Angry, disgusted, devestated...trust no one!!!

[diamonddogs]

And I certainly wouldn't be crowing about the RSPCA taking no further action either.

Whilst have have the greatest respect for the RSPCA where small animals are concerned, they have shown time and again to have their heads up their arses where horses are concerned.

So you couldn't find a spare rug to chuck on the poor horse? Sorry, but I'm still on OP's side here as I've read nothing in your post that convinces me that you acted correctly and in this mare's best interests at any time.

My YO keeps scrupulous records of every horse on the yard, and as well as owner's details, she has contact details for each horse's vet, farrier and dentist, and each livery has to sign to give her permission to call on professional services if she is unable to contact the owner for any reason.

My horse was off colour early last week. I was phoned at 7.30am as I'd arranged for a friend to turn her out that morning, after checking her over and a discussion it was agreed that I would go to work (it was only my second day in a new job, so time off would have been awkward but do-able, and I was ten minutes away) and I would be called if required. YO and her daughter watched my horse all day, turning out and bringing in two or three times throughout the day, and generally attending to her every need, including a full muckout and new deep bed, until I got back from work. And how much extra went on my bill for all this additional care? Not one single penny - it was done because they CARED.

 

[russianhorse]

accusedyardowner you owe a duty of care to that horse, and you let that horse down. It breaks my heart to know someone could just standby and not even get the vet out when clearly the horse needed it, whether the owner consented or not, the horse's health and life is a priority.

I would not want to be in your shoes as the YO of this yard! I have absolutely no sympathy for you or your reasoning and excuses. A horse does not become emaciated in 24 hours. Sonething was badly wrong here whether through illness or lack of care and no doubt this mare suffered. Even on grass livery a horse with a rug on should be checked at the least on a daily basis! So whether the owner answered her texts or didn't, visited often enough, paid enough blah blah blah. YOU as the main carer and YO failed that horse, on your conscience be it, hope you can sleep well at night.

accusedyardowner you say that youknew the owner was not visiting the horse you knew she had moved 500 miles away you were charging for livery and hay and you did not check the horse properly?? you knew you were in charge of the horse and failed miserably in your duty so whatever the reason for the horse losing weight YOU should have noticed and taken action including letting the owner know and either feeding more or calling a vet. if my clients thought I would let their horses suffer because they were unable to visit I would be out of business very quickly

I agree.

As the yard owner, why didn't you do the checks THAT DID NOT HAPPEN when you knew they weren't happening?

As an ex-livery yard owner myself, I STILL checked under rugs etc EVEN IF NOT ASKED. I could then ascertain if said horse was getting enough food and hay....

I also didn't let 'friends' come to do stuff, because invariably, it didn't happen.

^^ All these

It honestly makes me feel sick to the stomach that you accusedyardowner, sat back and left this horse to be so neglected it could barely stand when picked up

payment aside (which you happily took) I would never never ever not bother checking a horse over - and would/have provided necessities out of my own pocket - YOU could have added it to the liveries bill if anything

Your excuses are pathetic, and quite frankly makes you worse than I originally thought

 

[Cobber]

^^ All these

It honestly makes me feel sick to the stomach that you accusedyardowner, sat back and left this horse to be so neglected it could barely stand when picked up

payment aside (which you happily took) I would never never ever not bother checking a horse over - and would/have provided necessities out of my own pocket - YOU could have added it to the liveries bill if anything

Your excuses are pathetic, and quite frankly makes you worse than I originally thought

Agree 100% Regardless of if owner said horse was being checked it was still on your land and you watched it starve or develop an illness or whatever it was that unfortunately killed the horse.

Doesnt matter if RSPCA came and ok'd your yard, it doesnt change what has happened.

And Concernedyardowner and Accusedyardowner are the same Im sure. Both refer to ss as HO

Sorry OP for your loss of a lovely horse

 

[tessybear]

Sorry to hear of the loss of horse OP

however i must say something with the "accusedyardowner" and other "yardowner" are ringing troll alarm bells in my head ?

 

[zigzag]

When I ran a livery yard, the rule was, vet was called first then the owner.

 

[Honey08]

I think both posters are the same person (both ...yardowners).

If I had text to say that a horse had lost a rug, and the owner hadn't done anything, and I thought the horse was suffering, I would text again, and again, reading them the riot act if need be, until they blimmin well did do something. Even more so if I thought the horse needed a vet.

I used to have DIYs. I had one livery who had her horse out with a thick rug in hot sun, the owner was at work, I took the rug off as the horse was sweating - the horse's comfort and wellbeing came first..

My horses are going on livery for a week while I'm abroad, I will discuss with the YO who my vet is and give them my permission to call them if they can't get hold of me in an emergency. Every box will be ticked so we both know exactly where we stand and what would happen in an emergency.

 

[Mearas]

I am so very sad for your loss Silvershoes.

TBH it is beyond my understanding that anyone can watch a horse get into this state irrespective of money responsibility etc. I really don't understand why the YO or others liveries did not contact you to say that the horse was not doing well. As others have already posted if a horse is suffering hte vet should be called no matter what.

 

[Mariposa]

Firstly, I'm very sorry for your loss Silvershoes.

Secondly, to the 'accusedyardowner' - I hope and pray I never send a horse to any livery yard which is run with someone with an attitude like yours.

If a horse needs attention, and is under your care, you give that horse attention.You are paid to give that horse attention. You are paid to care for that horse. That's it. There is no excuse for not checking under rugs, not checking a horse is ok - especially in this awful weather. No excuse. It doesn't matter if the owner is 500 or 5 miles away, you have a responsibility to look after that animal whilst it is under your care.

There really isn't any way to justify your lack of care in my opinion.

 

[tessybear]

What i want to know is how many brain cells the YO is lacking or the ability to feel an animal’s pain to simply not care. From what they have said if it is in fact them and not a "troll", they ignored the state of said mare and left her to it. Did the mare ask for this care? I think not it's a shame really the poor girl had to be put through this I’m damn sure if it was role reversal the horse would have looked after YO.

I do not think YO should be allowed near animals never mind running a bloody yard full of them, as they are clearly to idiotic to realise when an animal that relies on us is screaming out for help. It really makes me worry for society when i see things like that, surely as an animal lover you would take money out of your own pocket or put it on the bill to get the poor girl what she needs ?

Its a shame really that she was let down in such a cruel way, run free and enjoy your time beautiful mare xx

 

[Jax]

As I said earlier, think the YO should have done something/taken responsibility over this.


I am sorry to hear of the final outcome

 

[diamonddogs]

...We are now wandering if she had any existing illness or condition which may affect the other horses in the field...

Ooops my bad - missed this bit when I first read it. So only now do you start thinking about the health of the horses still alive now, hmmmm? Maybe if you'd bothered to get the vet out to the mare yourself you wouldn't need to (the word you need is) wonder, would you, because you would have known.

This concludes my statement of facts. Feel free to comment as you have been doing, but I WILL NOT be entering any further discussion myself.

Well, courage of convictions sadly lacking here, I think. She doesn't sound very friendly towards OP does she?

 

[Spring Feather]

What a mess! I can only reiterate; that poor, poor mare She was very badly let down by everyone it seems.

 

[viewfromahill]

Totally agree with spring feather, I have two tbs who have lived out this winter on unlimited hay, rugged up and both are looking well, however a hardy pony we noticed wasnt eating, brought pony in to find mild mud fever but still enough to make her not want to move so she wasnt eating although their was plenty of hay for her, during such a bad winter it is hard to judge who is at fault maybe yo knew the mare had food but genuinely didnt realise she was not eating it and in such bad times owner should have been up front with livery money when so far away, but mistakes do happen and lets hope both parties and everyone posting will be more diligent because of it

 

[MerrySherryRider]

Agree Spring Feather.

 

[hairycob]

One thing that strikes me regarding YO post (apart from I never want to leave my horses in her "care")is the total reliance on text. It's something that we hear so much now. Maybe it's because I'm old but if something is urgent/important/you havn't had a response to a text surely you phone &, you know, talk. Eg the promised rug didn't arrive. How was OP supposed to know 500 miles away?
We all know texts aren't totally reliable, especially in rural areas. I can think of a recent example where I received a text from someone saying they were running a bit late 3 hours after they left me!

 

[1stclassalan]

What a mess! I can only reiterate; that poor, poor mare .........

I agree with this part of your post 100%.

As this is now 2013 - after the well publicised cases of cruelty and neglect - I am amazed that this kind of thing could happen and then have a presumably knowledgeable and previously respected YO seeking to not only to justify but to exonerate herself by passing the buck.

In my youth, I had much experience of presumed horseypeople who should not have been left in charge of a dead rat! I'm afraid most of these awful folk collected horses for the meat trade and just threw them into fields whilly-nilly to fend for themselves. There were gypsy types who staked out horses just about anywhere and didn't check what the poor animal had managed to do with the chain! And one old woman who was well known in the area for hiring out but didn't really have much clue and kept some of her charges in amazingly cramped conditions - old tractor export boxes in her back garden! Of course, the latter was Heaven to me as a young'un but I soon learnt that these things were not ideal!

I visited other places at which the entire operation seemed to run by other children who did what they liked with the horses and ponies almost feral - I'd go so far to say that this was so prevalent that it was the norm. Those at grass, were literally turned out and largely forgotten - I can certainly remember finding one complete skeleton and reporting it back to the owners only to have them say - "arh, you might find a few more out there somewhere, there's a few go over every year." This might seem callous to us but these were simple people with the first priority being to make money out of their animals - they had no intention of spending anything but minimal money on them and the odd death was accepted as the natural run of things. Life remember was much tougher even for the humans.

We now live in mostly better times - especially where animal welfare is concerned and NO ONE should be in any doubt where responsibilites lie - there is a bit of "For Whom The Bell Tolls" about every case but I am in no doubt about this one.

 

[diamonddogs]

Admittedly there are areas where there's been misunderstandings but surely they should have been cleared up as soon as they arose, eg no arrangements discussed beyond December? Did it not occur to YO to clarify when no payment was made and the horses weren't collected?

I'm still shocked and disgusted that a sick horse was left without adequate care, be it for six weeks or six hours. In my world it would be the YO taking the OP to court for unpaid livery costs and vet bills because she gave essential round the clock care to the horse, not the OP needing to sue for compensation because she didn't.

Sorry, but if the upkeep of the animals in your care depends entirely on the owner's ability or willingness to pay, you're in the wrong job, though I wouldn't trust you to run a car park let alone a livery yard.

 

[emz-loves-orses]

Personally, I do not think you have all read the yard owners statement clearly.... It is evident from both parties that the mare WAS checked regularly and was in good health for majority of time spent. The yard owner was indeed communicating with the horse owner, but this was not reciprocated. And just because text messages were sent it doesn't state that nothing was done.. The yard owner did act upon the illness of the mare, but this local friend seemed to intervene and cause more harm than good.
To my mind, the yard owner has presented facts only, trying to show that this wee lass with her horse was not attentive to its welfare herself? Why was the mare moved in a distressed state instead of allowing the vet time to attend? Why have results been with held when the welfare of other animals is possibly at stake?
I think the horse owner - who was local for 3 of the 4 + 1/2 month livery has a lot to answer to, instead of this never ending plea for sympathy!!

 

[touchstone]

Personally, I do not think you have all read the yard owners statement clearly.... It is evident from both parties that the mare WAS checked regularly and was in good health for majority of time spent. The yard owner was indeed communicating with the horse owner, but this was not reciprocated. And just because text messages were sent it doesn't state that nothing was done.. The yard owner did act upon the illness of the mare, but this local friend seemed to intervene and cause more harm than good.
To my mind, the yard owner has presented facts only, trying to show that this wee lass with her horse was not attentive to its welfare herself? Why was the mare moved in a distressed state instead of allowing the vet time to attend? Why have results been with held when the welfare of other animals is possibly at stake?
I think the horse owner - who was local for 3 of the 4 + 1/2 month livery has a lot to answer to, instead of this never ending plea for sympathy!!

I'm sorry, but 'regularly checked' horses do not become so emaciated that they die and develop mud fever to the extent that they cannot walk - the YO actually states that the horse was not checked under her rug, or her legs cleaned as the owner hadn't bothered - neither had she.

There are no excuses for such an apalling lack of care or concern and I am also beginning to suspect that there may be some sick trolling going on here.
Shame she didn't show the 'concern' about the mare that she is apparently showing the remaining horses. I suspect if it was something contagious you'd have known by now.

 

[emz-loves-orses]

Actually my own tb gelding went downhill within 48 hours, weight loss and lameness. Vet called, teeth fine and bloods taken.... A particular worm was resistant to the wormers I had used. All sorted but 2 months to look as good as he had before..... Why are we sending the message that it is OK to dump animals on owners of large yards and not take care of them ourselves?

 

[1stclassalan]

Personally, I do not think you have all read the yard owners statement clearly...

O, come,come Miss Nugent bless us with your insight, I for one have read the entire missive several times - spelling and typos accepted and have gained what feel to be the YO's opinion. Opinion, mark you, not a Statement of Facts as she writes.

It is evident from both parties that the mare WAS checked regularly and was in good health for majority of time spent.

"Evident" from what? These are words in response to the accusation that she is responsible for letting a horse become morbidly emaciated - I fear that we all could debate the true meaning of the word "regular" until the legs fell off all donkeys and there would still be folk ( like the Huhn jury ) that still need educating as to Modern English Usage. Outwintered horses at my old yard were checked by me TWICE a day ( I was only another livery not the owner) rugs straightened etc.,etc., the owner hayed every day and used to go the extra trouble of placing more dollops out than horses in the paddock to prevent the intimidation that can go on at feeding times. I'd say that our outstock were checked at least ten times every day - and we still had the occasional drama - they're horses after all. So what's this YO's version of "regularly."

The yard owner was indeed communicating with the horse owner, but this was not reciprocated. And just because text messages were sent it doesn't state that nothing was done..

Even checkable events in this case will never become the subject of proper investigation. The Air Accident Investigation Board know what the helicopter pilot ( the one that flew into that crane in London) was doing virtually second by second by authenticated facts - no one will do that amount of delving here so mentions of texts or what they might have been are largely subjective.

The yard owner did act upon the illness of the mare,

Yes, most pilots do too - even the incompetent ones. I'd equate the sudden sight of a horse that can hardly stand - with the big RED FLASHING - MASTER CAUTION!

To my mind, the yard owner has presented facts only, trying to show that this...... wee lass .......

O, ho,ho, a gross overstatement followed by what? A certain prejudice against Scottish girls? I'm beginning to form an opinion of you.

Why was the mare moved in a distressed state instead of allowing the vet time to attend?

Oh contrare - why wasn't the Vet called immediately the state of the horse was noticed?

Why have results been with held when the welfare of other animals is possibly at stake?

Are you sure that they have been "witheld"?

.......instead of this never ending plea for sympathy!!

Look - I'm one of the few posters here that stood up against the tide of rant & ravings about Jimmy Savil in favour of proper evidence and the difference between it and heresay - so I'm not given to jumping on popular bandwagons but the overwhelming smoking gun here is:- the one true fact - the poor horse died!

 

[1stclassalan]

Actually my own tb gelding went downhill within 48 hours, weight loss and lameness. ......?

Downhill - yes, lameness - yes, weight loss?...Hmmm... 48 hoooouuurs? Hmmm??
What did your poor horse have? Cholera?

Big horses DO NOT lose sufficient weight to be life threatening in 48 hours so don't seek to cloud the issue with irrelevent anecdotes.

A livery I knew with a Shire type cob let him drop about two hundredweight - (which I noticed immediately on return from a rare holiday) and this was caused by resistant blood worms (godsknows why he didn't notice!) but the emphasis here is: a FORTNIGHT - two whole weeks, rather more realistic timescale.

 

[touchstone]

Actually my own tb gelding went downhill within 48 hours, weight loss and lameness. Vet called, teeth fine and bloods taken.... A particular worm was resistant to the wormers I had used. All sorted but 2 months to look as good as he had before..... Why are we sending the message that it is OK to dump animals on owners of large yards and not take care of them ourselves?

We aren't sending that message at all, the message we are sending is that it is NOT okay to just leave animals to suffer - difference in your case of a horse going downhill in 48 hours is that a vet was called; a 'luxury' this poor mare desperately needed and didn't get.

If a horse is dumped on your property you can't just abandon it because the owner has - you look after it and inform the relevant authorities, and monies owed can be sought out at a later date. I am amazed that anyone would think it was ok to just leave the horse to it because the owner wasn't there.
A YO should also be savvy enough to deal with this situation which could well occur in todays economic climate.

I took in a stray pony a couple of years ago and made sure it was fed and watered and basic needs met, if it had needed a vet I would have contacted WHW and taken it from there or paid myself if funds were permitting.

I find it childish that the 'yo' is so keen to exonerate herself from any blame when that the poor mare is the one who has paid the ultimate price.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

*******************Statement of FACT ************************

As the afore mentioned YO I feel a few points need to be cleared up! SilverShoes was in the field with 8 other horses "20acres" to include in-foal mares and veterans alike. All were treated the same and have cme through winter absolutely fine. Livery clients were charged grass-livery and were informed via text message that big round bales of haylage was added to the field. No reply to the message was given.

So you left it at that?? Didnt follow up?? Moving house can be stressful and take up alot of time and the horses were still on YOUR land??

Both mares of the livery client came with shoes and it was pomised that a farrier would be organised by the clients to remove the shoes and trim the feet, However, this DID NOT happen! When one of the mares lost a rug in the bad weather the livery client was informed again via text message. The reply to this was "a local friend was organised to replace the rug" This DID NOT happen!

Again so you left it at that???? No follow up??

SilverShoes was regularly seen by myself and other livery clients, both sound and eating from the bale of haylage! I was not once asked by the HO to bring either mare in from tthe field to check under rugs or wash their legs. This would have been an easy task for myself or two further livery clients that are well known to the HO.

So because you werent asked to do it you didnt? Even just go up in the field and stick a hand under the rug? Would have taken what 5mins??

By her own admision the HO failed to check on the horses herself - more than twice within the first 3 months of the livery time. When paying just before xmas for all charges up to the end of December - NO attempt to check either mare was made and NO arrangements for anybody to carry on, following the clint moving 500 miles away.

I have long standing liveries (6 years+), an immensely experienced equine vet and blacksmith among other proffesional people who CAN and WILL vouch for the quality of service povided by this yard.
It was my husband and two further livery clients who discovered the mare to be lame. I brought the mare in to a stable over night, the HO were contacted and the services of a vet were offered. The condition of the mare was also reported. The reply from the HO was to get a friend to transport the horse in distress delaying veterinary attention for a further 48 hours.
The RSPCA called here yesterdy and found nothing what-so-ever wrong with the premisesn or any animal present at the property (30+ horses) and we were glad they had visited. There is no report coming from the RSPCA with regards to my part in this as no further action is required.
Only after this whole sad situation has it come to my attention that "Silvershoes" has always been a mare who lives in with feed and rugs and regular attention. She was also always prone to mud-fever. We are now wandering if she had any existing illness or condition which may affect the other horses in the field. We are currently struggling to eceive any information with regards to blood test or postmortem results!

This concludes my statement of facts. Feel free to comment as you have been doing, but I WILL NOT be entering any further discussion myself.

So basically regardless of saying you are an experienced YO you didnt think to check the horse over, even for your own peace of mind. The horse was on your yard, you didnt tell the OP to come and remove the horse you just left it in the field. You knew the owner wasnt around but you didnt check on the horse anyways?? I mean what YO would let an animal come to that state on their land? i dont know any personally, i worked on a yard for over ten years and there was one horse who was basically dumped on there, owner never appeared not once in the first 5 years I was there. The yard fed the horse, had its feet done and it wanted for nothing was treated like a paying livery even though not a penny was coming their way for it. It was on full livery everything catered for and again NO MONEY CHANGING HANDS. We did it because it wasnt the horses fault the owner wasnt around.

Claiming you werent paid for services DOESNT excuse guilt of letting an animal get to that stage when it could have been easily avoided by you checking the mare. Im not saying the OP is blameless but your hand are certainly looking the dirtiest right now.

 

[touchstone]

The YO might do well to take note of this article:-



Q. I own a yard where we have horses for backing, breaking and training. A new client sent us her horse on full training livery and signed our standard agreement, but she has recently become elusive over payment and isn’t returning calls or visiting. We’re becoming concerned that the horse has been “abandoned”, so how do we stand legally?

A. Sadly, people do “abandon” their horses with yards when they face financial trouble and the situation you describe is becoming more and more common; I get many calls from yard owners who have horses in their care but have not been paid for weeks, or in some cases, months. My advice is to check what your agreement says about non-payment, particularly whether it contains an express right to sell the horse in settlement of outstanding bills. If it doesn’t there’s no general legal right to sell another person’s horse, although there is a statutory obligation to look after its welfare and, in consequence, incur costs.

This obligation arises under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which, briefly, makes it a criminal offence to allow a horse for which you’re responsible to suffer. You don’t need to be the animal’s owner to be guilty of an offence. Put simply, even if your client hasn’t paid you have to care for the horse. Subject to this, you should write to your client making it clear that you won’t be performing the training part of the agreement because of her failure to pay. Refer to your standard agreement, which ought to make payment of bills a condition of training. You should also make it clear that while you’ll continue to care for the horse (feed, water, exercise, etc) she’ll be billed for all costs incurred. In all cases, you need to keep detailed records of costs. Try to visit the client’s last known address and / or call them at home or work to find out what’s going on. You need to avoid a confrontation, as there may be a legitimate reason for lack of contact or visits. You should find out the position before taking any formal legal steps that could include court proceedings, returning the horse to the client (this saves the cost of caring for it) or reaching a new agreement. Presently, you have no concrete evidence that the owner has abandoned her horse and this is why you should find out why she’s proving elusive. Ultimately, you could sue her for all unpaid bills and costs you incur but this takes time and money.

Questions answered by Martineau solicitors www.martineau-uk.com If you have a legal question you would like answered, e-mail it to editor@horsedeals.co.uk

 

[Luci07]

I have read it all the way through. We have a full TB mare who lives out. She get 2 feeds a day, adlib Haylage and properly rugged. She also got a bit of mud fever which was a pain for the owner but sorted. She looks very well but has certainly needed a lot of care and monitoring. She drops weight easily so was checked pretty daily just for condition. She would not have made it through on grass, thin rugs and maybe some extra Haylage, neither did you need to be hugely experienced to have worked that out of the start of winter. Very sad outcome

 

[MerrySherryRider]

*******************Statement of FACT ************************

As the afore mentioned YO I feel a few points need to be cleared up! SilverShoes was in the field with 8 other horses "20acres" to include in-foal mares and veterans alike. All were treated the same and have cme through winter absolutely fine. Livery clients were charged grass-livery and were informed via text message that big round bales of haylage was added to the field. No reply to the message was given.
Both mares of the livery client came with shoes and it was pomised that a farrier would be organised by the clients to remove the shoes and trim the feet, However, this DID NOT happen!

Why did the owner not make arrangements for the farrier to visit as agreed ?

When one of the mares lost a rug in the bad weather the livery client was informed again via text message. The reply to this was "a local friend was organised to replace the rug" This DID NOT happen!

Did the owner not check that the 'friend had replaced the rug ? I know I certainly would. We do not know if the YO put a spare rug on the mare while waiting for the non arrival of the friend, she does not say.

SilverShoes was regularly seen by myself and other livery clients, both sound and eating from the bale of haylage! I was not once asked by the HO to bring either mare in from tthe field to check under rugs or wash their legs. This would have been an easy task for myself or two further livery clients that are well known to the HO.

It seems that the owner made no arrangements for the mare to receive the daily care that she had been used to before being left. No arrangement to bring in and feed, check her legs which the owner knew were prone to mud fever. Wouldn't you ask for feeds to continue rather than just suddenly stop them ?


By her own admision the HO failed to check on the horses herself - more than twice within the first 3 months of the livery time. When paying just before xmas for all charges up to the end of December - NO attempt to check either mare was made and NO arrangements for anybody to carry on, following the clint moving 500 miles away.

How long would it have taken for the owner to walk to the field and take a look at the mare ? Doesn't it strike anyone else as slightly odd that the horse was not checked when she was on the yard ?


I have long standing liveries (6 years+), an immensely experienced equine vet and blacksmith among other proffesional people who CAN and WILL vouch for the quality of service povided by this yard.
It was my husband and two further livery clients who discovered the mare to be lame. I brought the mare in to a stable over night, the HO were contacted and the services of a vet were offered. The condition of the mare was also reported. The reply from the HO was to get a friend to transport the horse in distress delaying veterinary attention for a further 48 hours.

Really ?? For a horse in distress, wouldn't most people take the YO's offer of immediate treatment from the vet ?


The RSPCA called here yesterdy and found nothing what-so-ever wrong with the premisesn or any animal present at the property (30+ horses) and we were glad they had visited. There is no report coming from the RSPCA with regards to my part in this as no further action is required.
Only after this whole sad situation has it come to my attention that "Silvershoes" has always been a mare who lives in with feed and rugs and regular attention. She was also always prone to mud-fever. We are now wandering if she had any existing illness or condition which may affect the other horses in the field. We are currently struggling to eceive any information with regards to blood test or postmortem results!

This concludes my statement of facts. Feel free to comment as you have been doing, but I WILL NOT be entering any further discussion myself.

Although, I sympathise with the mare's owner and certainly feel the YO could have done more, it does seem that the blame is not all on the YO.
Whether the horse was acutely ill or had been progressively ill, we do not know, but if there been better communication by both parties and immediate action by the OP when told that the horse was ill, or even when told of the need for the farrier and rug replacement, perhaps the outcome might have been different.

 

[Mariposa]

. Why are we sending the message that it is OK to dump animals on owners of large yards and not take care of them ourselves?

Actually...if you are paying someone to look after your horse that's exactly what they should be doing. If that person has a 'large yard' and can't take on care of a extra horse don't take it on! If you are a livery business, your job is taking care of horses in your care....its really not rocket science is it?

Is every person on here who has a horse at full or grass livery guilty of 'dumping' their horse on a yard? If so I'm guilty too, I have a horse on grass livery in Cornwall, I live in London. Do I get to see her daily? No. I trust and pay the yard owner to look after her....that's what I pay her for ( and she does a very good job of it too!)

 

[diamonddogs]

By her own admision the HO failed to check on the horses herself - more than twice within the first 3 months of the livery time. When paying just before xmas for all charges up to the end of December - NO attempt to check either mare was made and NO arrangements for anybody to carry on, following the clint moving 500 miles away.

How long would it have taken for the owner to walk to the field and take a look at the mare ? Doesn't it strike anyone else as slightly odd that the horse was not checked when she was on the yard ?

Me and my OH just worked it out - about five days: assuming it's a four hour drive at average 60mph, and the average person could walk at 5mph, and allowing for rest breaks and possible overnight stops. But without breaks, approximately 48 hours.

And yes, it strikes everyone here as absolutely flaming disgusting, not "odd" the horse wasn't checked. That's why the horse died, and why everyone is screaming for blood.

You obviously haven't even read the post you're replying to properly, let alone the whole thread, so I suggest you go away and read the complete thread, then come back with some sensible, informed comments.

 

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Me and my OH just worked it out - about five days: assuming it's a four hour drive at average 60mph, and the average person could walk at 5mph, and allowing for rest breaks and possible overnight stops. But without breaks, approximately 48 hours.

And yes, it strikes everyone here as absolutely flaming disgusting, not "odd" the horse wasn't checked. That's why the horse died, and why everyone is screaming for blood.

You obviously haven't even read the post you're replying to properly, let alone the whole thread, so I suggest you go away and read the complete thread, then come back with some sensible, informed comments.

reading that post, I think.. the owner didn't check the horse a few times on livery before she moved away.. that's how I read it