#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Well, to copy what Ruth says, Lix has hunters and Ruth has gypies/hoodlums taking up residence in her barn... I have a woman stalking my horse. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I have a really old Arabian who is 33 years old. My mom bought him for me in September 1981. Then, I reluctantly sold him in 1997, after which he changed hands a couple more times until Wilamena. When she could no longer keep him because she was moving, she contacted me via our farrier, "do you want him back?" Well, naturally, I said, "yes, of course, in a heartbeat!". So, he recognized me right away and came to our farm and settled in nicely and put on about 200 lbs in weight during the summer.
(For those that don't know this story, he was painfully thin when he arrived and not healthy, but all is well now, although he is still thin but I'm hoping he'll maintain for the winter at least). #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Background so you understand the history - I first met this horse, when I was 9 years old and he was being kept across the street from my grandma's house and I used to visit him all the time. The lady, Julie, who owned him then sold him in 1979 to a girl. That girl then sold him to us in 1981. Well, this Julie kept tabs on him while he was at that girl's house, then followed him when we bought him. When I moved him to a different boarding facility after an injury, she apparently followed him up there to check on him periodically. When I moved to a different town, I later heard from my mom that she had driven up there to check on him. I moved a fair bit when I got into college and graduated and she followed him everywhere. She has never once asked permission to be on any of the properties where he was kept.. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#When I sold him, he went to a different town about 5 hours east from where I live. Apparently, Julie would drive up there to visit him. When he got sold to Wilamena here in town, she went to the neighbours and put on quite a display of tears and wailing that he was "her horse and she just wants to see him and wants the phone number to call to see if she could see him", blah, blah, blah. Apparently the neighbors were quite shocked. She got onto Wilamena's property ... twice the neighbors caught her there without permission. When Wilamena gave him to me, this caused a HUGE commotion with Julie and she went nearly wild. But Wilamena wouldn't give him to Julie because she had said she wanted to bury him on her property. Well, this horse might be old, and he might have been sick and seriously underweight at the time, but there was still lotsa life in him! So, Wilamena gave him to me. The display of tantruming and emotion was quite impressive and upset Wilamena (who's in her 70's) and the family very upset. Anyway, her odd behavior is the number one reason Wilamena refused to even consider her as a potential candidate for keeping this horse. She was very relieved when the farrier (Dean has been working on my horses for nearly 25 years), referenced me as one who takes very good care of my horses and backed up my story of owning him since I was a kid.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Anyway, Julie somehow found out that it was me that had him. She harassed Wilamena repeatedly for my number which she refused to give her (Wilamena also thinks she is looney-tunes). Wilamena finally said if she called again she was filing charges with the Police. Then, Julie found our old phone number (just a couple weeks before we moved to our new farm) and called a couple times and left messages on the machine, to which I ignored. She and I have a history this woman - in the past she was very nasty to my mother and I consider her to be psychotic and I won't have anything to do with her. I hoped that with moving and a new number she would be thrown off and we had some peace for a while, but then she started phoning my mother. My mother also thinks she is an obsessive psychotic, and wouldn't give her my number. Anyway, last Sunday, she called my mom's answering machine 3x in one day, demanding my phone number and address. The fourth call nabbed my mother live on the phone much to her dismay, so she finally said in a very firm voice "look, he's not your horse, she doesn't want you on the property, stop calling." #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Well, 2 mornings ago, something weird happened in my barn. I noticed the old guy had piles of hay which I hadn't given him and he wasn't eating. Red flag #1. Then I noticed the hay bin was moved - could that be a Red Flag #2? - At first I thought perhaps he had knocked it...so brushed it aside, until I walked into the barn and noticed a silver Tuff-Tub was full of hay and put in the aisle beside the mini-pony's stall - something I would never do. RED FLAGS ARE UP. I have 1 boarder who owns 11 horses and he would never have done this. It was definitely someone else, a stranger and without permission.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#When I mentioned this to mom, she immediately said it must have been Julie. How she found out where I live, I have no idea. The telephone company insists there is no address listing in the phone registry for us, it just states the city name (we have that choice of being unlisted, listed with city only or listed with full address). I suppose she could contact any number of different people and find out where I live - the horse world is rather small. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#So now the tack room door is locked, the barn is locked at night, the gate is now chained and locked at all times and the old Arab and his little mini pony companion are moved to the pasture furthest from the road and closest to my house. If someone walks onto the property to his pasture, they will have to get through my tenant's dogs, plus my dogs. They won't get through my dogs without being charged at, that's for sure. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#If it is her, (who else would it be? Wilamena would always call first, she's such a wonderful, kind lady) then she has some nerve to walk onto my property without permission and feed him (which by the way, he has a sensitive appetite and any time something is off schedule, it throws him off for a day for so and then he ends up with fewer calories in him overall so an extra feeding isn't worth it - he already gets fed 4x a time as it is). She probably snooped through stuff in the barn too, not just the hay. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Anyway, he was off his feed all day yesterday - I think he managed just 1-1/2 flakes of hay all day, instead of 4. He did eat his oat/beet pulp mash late last night, thankfully, but hardly any hay. This morning, I notice he has a whole pile of hay in his stall - more than I would have fed him and it is all wasted and left. This morning, he is not eating breakfast. Good thing we still have pasture grass but still, I'd rather see him eating hay and topping it off with grass. He's OLD. He's ultra-SENSITIVE. Any switches to routine upset him terribly. Why can't she just leave him alone anyway! #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#And DUH - if it's not getting inside him, it's certainly not helping him! #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Well, how about that for stupid, crazy, weird and ??? psycho.... #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#He's not been her horse for 26 years!!!!! GET OVER IT. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#