MY SISTER IS DRIVING MY NUTS

[Leeana]

Okay, Lately my sister has been driving me nuts. We combined barns since were building a new big barn for my horses and dads and keeping tamila's cows ext in her barn. Well my sister has never owned a horse exept for this little mini donkey that she owned for a little while after i gave it to her. Well since my horse's and dads are now in her barn for a year or couple month or so. Well im convinced my horses are not going to live to see there new stalls.

WARNING **Now before you read this, i am a person who likes to do everything w/ my horses and doesnt like anyone else to really mess with them exept for me and sometimes dad. I dont mind my mom from time to time bc they know a little about horses and dad is the horse expert practically (with some horses ...not mine of course). But i like to do it all w/ my horses bc thats what i love ..i like to know the job is done well and done by me ..my way. My horses = My Way**

My sister knows apsolutely CRAP about horses. She is driving me nuts. She does all this stupid stuff that she thinks is 'horse people stuff' *as she calls it*. Well its all some of the stupidest stuff ever. But keep in mind my WARNING above. Here is all the stupid stuff she has been doing all week thats driving me crazy!!!!

1) She had a pare of Scissors scraping the black parts off sammy's hooves yesterday after school. They are my horses and i paid about 90% of the money (dad paid the other 10%) to get Sammy. He is going to be my Show Arabian next yr and i actually liked the black dots he had on them. If i didnt want them there ..i would have gotten them off. I told her and she said "well i thought it was ugly ..they shouldnt have black spots!". "well he's mine and you shouldnt have used scissors!!!!!".

2) I have told her 100 times not to feed them, i have them on a special feeding schedule and she is just trying to mess it up. I told her and told her and told her that i feed them every morning before school. Well she goes down there and feeds them about 2 times as much as i fed them right after i leave. I have Lorado on a diet (Quarter Horse) and he is just gaining weight now. Then i come home and she has just about foundered Coco and Rocky. There mini's and she says "mini's are supose to be really fat, didnt you see theones at the fair". ARGGHHH. she is going to founder them. Im scared to death of that.

3) Then there is the little things she does that drives me nuts. She knows how i am and i like to do the stuff w/ my horses myself myway ..well she cleans there hooves, nostrils, and ears daily. And she sneeks around trying to do but i catch her bc i caught on to it like the ...2ed time. Then she has the nerve to say to me "you dont know how to take care of these horses ...there practically mine now". ARGHHH .....I was the only one who took care of them uptill a week ago. Now she starts all this stuff, knowing how i am, and freaking has the nerve to say "there practically mine now". To me ...What the Heck? THat has me so angry.

4) SHE BRUSHES THEM WITH THE BRUSHES SHE USES ON THE RING WORM INFESTED COWS. Now this ticks me off. She knows i brush them daily and spray this 'dirt blocker' on them about every other day. She uses her stupid ring worm infested burhses and brushes them, knowing im going to brush them liek 1/2 hour later. I swear ...she cant understand anything.

Before you guys say 'sit down ..talk to her'. I cant ..we are not that kind of family at all. If i did she would get up slap me for playing around w/ her and walk away to infest my horses w/ ringworm!. I know its probaly just my temper but is it normal to get upset over this stuff.

5) I clean out there water buckets every day w/ this stuff i got at TSC that is for buckets to kill all the germs and sick stuff in the buckets (1 drop mixed in w/ the water kill sit all ..just gotta rinse it out). Well she also fills them up to the tip top before i get ready to clean them out and then yells and screams at me bc 'thats stupid' and im waisting 'her water that our dad paid for!'.

So is it just the temper or would this tick you off to?

 

[Ashley]

Start doing stuff with her cows. You cant do much else about the horses. AS for the feed, lock it up where she cant get it.

 

[Leeana]

I have thought about doing that. She has these lambs and cows that she treats like pets. She doesnt understand that a cow is not a 'dog'. You should see her ..she refuses to sell them bc they are like her best friends. Now i dont see how you develop a friendship w/ something you cant even catch or pet.

I cant lock the feed up unless i built a room for it. We now keep it in the garage. I cant lock up the Hay either. Which is what really gets me goiong ..she isnt to bad about the feed bc you would have to walk like 600ft to get to the garage from the barn. She just way overfeeds w/ the hay, which we use alphalfa so its just that much worse. In the mornings i put the mini's out to pick grass and usually throw 1 or 2 blocks in this hay feeder for them to eat from time to time (i have 3 out together so i use about 2 blocks spread out) and our grass isnt to great now. Well she puts them up around 10am (from what mom says) and gives them each 2 1/2 blocks of alphalfa ...EACH. that is way to much for a mini that already ate 2 blocks almost + Grass and now getting MORE. Plus they get some Grain in the morings so before i turn them out. There is no need to get another 2.5 blocks of alphalfa at 10AM!!!!, Coco looks HUGE when i get home. I havent even gotten to hook him up in the harness exept once bc she is to lazzy from eating all day to pull the cart.

She does however overfeed the regular horses to + what i feed them in the mornings. I know what they look like on weekends around ..they look in good shape, but when i get home at 3pm ..they are way bigger then if i was down at the barn all day. I feel like i must gard them. I dont know what to do ..im scared and mad at the same time.

Then dad says we may not have the barn built for about a year. And we already have my barn down. Dads barn is getting tore down in a couple dys after they finish moving all my boards and stuff away.

 

[Marty]

I'm with you. I have my way of doing things here and I don't want anyone interfering with my schedules or feeding or anything. Not that I would have that problem, but if I did, I would be very upset about it.

Gee whiz Leanna this is a problem and I have no good solutions to it since your barn is already trashed.

There must be some way to talk to her without loosing your temper or her loosing her temper.

Maybe you can ask your dad to speak to her and remind him that if she gets the horses sick, it's going to hit him hard in the pocketbook when he has to pay the vet bills on the potential problems that she may cause.

Maybe you can treat her to lunch someplace where you both have to behave and talk it though like ladies.

 

[Leeana]

See ..i've been thinking about it. (i do allot of thinking in free time). Well i think im going to just let some of the little things go. I mean i LOVE taking care of my horses. Its the little things that bother me to. When she fills up there water buckets ..i like doing that. When she cleans there hooves ..i love that even more. When she brushes them ..i couldnt live w/out doing that nightly. I think im just going to let it go and work on getting her to stop feeding them. I think that if i could solve that riddle, it would be better. Im just going to have to accept that i cant do it my way all the time. Anyway this isnt permanant.

I do have 1 stall standing still in my 'used to be barn'. It just doenst have a roof over it and it looks really lonely. They just havent tore that one down yet bc that ws the one that we built to keep this really wild mustang pony in we had a couple years back ...saddly he had to be put down bc i guess he had something wrong w/ his brain. So that stall could have lived though Huricaine Katrina 10x over.

Im just set in my ways i guess ..i might as well get over it. The feeding part does worry me though.

Thanks Marty ..i know where your coming from.

 

[bfogg]

I feel really bad for you. What I might tell her is if her cows are covered in ringworm,she might do better to clean up her own herd! Isn't ring worm caused by filth? I don't know I am asking?

She should be bleaching those brushes and everything else that has come in contact with ringworm,I would guess I knew a woman who got ringwirm herself after she bought a calf from a filthy place because she felt so bad for it and didn't know how contagious it was. She had a terrible time of it.

It sure would make me mad and I don't blame you for being put out. Good Luck,

Bonnie

 

[Ashley]

Well in your sisters defense. I know how easy it is to fall in love and bond with a calf/cow. I had a few that I never could handle the thought of them going for meat.

Ringworm is easy to get and it isnt always cause by being dirty. Cattle get it really easy.

 

[Leeana]

I know ..but i know how easly it spreads. If you brush a cow that has ringworm and use that brush to get off the flakes of dead skin on the ring worm area to medicate it ..then brush my horse w/ it. We then have a problem.

 

[Marty]

Ringworm is in fact a fungus and a highly contageous one at that. Both you girls can get this. You do need to tell your sister that she needs to get rid of it on her cows and she needs to watch herself because she can get this from them if she doesn't have it yet. You gals need to be doing some serious disinfecting on those cows and other animals, whoever has it and do something about those brushes. If you catch it, it is not that easy to get rid of and takes some time to do it. It's nasty.

 

[Triggy&Blue&Daisy Too]

You have my full blessing to beat the crap out of your sister

 

[rabbitsfizz]

How old is your sister?? Why does your Dad not put his foot down and tell her to leave the horses alone??

 

[Helen]

I am going to take a different approach, and I think your sister WANTS to be involved with the horses. Maybe you two can work out a program whereby you both can enjoy them.

By the way, I personally see some of the things she is doing a bonus, and I would appreciate someone ensuring that my horses had full buckets of water, and their hooves cleaned on a daily basis.

Instead of being bugged by this, and finding fault in everything she does, try and turn it around whereby you both can enjoy this experience.

 

[Leeana]

I know Helen ..but those are the things i love to do. Cleaning stalls, cleaning feet, brushing, watering, feeding. Those are my things ..the things that i do to relax.

Up untill last week i had nothing to do w/ them cows!. Still dont. I know that we brought this one cow home a couple weeks ago and since then its been on all the cows i guess. I dont mess w/ them at all!!. Im thinking about throwing the brushes away or hiding them. We are taking care of the ringworm though ..iodine or something. As long as my horses dont get it. Im planning on soking some brushes in bleach tommarow for a loonnnngggg time. I'm just basically trying to not get all worked up over the little things. She still is feeding them even after i do it. I had dad watch her and he told her and i even told her i was feeding them this morning when i saw her and told her i gave them a little extra bc they were not going out to pick grass bc it was storming all day ..yet she still went down there 45 minutes later and fed them. I just cutt back on the supper a little w/ them. Im working on her though, i just dont see how you could not understand "dont feed my horses!"

Im sorry, but i think thats pretty darn clear!

 

[Miss_Fortune]

Im curious, why is your sister home all day? it would drive me crazy too by the way.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

How old is your sister?? Why does your Dad not put his foot down and tell her to leave the horses alone??

 

[Leeana]

My sister is 37 years old! He does put his foot down but my sister just doesnt listen. I mean i listen to dad, i kind of push him sometimes because i want him to understand im growing up and will be on my own in about a year but thats normal. Sis is 37 and she beleives she is doing everything right, horses are in her barn that auctomatically makes them her's almost.

On a brighterside though. After much convincing ...

Dad is going to allow me to stable my horses at the ..well stable. He is keeping his horses there because tamila doesnt really mess w/ his pleasure horses. Just all mine. (he dont let her anywhere near that stable by the way, last time she was there it was about 8 month ago). Well he has some tie stalls down there he puts them in when they are getting there stalls cleaned, re-bedded or whatever. I spent about an hour down there fixing the tie stalls into a regular stall (just put a door up) for the 3 mini's. The big horses are not as lucky. They are basically in Tie stalls atnight and out to pasture (separate from the other horses bc dad is a freak about them, lol gosh i love dad) first thing. So tommarow while im at the BBQ, dads loading them up and taking them down there. He did warn me however that if any of them horses got sick he was gunna pop me one on the head (dont worry, he wasnt being serious lol). So thats there home for the next couple month. I might walk them down here though and back to the stable at night so they can eat in his pasture (its only about a 1/2 mile ..nothing to bad, might ride em' ..that would be fun).

We solved this problem. I can finially sleep!!

What would you guys have done? Did i do the right thing? Tie stalls are better then that crap there were going through right? There only in them at night so i think it will be fine.