Daughters friend's pony has laminitis-pony left out in field

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peaceandquiet1

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Daughter came home upset from visit to friend who has a pony supposedly on 1.5 prascend tabs a day but is clearly in pain and exhibiting signs of laminitis. Daughter suggest to friend that pony should be brought into stable but it is half a mile away from field. Friends family flatly refuse to arrange to bring it in and friend age 16 cannot change their minds and does not herself have any real understanding of laminitis.

Perhaps it is not our business but it i distressing to think of this pony being left with no pain relief etc.
 
Contact World Horse Welfare immediately and ask tem to send an inspector out.

If you are concerned about a horse in the UK, please call our World Horse Welfare freephone Welfare Hotline on 08000 480180 between 8 am and 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday.

This is a charitable service. Unfortunately we are unable to answer calls over the weekend, but if you leave a voicemail message we will return your call as soon as possible.

When you call, you will speak to someone who has a good knowledge, both of horses and the relevant legislation, and all calls are dealt with in the strictest confidence.

We prefer to take welfare reports over the telephone rather than by email, as this allows us to ask any questions we need in order to get the full picture of the situation - essential for assessing urgency. It also allows us to make sure we know exactly where the horses are.

We understand callers’ concerns about remaining anonymous, and this can be assured, but speaking to someone rather than reading an email or listening to an anonymous voicemail message ensures the horses can be visited if necessary – it may not be possible for us to find the horses from the information left on a message.

We have a small but experienced team answering the welfare line, so please bear with us if you have difficulty getting through. We have an answerphone system in place to allow us to deal with as many calls as possible, so if your call isn’t answered immediately please leave a message and we promise to get back to you – we aim to return all welfare calls on the same working day. When leaving a message, please state your phone number clearly and repeat it – this is particularly important if you’re calling from a mobile as it may be a bad line.
- See more at: http://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/Concerned-about-a-horse#sthash.3leLRHQ4.dpuf
 
If a pragmatic solution is needed in this case, how about suggesting a grazing muzzle. Not the best option but perhaps the best you can achieve in the circumstances.
 
Thanks all. Wouldn't hesitate to call welfare but it is going to be rather obvious that it is us. I didn't see it myself only my daughter. Apparently the "bute has stopped working" and the farrier wanted to try palstic shoes (Imprints presumably) but family are into saving money.......
 
I think either you now need to talk to the family yourself as an adult to adult conversation (quite a few people wont listen to teenagers, sadly) or otherwise call BHS welfare or WHW who can send someone out to look, chat and advise.

Please, for the pony's sake can you take action?
 
That is serious welfare issue. I'm sorry but you need to do something. As above talk to parents or ring welfare organisation.
Pony will be in dreadful pain.
 
I think I would forego any friendship in favour of getting this pony help. We reported similar here last year and despite mega pain relief they still had to almost lift one cob and a couple of shetties onto the transport. WHW are your best bet, as above, and they will involve RSPCA if necessary.
 
Go and see pony yourself and if you are not happy inform them you will be contacting a welfare organisation is they don't treat the pony appropriately. One of the ponies at my rs years ago was there because bhs welfare insisted she was kept at a yard they approved of as owners hadn't managed lami. She came on working livery but after 2 weeks we never saw the owners again.
 
selinas spirit said:
That is serious welfare issue. I'm sorry but you need to do something. As above talk to parents or ring welfare organisation.
Pony will be in dreadful pain.
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^^^ This.

Their attitude is disgusting. They have been recommended remedial shoeing and decided against it to save money?!? They should have the pony shot if they aren't prepared to fund basic veterinary care. Ignorant and Negligent.
 
How visible is the field/pony? Could you go and talk to the parents and tell them that local people are concerned about the pony and that you've heard talk of contacting a welfare organisation? That way if you do report them they won't necessarily think it was you, plus you've given them fair warning and a chance to get the pony sorted.
 
i wouldnt worry what these people think.the horse is suffering through their neglect and id be straight on the phone to report them.this is a serious welfare issue and it needs to be dealt with in the best interests of the horse not the owners.
 
horsemadmum1 said:
Thanks all. Wouldn't hesitate to call welfare but it is going to be rather obvious that it is us. I didn't see it myself only my daughter. Apparently the "bute has stopped working" and the farrier wanted to try palstic shoes (Imprints presumably) but family are into saving money.......
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God this makes me so mad but bless you for trying to help the pony
 
It is a tough one and I did something similar a few years back. I bought a pony off a lovely girl of 18. Her heart was in the right place but she had no idea about horse care. I kept in touch via Facebook and saw she'd bought a little Sec A pony. It was put straight out onto 5 rich acres of grazing ;/ I suggested a muzzle and she said it would be fine. A week or so later it was crippled with laminitis. She posted loads of videos of the pony saying how sore it was etc. I called her, told her it was Lami etc, to call the vet and she said no, she'd deal with it. The next day there was another video of the pony in a stable, in agony with a huge net of haylage. I called WHW who went out and sadly the pony was put to sleep. The backlash I got for that was just awful. I was threatened via messages, phone etc and eventually had to call the police. Luckily nothing ever came of it but I sleep well knowing that pony didn't suffer for longer than it needed too.
 
southerncomfort said:
Could you go and talk to the parents and tell them that local people are concerned about the pony and that you've heard talk of contacting a welfare organisation?
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That's just stirring and sounds completely implausible. They would probably ask "Which local people & who has been talking about contacting a welfare organisation?", and then you'd have to start thinking of more lies.

Just be direct and phone someone. No point beating around the bush - do you really care what this sort of person thinks of you anyway?
 
horsemadmum1 said:
Thanks all. Wouldn't hesitate to call welfare but it is going to be rather obvious that it is us. I didn't see it myself only my daughter. Apparently the "bute has stopped working" and the farrier wanted to try palstic shoes (Imprints presumably) but family are into saving money.......
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So what! would they not want someone to do something if it was theirs??? Do what is right by the pony not what the gossip say. ATEOTD WHW are there to help even educated when ness.
 
I would take a look at the pony first,then talk to the parents ,pointing out that this is a welfare emergency. If they refuse to take immediate action then I would just plain tell them that you are calling a welfare agency. No point in beating about the bush if they will know who it is .
 
horsemadmum1 said:
Thanks all. Wouldn't hesitate to call welfare but it is going to be rather obvious that it is us. I didn't see it myself only my daughter. Apparently the "bute has stopped working" and the farrier wanted to try palstic shoes (Imprints presumably) but family are into saving money.......
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So the pony can carry on suffering then just so nobody knows it was you who called a welfare organization??? It sounds as if the pony has chronic low grade laminitis which has recently worsened, due to cushings, so if the owners don't want to treat it because of the cost they need to PTS not wait to see if the laminitis goes away on its own, which it won't. Poor pony could linger on for months like this. Are you really going to leave it to suffer? Shame on you.
 
SpringArising said:
That's just stirring and sounds completely implausible. They would probably ask "Which local people & who has been talking about contacting a welfare organisation?", and then you'd have to start thinking of more lies.

Just be direct and phone someone. No point beating around the bush - do you really care what this sort of person thinks of you anyway?
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Didn't mean it to sound like 'stirring' but some of us aren't as brave as others! If it were me I'd just phone WHW but the OP has already made clear she is reluctant to.
 
Ring and sod the consequences, I wouldn't want people like that as friends anyway. I rang WHW about an elderly pony that was on a yard I was on, everyone knew it was me as no one else could be bothered. I then rang again after nothing was done, this was the day after I moved yards and again the entire yard knew it was me. He was finally pts because no one bothered to follow the WHW's advice after I left. They all had the ump I'd called, but I know I did the right thing for him.
 
Wow, there are some fairly vicious responses on here. OP, I can understand your reluctance to throw yourself into a potentially nasty situation, without thinking about it a bit first. Especially when it involves and impacts your daughter. Nothing to add to those helpful suggestions already made. Good luck.
 
Eggshells said:
Wow, there are some fairly vicious responses on here. OP, I can understand your reluctance to throw yourself into a potentially nasty situation, without thinking about it a bit first. Especially when it involves and impacts your daughter. Nothing to add to those helpful suggestions already made. Good luck.
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I love people who think everything is black and white. We'd all like to do the right thing but if it then jeopardizes yourself or your own animal (as it did in my case) then its a really hard decision. You can be living with the consequences for years, especially now thanks to social media. Luckily for the pony where I was, one of the other liveries left and immediately reported it (not that it did the poor thing much good). I did report a welfare case reasonably local to me, without hesitation and the outcome was good.
 
I think the horses welfare has to come first and IMO i wouldnt be worrying about falling out with people over this. It may be that they just need some advice and support but definately report.If that horse gets really unwell and suffers if not already, you will feel really bad. Better to have done something about it than regret not doing anything :) good luck
 
cobgoblin said:
I would take a look at the pony first,then talk to the parents ,pointing out that this is a welfare emergency. If they refuse to take immediate action then I would just plain tell them that you are calling a welfare agency. No point in beating about the bush if they will know who it is .
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Can't think of any better advice TBH. This isn't an easy situation, and OP is in a very difficult situation which none of us would find easy to deal with.

At best she is at risk of being labelled "interfering"...... and it sounds like this poor little pony has got the worst type of owners, i.e. sentimentality without compassion, plus tight as a duck's @rse and won't spend money on the poor little creature :(

Are any other horse owners in the area aware of this situation??? It may just be that other riders are concerned as well and if so they may be prepared to report it rather than the OP who is regrettably "involved" in the situation and obviously has a difficulty in that if she does report it then the family will suspect her for so doing. OP: If reporting to a welfare agency (PLEASE, please do NOT report it to the RSPCA; rather go to WHW or BHS) rest assured that your name will not be divulged.
 
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