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Let sleeping ponies lie
Jul. 24th, 2006 11:23 amI hate standing stalls. The barn here is almost entirely standing stalls on the school side, though. Much as Don and everyone else would love to convert those to box stalls, it aint gonna happen. The building belongs to the county park commission and it's nearly impossible to get them to spend money on stuff like that. Heck, it took someone pointing out that there was no handicapped access to the barn before the county would go and update the restrooms to post-1960's technology and years of begging to have the county grade the dirt pasture did nothing until someone filed a complaint about runoff into a nearby stream.
Anyway, I hate standing stalls. They don't let horses move around much at all. While the horses can sorta lie down in them, they really can't sprawl on their sides like they can do in a box stall. They also end up having to lie in any manure or other stuff that hasn't yet been removed. Of course, it's a nightmare if a horse manages to get itself cast or colics in one.
'Course, folks who know me know that this isn't a new opinion for me. I just got reminded of how much I dislike the stalls yesterday.
As usual, the flies were active yesterday so I went ahead and mixed up some fly spray. Spraying the horses is a relatively quick task and they're normally not taken out of their stalls for it. One of the ponies, Chunky, really hates getting sprayed. I think someone must've gotten fly spray in his eyes in the past so he gets all tense when he's getting sprayed. Because of this, I usually do him first. That way he doesn't have a chance to get all worked up as he sees/smells his neighbors getting sprayed.
Once I had a full sprayer I went to Chunky's stall. He was standing in it with his head down, sleeping. It wasn't the usual dozing that the horses do. He was 100% flat out fast asleep. Not wanting to frighten him, I called his name, made some noises, knocked on the stall post and such to let him know I was there. I got no response at all. Heck, if he hadn't been standing and breathing I'd have thought he'd died or something. He was that deeply asleep. I gently touched, then patted his rump. Still he didn't wake up. I went into the empty stall next to him and rapped the bars fairly loudly. Nothing. This was kinda getting a couple of us concerned, thinking maybe there was more going on than just a very asleep pony.
Finally I went into Chunky's standing stall with him. Again, I called out to him, patted his rump and side to try to let him know I was there and again, got no response....not right off, anyway.
When I got up to about his shoulder, still talking to him, he woke up. Poor lil guy. To say he woke up with a start would be an understatement. His eyes opened. His head jerked up. He startled and he bounced. Quite a good bounce too. Unfortunately, he bounced/jumped to his left, which is where I happened to be.
Chunky isn't a big horse, but still, 800-900 pounds of equine moving quickly to the left meant that I was suddenly squooshed against the stall wall. Ouch. It kinda hurt, to say the least. On the plus side, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. While I was and still am a bit sore, it could easily have resulted in some broken or at least severely bruised ribs. Poor Chunky. He went from startled, to frightened, to looking sheepish. I know the fella wouldn't ever intentionally hurt me.
So there's my latest reason for hating standing stalls. Yup. Getting hurt was really my own fault. I could've gone and poked Chunky with something through the bars or something like that. Still, if it'd been a box stall, Odds are that I'd have just been bumped backwards a couple steps or at worst, would've landed on my butt in the shavings.
Anyway, I hate standing stalls. They don't let horses move around much at all. While the horses can sorta lie down in them, they really can't sprawl on their sides like they can do in a box stall. They also end up having to lie in any manure or other stuff that hasn't yet been removed. Of course, it's a nightmare if a horse manages to get itself cast or colics in one.
'Course, folks who know me know that this isn't a new opinion for me. I just got reminded of how much I dislike the stalls yesterday.
As usual, the flies were active yesterday so I went ahead and mixed up some fly spray. Spraying the horses is a relatively quick task and they're normally not taken out of their stalls for it. One of the ponies, Chunky, really hates getting sprayed. I think someone must've gotten fly spray in his eyes in the past so he gets all tense when he's getting sprayed. Because of this, I usually do him first. That way he doesn't have a chance to get all worked up as he sees/smells his neighbors getting sprayed.
Once I had a full sprayer I went to Chunky's stall. He was standing in it with his head down, sleeping. It wasn't the usual dozing that the horses do. He was 100% flat out fast asleep. Not wanting to frighten him, I called his name, made some noises, knocked on the stall post and such to let him know I was there. I got no response at all. Heck, if he hadn't been standing and breathing I'd have thought he'd died or something. He was that deeply asleep. I gently touched, then patted his rump. Still he didn't wake up. I went into the empty stall next to him and rapped the bars fairly loudly. Nothing. This was kinda getting a couple of us concerned, thinking maybe there was more going on than just a very asleep pony.
Finally I went into Chunky's standing stall with him. Again, I called out to him, patted his rump and side to try to let him know I was there and again, got no response....not right off, anyway.
When I got up to about his shoulder, still talking to him, he woke up. Poor lil guy. To say he woke up with a start would be an understatement. His eyes opened. His head jerked up. He startled and he bounced. Quite a good bounce too. Unfortunately, he bounced/jumped to his left, which is where I happened to be.
Chunky isn't a big horse, but still, 800-900 pounds of equine moving quickly to the left meant that I was suddenly squooshed against the stall wall. Ouch. It kinda hurt, to say the least. On the plus side, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. While I was and still am a bit sore, it could easily have resulted in some broken or at least severely bruised ribs. Poor Chunky. He went from startled, to frightened, to looking sheepish. I know the fella wouldn't ever intentionally hurt me.
So there's my latest reason for hating standing stalls. Yup. Getting hurt was really my own fault. I could've gone and poked Chunky with something through the bars or something like that. Still, if it'd been a box stall, Odds are that I'd have just been bumped backwards a couple steps or at worst, would've landed on my butt in the shavings.