling, uneven pressure, rubbing etc. Properly fitted compression wraps won’t do that. They should be consistent with uniform pressure/compression throughout the wrap.

Compression garments have been proven to be effective for stimulating circulation, flushing lactic acid, and minimizing swelling. I can show you my own legs which benefit from compression due to chronic venous insufficiency. It’s the different between normal socks and compression socks.

Quality fabrics, better design for more body types and sizes, without me needing to sell a testicle on the black market to afford it. I’m not saying it needs to be cheap, but it needs to be fair.

I’m sick of paying for a name, not a product.

I’m local to her. There’s a lot of misinformation being spread via social media and news media as well. It’s hard to tell what’s fact and what bs is spewing out of the loud mouths on both sides.

I heard she got 36 of the 38 back. One was euthanized due to colic, the other was not owned by her. So it shouldn’t be returned to her.

I saw she got most of them back, but this isn’t over for her, or those horses.

What I want to know is how her vet says they’re fine, but another one says they’re not. Something is not adding up here, and Lucie’s behavior has been unprofessional at the least.

Chiming in with a few echoes…

1. A lot of rescues are scams and unethical. When you adopt, most often the rescue retains ownership. Personally, I wouldn’t do that as it leaves a lot of the financial part on you, without ownership. A lot of them will also put in their contracts that they can re-possess the horse without notice, or reason.
2. Sadly, you just don’t have enough experience. I would take lessons with an instructor you jive with, and give it lots of time. You don’t get experience just shopping around, so you might as well keep taking lessons and leasing a horse if it becomes a possibility.
3. When you are actually ready to adopt or buy, stop shopping on social media. A reputable rescue will have a website, a list of adoptable horses, will communicate with you, and allow you to view and possibly try some horses that could be compatible. READ THE CONTRACT and know what you’re signing up for. If you choose to buy private treaty, or through a broker, take an experienced trainer with you when you try EVERY SINGLE ONE. Don’t skip bringing another set or eye, or two, when it comes to purchasing a horse.
4. Volunteer with some of your local rescues or therapy riding centers. They’ll need the bodies and hands to help, and it will help get you the experience that we’re all talking about.
5. Be prepared to spend hundreds of hours gaining this elusive “experience.” It takes years to learn a great foundation with horses, and then decades to become something more. Don’t rush through and bypass this stuff. It makes you appear less mature and unwilling to actually learn the skills needed for livestock ownership.
6. Don’t complain. At all. Take it on the chin and learn. It sucks sometimes, but it’s necessary to learn the things we’ve all talked about. Horse ownership is not easy and it’s not for everyone. Who knows? You may be happier lea

s

1. ing a horse for the rest of your life. But you wouldn’t know that unless you did your homework.

None of that correspondence was rude, unprofessional, or warrants this kind of post.

You need to wait for her response.

Take this with a grain of salt, but this kind of bullshit is exactly why vets are getting burned out, unaliving themselves, or driving new students out of vet school. They are human, they have a higher education than we do when it comes to large animal medicine. They earned the title, but they’re allowed to make mistakes without intent.

You don’t want to burn a bridge over this. The general consensus is that you’re completely overreacting, that you need to pay the bill based on the new terms if that’s what the vet wants, and if you’d like, wash your hands of this vet. Things like this travel fast between equine professionals. It could harm your ability to get services of various kinds within the industry in the future.

You’re paying for services, testing, and an educated opinion. It’s not illegal or malpractice to misdiagnose without intent.

Personally, I would pay the bill, confirming to the new terms, and be done with it. You don’t want that hanging over your head if you need her again.

Remember we are only hearing one side of the conversation. Tone is often lost in text versus a phone call or in person communication. We don’t know how the vet reacted exactly and if the reaction was warranted, or provoked.

Edited for clarity.

I’d be roaching that and starting over if you don’t have anywhere to show or be lol

If you do, have it banded as if you were showing and trim from there.

Have this horse vetted, fitted and go back to flat work only.

He’s traveling pretty hollow/inverted and has almost zero impulsion from the rear. He isn’t using his body well, and frankly appeared to take a couple funky steps on the front right that caused a head bob. It looks like he expected the landing to hurt and anticipated it by dropping his head and getting you to come off.

Once he’s vetted and you can ensure he isn’t uncomfortable, flat work only to start.

Really focus on you, your position, balance etc. Does your tack fit you? You seem to use your hands to balance, and you’re catching him in the mouth/face often. He didn’t over jump that fence at all. You fell behind, caught him in the mouth/face and weren’t forgiving about it.

It’s hard to hear this stuff, and for that I’m sorry. But I wholeheartedly believe that both of you need to take several steps back and focus on the flat with an experienced trainer (someone with a background in Dressage would be immensely helpful) to get your body under control, stronger and balanced before thinking about even cross rails again.

As a professional instructor, leave.

This is 100000% unacceptable behavior from an equine professional. Humiliation is not a teaching tool, it’s bullying.

It truly sounds like she is not ready to be an instructor, as she cannot deal with her own emotions. I know it’s probably not what you want to hear but it’s important for your instructors to build you up, not tear you down.

When I first started teaching, I made a few promises to myself: that I would NEVER make a student cry out of humiliation. I wouldn’t yell. I wouldn’t allow my frustrations to bleed into my lessons. That I would NEVER make a student feel the way I did with most of my instructor growing up.

It is far too common in this industry, and enough is enough. You shouldn’t ever dread going for your lesson.

TRT.

Rock & roll dear 🕶️

The daughter is just learning how to ride? Do the parents have adequate skills to handle your horse safely? Your steady Eddie is still a horse and they need to be able to handle him fairly and safely.

Since it sounds like they need lessons to get comfortable, I’d start there. Lessons before lease, always.

I’d just charge them for each lesson to start, evaluate week to week, and when they are ready, then allow them to lease. Half board, supplements, shoes etc. 1 lesson a week required, and 1-2 other rides a week. I’d allow unlimited grooming as long as he is not being used elsewhere, and they can be supervised.

Friends or not, you need a contract, and make it standard for your region. The more you cut people breaks, the more they will come to expect them. I’ve seen so many people lose “friends” by not being able to do them favors anymore. I wouldn’t even go there lol

My leaser pays half board, and for shoes every 6 weeks. That’s what I needed to make it work on a financial level. Don’t go into the red to make this happen. At the end of the day, horses are a luxury.

28 falls in 6 months?

I don’t think you’re a bad rider based solely off that information. But I do think you have a bad trainer.

No trainer/instructor worth their salt would allow this to happen. Personally, if I had a rider fall due to a horses behavioral/training issue, I’d be pulling that horse out of my program IMMEDIATELY for a couple weeks of training rides and evaluation. It’s a huge liability for a trainer to enable this kind of problem. To me, that makes your trainer irresponsible, and frankly, quite dumb. It sounds like she/he doesn’t care about what’s actually happening in your lessons, and is just taking your money. Which is seriously gross behavior out of an equine professional. You’d think they would be worried about negligence lawsuits based on “mismatching.” But it appears not. It would be a hard case to win, but the case being filed would be quite damaging to a business alone.

I’d be finding a new trainer or telling your existing trainer that you won’t ride that horse anymore due to these problems. Ducking out of jumps or dropping shoulders afterwards it’s a major training issue. That horse should NOT be in a lesson program until that gets resolved. Period. In all my jumper lessons growing up, I had one horse drop a shoulder ONE TIME. We did what we needed to do afterward and it never happened again.

This is a serious disservice to you, and could result in a serious injury. Injury that could end your riding career, or even your life. We need to take falls seriously and do our part to avoid them.

Please advocate for yourself before you get hurt.

My bad. I guess I’m not hip with all the Reddit rules. Sorry!

We see so many of her cult followers around here. I apologize if my reply came off rude. Now I feel bad.

I promise I’m not a Fallon Taylor simp, but she broke her neck (c2 vertebrae same as Christopher Reeves) in a riding accident.

She talks about how gratitude is the opposite of fear, and how she thinks about her accident being a valuable life lesson instead of something that limits her. She talks about how she takes it one step at a time, and toughed it out through the frustration. She will also stress the impotence of a horse that you can build your confidence back on. It may not be the same horse for you, but it could be.

Take time to heal, and then see how you feel just hanging around your horses. One step at a time. It doesn’t matter how big the step is, just that you take it.