Furious!! Horse home from loan.

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navaho

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We collected our 2 horses who were out on loan yesterday, the coloured was in ok condition (he lives off fresh air thank god), but our little welsh cob is in appalling condition. Words can not describe how angry we are.
We last saw them both about 2months ago, everything seemed fine.. Alarm bells started ringing last week when we tried to contact the loaner about coming to see them & i wasnt getting any response, in the end i left a message to say i was concerned & that if she didnt contact us we would be up the following day to see them anyway, she did eventually contact me & we arranged to see them. I wont bore you with all the details but suffice to say both horses are now home :( People like this really do give loaners a bad name, it worries me that she made no attempt to contact me regarding his weight & if i hadnt of pushed the point over seeing him would i have been getting a text to say he was dead? If anyone is thinking of loaning a horse to anyone near Llanybydder please do contact me.

We took these photos before we loaded him up at her place.....she was noticeable by her absence!!

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God that's terrible if that's happened in 2 months! Is there anything actually wrong with the horse that would cause him to lose wieght like that? I don't know many welshies that can't live on next to nothing so he must have really had nothing!
 
Oh my god what a terrible shock that must have been! Thank god you went over when you did - doesn't bear thinking what would have happened if you'd taken her word that they were ok without going to see for yourself!
 
I would be very concerned that there is something very wrong for a pony to lose that amount of weight in two months.
The loaner should have contacted you of course, but for a welsh pony to be that thin there is something wrong, I would be getting some tests done asap.
 
I think the face of the girl in the forth photo says it all, I am shocked mad and livid for you also. did the loaner give any account for their actions. thank goodness you stuck with it and went to see them.
hugs to you all hope on the mend soon
 
Get a vet out immediately, as in today, and ask them to record the details as if there is going to be a prosecution. Also ring the RSPCA, and tell them you have an urgent complaint, and a vet hopefully supporting you (the magic words here are unnecessary suffering, which this undoubtedly is).

The RSPCA should then take over, and they can take this woman to court. The photos are excellent evidence, and you have done everything by the book. Maybe the woman will actually turn up if she has a summons.
 
I'd echo that that horse needs to be carefully checked out because to become that thin in two months suggest something very wrong indeed, and not just poor feeding. The loaner should have contacted you though.

Glad you have them both home.
 
It's enough to make you weep!

I hope he picks up with some tlc and a strongly worded letter would be winging its way to her if it was my horse. Blithering fools!!
 
Inexcusable. why didn't the loaner contact you for help?! So very glad for both you and your horses that you checked up on them regularly. I hope that nothing serious is found to have caused the weight loss, please keep us updated.
 
Shocking, I would def contact RSPCA. Just shows that when you have a horse out on loan you really do need to be close enough to check often.

I am horrified by some of the stories on this forum.
 
And again, words fail.

So glad you went and got them.

I hope that there is nothing at the root 'other than' some horrendous management, and the horse comes right very soon.

Hugs to you hunny. I can only just begin to imagine the anger.
 
FFS that is bad, really bad! I would be wanting to bring down a huge hatchet on the person that was responsible for that!
I thought my Meg was in a state coming back from being on loan, but your poor wee lad looks awful. The only good thing about him is the shine on his coat.
I would suspect that he has been trying to live off fresh air.
Awful, simply awful :(
Can I just add though what are those bald patches on his rump near his tail?
Have you checked his coat for lice? Or does he have any sweet itch problems.
I am only asking because when my mare came home at the start of May she looked ok in her coat, it did have a shine to it. She was very underweight ( not as bad as your boy though) but she was holding onto some of her winter coat. I did think because she had been somewhere it was colder and more exposed that was the reason.
However I noticed a few little patches above her tail and was told she had rubbed herself on a tree.
I thought nothing of it until a few days later when work allowed me to be able to spend a bit more time with her, and I gave her a good groom, that I noticed a few familiar patches on her bum. I recognised them because when I was given the mare over two years ago she was in a right state and heaving with lice. I thought no it can't be. She has been out on loan and was ridden up the day before I got her back this year.
Oh yes it blooming was. I looked in her mane and saw what I thought were nits and thought no not again. I asked someone to come over and have a look with me to confirm it. No need to though because when I stepped away and just happened to look down at my t-shirt which had been against her body I was covered in lice trying to burrow into me :(
So it was confirmed she had lice, and a lot of them.
I found nits everywhere in her mane, tail and forelock.
Got the vet out and commenced louse treatment and on her first dose she was covered in dead lice.
Now I am saying this because when I first got her back I was so overjoyed that she had returned and was so dismayed by her weight loss that I didn't think to check for lice.
I thought that if she had been groomed and ridden that she wouldn't have any. Surely the people who had been looking after her would have noticed if she had picked some up.

Anyway I do know that lice can cause weight loss and cause a horse to fail to thrive. I believe that in the case of my mare these lice and the weight loss occurred in the 2 months or so before I got her back because she looked ok in the photos I had over November and December and the ones I had at the start of the year ( I am guessing Feb) she looked ok, just a bit trimmer than normal. But as she had been out doing endurance training then I assumed that she had simply become fitter.
It may be worth checking your boy, if you haven't already just to make sure as those patches of fur missing near his tail do look very, very similar to what my mare had.
I hope you give those people what for.......
Good luck with them both and thank goodness they are back with someone who will take care of them :) x
edited to add as I forgot to say may we worth having his teeth checked out as well just to rule out any issues there in case that has contributed to weight loss.
 
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Wow thats alot of replies, firstly i am waiting for the vet to come & see him. Secondly i did notice the last time we saw him that he had dropped a little weight, but in all honesty it wasnt enough to make me concerned, i just wrongly assumed that it was because he was in full time work, if i knew then what i knew now then he would have come home then, he is also a cribber so that hasnt helped his situation. As for not being able to loose that much weight in 2 months it is actually possible, i loaned my old boy out about 2 years ago, he was gone for a month & had lost so much weight i was shocked. From what i could see when we were there is she has no grazing at all, since shes had him shes acquired several other horses & ponies, i am actually quite concerned about a little shetland who is there also, i will be speaking to someone about them, we wont be leaving this go.
 
Agree with others vet out and blood test and a look at teeth, a Welsh Cob should not look like that even on meagre keep, most people have trouble keeping weight off.

Hope nothing serious is wrong--good luck
 
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!
mirror what others say rspca make a case get the vet to check NO excuse for him to be like that at this it me of year:(:eek:
 
Just seen your reply Navaho and I think that a call to WHW wouldn't go amiss in this case especially if you have concerns over another equine in their care x
 
Cazee34 said:
FFS that is bad, really bad! I would be wanting to bring down a huge hatchet on the person that was responsible for that!
I thought my Meg was in a state coming back from being on loan, but your poor wee lad looks awful. The only good thing about him is the shine on his coat.
I would suspect that he has been trying to live off fresh air.
Awful, simply awful :(
Can I just add though what are those bald patches on his rump near his tail?
Have you checked his coat for lice? Or does he have any sweet itch problems.
I am only asking because when my mare came home at the start of May she looked ok in her coat, it did have a shine to it. She was very underweight ( not as bad as your boy though) but she was holding onto some of her winter coat. I did think because she had been somewhere it was colder and more exposed that was the reason.
However I noticed a few little patches above her tail and was told she had rubbed herself on a tree.
I thought nothing of it until a few days later when work allowed me to be able to spend a bit more time with her, and I gave her a good groom, that I noticed a few familiar patches on her bum. I recognised them because when I was given the mare over years ago she was in a right state and heaving with lice. I thought no it can't be. She has been out on loan and was ridden up the day before I got her back this year.
Oh yes it blooming was. I looked in her mane and saw what I thought were nits and thought no not again. I asked someone to come over and have a look with me to confirm it. No need to though because when I stepped away and just happened to look down at my t-shirt which had been against her body I was covered in lice trying to burrow into me :(
So it was confirmed she had lice, and a lot of them.
I found nits everywhere in her mane, tail and forelock.
Got the vet out and commenced louse treatment and on her first dose she was covered in dead lice.
Now I am saying this because when I first got her back I was so overjoyed that she had returned and was so dismayed by her weight loss that I didn't think to check for lice.
I thought that if she had been groomed and ridden that she wouldn't have any. Surely the people who had been looking after her would have noticed if she had picked some up.

Anyway I do know that lice can cause weight loss and cause a horse to fail to thrive. I believe that in the case of my mare these lice and the weight loss occurred in the 2 months or so before I got her back because she looked ok in the photos I had over November and December and the ones I had at the start of the year ( I am guessing Feb) she looked ok, just a bit trimmer than normal. But as she had been out doing endurance training then I assumed that she had simply become fitter.
It may be worth checking your boy, if you haven't already just to make sure as those patches of fur missing near his tail do look very, very similar to what my mare had.
I hope you give those people what for.......
Good luck with them both and thank goodness they are back with someone who will take care of them :) x
edited to add as I forgot to say may we worth having his teeth checked out as well just to rule out any issues there in case that has contributed to weight loss.
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We have treated him for lice this morning, it was one of the first things we thought of, he has got quite bad skin in places, she said to us it was sweet itch but we have owned him for 2years & never seen any sign of it, but i wont rule it out just yet. She is adamant her vet has seen him....strange that she wont tell me which vets though!!

We are also worried there is an underlying problem, but i still cant understand why she didnt let us know anything......just so cross!!
 
I'm a former inspector, if you want any help re the RSPCA pm me, I know they're not easy, but they are the only ones who will go to court on your boy's behalf.

I would be concerened about ANY animal left at her yard.

My heart really goes out to you. We're all behind you on this. sm xx
 
Navaho glad you have treated him for them, just in case. Did you see any nits or dead lice on his coat, mane etc when he was treated at all?
I wouldn't rule out sweet itch entirely but at first glance it did look more like the effects of lice than sweet itch.
I think your vet should be able to tell you more though and echo about the blood test too as that will show if he any underlying cause for the weight loss.
I don't think for one minute that the loanee has had a vet out to him especially if they won't tell you which vets. That is very suspect indeed.
At least he is back home safe and sound with you and you can now find out what is wrong.
If it does turn out to be negligence on their part I think you have every reason to go down the prosecution route and get whoever involved that will help to do this.
Best of luck and big hugs to him as he looks a real sweetie x
 
It's hard to tell from your pics but it looks like the underweight horse still has a belly although she's underweight.... Is there any chance she could be in foal? Jyst asking because my friends horse dropped a shed load of weight in a small space of time but still had a belly, despite being fed .... She had a surprise foal in her field one morning. Either way, this horses condition is terrible and the loaner should be prosecuted. I hope the horse makes a full recovery.
 
My son's pony was on loan to a riding school where we used to ride. We stopped riding there and the pony stayed on loan. I then decided I would like her back, so I contacted them. They said they would pay me £1k to keep her but I had decided I wanted her home.

Went to get her and they were using her on a lesson so we had to wait. She looked awful. Got her on the lorry and travelled her home. She was unwell the following morning, got the vet, and she said that the pony was in such severe pain and gums blue, colicing etc, that she felt she had to put her down. I was furious on behalf of the pony that she had suffered - arranged to get a post mortem done and contacted RSPCA (the place I found afterwards was already well known to them). The post mortem said that they could not conclusively say what the problem had been, but that there was a lot of liver damage etc and the RSPCA did nothing about it. I lost a pony, spent £1500 on vet fees and post mortem (whcih I would not have done had I realised they were not going to be prosecuted).

I take a lot of the blame as I did not visit her for about 6 months. My view is don't bother with the RSPCA - they don't do anything.

Courtney when we had her at home 12 months before she died
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The day before she died - just 12 months from the two photos above
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Your pony looks thin, but still appears to be well apart from that - I do hope that she recovers and you enjoy many more years with her. Forget the people that had her - yes, name and shame locally to stop others going through this, but don't go down the RSPCA route.

I came on here and warned people (but did not say that she had died as the RSPCA wanted me to keep it quiet from the loaners) - they came on here and justified everything and made out that I was a liar, and that there was nothing wrong with the pony. yet you can see what she looked like and the day before that she had been used on 3 lessons ...
 
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Thanks Shysmum, im going to speak to the vets later & take it from there. This is the other little pony im worried about...i actually thought it was a goat what i first saw it.

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itsmylife said:
I would be very concerned that there is something very wrong for a pony to lose that amount of weight in two months.
The loaner should have contacted you of course, but for a welsh pony to be that thin there is something wrong, I would be getting some tests done asap.
Click to expand...

I agree. If the horse looked ok two months ago, what has happened in between??:(
 
Regardless of whatever underlying problem there is (looks likely), it's no excuse. I had one in my care who began to drop weight, so we upped the feed, called the owner and then the vet, stabilised the horse with inital vet suggestions and informed the owner of the further investigation the vet suggested. It was then up to the owner to decide what to do. Not a hard course of action to take!
 
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