08/12/2013
've worked at this stable for over 3 years now. I can personally attest that I, and my fellow co-workers water the horses after every ride, and that we loosen the cinches. It is standard procedure. The horses get fed in the morning and are given enough hay after their work day that it lasts them throughout the night. The few older horses who have a hard time keeping weight on are right along side the ones that are OVER WEIGHT, in case you haven't noticed those. It is sad what happened with the bay Arab, but in that video footage that to all the rest of the non-horse world looks so harsh, they ARE trying to SAVE the horse's life. I also don't know how KPIX says that the cinches were left tightened.. you cant even tell if it is or not in the video!! That is a total ASSUMPTION on their part. When I loosen cinches, they are just loose enough to make the horse more comfortable and to let some air circulate. You cannot necessarily see that level of looseness unless you check closely, or feel with your hand. Otherwise the saddle would fall off! Have you ever been to a trail ride/horse rental place before? They all do the same thing. We have many customers that constantly praise us for our horses and how wonderful they are, and in comparisons to Half Moon Bay, they say that our horses look MUCH better and healthier. I used to live & work at a horse rescue out in the midwest. I know what REAL horse abuse and neglect looks like. It is NOT what you will find at Mar Vista. Our horses are imperfect, older, have conformation flaws & other minor problems that we work with on a day to day basis. These horses are not the type of horses people want to pay a lot of money for & board in a life of leisure. They are still good horses, and we give them a place in this world. In case you haven't been paying attention to the unwanted horse crisis that has happened in this country due to overbreeding, undertraining, land development, and a rough economy, which has recently led to slaughter plants reopening in the US (now there's the real story right there, not this little urban barn) you would maybe realize that because of these wonderful horses' imperfections, most would NOT have homes, otherwise, and probably would have been sent down the road to a very, very sad & ugly fate. Save your energy for a real cause, not the working horses at Mar Vista, who's very lives would most definitely be at stake if the place got shut down. Now THAT would be a tragedy. Wouldn't you be so proud to have been the cause of dozens of horses deaths, if you got your obviously short sighted way? Wake up. This is the real world, not every horse has the privilege of having one person coddle them their whole life. I LOVE the horses I work with, and do whatever it is that I can for them. LETS HEAR IT FOR THE WORK HORSES! They have & need a place in this world, and share so much of themselves so people who likely wouldn't otherwise get to experience being close to a horse, have such a wonderful opportunity to do so. These horses have got HEART.
