Random Soapbox Rant

It never ceases to amaze me, what people will do with animals.  Horses, in this instance.  Went over to a friend's house and went up to see the neighbor's horses, which she has been invited to ride whenever she wants (oh what I would give!...).  First I must say these are not cheap horses.  Though I don't feel at liberty to say what they are supposed to have cost, since I don't know but for hearsay, at least one of them is, not superly, outrageously expensive, but definitely more than your $1500 beginner horse.  There are two are fully trained, show-quality horses, and another little Pony of the Americas that could be brought along nicely with some work.   

But, the girl who owns them is at college.  Well now she's at home for the summer, but apparently has no time for the horses.  And I guess neither does anybody else.  My friend and I caught the POA and the 17+ hh Thoroughbred (I'm guessing the latter is the most expensive one) just for a groom and treat and turn-out again.  Both caked up in mud, matted and overgrown manes and tails, shedding like crazy (though this is half-way through July).  The TB had a nasty nick on his front pastern that hadn't had anything done to it, and was losing hair all over his back and hips for some reason or another, whether poor grooming or sunburn or something else I don't know. 

So I'm not super picky about turnout; the horses I've worked and ridden and learned on have pretty much all been pasture-boarded 24/7, so they get muddy and wet and sun-bleached and sweaty; I'm not one who always has to have manes pulled and tails just so and whites white and so on.  However.  If you're going to have horses, you should take the time to look them over and groom them up every so often, if for no other reason than to make sure they don't have cuts or nicks that could get infected, or random hair loss that might signal something nasty.  If you don't have the time for that, you certainly don't have time to ride, and you should really be thinking about whether you need a horse at all.  And unless you're some super famous person with an entourage of half a dozen grooms and assistants, you should be doing this yourself.  Or at the very least, checking to make sure it's done by whoever you ask to do it.  Not assuming that some parent or someone will take over for you just because you're busy. 

Yeah.  End of rant.  :)  Just bugs me to see beautiful, well-trained horses being pasture ornaments (and rather dirty ornaments at that) when they could be doing so much more.