Saturday, October 13, 2007
Is this truly a happy place?
To the average eye, Story Brook Stables is a seemingly happy place. Low costs, cute horses, and smiling faces add to it's charm. But what you may not know is that this is all a LIE!!!!!! Cyndi Nace, the owner of SBS, does not know how to properly take care of horses and/or kids. She treats them cruelly, and sadly, sometimes she is not aware that she is doing it. The fields are not safe, the horses are never wormed, the water is full of acidic algae, and much more. It is run by a bunch of crazy kids who does not care about the safety of the children... not that it should be their responsiblity. We have created this website to raise awareness about Story Brook Stables. If you have any stories or information to share about SBS, please feel free to share.
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6 comments:
If you didn't have a drinking problem (yes, everyone knows about it), your comments would be more believable. Those who are sober enough to know what really goes on behind the scenes know that our horses are wormed every eight weeks (OK sometimes we're a little late and it's 10 weeks) and they get the very best veterinary care around. (Feel free to call Canon Hill Veterinary Clinic or Allegheny Equine Associates - they have all the records.) We invite anyone to visit at any time to see how much our horses are loved and well cared for. It's funny - you didn't mind dropping off your daughter for days at a time and letting her hang out with all the "crazy kids". Just because you drink too much and have issues with bipolar disorder (yes, we know about it and we've seen the evidence), it doesn't give you the right to say untrue things about people you used to care about. Before this escalates and we create a lot of hurt feelings, please move on and leave Story Brook Stables with the good memories you made while you were here.
The stories I could share are all good. They all have to do with kids and horses and growth and maturity...(must have been over the head of the originating blogger), work ethic, caring, friendships, relationships. Comraderie. Oh, ya, learning to ride. Learning to take care of a horse. Learn about heartbreak as well, when your horse has to move on without you. Story Brook Stables is a gift to those who choose to be a part of it. As the owner has stated, the horses are vetted, wormed, and shod when necessary... Managing a stable such as Story Brook is no easy task. I would not trade my experiences with Story Brook or it's kids for anything. The vast majority of kids at Story Brook Stables have benefited greatly. Those who's children spend time at the stable knnow this to be true. Those who choose to move on, I wish them the best. Still, after leaving, they will still have their memories. I have 12 years of memories, all good...and they're still growing.
Friend of Story Brook Stables
I think this blog is nonsense. I've rode/worked at Storybrook for 10 years. I am now 18 years old. I loved every minute of it! I remember my parents having to drag me out of the barn after a long day of lessons just to take me home. It was to the point where I was at SBS 3 days a week and I couldnt be happier. They taught me how to ride and tack up my first horse. I started out with the basics and then I learned to jump. I then started to show and win ribbons. I did all that through Storybrook. Yes some of the kids were a little "rowdy" but we are kids thats what we do. Working in a barn coordinating lessons for children as young as 4 years old isn't easy. We had a few injuries but nothing serius But it always seemed that the program was constantly growing. I dont understand how someone can say that the horses weren't taken care of, they all are very well cared for. The horses were always UTD on their shots and wormed regularly. Im sure if you would like to argue this, the vet would ave no problem showing you all the records. The fields are safe, they are safely fenced in and have a good amount of grass and the water buckets are constantly checked up on. All the buckets in the stalls were taken out and scrubed as much as possible. After 10 years of riding and working, I am attending Bethany College and I am on the Equestrian team and doing very well. I owe it all back to Cyndi and the instructors at Storybrook for teaching me everything I know. I think I turned out pretty good coming from a barn full of "crazy" kids if you ask me. After all of this, i look back on all the memories, and friends I have made and I can't see myself without any of it. I have nothing but good memories to share with people.
Story Brook Stables is hell on earth for horses, riders, and workers. Believe me I'd know. The fields are unsafe, the grain and hay are very low quality, the horses are NOT wormed and vetted regularly, only one field has a somewhat safe shelter, the stalls flood constantly, the buckets in the fields all have green guck in the bottom of them (some are inches thick), and their so called "farrier" was never been trained and he's cut horses feet WAY too short or put pony shoes on a 17 hand thoroughbred. I've seen it all there, the good and the bad. And truly it is not all bad but the bad really out-weighs the good. If a horse can't be sold it is traded to a horse dealer. If the dealer can't sell the horse it is taken to Sugar Creek Auction where it is sold as meat and then slaughtered. There is a stall there where all the horses that have Strangles stay, and if by some miracle, one of their horses doesn't have strangles some random horse is put in there resulting in it getting Strangles. You could NOT pay me enough to go back there. Not even to go back and teach or work for money. I would never take my horse back there. There are a few riders there who have Cyndi Nace "wrapped around their little finger" and they get everything they want from her. Whatever they say goes. She has no control over it. And nothing is ever their fault. She won't even stand up for whats right and discipline them since they pretty much run her barn for her. She is NEVER there, even when someone comes to look at a horse in hope of purchase, one of the riders grooms and tacks the horse and then rides for the viewers. I would never go back and I'm happy as hell to be out of that hell hole. I am paying less board now for my horse to have a safe field with grass and hay, clean water, a 20x12 stall that is cleaned daily, high-quality grain and hay, and propper care than I was paying for a FIELD BOARD with no shelter, grass, clean water or propper care at Story Brook Stables. It's unfortunate but it's true.
Story Brook Stables is a very unhappy & dangerous place for both horses and riders. I could honestly say, that after moving my pony out of there she has been so much happier, and she shows it as well as looks it. She gained so much weight and gets the care every horse should get, even the school horses and ponies. I've seen many horses that were hurt and lame still jumping 2'6-3ft fences with bloody legs, or just totally lame, just so Cyndi Nace could get a "good picture". The horses never got wormed on time, if even at all. The fields were undescribable, with horses living in the field where ALL of the manure goes, walking through it, standing in it, and even eating hay out of it. The water buckets are very gross, with i don't even know what in them and they would never get re-filled, unless I did them(which i only did because my pony lived in the field). The horses would come home from an auction or whereever they were from, and get worked half to death, and even beat a lot until they just got so afraid to do anything. The stalls barely ever got cleaned, even correctly for that matter, and 9-10 year old girls were technically forced to do them. The horses were ery dangerous at times. Now that I moved barns, my pony has been getting her stall cleaned every single day, has her water bucket scrubbed every sunday, and gets the proper food, which is what's good for her. We have both been a lot happier and both have improved dramatically since leaving Storybrook Stables. & I actually pay only 30-40 $ more for board than I did for the gross boarding at SBS. I am SO happy I am out of that barn. <3
I used to ride there as well when I was much younger. I can honestly say that I was thrilled to see that someone else has something to say about the poor care of those beautiful horses. God bless you!
I absolutely adored that place until my mother and I and a few of our friends who took lessons there saw what was really going on. I personally thought the kids and the woman who taught us (Donna, I believe her name was) were absolutely great. They actually seemed to care about what was going on in the place. I adored one of the horses there with all of my heart and soul. She was partly blind and growing very old, but was still being used every week in lessons. Don't get me wrong, it was a pleasure to ride her and I wished to have a horse like her of my own, but I didn't necessarily understand why you would use an elderly horse such as Gizmo to train riders. She deserved a field to roam around and relax in. I also started to notice that almost all of the horses that we were given to ride during lessons were going lame and yet they were worked until they couldn't work anymore. Who the hell does something like that to creatures they claim to love?
It was also pretty ridiculous in my opinion to see horses being purchased from the internet and having to be thrown onto them without even knowing what they were like. I can't even tell you how many times my friends and our parents and I were thrown or bucked or had our horses spooked because the owner bought her animals and trusted beginners to test them out. (LAWSUITS?! I wish)
Once our instructor was gone and we saw the condition of the horses growing worse and worse, we decided to get the hell out of there. I was devastated to leave those wonderful animals, but not devastated at all to get away from that horrible place and to stop paying money to a woman who didn't care about her animals and was only using them for profit.
It's funny... I'm now a sophomore in high school, and I went online last sememster to look up the stable to see how it was doing... mainly to see how Gizmo was... and I saw a memorial page dedicated to her. I have never been so disgusted or upset in my life. I cried my eyes out because I know that she wasn't given the treatment or kindness she deserved by her owners, and only got a little from the students who loved her but weren't around constantly like her owner to take care of her and to let her have a few stress free happy last years. I am so happy to be away from this place, and I urge anyone who still goes there to take a good look around and try to see what really goes on there. It's not hard to notice.
And by the way, the comment left on here by the "Story Brook owner" about someone's drinking problems and bipolar disorder... COMPLETELY uncalled for. You are an adult, act like one. Everyone else on here seems to be doing just that. We're all just discussing our feelings about the stable, some good, some bad.
I did have some good memories at the place... but not enough to let me forget the sadness we felt seeing the horses treated the way they were. I hope things have shaped up.
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