I’m between the two.
My dilemma is thus, and if anyone has any advice, please pass it along. I’m stumped and most horrifically confuzzled.
Without giving too much information away, I was recently hired to work as a horse trainer. My employer has proven to be nothing but kind. However, there is a situation with her large herd of horses that is quite troubling. They are all suffering from an obvious medical issue, and she doesn’t seem to be aware of it. It predisposes them to severe problems affecting health, comfort, longevity, usefulness, and monetary value. Several of them are already suffering crippling consequences, and the owner is neither particularly concerned nor aware of the extent, seriousness, or even possibly the identity of the problem. I have tried to gently coax her in the right direction, but she is not inclined to heed my advice, since she has decades of experience on me. For several of the horses, this is a veterinary emergency requiring immediate treatment. For the rest, they need drastic intervention to prevent them from going down the same path as the unfortunate few. I can’t stand by and let this happen, yet at the same time I don’t want to offend my employer, make myself into an obnoxious uppity whippersnapper, or lose my job.
Of course, there are several paths I could take here.
The emotional side, unchecked: Call the ASPCA and the veterinarian and the sheriff! I can’t bear to see an animal in such obvious stress and pain without reporting it to the authorities! OMGOMGOMG!!!11!!
The practical business side: This ain’t my problem. Keep the ol’ trap tightly shut.
The rational side: I have a moral responsibility to act in the best interest of the animals, but I must balance it carefully with my duties to my employer. I can only take baby steps and hope that by the time my advice sinks in, it’s not too late.
The common sense side: Um, why am I posting this potentially incriminating information on the Internet?
***
In other equine news, pictured at the top of this post is the new horse we bought for my mom. The shopping process was long, frustrating, and at times heartbreaking, but I won’t get into that here. The light at the end of the tunnel was this boy. I wanted to call him Fabio, for obvious reasons, but my mom decided on Sawyer.
My dilemma is thus, and if anyone has any advice, please pass it along. I’m stumped and most horrifically confuzzled.
Without giving too much information away, I was recently hired to work as a horse trainer. My employer has proven to be nothing but kind. However, there is a situation with her large herd of horses that is quite troubling. They are all suffering from an obvious medical issue, and she doesn’t seem to be aware of it. It predisposes them to severe problems affecting health, comfort, longevity, usefulness, and monetary value. Several of them are already suffering crippling consequences, and the owner is neither particularly concerned nor aware of the extent, seriousness, or even possibly the identity of the problem. I have tried to gently coax her in the right direction, but she is not inclined to heed my advice, since she has decades of experience on me. For several of the horses, this is a veterinary emergency requiring immediate treatment. For the rest, they need drastic intervention to prevent them from going down the same path as the unfortunate few. I can’t stand by and let this happen, yet at the same time I don’t want to offend my employer, make myself into an obnoxious uppity whippersnapper, or lose my job.
Of course, there are several paths I could take here.
The emotional side, unchecked: Call the ASPCA and the veterinarian and the sheriff! I can’t bear to see an animal in such obvious stress and pain without reporting it to the authorities! OMGOMGOMG!!!11!!
The practical business side: This ain’t my problem. Keep the ol’ trap tightly shut.
The rational side: I have a moral responsibility to act in the best interest of the animals, but I must balance it carefully with my duties to my employer. I can only take baby steps and hope that by the time my advice sinks in, it’s not too late.
The common sense side: Um, why am I posting this potentially incriminating information on the Internet?
***
In other equine news, pictured at the top of this post is the new horse we bought for my mom. The shopping process was long, frustrating, and at times heartbreaking, but I won’t get into that here. The light at the end of the tunnel was this boy. I wanted to call him Fabio, for obvious reasons, but my mom decided on Sawyer.
3 comments:
Can you call the ASPCA anonymously, just sayng there are some horses with serious medical problems that need attention? I think that's the route I'd take, which still falls under the balanced rational option.
I suppose I should know why Sawyer is an obvious choice for the horse, but I don't.
Why don't you call the ASPCA from a pay phone or some other anonymous matter so it can't be traced to you? That's what I would do. If the animals are obviously distressed, then that is what should be done. I wonder why your employer doesn't care though...
Now that I've cooled off a bit since posting, I'm thinking a little more clearly. With the information I gave, of course, your suggestions are perfectly reasonable--something I wouldn't hesitate to carry out, except there's nothing that the ASPCA could or would do in this particular situation (pity I don't feel comfortable giving more details, or that would be obvious).
I did, however, talk to my vet, and she confirmed my uneducated diagnosis. Of course, this is the kind of situation she deals with on a daily basis--frustrating owners who may "mean well" but for whatever reason refuse to take good advice.
I'm hoping that either I or my vet will be able to get in a word with my employer's vet and have him speak to her, for all the good it will do. Sigh...
And citizen, I guess my typo didn't make it clear--Fabio was the fitting name, due to his ridiculously long blond mane and buff build. Sawyer is cuter, though, I suppose.
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