Horse out on loan found to be in poor condition

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talisman71

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I went to see my horse yesterday who is out on loan and got a bit of a shock. He is a retired eventer that I first bought in 2000 and I have always kept him fit and in top condition thoroughout his life. He went on loan last summer to a young girl who appears to adore him. She rode him 3 times a week for about 6 months before I agreed that they were well suited and she took him full time, with staying him in the same yard. Her mother supervises her and signed a contract for the loan.

I last saw him in December and noticed that he had lost some weight. I advised them on changing his diet and wrote it all down, right down to how much hay he should be given etc.

Yesterday I saw him and now he is seriously thin, with muscle loss and the quarters and shoulders. he is 18 and now in light work, schooling in the arena for short periods etc.

I used to have him in hard work and he always looked great. Ive called the vet as I am very concerned. They never mentioned he had lost more weight and I keep contact with them regularly. I would have told them to call the vet much sooner had I known but they should have really done this themselves.

I am also worried that maybe they are eccomomising on food as I have told them a few times about how much he needs to have. How do you know if the loaners are feeding the horse correctly/ enough?

What have others done in this situation?

I have a clause in the contract that says that I can take him back if there are concerns that he is not being looked after in the corect manner, but this seems harsh if they have nothing wrong. At the same time, my horses welfare is the most important thing.

Sorry for the long post, any help would be appreciated.
 
Take him back "temporarily" and see if his condition improves under your care, using the feed ratios you advised they feed.

If he improves, he doesn't go back...if he doesn't improve, vet check and go from there.
 
at the end of the day, the horse's welfare must come first.
you said that you've already spoken to them about feeding him - I would be concerned about them not following your instructions.

personally, I would do as you've done - talk to the vet.
you could talk to the loaners and say something along the lines of if the horses hasn't improved by such and such a time, you'll be taking him back.
 
Agree with the person who suggested taking him back temporarily. Feed him correctly and see what happens with his weight. If it doesn't improve then you need to go down the vet route and if it does then have a serious talk with them, show them before and after pics. It might be that they can't see it and the shock of loosing him (albeit temporarily) might be enough to get their attention.

As well as feeding look at what rugs he is wearing cause if he's not a good doer then they may be feeding him lots but not rugging much which means he will loose weight as all the feed is going to keep him warm.
 
You can't leave things as they are, he has to come home! At 18 years of age, if he starts going down the nick you might not find it easy to get him back to himself and if he's a bad as you say and they've not even realised or told you, then they're not good loaners and don't deserve him, however nice they are
 
What was their response when you discussed his condition? Had they just not noticed? Have they wormed him appropriately? Have they told you they are feeding him as suggested? What is the YO's view on how much hay they have been buying/ feed they've been bringing in? Did they have the feed you suggested when you visited/ empty feed sacks lying around.

TBH it's a little difficult to give a view without knowing how they responded, if they said they were really sorry, knew he looked bad and they were just about to call you/ vet and that they knew spring was on it's way then I'd discuss him staying there.
If they hadn't noticed, he'd be coming home asap same if they said yes we spotted him loosing condition but didn't want to spend money on feed.
This last 12 months has been very difficult to keep horses (with such bad weather), I know plenty who are not coming out of this winter as well as they might even with very similar care to previous years.
I'd find out more info first, if the vet picks up something nasty you'll certainly want him home to take care of.
 
If it was my horse I would take him home straight away, although I have had a bad experience with loaning in the past so I am probably a little harsh with the whole loaning situation.
It sounds as though you have done everything you can to advise on them on feed, you said you have told them a few times....if they are simply not listening to you and you leave him there and tell them a 'few more times' he may end up in a far worse state.

Maybe suggest to them that you think you will be taking him home and see what their reaction is, it might kick their bums into gear to listen to exactly what you have told them.

As Clippy said - at 18 years old his condition is likely to go downhill quickly and it will be harder to get that condition back.

However nice they are your main priority has to be your boy!
 
I had similar with my horse but he is at college on loan. He came home at Xmas and looked poor so when he went back we reviewed his feed as when at home he put on weight. He is now looking great.
Have they wormed him, have a worm count done. Is his hay good quality,check it out. Is he warm enough this can soon drop weight.
Hope it works out
 
To be fair some horses can stress and therefore lose weight in a change of home, and this is a bad time of year anyway - not many horses will look their best at the mo TBH.

Having said that, if you're concerned about yours in the loan home, that he's not either happy or being fed sufficiently, then I'd be very inclined to rush along there and pick him up TBH!!! But like another poster on here, I've had a bad loan experience and so would probably over-react.

My boy went out on loan; and it wasn't a feeding issue, they'd let his sweet itch get horribly out of hand in the first week that he was there - he'd managed to rub himself raw. So I brought him home (am lucky, have my own place).

If you have any concerns about yours, then personally I'd get him out of there PDQ. Your horse is telling you something. There are other people out there who WILL appreciate him and look after him properly.
 
You have been very fair, but having noticed his weight loss in December, given advice and now find him looking thinner, I'd be inclined to take him home asp and at least you'll be able to monitor his condition and know that his feed is correct.

Hopefully, the vet may have some suggestions but also, would it be possible to speak to the YO or RI for an idea of what's been going on ? It maybe that the loaners have tried their best but even so, it would give you peace of mind in knowing you're able to monitor him yourself.
Once, he's better, you could review the loan again possibly,
 
At his age I would take him home ,I would want to work out exactly what was going on with him and would feel the need to see him all the time to do this.
Your primary responsiblity is to the horse.
I appauld the calm way you have approached this and perhaps when he's picked up you could resume him being ridden by the girl again , it's a bad time of year and they might not need to have done much wrong for him to loose wieght but its worrying that having had it flagged up in dec they did not noticed he had continued to loose wieght,
 
Bring him home. I recently posted about my lad on loan being in poor condition. He came home last sunday best decision I made. It felt harsh but I did try with the owners but nothing changed. Go and get him and give him some TLC.
 
The horse's welfare comes first - but there may be several ways forward.

Having loaned out horses in the past, I suspect that the loanees haven't done anything deliberate [and would strongly argue they haven't] but reading between the lines it sounds as if they are less than experienced than you.

Although there may well be a physical problem that accounts for his weight loss, I suspect it's more to do with the loanees not really understanding what is required to look after a horse of this type - work load, protein, forage amount for a big horse.......bla, bla.

I do strongly feel that, if there is nothing physically wrong with the horse, (only calling in the vet will determine this) although the loanees have tried their best, they most probably need a lot of supervision/help in managing a horse of this type.

I once loaned out a horse to a farmer and his wife who had always had horses and appeared very suitable. The horse I loaned out was a laminitic and even under supervision, what appeared like a suitable home, wasn't as they really didn't have the experience or knowledge to manage a horse like that.

Sometimes it's best to bring to horse home and reconsider but with supervision your loanees may improve?
 
I was in a similar situation last august - I went to check on him unannounced found him in a very poor way, stable full of mouldy poo, field full of poo. The field resembled a billiard board and there wasn't a strand of hay around. I also spoke to the other livery who was at the yard and they said they barely saw the girl. I also found a note to the person supposedly covering whilst she was on holiday saying she hadn't had time to get hard feed so just give them the rest of the chaff... there is a feed supplied dead opposite the yard :mad:

I returned with trailer, contract and bolt cutters as I wasnt prepared to leave all my tack and the likelihood of never seeing it again. I got the land owners permission to gain entry to shed where my tack was stored, loaded my boy up and took him home. I got bombarded with nasty texts and also told I took things I didn't, the other livery was there as an eye witness of what I took.

I wouldn't think twice about removing my horse if I felt he or she was being neglected. You decide to give them guidance and time to improve his condition and they haven't with my experience of this type of guardian all I can say is a leopard will never change his spots... the said girl I dealt with has had yet another loan horse taken off her due to lack of condition, unfortunately she has bought one too so there's no one to look out for that guy :(
 
Agree with the others, take him back at least temporarily. The trouble with a lot of horse owners now is that they don't know what to look for in condition, and most people feed by the "scoop" method. I want to know exactly what poundage my horses are getting, and also protein content (especially for the older ones) versus fibre.
I've recently taken a horse back that was on sales livery, in 5 weeks he had turned from slightly porky to losing all the hard won muscle that I had put on him. A lot of the trouble was that he was under rugged (TB) and his coat reflected this. He soon put it on with a correct feeding/rugging regime.
 
You could show them some pictures of what he looked like with you as it might be that they have lost sight of what he should look like.....
 
We have an ex-eventer, a bit older, on permanent loan.
When he lost weight inexplicably we were in contact with his owners. Admittedly we have had him three years (from 18) and knew he was usually a good doer. I was worried and wanted to keep them in the loop once I was sure there was a problem. Also I didn't want them to visit and think I hadn't noticed or wasn't trying to do something about it.


I would be concerned that if they were following your diet they didn't then contact you to say it's not working!

I think it points to a lack of understanding or even care on their part I'm afraid.
 
Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but when did he last have his teeth done?

As other's have said, it's been a VERY long, cold, hard winter & lots of horses have lost some condition. Perhaps check with them about how they are rugging, i had a TB type mare that was terribly difficult to keep weight on during the winter if she wasn't heavily rugged.

Check worming, teeth, rugs & feed amounts & take it from there.

Good luck. Lets hope that Spring will be here soon & the grass will begin to grow :-)
 
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