Boy, do I agree with this one. Living in an urban area of L.A., I used
to have to board (briefly, luckily) at a very snooty, upper crust
equestrian center where apparently the major part of your boarding fee
was for the Privilege of saying your horse lived down the row from Zsa
Zsa's Andalusians (like we care). I actually had someone call out a
humane society officer on me for "cruelty" because my horse was so "over
ridden and exhausted" that he---heaven forbid---LAY DOWN TO SLEEP AT
NIGHT!! Luckily, the officer was no dummy and realized Cato was just
peachy, not to mention shiny, muscled and bursting out of his skin and
oh by the way, also did not kick, weave, pace or chew.
The lady in question who complained about my "cruelty" thought being
kind to her grossly overweight horse was to keep him in a 12 x 12 box
stall, hand walk him for fifteen minutes (he was apparently too "high"
to be ridden by her), brush him for another fifteen and put him away
with lots of straight alfalfa and a nice big bran and grain mash.
I heard a month after I moved out, her horse foundered so badly that he
had to be put down after his hoof walls practically disintegrated,
meanwhile Cato went out and did 350 miles in eight weeks and never got
less than an A on his vet cards. I can take the name calling, but the
real victim was the poor horse who was pampered to death.
Susan Evans