Help with Vet bill problem

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l4ur4

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i recently brought my first horse, after 2 weeks he went down with something very contagious and had to be quarantined and all the rest of it, resulting to a £200 vet fee, fair enough, the horse who shared our paddock was put on to anti-biotics to prevent him getting it and i coughed up £100 to cover this bill for his owner as i felt so bad.
We've now had 3 clean results from the vets and all the quarantines have been lifted, her horse had never tested positive for any illness and has been fine throughout, but she is demanding i now cough up for the rest of her bills, which i don't think is fair as i've already had to pay out for more treatment than she has and i've already covered half her bills.
Do you think she's right to ask me to cover her full bill?

any advice would be greatly recieved x
 
Many cases of Strangles (I assume this is what you're talking about...) in new arrivals aren't "brought onto" a yard by a new horse. It is just as likely there is a carrier on the yard (maybe the horse you share with!) and that your horse had never been exposed before, so became infected when he arrived.
Given that the incubation period of strangles is 3-7 days, and your horse was there for 2 weeks before becoming infected this is even more likely. I would offer to cover her bills only if she returned the favour and covered yours, because her horse is as likely to have infected yours as vice versa.
 
hi,
thanks for the speedy reply!
i was hoping to get an answer along the lines of what you were saying.
This woman is threatening to take further action against me to recover the full cost of her bills if i don't agree to pay straight out, i was wondering if anybody knew if she had any legal rights to demand me to pay
 
I wouldnt think she has a leg to stand on.... Tell her to get stuffed.

If one of your kids caught chicken pox from a friend, would you expect their parents to pay for any expenses? Anyway, her horse didnt present with the disease, so it was her choice to take preventative measures.

THIS disease does seem to bring out the worst in people!
 
this is exactly what i was hoping to hear, i've gotten myself so worried about it all i can't sleep, and i've got to be up at 5!
keep the advice coming though!
 
I would agree with alsiola. It is more likely that your hosrse has been exposed to a carrier already at the yard. How old is your horse and where did he come from?
 
he's 10, and we got him from a woman who had owned him for over 2 years, who also had other horses, none of which have been ill at all
 
IF that woman has any case it is against the YO for exposing her horse to a new horse which should have been isolated on arrival in the yard for a period of time. I stress the if as her horse could have gotten sick or exposed anywhere or at any time and there is no way of knowing what caused it...maybe her horse had something mild and gave it to your horse who got alot sicker?!
 
amage said:
IF that woman has any case it is against the YO for exposing her horse to a new horse which should have been isolated on arrival in the yard for a period of time. I stress the if as her horse could have gotten sick or exposed anywhere or at any time and there is no way of knowing what caused it...maybe her horse had something mild and gave it to your horse who got alot sicker?!
Click to expand...

Agreed!

I bought a horse some years ago who had been at Liverpool University being treated for sarcoids - the treatment involved knocking out his immune system. He returned to the livery yard he'd been at for 2 weeks - before coming to me. He came home with another horse who'd been at the livery yard and arrived with a snotty nose that quickly declared itself as Strangles.

Both were isolated on arrival and the other horse didn't getit - nor did anything else. Two horses on the livery yard who had arrived from Ireland a week after my lad got back from Liverpool went down with strangles - again - speedy isolation meant nothing else got it. Only 3 horses had been in close contact with both my boy and the Irish horses - they were tested and one was a carrier. He'd been at the livery yard for years - and obviously all the other horses had developed immunity. The Irish horses had no immunity - nor did my chap.

You've been MORE than fair with this woman - when you were almost crtainly not to blame! Tell her to go jump!
 
amage said:
IF that woman has any case it is against the YO for exposing her horse to a new horse which should have been isolated on arrival in the yard for a period of time. I stress the if as her horse could have gotten sick or exposed anywhere or at any time and there is no way of knowing what caused it...maybe her horse had something mild and gave it to your horse who got alot sicker?!
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Tell her to stroll on.
 
My life you poor poor thing, I'm guessing this isn't what you expected as you embarked on the journey of buying your first horse :-(

You will learn along this path that sometimes you have to be made of tough stuff - this is one of them

Speak to your yard owner in a I've got a problem can you help me please to explain that the other livery want you to pay bills - also speak to your vets for their opinion about the virus spread via email and provide yard owner with this to say you don't feel you should have to pay it !

This lady should be paying her own vet bills - accidents happen and we all have to be prepared to fork out for them its part of owning a horse !
 
If I catch a cold from someone in the pub which results in me losing pay because I take time off work sick, do I sue the person in the pub for giving me the cold - I don't think so! Unfortunately this lady has to learn that STUFF HAPPENS! There are people around who have the idea that anything that goes wrong in life has to be someone elses fault. If she is that worried about the bills she should have veterinary insurance cover or give up horses!
 
I was horrified by this, I bought a pony early in the year from a family I have known for a while. She developed strangles within two weeks. It shut my lot down and friends whose ponies had been up visiting.
My vets bills were over 200. Who should I have expected to pay them I wonder? I wouldnt have dreamt of offering to pay bills if my friends had come down with it as I had had no idea that she would become ill.

As it was ,nobody else came down with it and the mare recovered well. The vet said she may have come into contact or have been carrying it and the stress of a new home after 10 years at the old one may have lowered her resistance but nobody knows for sure.
Hope you get it sorted soon I would hate to be in your predicament
 
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