Horse being left unchecked in stable

Thank you for all the responses.

Horse is occasionally turned out for an hour by the owner when they are there but only once or twice a week.

The owner is close to 9 months pregnant (due next week) and only recently moved to the area (same day she moved the horse) to be with the father so we have no background on her.

If she wants to keep it in 247 that’s up to her, what we have concerns about is that the horse is left unchecked for 21 hours and has no hay for long periods. Horse is a 4 yro Ottb and it looks depressed. It can’t see any other horses during the day from its stable it’s heartbreaking to see.

It’s a diy yard so we all do our own thing but we do help each other out when needed.
 
I should wait and see what happens when she has the baby. It can be very difficult to think of anything else but the birth.
If the horse is still not getting ridden, lunged or turned out then I would re assess the situation and have a chat with her.
 
Over the years I’ve learnt to detach myself from these types of situations otherwise you just drive yourself mad.

By all means offer some support but if it’s rejected all you can really do is chalk it up to ignorant owner and gutless/lazy YO.

Its absolutely rubbish horsemanship and I’d pity the horse but ultimately it isn’t really going to meet the criteria for over stretched welfare authorities to step in, mores the pity
 
This would drive me nuts and I would have to act. Poor horse is 4 years old, stuck in a small stable (cage if you like) all the time and not even ridden. If you saw any other animal in this situation - dog, lion, elephant - people would be up in arms. It’s a major welfare issue. I would urge people not to become detached and do nothing in these situations. I think WHW or BHS would at least talk to the owner, even if they can’t do anything more, which might help.
Personally, I would talk to the owner first. I’d probably get a face full of abuse, but I couldn’t care less. I’d do it for the horse.
 
Please report to the BHS Welfare Team or WHM.

This is unacceptable behaviour.

Horses should never be starved of food for longer than 3 hours as this can cause serious digestive tract issues.

The owner of the yard should also be aware that in the eyes of the law that they are repsonsible and could find that they are prosecuted as well as the owner and deprived of being allowed to have a livery yard.

BHS (British Horse Society) Tel: 0247 6840 517 24/7
WHW (World Horse Welfare) Tel: 0800 0480 180 8.00 a.m. – 5.30 p.m. Monday – Friday
RSPCA (Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals) Tel: 0300 1234 999 24/7

Abandoment
http://www.newc.co.uk/advice/welfare/abandonmentflygrazing/
 
Anon1357 said:
Regular poster but using another username.

We’ve had a new livery arrive 2 weeks ago. Since the livery has arrived the horse is stabled 247 on matts only and the owner is only coming up once a day. When they come up they do spend a few hours up the yard (2/3 hours at times) but then the horse is left until they come up the next day and often has no hay in the mornings and the livery doesn’t turn up until the afternoon.

Other liveries have offered to fed the horse and give it a haynet in the morning but they’ve been turned down.

It’s been reported to the ym who’s not horsey and as they see the person coming up for a couple of hours they seem to accept it even though we’ve tried to explain that leaving a horse unattended for so long is unacceptable.

There’s no reason the horse can’t be turned out, it’s not on box rest.

All the other liveries are quite upset by the situation. We’re considering reporting to WHW, horse does currently look in a healthy condition so would we be overreacting? I would like to give the livery a chance to resolve but with the ym manager not willing to raise it with the livery it’s made for a very awkward situation.

Any advice greatly appreciated
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Not good enough this horse needs to go out, no excuse unless medical reason. Thank god you and your fellow ladies are looking out for this horse, though why this owner is treating her horse this way lord knows. horses need to go out, this is why it bugs me why some yards don't turn out in the winter, as they worried about the fields not the horses.

Has this owner been regular with shoeing?? what are the feet like, as this also needs doing
 
Thanks everyone.

A little update.

I spoke to the livery this afternoon as she was there the same time as me and parked her car right outside her stables so blocked me from getting the horses in so had an excuse to start a conversation. Started all nice asked how she was settling in etc then offered to put hay in the stable in the morning if she was struggling to get up in the morning she decline and said the horse had plenty of food and she didn’t see the point in coming up in the morning as she had food (the horse doesn’t as we’ve checked). I then said a few people are concerned with the horse being in and only being checked once a day and she just shrugged her shoulders and said it is what it is at which point I walked away. She doesn’t care.

God knows what’s going to happen when the baby arrives. She doesn’t interact with anyone on the yard, not asked anyone about local vets/farriers and we have no idea what her plans are once she’s had the baby.
 
Oh no this is just awful I'm so sad to read all this. Is there no way you can befriend her? Could you tell her the horse is developing issues and needs help - you'd be happy to do it? Maybe print off the 5 Freedoms and put it up somewhere? Or the gov guidelines and code of practice? https://assets.publishing.service.g...orses-welfare-codes-of-practice-april2018.pdf

There's more resources I'm sure... sorry but it's so hard to deal with but the horse shouldn't suffer. Would you leave a dog like that?
 
sorry x-posted with your update... she doesn't care?... oh no... I think id have to do something eeeek
 
I think the yard owner needs to have a chat urgently about what immediate plan she has in place for when she goes into labour and for however long it is until she can get to the yard again. I would be really worried this will go seriously downhill when the baby arrives. Does the yard owner have an emergency contact for if she disappears? They should have this as a matter of course anyway in case of accident.
 
Leandy said:
I think the yard owner needs to have a chat urgently about what immediate plan she has in place for when she goes into labour and for however long it is until she can get to the yard again. I would be really worried this will go seriously downhill when the baby arrives. Does the yard owner have an emergency contact for if she disappears? They should have this as a matter of course anyway in case of accident.
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Unfortunately the ym is not horsey and male ( nothing wrong with being male obviously but they don’t have kids so I don’t think they quite grasp how time consuming it can be) they basically just live on site and are mates with the owner whose left them in charge. We’ve all asked the ym what the plans are and what would happen if the livery can’t attend (if they have a c section for example and can’t drive for 6 weeks) and the ym just said well it’s diy so they’ll have to sort it. We suspect the horse will be abandoned, not ideal but the horse would be then properly cared for. This is the first livery the ym has brought in so feel he’s is being blinkered/saving face and ignoring the situation.
 
Personally Id leave a note stuck to her stable door, can be anonymous stating youre not meaning to offend but that you are concerned about the horse being left and that you are all more than happy to give the horse a haynet if she leaves one outside or could she give the horse a second net? Or ask her why it cant go out? See if that works? Otherwise Id simply talk to her and say lots of you are concerned.
 
We had an almost identical situation a couple of years ago. YO wouldn't intervene as she swallowed all the sob stories and believed the livery who said the horse 'couldn't be turned out for x,y,z). Horse stood in his own poop and urine for 24 hours. Turned out the livery had form in doing this sort of thing and had been thrown off previous yards. Not sure if YO still swallows the BS, but the livery flounced to another yard owned by YO citing that we were all bullies. She's on grass livery now, but I'm told nothing has ever been done with the horse (footcare, grooming, vet). We were just happy to hear the poor beast was seeing daylight and had grass. People are arseholes.
 
Anon1357 said:
Unfortunately the ym is not horsey and male ( nothing wrong with being male obviously but they don’t have kids so I don’t think they quite grasp how time consuming it can be) they basically just live on site and are mates with the owner whose left them in charge. We’ve all asked the ym what the plans are and what would happen if the livery can’t attend (if they have a c section for example and can’t drive for 6 weeks) and the ym just said well it’s diy so they’ll have to sort it. We suspect the horse will be abandoned, not ideal but the horse would be then properly cared for. This is the first livery the ym has brought in so feel he’s is being blinkered/saving face and ignoring the situation.
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So YM is not horsey but friends with the YO who I'd assume was or is horsey? If owner clearly doesn't care, YM won't get involved then your next port of call is YO. ultimately the YO has a duty of care for the animal.
 
Do you have a contract?

I’ve been on DIY yards where this has been almost norm (horses would get breakfast feed over door) so I can see that it becomes normalised for some people.

but that’s also why it’s not assumed and in contracts that horse will be tended to twice daily.
 
Anon1357 said:
Unfortunately the ym is not horsey and male ( nothing wrong with being male obviously but they don’t have kids so I don’t think they quite grasp how time consuming it can be) they basically just live on site and are mates with the owner whose left them in charge. We’ve all asked the ym what the plans are and what would happen if the livery can’t attend (if they have a c section for example and can’t drive for 6 weeks) and the ym just said well it’s diy so they’ll have to sort it. We suspect the horse will be abandoned, not ideal but the horse would be then properly cared for. This is the first livery the ym has brought in so feel he’s is being blinkered/saving face and ignoring the situation.
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If YM isn't horsey maybe he doesn't realise that he / YO also have a duty of care, even if it is DIY?
 
I appreciate that there are welfare questions, but the owner might be totally overwhelmed here. Responses like, “it is what it is” suggest she feels she has no choice. She’s just moved herself and the horse and has a baby imminently on the way- just one of those circumstances could be overwhelming, but all of them certainly!
I hope she accepts your offer of help and I’m not in any way condoning the situation, but try to be kind. She might be in a right pickle and being a bit defensive because of it.
 
dorsetladette said:
So YM is not horsey but friends with the YO who I'd assume was or is horsey? If owner clearly doesn't care, YM won't get involved then your next port of call is YO. ultimately the YO has a duty of care for the animal.
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YO isn’t horsey, yard separate to horse but on the same land, we hardly see him on the yard. His wife used to keep horses but she hasn’t owned any for 15 ish years. I have a good relationship with the YO as I’ve been on the yard long before the YM moved in.
 
ester said:
Do you have a contract?

I’ve been on DIY yards where this has been almost norm (horses would get breakfast feed over door) so I can see that it becomes normalised for some people.

but that’s also why it’s not assumed and in contracts that horse will be tended to twice daily.
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There is a contract but not sure if new livery has one, the previous person to move to the yard is still waiting for one and she’s been on the yard for a year

She’s been offered to give the horse a morning feed by one livery and she turned it down, I offered to give hay and got turned down also
 
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