A not so safe haven for horses
I would like to begin by saying that i had been a rider at meadowlarke for many years and have seen the ins and outs of the business. What Anthea is doing is a very nice concept, she saves her animals from slaughter, rehabilitates them and turns them into riding horses. Thats all good. Now the bad. I want to start with the condition of the animals. The horses live in a grass/dirt paddock as most stables have, however the problem lies on the fact that the paddock is filled with months worth of manure and instead of having it cleaned out, they shove all of it into a giant mound in the center of the paddock. (which the students have a suitable name for). On some days the horses are up to their hocks in mud and dirt, inevitably causing diseases such as thrush. The horses are constantly ridden with little breaks, their stalls are filthy and are almost never mucked down to the matting (unless of course theyre hosting a trillium show that weekend). The horses mains and tails are brushed...
I would like to begin by saying that i had been a rider at meadowlarke for many years and have seen the ins and outs of the business. What Anthea is doing is a very nice concept, she saves her animals from slaughter, rehabilitates them and turns them into riding horses. Thats all good. Now the bad. I want to start with the condition of the animals. The horses live in a grass/dirt paddock as most stables have, however the problem lies on the fact that the paddock is filled with months worth of manure and instead of having it cleaned out, they shove all of it into a giant mound in the center of the paddock. (which the students have a suitable name for). On some days the horses are up to their hocks in mud and dirt, inevitably causing diseases such as thrush. The horses are constantly ridden with little breaks, their stalls are filthy and are almost never mucked down to the matting (unless of course theyre hosting a trillium show that weekend). The horses mains and tails are brushed so little that they are rock solid, and have to be HACKED off with knives. The horses are never blanketed in the winter and the only ones that are, are the owners more expensive horses. Many of the horses often get cuts due to poor fencing and stable conditions. Turn out in the winter is very dangerous as the paddock is covered in ice and they simply open the stall doors and let the horses run into the paddock as they slip all over the ice and risk severe injury. The riding taught there is completely wrong and made fun of by the rest of the riding community. The head coach is aggressive and makes students use the crop in an almost abusive manor. If all this isnt enough i havn't even started on how they treat the people. Parents are treated rudely and the staff is very unfriendly. They have a 24 hour policy on booking "makeups" if you miss a class, however if your lesson is at 5 pm saturday and you call at 5:15pm on friday to cancel, they consider that a breach of the 24 hour policy. The barn owner recently spent a fortune on a new show barn while this barns roof is leaking, often dripping water and snow on the horses and riders in the arena. This is a mass money making cooperation with no love for the people or the animals. the lessons are dirt cheap but you get what you pay for. For a similar price there are much better barns out there in the same area. I am repulsed by this business and would never recommend it . If I could rate 0 starts i would
Comments
In terms of the stalls being mucked out, they have deeply bedded stalls so rather than having rubber mats than shavings on top they put about a foot of soft shavings down for the horses comfort, this way as well when the horses make a mess its a lot more absorbent than a rubber mat. As for the "Hacking" off of manes and tails, remembering that most of our horses come from auctions, when they arrive at the stables and begin their training most of their tails and manes are in such poor conditions from where they came from that the only solution for then is to cut them off rather than them suffer from a badly tangled mane or tail. The rest of the school horses get there manes pulled throughout the year to keep them at an appropriate length therefore not plausible for it to be so tangled it needs to be 'hacked off'. Horses naturally grow winter coats, unless they are body clipped (which Anthea's private horses are which is why they get winter blankets). Actually blanketing horses in the winter can cause problems in them fully developing their winter coats. The policy with make ups is completely understandable and is followed by most stables. In order for there to be organization between the instructors and the times in which horses are available to use to prevent the horses of over working. The head coach is actually not aggressive but demands hard work from her students (which if you look at her students seem to be the most successful at shows). But if you prefer a more laid back riding experience there are tons of other riding instructors available to you. Also referring to the owner having no love for the animals lets just remember that not only has she given all these horses another chance at life but she also rescues pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, dogs, turkeys and cats from being killed as well as she is a vegan herself due to her LOVE for animals. The riding that is taught here is not made fun of by the riding community as you would notice we have a track record for our riders coming out on top in shows against other riders from the riding community. The riding that is taught here teaches kids how to RIDE not how to sit on a horse.
Thought some clearing up had to be done about these unclear assumptions about the stables.
- A former rider, worker, and customer of Meadowlarke Stables