Frustrating....

There are days when I get so annoyed at my boarding facility that I just want to move immediately.

Saturday was one of those days.

So, I have a normal route I drive out to the barn (don't we all if we board?)...things went a little bit sideways when, as I go to pull off to the back road I usually take, to find it blocked by 2 Sherriff's cars. 

They tell me to keep going straight and take a left at the stop sign.

"Huh, I wonder what on earth is going on down there?" I wondered as I drove on.

So, as I proceed down a main road, I notice another Sherriff's car on the shoulder, lights also on, and I see traffic is backed up.

"What fresh hell is this?!" as I brake, getting agitated as my schedule gets thrown off.

And then I see big banners a flapping in the breeze.

"Warrior Dash".

"Oh no.  Oh no no no no no no no!!!!!"

Oh yes.

At our barn this Saturday morning, there was a WARRIOR DASH!  People EVERYWHERE, the main road to get to the horse pens blocked off by tape, loud, thumping music, and lots of pop-up awnings, and the coup de grâce? 

The FIRE STACK that signaled for the runners to go.  That they shot off multiple times.  Which caused EVERY.SINGLE.HORSE to lose its damn mind and run around and around in their pens.

Video of the fire stacks

After chasing Strider around for about a minute or so, he finally stood still long enough for me to catch him.  It appeared like Dakini had a cut on her nose and one on her chest, but I couldn't get close enough to get a good look and certainly not close enough to catch her.  No blood, just cuts.

I did manage to lead Strider to the wash rack and pen him up in there, where he pretty much lost his damn mind.  Screaming and hollaring, and I just stand there in rage and frustration and near tears when the shoer calls.  One of his other clients warned him about the Warrior Dash thankfully so he didn't pull in. 

We decided to call it and NOT attempt to put the shoes on.

Look, I understand that the barn owner has every right to make extra money.  He is the land owner, and as such, I would never begrudge someone that.

What I find annoying and what CONSTANTLY happens is that he does these events (Warrior Dash, Dirt Bikers [competitions and just people out to ride for fun], some kind of strange run/Burning Man thing) and the boarders aren't told.  There's no public calendar, he never mentions it on his Facebook page, no one calls the boarders and there's certainly NO warning for people who are hauling in for the day.

THAT drives me insane.  If I had KNOWN about the Warrior Dash, I could have made arrangements to have the shoer meet me somewhere else (like my farrier's house, I know she would have happily allowed us out there).

Instead, I went out blind, wasted 1.5 hours just in DRIVE time to have my whole morning a wash.

It's infuriating.

However, I've noted on my calendar that for next year, I will pull out all my horses for the Warrior Dash weekend and take them to H's house for 2 nights to keep them away from the insanity.