Still Around!

I have had one hell of a ride lately. Yes moving to Canada is BIG, but my husband and I have had more than our share of bad luck. The kind of bad luck that makes you think "Do I have a karmic debt I did not know about?". The kind of crazy situations that make you just laugh out loud because they are so preposterous.

Remember the barn I found? With the house on the property? This barn with this house is managed by a woman who also lives on the property (in the larger main house). The owner of the property lives off the farm somewhere in Winnipeg. With me so far?

When we arrived in Winnipeg the house that we had agreed to rent was not vacant as we were told it would be. The farm manager graciously let us and our animals stay in her guest room, promising us the house would be ready in a week or two.

Meanwhile, I immediately began to help out around the farm. I noticed things were a bit off; skinny horses mostly, paddocks with no water, horses with neglected injuries. I started my usual routine of asking questions and trying to get the problems noticed by management. I quickly realized that the barn manager is burnt out on the job and does not care. The other boarders are upset and the general atmosphere is strange and uneasy. I started checking waters and throwing hay anytime I had a free moment--even though I am working full time at the University. I also started pulling a pathetically skinny Thoroughbred mare out of the muck to grain her myself.

When our house is finally vacated we are told we can not move in because they want to put in new floors and the place could use some painting. Fine. The place was trashed, though we would have taken it as is anyways because we were desperate to move in after half a month of living out of a suit case.

Finally, though, the owner showed up and I stood in line with the other boarders to voice my concerns about the horses and about our house.

The horses: I got the vet out for the injured horses, and the skinny TB mare. She had cheek ulcers from bad teeth. I got fecal tests done on all the skinny horses to see if parasites were an issue. A few horses had moderate parasite loads (including a pregnant mare!). The rest were fine. This group of skinny horses includes a pregnant mare and a two year old warmblood. It is just disgusting. Having the tests done proves my suspicion that the horses are just plain not getting enough to eat.

The house: Evidently the barn manager never even informed the owner about renting the house to us. In fact, the owner didn't even know that we existed until now. Her plan was to move back into the property in September and the little house was actually being fixed up for the barn manager, not us. So the barn manager knew this all along. We had been in contact with her about renting this since April. She continued to tell us every time we asked that everything was OK and that the house would be ready for us soon. I don't think I have ever had someone lie to my face so viciously in all my life. What purpose did all the lying even serve? I have no idea. Several of the boarders were mortified to hear this and defended me telling her about my hard work with the horses and that the owner should just kick the manager out completely. That would make sense right? Since she is starving horses? The owner said that she would think on it. She texted me later saying I could have the house. However, between her telling me no, maybe, and then yes, I decided that no matter what, I wanted out.

My husband and I just moved into a nice apartment in town and I found a barn for Bodhi to move to. My dream of living with my horse is shattered, but at least the nightmare is over.