A WWYD in an injured horse scenario

Ibblebibble

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I rent a small yard and have a couple who keep their mini shetlands there, because i am one handed at the mo they are currently looking after my 3 horses. this morning myself, OH and the 2 guys were there, my big mare was being a bit of a tit so hubby went to put her back in her stable (we'd been handgrazing them while the boys mucked out), mare had other ideas and barged past OH and got away from him. she took herself over the road onto a tiny little footbridge over the 4 ft deep stream/ditch which leads to a stile into the neighbours field where the spotty cob lives. We couldn't get on the bridge with her as it was too narrow, couldn't get across the ditch as too wide and deep, mare ended up falling off the bridge into the ditch when she tried to turn round, as she got out of the ditch she must had caught her front leg on the bridge as she had managed to put a good clean inch long gash across her cannon! plus superficial scrapes on all 3 other legs. go her back on the yard and decided it was defo a vet job! Now one of the guys teaches at the local riding school and was due to start teaching in half hour so he text the YO explained the situation and said he would be late while i phoned the emergency vet.
As he is currently doing the daily care of my horses he stayed and helped hold her for the vet and got his instructions for the next 2 weeks of care, as soon as mare was back in her stable he shot off to the riding school to apologise again and got told by YO that she didn't want to talk about it and he should have been there to teach rather than stay with me and my horse as the horse isn't his!! then she text him an hour later to tell him she would no longer require him to take the lessons on a saturday morning and she will be glad when he moves his horse which is on livery!!

I think she's being totally unreasonable to think that someone should just walk away from a horse with a great big gash on it's leg , or am i wrong to think that you stay with a horse until vet has sorted, no it's not his horse but he's caring for it and I'm one handed and OH is useless!
So what would you have done in that situation, left the horse to go teach the lessons or stayed?
 

Polos Mum

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Plenty of threads on here regarding different employers sympathy or otherwise to the needs of pets - either our own or someone elses.

My employer is pretty sympathetic so I would have stayed. Clearly your friends is not - sadly. If I'd have had an idea about what the reaction would have been from my boss then I would have gone to work rather than risk my job.
Hope he can find something else soon
 

be positive

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I think the RS owner is being unfair, yes he let them down but in the circumstances he was trying to do the responsible thing, someone had to assist the vet, the RS would be likely to have someone to cover for the lesson even if it meant doing stable management instead of riding, to sack him over it and chuck out a livery is rather an overreaction he may be best off looking elsewhere for part time teaching work where he is treated better.

I hate letting anyone down but my horses, or those I am responsible for, take priority above all else.
 

alainax

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So it was your horse who got injured, and both you and your husband were there with the horse awaiting on the vet?

I guess from the RS owners point of view they just had to cancel and piss off a whole bunch of customers, and maybe couldnt see why the horse had to have 3 people, including its owner with it while awaiting the vet.

You also don't know if he has maybe made a habit of this in the past, being not very reliable, and this may have been the straw that broke the camels back.

However, if anyone was going to be a bit more sympathetic you would think it would have been someone in the horse world!

I hope your horse makes a speedy recovery :)
 
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Gazen

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If this riding school is like any other I have been to on a Saturday, there will be no one in the office to answer the phone even if he had phoned.
 

Ibblebibble

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the yo is a qualified instructor and took the lessons instead of him so no one got cancelled, only him!! I'm not sure if she was aware of who was at the yard or not TBH, but I don't count my OH as a useful pair of hands when it comes to horses lol. I was surprised at the reaction, i know if i was present when someones horse hurt itself and needed 10 staples to the leg i would stay on hand especially if the owner was incapacitated and unable to assist the vet. If there were lots of people around and i felt i was surplus to requirements i would leave. I was certainly grateful for him staying !
 

Pearlsasinger

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Perhaps it would have helped OP, if you had contacted the RS to ask if it was ok for the teacher to stay and help your injured horse. that might have gone down better and would certainly have made the YO feel as if she had some say in the matter.
 

Tnavas

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I'd be inclined to visit the riding school and speak to YO and explain your predicament and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Any reasonable person would have expected the person helping you to stay for the vet.
 

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

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As always, there will be two sides to this............. IF the guy was contracted to be there to take that specific lesson (and/or IF he's mebbe been a bit unreliable say) then I can understand RS proprietress being a bit assy; however can equally see that this was an emergency situation and the guy was trying to help out.

Agree with "Tnavas" above that an "apology for inconvenience" might help to pour oil on the troubled waters; good idea methinks.
 

Magicmillbrook

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Sounds a bit harsh, I wonder if he has been unrelianble. Also on what basis was he working, if he is employed by the RS shouldn't he have had verbal then written warnings before being sacked? Sounds like a great bloke for helping you, hope your horse makes a good recovery.
 

Ibblebibble

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vet thinks she'll be fine, it was a deep but clean cut and it pulled together nice and neat, and it's not under pressure so unless she does something stupid we shouldn't have any problems.
 

Mince Pie

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I'm on the fence on this one. On one hand (pardon the pun!) he was needed to hold the horse for the vet due to you being incapacitated and your OH being a novice, on the other I would expect the horse to be sedated for stapling and therefore quiet enough for your OH to handle.

One thing I'm certain of though is that I would be giving him some cash as, going by what you've written, he has lost his job because he was helping you.
 

quirky

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I would ensure the horse couldn't get onto the road. If it is allowed on the road (assuming it may be a concrete path through your field), I would make the bridge horse proof.
Sounds like an accident waiting to happen!

I think the lad had an obligation to his employer. If I have read it right, he is doing you a favour, not paid, my sympathies are with the employer.

Hope your horse recovers well and swiftly.
 

sport horse

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As I read it there were two guys, your OH and yourself, so even if one guy had left to do his job there were still 3 of you left albeit one Novice, one with one hand and one other. Surely 3 of you plus vet could have managed?

This guy lost his job because he stayed to help you, but because you do not know the person you are not prepared to go and speak. How can you make it worse - he has lost his job! I would be on my way to meet the person and take the blame myself for his failing to turn up. She is a Riding School and a Saturday will be one of her main earning days. I would be pretty p.... off too if a member of staff let me down in those circumstances.
 

Marydoll

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From the RS owners perspective although he informed her, he failed to attend to teach a group of clients, yes someone stood in for him, but what other jobs were they supposed to be doing ? and was it just luck he could fill the void. If the other instructor hadnt been there it might have cost the RS business These things tend to have a knock on effect.
Whether its unreasonable to you or anyone else doesnt really come in to it, it has been to RS owner who booked him, and has since let him go.
I agree with the person who said 3 people and a vet shouldve been able to manage the horse which is probably how the RS owner feels as well.
Glad to hear the horse should recover well
 

undergroundoli

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Agree with "Tnavas" above that an "apology for inconvenience" might help to pour oil on the troubled waters; good idea methinks.
A bottle of wine never did any harm.

If I was the RS owner I'd be annoyed, although I wouldn't fire him unless he was pretty flaky anyway. You must be feeling dreadful about indirectly loosing the guy his job.
 

twiggy2

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an instructor is not a lot of good if they do not turn up to teach, think he was crazy not to go to work for a horse with a cut leg (not life or death) especially when there were other people about.

texting to say you will not turn up is very bad manners IMO, it could have made the yard look very unprofessional if they were waiting for him and he just did not show
 

Fides

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I'm with the instructor here - sounds like there were plenty of hands about, even though one novice. If I were you I'd nip to the stables with a bottle of wine and a box of chocs apologising profusely and try and get your friend his job back. I don't know how an apology can make anything worse... I'm another one that would get the bridge sorted.

I hope you horse has a speedy recovery x
 

Ibblebibble

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he's not a qualified instructor but the yo is so she took the lessons, he was teaching 2.5 hours every saturday because he enjoyed it , not for the money which was only £20. He doesn't want me to go try and sort things, as far as he is concerned it's done him a favour as things have been brewing for a while, I'm not going to go against his wishes !
 
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