do you check your horse twice a day

They are always checked at least twice a day, by both me and my mum all year round. On the days I work from home they are checked three times. I can never understand people who are happy to only come once...
 
Yes I still do when out 24/7 although I know many on the same yard that dont go down for days on end (yo does live on site though)
 
When ours were out 24/7 over summer I only went down in the afternoon/evenings after school. However, it was quite a busy yard so there were always people around during the day, so if there was an accident in the morning someone would have noticed and called me. Luckily that never happened though.
 
vikkiandmonica said:
When ours were out 24/7 over summer I only went down in the afternoon/evenings after school. However, it was quite a busy yard so there were always people around during the day, so if there was an accident in the morning someone would have noticed and called me. Luckily that never happened though.
Click to expand...

Thats all well and good that someone would have noticed and called you but what if it was an emergency and the horse needed to be got in and the vet called straight away. Why should someone else do that for your horses?

I have liveries that only come up once a day when their horses are out and it drives me mad. Fly masks are forever coming off and I hate seeing the horse looking unhappy because the mask is off so I go and put it back on, but by the time I've done several in the morning I am running late and don't have the time I wanted for mine. Why should I have to do that for people who can't be bothered to come up twice a day?
 
i'l get shot down now but i only get to check mine once a day. They aren't rugged or have fly masks so nothing like that can come off. I do my best to have them in a safe secure field with tons of space and I just have to hope all goes well. I don't have the time to drop down morning and evening. I bring them up to ride and check them in yard, and then they are left down again to field till next day
 
Mine check me!!

As soon as I open the door to come out of the house, or pull up in the car, there they are. I would like to think that its because they love me, but I know that they are just hopeful of being fed!
 
No I go down once but she is in a field next to YO house so she checks them in person at least once (ther horse is her horse) too plus her windows look onto the field and her neighbour at the other end of the field can see them too so pretty much 24/7 checks!
 
Last edited:
I always check mine twice a day when she is out 24/7.

There have been people at the yard previously who haven't even bothered coming up twice a day even when their horse is stabled 24/7, nevermind out 24/7. :-(
 
I usually go down twice a day when they are out 24/7 but if the weather isn't too hot or changeable, I may go just once.
I know that everyone and the YO's look out for each others horses. There have been many times when between checks, I have attended to other people's horses and contacted the owner, as they have for me.

Even when checking twice a day, they may still become ill or injured between visits, so knowing that someone would help if needed is important.
 
Doormouse said:
Thats all well and good that someone would have noticed and called you but what if it was an emergency and the horse needed to be got in and the vet called straight away. Why should someone else do that for your horses?

I have liveries that only come up once a day when their horses are out and it drives me mad. Fly masks are forever coming off and I hate seeing the horse looking unhappy because the mask is off so I go and put it back on, but by the time I've done several in the morning I am running late and don't have the time I wanted for mine. Why should I have to do that for people who can't be bothered to come up twice a day?
Click to expand...
But that could still happen even if they were up twice day a mask could have been off for a few hours. If a horse has an accident i would really hope someone isnt going to see it and leave it because the owner will be up in two hours I would hope they would cll the owner, maybe call the vets and get the horse in
 
Doormouse said:
Thats all well and good that someone would have noticed and called you but what if it was an emergency and the horse needed to be got in and the vet called straight away. Why should someone else do that for your horses?

I have liveries that only come up once a day when their horses are out and it drives me mad. Fly masks are forever coming off and I hate seeing the horse looking unhappy because the mask is off so I go and put it back on, but by the time I've done several in the morning I am running late and don't have the time I wanted for mine. Why should I have to do that for people who can't be bothered to come up twice a day?
Click to expand...

Even if checked twice a day these things can happen inbetween being checked!!

I pay someone to change rug in a morning if my mare is out of pay to have her turned out
Then I go down in pm.
 
By law an owner or person responsible has to check a horse within reasonable time scales each day. If someone is going up once per 24 hours, and nobody is checking that horse in between, then they are on a sticky wicket if something happens.

If there is a set arrangement for someone else to be keeping an eye out or checking them, fine, but otherwise it is not an acceptable excuse for someone to say 'well I knew so and so goes there every morning so they would tell me'. Doesn't stand up in court I'm afraid.
 
Doormouse said:
Thats all well and good that someone would have noticed and called you but what if it was an emergency and the horse needed to be got in and the vet called straight away. Why should someone else do that for your horses?
Click to expand...

I would do that for another owner without a second thought, and I would hope that anyone would do the same for me. I certainly wouldn't keep my horses on a yard where helping out in an emergency situation would be seen as an inconvenience.

i have my own place, and I'm in and out constantly throughout the day. If they were on livery, I'd check twice a day.
 
I check 3 x a day now when they're out 24/7 (hopefully by 1st May!). Many years ago I was working up in the City and had to be at a client at 7am. My family were away so I did the dogs in the morning and thought I'd leave the horses as they were fine when I'd checked at 11pm the previous night. I keep the horses at home. I knew I'd be home by 4pm that day.

I received a phone call at 11am from a neighbour who was walking his dog through our fields as he did every day to say one of my horses was dead in the field. He couldn't tell me which one. Mare who died was very old and probably just keeled over however I'll never know and still carry a huge amount of guilt 18 years on.
 
The yo is on site but im pretty certain she doesn't check them.

it drives me crazy and I will glance at the others but I don't have time to walk up to them and properly check them like I do my own.

One girl is in easy cycling distance but would rather stay in bed, even on school holidays.
 
I share checking with a livery and turnout and brining in. I do the am she does the pm! and if I see anothers livery hose hobbling I'll go chck it - the amount of times I'v sorted out a tb that over reached constantly! And I'm fairly confident that all the other liveries would so the same
 
Yep check mine morning and night-time. They are in at night in the winter but in the summer I take the dog down the field twice daily to go and check them. Also because they are right next to my house I will have a look out and see if I can see them when i am at home so sometimes more than twice.
 
Moomin1 said:
By law an owner or person responsible has to check a horse within reasonable time scales each day. If someone is going up once per 24 hours, and nobody is checking that horse in between, then they are on a sticky wicket if something happens.

If there is a set arrangement for someone else to be keeping an eye out or checking them, fine, but otherwise it is not an acceptable excuse for someone to say 'well I knew so and so goes there every morning so they would tell me'. Doesn't stand up in court I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

According to DEFRA's Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and their Hybrids, which would be the guidelines used in court....

"Horses at grass should be inspected at least once a day, preferably more often. Stabled or group-housed horses should be inspected at least twice a day."

So once a day would be acceptable in court, although I would always check my own animals at least twice.
 
magicmoose said:
According to DEFRA's Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and their Hybrids, which would be the guidelines used in court....

"Horses at grass should be inspected at least once a day, preferably more often. Stabled or group-housed horses should be inspected at least twice a day."

So once a day would be acceptable in court, although I would always check my own animals at least twice.
Click to expand...

If a horse broke a leg for instance, and had only been checked 24 hours previously, I can guarantee that would have the potential to go through court. The DEFRA codes are used as guidelines quite often, but are not prescriptive for magistrates to use in every circumstance. It all depends on the individual case, circumstances etc.
 
Auslander said:
I would do that for another owner without a second thought, and I would hope that anyone would do the same for me. I certainly wouldn't keep my horses on a yard where helping out in an emergency situation would be seen as an inconvenience.

i have my own place, and I'm in and out constantly throughout the day. If they were on livery, I'd check twice a day.
Click to expand...

Ok, I didn't put that very well. We all know and understand that horses can have an accident at any time of the day and because I am usually about most of the day I am perfectly happy to check and deal with any problems that happen when the other owners are at work etc. However, 9 times out of 10 the morning is the time when I find cuts, lumps, missing fly masks, rugs half off etc and I find that alot of the owners don't bother to come up in the mornings but come in the evening by which time I have already sorted all the things from the morning out.

I just think that expecting other people to check your horses is wrong, yes of course I do it because I would never leave an animal in trouble but essentially your horse is your responsibility not someone elses.
 
If there was nobody else there then yes I would go twice a day every day. We have three people in the one big field though and we all go up at different times of the day. Most often I go twice, I have to now to keep the water topped up with the sun, but going once is not an issue when they are out with plenty of grazing/hay and there are others to check on them.

We all do it for each other as a thing of normality.
 
No....................... but im on livery so someone else is turning out and mucking out in the morning, they bring in at night, I go up most eves to ride.
 
Moomin1 said:
By law an owner or person responsible has to check a horse within reasonable time scales each day. If someone is going up once per 24 hours, and nobody is checking that horse in between, then they are on a sticky wicket if something happens.

If there is a set arrangement for someone else to be keeping an eye out or checking them, fine, but otherwise it is not an acceptable excuse for someone to say 'well I knew so and so goes there every morning so they would tell me'. Doesn't stand up in court I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

What does the law class as reasonable time scales? Do they use the DEFRA 24rs at grass and twice a day stabled mentioned above? Also what classes as checking? eg topping up water and or hay and making sure there are still 4 legs and a tail?
 
Last edited:
Doormouse said:
Thats all well and good that someone would have noticed and called you but what if it was an emergency and the horse needed to be got in and the vet called straight away. Why should someone else do that for your horses?

I have liveries that only come up once a day when their horses are out and it drives me mad. Fly masks are forever coming off and I hate seeing the horse looking unhappy because the mask is off so I go and put it back on, but by the time I've done several in the morning I am running late and don't have the time I wanted for mine. Why should I have to do that for people who can't be bothered to come up twice a day?
Click to expand...

Whilst I completely understand that, I shared a field with some people who would go and check their horses in the morning, and whilst there would check the other horses and make sure there was water in the trough, and I would repay the favour when I went down in the afternoon. It was a very helpful yard where if you noticed a fly mask hanging off etc., you would nip into the field and sort it. Mine were out without rugs or fly masks in fields with good fencing, so were in as safe a situation as possible really. I understand that accidents could happen, but they can happen the 5 hours between visits or during the night. It isn't possible to always be there should an accident happen.
 
vikkiandmonica said:
Whilst I completely understand that, I shared a field with some people who would go and check their horses in the morning, and whilst there would check the other horses and make sure there was water in the trough, and I would repay the favour when I went down in the afternoon. It was a very helpful yard where if you noticed a fly mask hanging off etc., you would nip into the field and sort it. Mine were out without rugs or fly masks in fields with good fencing, so were in as safe a situation as possible really. I understand that accidents could happen, but they can happen the 5 hours between visits or during the night. It isn't possible to always be there should an accident happen.
Click to expand...

That's completely fair enough if you are sharing a field and you check theirs to return the favour. Sorry, I wasn't really meaning to have a go at you its a very sore subject with me because every morning just at the moment my horses take 20 mins and then I spend another 30 mins sorting all the others out because I know their owners won't be up until the evening and I hate leaving them uncomfortable.
 
Doormouse said:
That's completely fair enough if you are sharing a field and you check theirs to return the favour. Sorry, I wasn't really meaning to have a go at you its a very sore subject with me because every morning just at the moment my horses take 20 mins and then I spend another 30 mins sorting all the others out because I know their owners won't be up until the evening and I hate leaving them uncomfortable.
Click to expand...

It's fine, I completely understand where you're coming from, especially given the circumstances you seem to have found yourself in! I was just lucky that the people I shared a field with were willing to check over mine in the morning and I would do the same in the evening. I think had I not of had that set up, I would have either paid the YO to go and check them in the morning, or tried to arrange to check them twice a day.
 
webble said:
What does the law class as reasonable time scales? Do they use the DEFRA 24rs at grass and twice a day stabled mentioned above? Also what classes as checking? eg topping up water and or hay and making sure there are still 4 legs and a tail?
Click to expand...

The five freedoms class as checking. Provided an owner or person responsible has provided those five freedoms as is reasonable in all the circumstances, then that would be acceptable. In many circumstances, popping up once every 24 hours is not going to be acceptable, if for instance said horse was on three legs and suffering since the day before with a badly broken leg. Similarly, if for instance water ran out and the horse got dehydrated in very hot weather, then 24 hour checking would be frowned upon in court as again, the freedoms have not been met. It wouldn't be possible to take someone to court purely on the fact they only visit once in 24 hours, but if something happened to the horse resulting in it suffering, which could have been prevented by more frequent visits, then yes, that would have a high chance of being prosecutable.

ETA - the key thing in this circumstance is 'reasonable in all the circumstances'. So obviously if there was some reasonable circumstance in which someone could not have checked the horse more than once in that 24 hours, then it would be accepted. Though there would be very few defences there really IMO.
 
I only go once a day when she's out 24/7, usually after work. (When they first go out though I still go twice to run/unrug till the weather settles). I'm on a large-ish yard where the YO lives on-site and people are coming and going all day, and we all look out for each others' horses, and take any appropriate action as and when required.

For example, my mare had a really horrible abscess last summer, and she'd gone from hooning around like a loon in the morning to being on three legs mid-afternoon. I got a phone call while I was at work, and even though I was only 15 minutes away, four other liveries managed to get her in from the field. I phoned the farrier en-route and found he'd already been contacted and was on his way.

I've been on yards where people don't come to check their horses for days on end even during winter, and sometimes I've seen horses standing in their own muck at 1pm when they've been in at night.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top