Tales of territoriality part I: Trailer trauma

You'd think, or you'd hope, that a discussion of territoriality in barns would be about horse herd behavior. But it ain't so. Here's a story...

Dressage show day...
A friend of mine -- Gail -- was taking her horse to a dressage show last Saturday, and she'd arranged for a friend with a trailer to pick her up at the barn where she boards. Normally trailers pull around a driveway that circles the barn. Today, though, that wasn't possible.

La petite drama unfolds...
A farrier had parked his truck on the circle driveway, rather "casually" -- so that trailers could not pass. Gail approaches the owner of the horse being shod.

Gail [to the farrier]: "Would it be possible to move the truck so that my hauler can drive through?"

The farrier didn't even look up.

Owner: "If the driveway is empty you can just do a U-turn."

It's 10am on a Saturday at a 33 horse barn with an active lesson program -- of course the driveway is *not* empty.  Rather than argue, Gail thanks the owner and walks away. There's a good chance that by the time her hauler comes (in 45 minutes),  the farrier will be done. Because her friend Julie was hauling as a favor, she'd cut the timing close so that she didn't take up Julie's whole Saturday. She wondered if she would miss her classes...

To be continued...