I recently moved my mare to our new barn and things have been a little rocky. I was really excited about moving but there were a few things that made me a little nervous. Firstly, the owner of the barn came to pick me up. It was a brand new trailer, really nice, but it had a ramp and my mare has only used step ups. So of course she was frustrated. I didn’t like that when she took almost a half hour to load, the woman got upset and started asking me if I had practiced and if I had a shank. I calmly said she always loads fine and I never use a shank on her, ever. I don’t consider it abuse at all, I just never needed one, and if I did I just used another method. I felt bad because she was trying to be a good girl and wanted to hop in, she was pawing at the ramp, but the woman didn’t want to give her the time. I was upset the whole drive there.

Then I get there and I find out that she does all mare turnout with five other mares. My biggest concern is that my mare has social problems from being locked in a stall for a year before I rescued her. I told the owner this and before we came she said we might be able to get her in a smaller group but I haven’t heard anything about that since. Every day she runs back and forth in the paddock because they won’t let her graze at all. She comes in sweaty and upset every day. I know it’s only been a week, but I have seen her hop into a paddock no problem the first day and she was fine the second. I am going to give it time but I feel awful seeing her so mercilessly bullied.

My final qualm comes when I find out that the land owner (not the barn manager) has a stallion there, and I was not aware he was even there before I moved her. I have never seen him turned out, never even seen him in the barn, which means he is probably restless. I let my mare graze on a patch of grass after a lesson and she usually has no problem just sitting and grazing. So, I left her to graze while I ran to grab some brushes and I came back to see she had made her way into the separate barn to the stored hay bales. I heard a loud shriek that scared the hell out of me and I found her happily munching away while this poor guy is flipping out. I know he has to be aggressive with the way he responded. It was pretty scary. My main concern comes when she has already been leased for a 2012 foal. The stud fee for our chosen stallion is 2500 and the only way she is getting the breeding is because my leasee knows the owner personally. You really can’t say no to that opportunity. As a quick explination, we had no idea what kind of horse she would turn out to be before we rescued her. She suprisingly has an excellent pedigree and conformation to die for. She really was a diamond in the rough. I don’t want anyone assuming I’m a backyard breeder.

Honestly, I know for a fact that a wood fence or a thin electric fence wouldn’t stop that little barn stallion from getting to those mares who are all so conveniently together.

So I guess I’m looking for some opinions. Should I just start asking questions or should I just get out when the month is through? Other than these issues it’s a nice place, great stalls, care, and good paddocks etc. I like the barn, but I’m concerned with these problems and that more like them might show up.
Thanks for all the great advice, but I have to add a little detail. Since it was hot yesterday I didn’t ride, but I took some time to visit that stallion. Now that I’ve visited I feel awful for the poor guy. Originally he looked like a Friesian with a quick glance, but now he definitely looks like a quarter horse, he just has a badly mangled/tangled mane and forelock. He looks like he hasn’t seen a farrier in months, is outrageously stocked up, and FAT. The reason I never see him outside is because he never goes outside! He just hangs out and stares out his windows all day. At least the barn is cool, but still, he is a stallion which means he needs even more activity to get him through the day. He’s a sweetheart really, very affectionate and quite a lover, but he seems very resentful and shy. From the way he reacted to the grass I gave him, he hasn’t been outside in a long time. Now I know it’s not the barn manager’s horse, but still. I’d give the poor lad the benefit of the doubt and
get him the heck outta there.

And yes the paddocks are small maybe a 1/4 of an acre. I wouldn’t put any more than two horses in there and there are six now. At my last place there were two horses in each paddock about a 1/4 of an acre with good grazing land and it worked out great for them. I feel like it would be better to find groups that get along instead of just putting them together by gender. Mares can be nasty.