Bought a pony who died two days later!

S

specialcharlie

New User
Joined
31 March 2010
Messages
1
Visit site
Help anyone!

I purchased a mare in foal on Sunday and had to have her put down on Wednesday morning?

She was quiet when I collected her but I was told that she was always quiet. I took her off the trailer on Sunday afternoon and she did not eat and looked exhausted. I put it down to new home and heavily in foal and left her overnight. By Monday she was no brighter and had not done any poo's so I called the vet, after much time spent diagnosing a problem we discovered she had hyperlipemia. There was little we could do to save the mare and foal and I had to make the heart breaking decision to put her to sleep and lose the foal in the process.

This whole episode has left me devastated and struggling financially with a huge vets bill.

This is generally a secondary disease and she would have been unwell and off her food before I picked her up.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone know how I may go about recovering some of my costs from the previous owners since she was unwell at the time of purchase.
 
Hopefully someone may be able to give you some legal advice on here but as a first thought I would write to the people you bought herfrom, explain the situation and ask for your money back. You should also get a letter from the vet explaining that illness would have been present at the time of sale. Put everything in writing for evidence sake.

Such a sad situation for you. You may not feel strong but you need to gather your wits you appear to have been dumped on in a big way.

Hugs.
 
How absolutly dreadful for you and the poor mare and foal, so sorry for you, hugs sent your way :(

As Double_choc_lab said try and gather youself to get justice for the mare and seek legal advice, maybe call one of the horse welfare agencies to get their advice
 
A while since I last thought about this, but I am pretty sure hyperlipemia is a recognized stand alone condition in a pregnant mare and doesn't have to be secondary to something? If she was just off her food, then I am not sure the owner would have known she was ill - I've had pregnant mares become fussy over food, especially if she is just being turned out again after winter, lots of horses eat less of their feeds when they go out on to grass again after a while.
 
I am really sorry to hear of your loss you must be devastated. I do however think you have a case and although this sounds awful I think trading standards may be able to offer legal advice. It was many years ago when I spoke to them about another matter but they do know about these things and were really helpful. I agree a letter from your vet is a very good idea and also contacting the previous owners to tactfully test the water. They may be really apologetic and offer your money back. They may not but at least you have tried before you go in with solicitors letters etc.
 
Unless you had her vetted, I don't think you can actually do much. But please seek professional advice. i had a mare develop hyperlypaemia, but with a lot of nursing, she luckily pulled through.
I am very sorry.
 
just because I didn't know what it was and for the information of others;

Hyperlipemia, which literally means "overactive or excessive fat", is a disease that releases body fat reserves into the bloodstream which can overload the horse's liver ultimately causing liver failure and death to the horse. Another name for it is "fatty liver disease".

Hyperlipemia comes on suddenly. There seem to be many causes of this disease most of which have their roots tied to stress. Horses who have been recently or are being transported have been found with this disease. Overweight horses, lactating mares, mares who have recently foaled (those two sort of go together), horses who have had major surgery, horses who have colicked and horses experiencing undue stress from new surroundings or new situations have all been found susceptible to this disease.

I am so sorry, big hugs.
 
Sorry to hear about it (((hugs)))

Hope something is resolved and you're not too out of pocket. Keep us uptated and I'll keep my fingers crossed it all works out for you.
 
Sorry but I think this is just hard luck!

As condition can come on suddenly and she had two major contributing factors to its development ; being heavily in foal and the stress of being transported.

This is one of the reasons I am very against transporting of heavily in foal mares, can cause stress and complications as well as early foaling. (We moved one once from one place she knew to another and foal was born a month early)

I know someone who bought a riding horse and three days later he was dead (had an undiagnosed brain tumour which suddenly caused a problem due to stress and the poor thing lost control of one side of his body) The horse was fully vetted before purchase also but sadly its just one of those things. The new owners couldn't claim back anything. Was she insured? I know normally there's a two week exclusion on new horses but not sure how it would work in this case.
 
Slightly similar story, my Dad bought a puppy from a breeder. He'd been and picked her out, paid a deposit, a week later picked the puppy up. She was dull and a bit lifeless during the first day, and by evening started being sick.

As she hadn't really eaten anything since Dad had bought her, he rang the emergency vet and they said to take her in.

She was diagnosed with gastro enteritis, was very very poorly and nearly died.

During the week she was at the vets, Dad contacted the breeder, more in case any of her other puppies were ill.

The breeder was very good about it. Offered to pay Dad's vet bill in full and even give Dad another puppy (which of course he didn't want).

The puppy (Poppy) survived her illness and is now a strapping 8yr old gorgeous girl.

The breeder did in fact pay the vets bill and sent Dad some vouchers for free dog food.

So.... you could try the same with the seller of your mare. If they are decent people, they may offer the same/something similar.
 
That's horrible for you.
I posted some time ago after loosing 2 young home bred colts within 3 months of each other from hyperlipidemia which I think is basically the same thing. We were told at the time there was a 25% chance of saving them - but after extensive searching and asking vets, etc, there still seems to be no real answer. Neither of them was stressed in any way, hadn't been ill or lost weight. The only connection was that they had the same sire, and were both 18 months old when they died, after progressively loosing weight and energy.
But it is horrible to watch a horse fail before your eyes and be helpless to do anything.
So sorry.
 
The only experience I have of hyperlipaemia was in a Shetland pony who got stressed by the introduction of a new friend. I think that the shock of the move could have been enough to trigger it I'm afraid.
 
Ok there are some crucial questions that need asking here.

First and foremost did you have the mare vetted and did the vet have any concerns?

Secondly who did you buy the horse from? Were they a business or an individual. You have far more rights if you buy from a business (not just a dealer, a stud, or riding school or producer too). If it was a business then Beatrice is right call trading standards asap.

If you bought from an individual you have less rights but if they knew that the horse was unwell and failed to disclose it you may still have some rights.

My advice is to speak to your insurers and ask for their advice, even if you do not have cover for this you may have legal cover which may be able to help. If you were not insured then if you are a member of BHS or WHW then they offer legal advice too, try them.

It is certainly worth going back to the seller and telling them what happened, they may refund your money and pay the vets bill as a gesture of goodwill but if not you will most likely need legal advice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top