Anyone had a horse on loan to Reaseheath College?

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JillA

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Friend has been told to fetch hers home as she has "minor lameness" which they didn't even pay for veterinary investigation for, and the mare had only been there less than a week. Never been lame with the owner, and done dressage and fun rides etc, If you don't want to go public message me - I suspect they just didn't want her there
 
i dont, but i did go to Reaseheath college for 3 years. it was a long time ago, but i cant say any of the horses were poorly treated
 
Tbf Reaseheath is probably no different to many other colleges wrt horse care.

Many of their students are very inexperienced indeed. I was put in touch with one a few years ago by a trainer/dressage judge. My mare had had two years maternity break, she was sound but very unfit. The girl was looking for a loan horse to keep at college to use in lessons etc.

She had not the slightest scoobies that a horse which has had two years off needs careful fittening work before being worked in the school. She was going to crack in her lessons ASAP, despite me emphasing that the mare need to be got fit first. When I asked her what her experience levels were, she kept repeating that she was a student at the college. I never did find out what she’d done before, if anything. The telephone interview was rather brief.
 
There is another thread on FB which I've seen recently, and commented on: this sounds a bit familiar TBH.

As one who has in the past had a horse at equestrian college, what I suggested on the FB thread, and what I'm suggesting now, is that the best course of action right now would be for the owner to talk with the Head of Equine or Yard Manager at the college. If you don't get answers, keep asking and/or go higher. An owner has the right to know what happened to cause the lameness, and what treatment was given, and what diagnosis was given. Also the owner needs to be satisfied that the "Duty of Care" by the college should have been adhered to and a vet called if appropriate, and proper procedures maintained throughout.

I would strongly suggest that the owner ask a vet of THEIR choice to thoroughly examine their horse BEFORE removing it from the college. Yes it is tempting to want to get one's horse home, but the owner would be placing themselves in a better position if the horse is seen by the vet before removal.

So sorry this has happened, hopefully the lameness is a minor issue which can be resolved.
 
JillA said:
and the mare had only been there less than a week
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Isn't this the operative part? Your friend needs to have a sensible discussion with the yard manager or whoever is in charge about what the horse has been doing exactly and what has happened. Looked at from the college's perspective, they took a horse on loan and it went lame within a week. On these facts alone it may well not be suitable for them and they are cutting their losses early. If I took a horse on loan and it went lame in that time I would likely send it back too. It is normal on a working livery type situation for full livery fees to kick in after a period if the horse is unable to work. What does the contract say on this point?
 
Well she was fetched home and as soon as she was turned out had a proper hoon in the field, with no sign of any lameness.

I did suggest owner wrote to the college as much for feedback as a complaint but she prefers to put it all behind her. The disturbing thing is they didn't even get a vet to check the mare, who had been sound when she went. Not necessarily in full work as the college would want but then how many privately owned horses are? Building up to a full work schedule should surely be part of the management course, as also would assessing causes and reasons for lameness.

I would be asking questions but it isn't my mare.

(ETA over 20 years ago staff at a different college, just establishing its equine courses, came to look at a big immature gelding I had bred, with a view to loan. As they walked into his paddock they just said breathlessly "Oh, isn't he lovely" much as a novice would, and seemed to have little idea of age or type they were looking for or what level of work would be required. That plus wanting me to pay full livery during vacation periods was enough of a turn off, horse went on loan locally, was bought by the loanee and hunted for several seasons although he had to be hobdayed)
 
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You do seem to have it in for colleges in general. What is your interest given the horse is not yours and the owner seems not interested in enquiring further? Just because a horse is capable of hooning round a field and looking pretty sound does not mean it is necessarily sound enough for school work. Many horses are field sound but cannot work. It seems there is more to this.
 
Leandy said:
You do seem to have it in for colleges in general. What is your interest given the horse is not yours and the owner seems not interested in enquiring further? Just because a horse is capable of hooning round a field and looking pretty sound does not mean it is necessarily sound enough for school work. Many horses are field sound but cannot work. It seems there is more to this.
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Are you serious? Are you studying or working at a college?
 
If the horse was at the college "for less than a week before it went lame" (having just re-read the thread again), then it is very unlikely that the horse would have been used for students during that initial time, as this would have been the time where the horse is assessed for H&S purposes, and normally there is a categorisation given of Green, Amber, or Red (Red being "staff only" to handle, or staff with certain students only). Green being OK for all students; Amber being "handle with care" or only advanced level students.

Only after horses have passed stringent guidelines and assessment for suitability, are students allowed to either handle or ride them. So if this horse was there for less than a week, I would think it very unlikely indeed that a student would have been riding the horse at the time of when it "went lame".

It was obviously a huge pity the horse went lame so early on in the loan, from both the owner AND the college's perspective.

My old horse was at equine college for two years; during that time I was satisfied that he was being cared for very well indeed. I am aware of some of the comments on FB particularly about loaning to an equine college, and I have to say that it suited both me and my boy very well. He went there as a bum-follower who'd been in a trekking centre and that's all he'd done, and who'd never seen the inside of a school, and came out two years down the road a lovely chilled schooled boy who was responsive and mannerly; and the arrangement suited me very well as I was having to fulfil a caring commitment yet didn't want to sell my horse, and loaning him to a college ticked all the boxes! My horse had sweet itch, and they did their very best to manage his condition and put every effort into this. This was my experience of loaning to an equine college. I've also loaned privately, which was a total disaster from the word go and I know which I'd choose to do again if circumstances repeated themselves.....
 
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I am glad the mare is home and appears to be ok.
I cannot comment on the indvidual college or horse but my experience of an equine college are not all positive from wither the horse, owner or pupil point of view.
I would assume that not all colleges are equal though.
 
I think I saw this post on FB but the college wasn’t shared.

It’s a shame it’s ended this way but hopefully it’s a case of Horse didn’t fit rather than she’s been ‘broken’ or ‘lamed’ within a week of being there. I have to be honest to me it seemed that it was someone loaning at the college with the horse then also on working livery (OP on FB shared messages that weren’t directly through the college but an individual which didn’t appear professional, I’d expect to be in touch via the college itself?) and that they just no longer wanted the mare.

One would hope in any situation when you have someone else’s horse on loan, that if it went lame you’d get a vet (yours or theirs) and inform the owner.
 
Glad that the horse is back.

To who was the horse loaned? There seems to be some confusion on this, was to the college itself as a working livery, or to an individual who wanted to keep her there as a working livery? What does the loan agreement say about returning the horse if she proved unsuitable for the intended use?

sherry90 said:
One would hope in any situation when you have someone else’s horse on loan, that if it went lame you’d get a vet (yours or theirs) and inform the owner.
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Indeed, but exactly who is responsible for what should be in the loan agreement.
 
Ah, the college loan horse thing.
Firstly, as MiJods says above, horses would not be used for students within a week of arrival - they are assessed rigorously to ascertain suitability. They don't have to be novice rides (many of the riders in a college setting will be far better than your average horse owner), but they do have to have a purpose.
Secondly, often novice owners are unaware that their horse is unsound - colleges are far better at spotting it. The miraculous 'cure while hooning' might support the hypothesis that the owner didn't even know the horse wasn't sound when sent.
Thirdly, yes colleges send home horses which are not suitable either through being lame, or behavioural habits, or being too green (some cheeky people send their naughty horses to college rather than for retraining).
I studied at an equine college, and worked at one for years, and I can assure you I never saw a horse mistreated. Had I done so, I'd have taken disciplinary action against the student like lightning - and so would all the staff.
 
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