Can you please help me find some info online ?

burtondog

burtondog

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 December 2002
Messages
902
Location
SE London/Kent, UK and Devon
www.michellehudson.co.uk
I'm rubbish at these kind of searches and some of you are so brilliant at it.

I need to find some kind of 'health and safety' type instructions relating to the correct installation of barbed wire fencing (and before you all shout, yes, I know that not installing it in the first place would be most people's preferred choice !!)

The reason I need this information is as follows :-

It's not been the best week or so for me.

Last Friday a 'nothing' type of fall (more of an awkward dismount if anything) resulted in me breaking my leg and shattering my ankle, so following 4 days in hospital I'm basically house bound for the next 6-12 weeks.

Then yesterday I received a call from my yard manager saying my horse got his legs caught up in some barbed wired. Luckily, his boots took the brunt of the damage (they're totally shredded now). The vet said that none of the cuts required stitches so my horse was just sedated while his wounds were cleaned and then given antibiotics etc.

There's not much barbed wire in Tucker's field but what there is is not exactly fitted properly. From what I can gather over the phone the barbed wire Tucker got caught it was basically a ball at the end of the fence which instead of being cut to length was left attached, just thrown over the other side of the fence originally and has probably been blown back into the field at some point.

I plan to write a letter to the estate manager informing him that I have reason to believe the left over barbed wire was at fault and that I am withholding an amount equal to my vets bill from my livery until such time as he is able to demonstrate to me that this is not the case. I figure that, at the very least, this gives him the 12 weeks I'm laid up to sort the field/fencing out if he wants the rest of my livery money.

I want the installation guide requested above to accompany my letter so he will understand the standard I expect to see if he expects to see the rest of the money !

Sound like a plan ???

I can't be sure if I'm making any sense because I'm on quite a few painkillers still
confused.gif
 
Why dont you go the opposite way and say that you have been very lucky not to have lost a horse due to injuries sustained from the barbed wire and would it be possible that you could have post and rail and if necessary contribute to the costs and or labour.

I would be very hesitant to start off in a manner that could blow up big style as if you did this at some yards you would probably find your horse tied to the gate.
 
Don't like to pour cold water on your plan hun but the reality is that if you knowingly turned your horse out in a field with barbed wire fencing then you have to accept the consequences. And saying that you didn't know there was a bit of barbed wire won't alter things. The argument is that the owner should have known everything about the field before putting the horse there. Your only come back would be if the YO installed barbed wire fencing AFTER your horse was put in the field, an unlikely scenario. If your horse is on full livery and the yard is responsible for every aspect of your horse's care, that's different. Thank god you and ned are ok - hope you both mend quickly x
 
spacefaer, those are useful thank you.

celiap, my yard is not BHS approved but I will actually print this booklet anyway because it specifies that wire should be taut.

Gingerwitch, the field is pretty big and most of it is post and rail. The barbed wire section is mostly overgrown with brambles so the horses rarely go near it. It's lacking tension, when it should be taut but I think that if the spare wire at the end hadn't been left attached this may never have been a problem. The estate manager is an okay guy and I've been on full livery there for the best part of 13 years, always paid my livery on time by standing order, I'm usually very easy going, really an ideal client + it's not the kind of yard where any horse would end up tied to a gate. It's just you ask him to do things and he puts them off until you force the issue. I'll have a good think, draft the letter, put it away for a few days then look at it again and probably redraft.
 
Box_of_Frogs. I am and always have been on full livery so can't say I've ever checked the fencing all the way round. I usually just see the bits around the entrance and the bit that runs along the road which is post and rail. On the occassions when I notice a rail down or anything, I report it, it gets tied up with a piece of string until a horse eventually escapes then it gets fixed. "Pro-active" is not a word which describes my yard's maintenance policies !
 
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