A little rant.

<rant>Well, tonight at the barn was a downer- the yearling TB died sometime today... I found him tonight when I went to clean stalls and bring ponies in for the night.

The real kicker of the matter is that this is one of the horses brought in by the trainer, Chuck, that had Seamus. There are currently 6 of various ages that this guy is responsible for, including the chestnut that died. One is a racehorse with a bowed tendon, one is a 2yo black filly, one is a 3yo bay filly (the filly I am trying to find a home for), and three yearlings (bay, bay, and chestnut). According to the barn owner, the yearlings and I believe also the 3 yo bay filly came onto our farm in bad shape- they came from the estate of Shirley Cunningham, a lawyer jailed due to fraud relating to the fen-phen cases. It's all more than I care to get into other than digging up a quick link, feel free to Google his name for more info (he was also a part owner of Curlin, it turns out). All of Mr. Cunningham's assets are apparently being liquidated and as I understand it, at least those four horses were there before they came here. I'm guessing no one was much worried about the horses on Mr. Cunningham's place since he's been in jail and apparently that didn't change much once they were brought to my boarding barn and dumped in a field and forgot about by trainer Chuck.

Last week I went out to check the condition of the 3yo filly and get some quick photos so I could post her on Facebook and ask around for a home for her since Chuck told me he was trying to get rid of her. She and the two bay yearlings were eating on a round bale the barn owner had brought out as he was tired of trying to get Chuck to feed the horses and just added the cost onto the board charge. While I was checking out the filly, I did notice the two bay yearlings were in rough shape, too. The chestnut was a couple hundred feet away and I didn't go up to him as light was fading fast. I did call the barn owner and we talked about the horses' condition and he said he would be keeping round bales in front of them. The filly is really thin, but not quite as bad as Seamus was so I felt okay with that and figured I would ask around for her without taking her on myself.

With so many eyes on him, Chuck started bringing more hay and feed out to take care of the horses better and he found that the chestnut yearling had (I assume) been kicked in the groin- the swelling was *very* bad when I saw him, it would make any man cringe... so the chestnut was up in a stall all week and seemed in decent spirits when I saw him until tonight when he is dead, instead. Why he died, I don't know, I can only guess. Some good guesses would include his condition which was very bad before he finally got hay, and then feed when he came in the barn. It's possible his body was too far gone and shut down. It did look like he had moved his legs a lot as he was laying down where he eventually died, and the fact that he seemed pretty bright earlier this week, despite his injury, I tend to think that maybe he coliced. There was a FULL ground feeder of textured feed and whole corn in the stall, I would guesstimate 6lbs of feed or so, and if that's the way Chuck started refeeding this yearling, he as good as invited colic in the front door and asked it to stay for tea *grrrr* It took me 10 full days to work Seamus up to eating 6lbs a day, split between two meals, and he is a large, full grown horse! 

The sheer incompetence of Chuck really floors me and then I had to tell Mary about the yearling and she is HOT. She's already been on a roll about this guy since Seamus got so bad and I took him, I heard this week that she is talking about him up at the Jot-Em-Down which is a store just down the road which is where a lot of racetrackers hang out, including Chuck. She said that he comes up there standing people's lunches and beers and acting like a big shot, meanwhile his horses were left out to starve. And now it seems it's feast or famine for the poor horses since Chuck doesn't have a clue on proper horse care, really. I will be keeping a closer eye on all the horses, as will Mary. We're worried about colic in all of them since the barn owner said Chuck is now feeding them... if he feeds them like he fed that poor chestnut yearling, more of them will be dropping like flies.

And it's sure no wonder ol' Seamus wouldn't or couldn't win races for this jerk! </rant>

Anyone want a pretty (and skinny) 3yo bay filly before Chuck manages to kill her, too?