horse kick

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htk1978

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my horse supposedly jumped into another horses field and kicked the other horse.my horse has secure electric fencing with a current running through.the owner of the other horse wants me to pay her vet bill i have never known my horse at all to jump out of any field.she is a laid back horse.i havent claimed responsibility but the woman wants me to pay?should i pay the full bill or just give her half or anything at all as it was her choice to put her horse out next to mine that live out 24/7.What should i do????
 
I wouldnt pay anything personally - my horse got beaten twice and I wouldnt expect the owners of the two horses that did it to pay (almost £1000)!! As you said they were secured off - did you find your horse in her field? Need some more info really?

If it was electric taped off its no ones fault and the owner just has to accept that especially if yours hasnt jumped out before!
 
Does she have witnesses? i.e. impartial ones rather than her friends? If not, how can anything be proved? Was your horse found in the other horse's field? Did it seriously jump an electric fence? Was the current off, and if so, whose responsibility was that ... etc ... etc.

I honestly think without any evidence of blame on your part, you have no duty to pay her vet's bill. If there was some proof, it would be a matter for your conscience.

My horse was kicked in a herd situation. I saw it happen and I had witnesses. However, I didn't press for the owner of the horse to contribute to the £5k vets bill. I had to admit it was just a risk I took and these things happen.

Do we have a solicitor in the house?
 
I would do nothing for now. Do not offer to give any money as she could poss take this as an admission of guilt. Is her horse insured?? If so the insurance should pay her vets bills and you would therefore be off the hook..... If not it's her own silly fault for not insuring and she should have to foot the bill! When my horse was kicked I took it on the chin and paid up, it didn't even cross my mind to try and get money out of the other horses owner! Good luck and stand your ground!!
 
I saw my horse injured by another but didn't expect them to pay the bill, they live together & it's a risk you take. In your case unless it was caused by your neglect then no, don't pay. If your horse has never jumped out & the fencing has always been adequate previously you had no reason to think another horse may get injured. To pay anything would be admitting liability. If their horse isn't insured, that's their choice & risk they have chosen to take.

A friends horse got attacked by another (he was seen circling her but not physically making contact) to such an extent (horrible wounds) she got colic & died following surgery. The owners of the gelding couldn't be held responsible as no-one saw him make contact, & they couldn't claim on their insurance as they couldn't therefore prove the colic was accident related (had a veteran policy). Unless the deed is seen, the onus is on the owner of the other pony to prove it was yours that inflicted the injury.
 
my horse had been kicked a year ago and i was lucky to still have her.it cost me £650.the witness of yesterdays incident was a friend of hers.I go up every day to check my horse at 6am before I go to work and the electric fence was on with the volt supply full as the electric fence box has an indicator when its low so i know when to re-charge.I am an honest person and in light of this i will offer her £50 towards the cost of a call out administered drugs-x2 sedations for a 15.3hh mare IV anti biotics and anti inflammatory and x3 injectable anti biotics for the next 3 days.i think its only going to be £130 tops.What does anyone else think?Am I being reasonable???
 
I really would not pay her anything. It is an admission of guilt. You can feel sorry for her but if you don't think that your horse got out and kicked her horse then IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT! Don't pay anything!
 
When you have a horse, it is one of the risks that you have to accept that the horse may injure itself or get injured by another horse. That is why we insure them.


Keep your money and use it for something that your horse needs. Don't let this woman bully you.
 
Dont pay a penny! If you do you will be liable for the whole vet bill as its admitting liability, with what you described will be a lot more than £130, that might just cover the antibiotics left for her. Was she stiched as that cost approx £30 per stich in itself!! You took all the precautions possible and as you said she took the choice to turnout next door ;)
 
I have it written iinto livery contracts that no other owner can be responsible for injury to others' horses or damage to rugs etc. Last year a livery horse kicked one of mine resulting in £5 k worth of surgery and vet bills. It's an awful thing to happen, but nobody's fault. They are just being horses. So no, I wouldn't pay anything.
 
Snowysadude said:
Dont pay a penny! If you do you will be liable for the whole vet bill as its admitting liability, with what you described will be a lot more than £130, that might just cover the antibiotics left for her. Was she stiched as that cost approx £30 per stich in itself!! You took all the precautions possible and as you said she took the choice to turnout next door ;)
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Good point, there could be complications which mean the bill could get much higher.
 
I echo what everyone else says... I would not pay an penny towards it and just say you are sorry about what has happened but as your horse was not found in her paddock then tuff titty....
 
***** happens, they are horses!
Don't pay. If someones horse jumped in with mine and she was kicked I would not expect the other owner to pay the bill. How could the owner have prevented it?!!!
Just one of those things.
 
Snowysadude said:
Dont pay a penny! If you do you will be liable for the whole vet bill as its admitting liability, with what you described will be a lot more than £130, that might just cover the antibiotics left for her. Was she stiched as that cost approx £30 per stich in itself!! You took all the precautions possible and as you said she took the choice to turnout next door ;)
Click to expand...

Agree with this.

Unfortunately in this lawsuit society, such a gesture of good faith could get you into hot water :(. Don't pay a thing!
 
Can I get this right - same livery yard, different electrictrified paddocks and this person's friend saw the horse jump over, kick horse and what she put it back or it jumped back?

Sorry, I would not pay either - tell her to claim off her insurance - if you pay her money now and there are complications you could end up paying thousands. What if there is a fracture or tendon damage?
 
I agree... I wouldn't pay anything. If you pay now and god forbid something more serious was to happen between the horses at a later date then she will be wanting more money from you...

You have to look at the bigger picture and not just this one incident, I know its difficult especially when the ladys horse is right next to you and it can often create an akward atmosphere but horses do these sort of things to each other and thats why "Insurance" is advisable when owning animals...
 
Personally if an animal I owned had escaped whatever I was keeping it in and caused damage to another person's property (their horse in this case) then I'd expect to have to pay to get it fixed. When I ride I have rider insurance so that if the horse I'm in charge of causes a third party injury or damages their property the insurance will pay (as long as I wasn't doing anything too stupid!). If you are a gold member of the BHS then you can get free legal advice from them. You might be able to offer something towards the vets /without/ admitting liability as a gesture of good will. Assuming of course that you think what witness said was accurate/your horse was correctly identified etc.

ETS: of course that was the 'conscience' talking, not the legal-brain!
 
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I wouldn't pay a penny to this person. I cannot believe that your horse jumped into another paddock then jumped back into its own again. A good few years ago someone claimed my friend's horse had attacked his daughters pony and given it a injury which needed 25 stitches etc etc. This was in a field which was open to anyone to pay to put their horses in on a daily basis so there was no herd heirarchy or territorial set-up. My friends horse was not a kicker or biter but could be a bit playful and enjoyed a good run about with bucking. Anyway, the father wanted my friend to pay his veterinary excess (claimed it was £100 when mine was £200, the normal going rate). At first he claimed it had happened on a particular day of the week when our horses weren't even in that field, then changed his story. We pointed out that the field was an at your own risk situation (the landowner was careful and would ban any horse that was seen to be plain nasty) and my friend politely declined to put her hand in her pocket. Less than 2 weeks later I saw daugher riding so-say badly injured "pony" which turned out to be a ditsy arab mare of more than 15hh, and the girl was hatless while the horse skittered sideways up the middle of the road. The "terrible cut" was a mere scratch on it neck and I couldn't see any sign it had been stitched. Shortly after that we heard from someone else that the father was notorious for trying this trick and it might explain how he could afford to drive a Jag!!!!
 
I would not be offering her any money either.

Years ago, when bringing in my horse from the field, another livery's horse galloped up to us and spun round and kicked my horse, nicking a tendon, cue months off work/box rest etc etc. I did not expect the other livery to pay any of the vet's bill, **** happens with horses sadly.
 
Thank you all.I feel that its going to have to be a,if im presented with a bill she can go and seek payment from her insurance company rather than me.I WONT be paying a penny.I wouldnt expect someone to pay my vet bill if my mare was kicked,as they say #### happens.she leaves the yard in three weeks to move onto her mum and dads yard.maybe its a good thing she leaves cos theres just such an atmosphere she has created.On a good side my mare did her first set of flying changes from both reins left to right and right to left without loss of balance.what a star!!!!Again thanks all!much love!htk1978
 
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