Dumped horse legal rights

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Bluebell1

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So a horse in my care (neither the horse or the field belongs to me) has a 2yo field companion, who is simply in the field to keep her company, and belongs to a lady in the village who owns a yard. The 2yo is there in return for free grazing, no loan agreement or anything, just 2 horse owners helping each other out.

Yesterday when I came in to check on the mare, I noticed straight away that the 2yo was very lame, not weight baring and could barely walk. I contacted the owner traight away (of injured horse, not horse I check on) left her voice mails, texts etc but no reply. She replied to a a text the day before when I asked her if she wanted her seen by the farrier (she said no). I informed the mare I checks owner (also the land owner, I am paid to check her daily) but they haven’t had any luck contacting her. This morning I checked them again and she was in the exact same way, so I went to the ladies stables but she wasn’t there, but I left a note.

The question is, can I call the vet for her horse without possibly being dumped with the vet bill? My only other option is to walk her back to her owners stables and leave her in a stable, but it’s a 15/20 minute walk which would be impossible for her as she won’t put any weight on her front right. There are no stables within close distance of the field.

Her owner is natoriously known for being hard to get hold of, but I feel as though I’m being ignored. (I don’t think she’s ever once checked on her horse). Any advise would be greatly welcome, as I can’t bare to leave the poor 2yo for another night.
 
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In my experience the vet ended up writing off the bill. Tell her you are calling out the vet asap see if that gets a response-if she has a yard she must have an account with the vet? call vets and explain the situation ie horse isnt yours-hopefully the animal is registed with them?

My story-grazing was sublet without landowner knowing (I wasnt the land owner, I shared the facilities) to someone with a pregnant mare. mare foaled early hours of saturday morning (first foal) but placenta not passed. Person subletting completely clueless and worried about landowner finding out. mare's owner was off to Floors for the weekend and refused to come and see said mare and foal and told me to not get the vet out under any circumstances. I called the vet saturday afternoon-mare jagged, she cleansed-all fine. Turns out owner was blacklisted by the two local practices for non-payment of bills. She went mental on me on the monday morning (having not been to to visit at all) and then went into the practice and went mad at them for interfering. landowner then offered to cover the bill but vet was a friend and wrote it off. this was a 'much loved mare that owes us nothing' except a vets bill for a first foal at 19 and an owner that was more bothered about going to Floors (which was only an hours drive away).
 
That’s awful. I don’t see why people own animals and refuse to take responsibility for them. The problem is we have about 6/7 vet practices in the area. I am going to try her house today (It should be easy enough to find out which is hers) and leave another note if she’s not in. Not sure I’d be so lucky with getting the vet bill written off though!
 
you can contact WHW or the RSPCA as the horse is a welfare case and they will authorise a vet and pick up the bill. If horse is microchipped they can trace the owner for reimbursement.
 
Downton Dame said:
you can contact WHW or the RSPCA as the horse is a welfare case and they will authorise a vet and pick up the bill. If horse is microchipped they can trace the owner for reimbursement.
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Thanks. I’m just going to knock on her door now but if she doesn’t answer I may go down this line. A little hesitant too as I know how much conflict it will cause, but I don’t really have much choice. She should be microchipped as I know she was bought from Ireland.
 
^ this.
This is exactly the kind of case where the large organisations should be able to assist - you can do the leg work and have them take care of the admin they are more expert in :-)

But ideally it should be landowner (because they have a responsibility for the animal which you don't) who deals with this.

I would be furious if someone got unauthorised treatment for my animal, let alone expected me to pay the bill, (you're probably spot-on but you don't actually know that the animal hasn't been seen unless you've been at the field 24/7 since you reported the issue). So, doing things very much through the 'proper channels' seems like a good first move.

(Obviously I've never left an animal that obviously needed assistance in these circs, but, in general...)
 
After lots of effort I’ve FINALLY got a call back, and she’s gone over to see her horse. Thank you for all of your help though, at least I’ll know what to do if I’m ever in a similar situation again.
 
Bluebell1 said:
So a horse in my care (neither the horse or the field belongs to me) has a 2yo field companion, who is simply in the field to keep her company, and belongs to a lady in the village who owns a yard. The 2yo is there in return for free grazing, no loan agreement or anything, just 2 horse owners helping each other out.

Yesterday when I came in to check on the mare, I noticed straight away that the 2yo was very lame, not weight baring and could barely walk. I contacted the owner traight away (of injured horse, not horse I check on) left her voice mails, texts etc but no reply. She replied to a a text the day before when I asked her if she wanted her seen by the farrier (she said no). I informed the mare I checks owner (also the land owner, I am paid to check her daily) but they haven’t had any luck contacting her. This morning I checked them again and she was in the exact same way, so I went to the ladies stables but she wasn’t there, but I left a note.

The question is, can I call the vet for her horse without possibly being dumped with the vet bill? My only other option is to walk her back to her owners stables and leave her in a stable, but it’s a 15/20 minute walk which would be impossible for her as she won’t put any weight on her front right. There are no stables within close distance of the field.

Her owner is natoriously known for being hard to get hold of, but I feel as though I’m being ignored. (I don’t think she’s ever once checked on her horse). Any advise would be greatly welcome, as I can’t bare to leave the poor 2yo for another night.
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Now this problem is resolved it may be a good idea to ask the owner of the 2yo what she would like you to do in an emergency if you cannot make contact with her as sometimes decisions or actions need to be made fairly quickly. Hopefully all will be well now but its always nice to know that the owner is happy for you to take some sort of control if they are not about
 
MotherOfChickens said:
In my experience the vet ended up writing off the bill. Tell her you are calling out the vet asap see if that gets a response-if she has a yard she must have an account with the vet? call vets and explain the situation ie horse isnt yours-hopefully the animal is registed with them?

My story-grazing was sublet without landowner knowing (I wasnt the land owner, I shared the facilities) to someone with a pregnant mare. mare foaled early hours of saturday morning (first foal) but placenta not passed. Person subletting completely clueless and worried about landowner finding out. mare's owner was off to Floors for the weekend and refused to come and see said mare and foal and told me to not get the vet out under any circumstances. I called the vet saturday afternoon-mare jagged, she cleansed-all fine. Turns out owner was blacklisted by the two local practices for non-payment of bills. She went mental on me on the monday morning (having not been to to visit at all) and then went into the practice and went mad at them for interfering. landowner then offered to cover the bill but vet was a friend and wrote it off. this was a 'much loved mare that owes us nothing' except a vets bill for a first foal at 19 and an owner that was more bothered about going to Floors (which was only an hours drive away).
Click to expand...

People never cease to amaze me, thankfully you took control. I'd be buying you a gift if you took control for one of mine who was in trouble, mind you I don't clear off on holiday and leave them to fend for themselves
 
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