Horse stinks of wee - is this a welfare issue?

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Without wanting to go into too much detail, would you consider it to be a welfare issue (and worthy of taking action) for a horse to be stabled on a tiny, rank and stinking bed with wee running out from under the stable door? Said horse now smells of wee and her rugs are saturated with it. She is also stood in pooled wet because it seems to collect just where she is stood to eat her hay. Can't be good for her.
She goes out, is well fed and worked regularly, has a routine (ish) and is appropriately rugged etc.
It is just her owner seems impervious to the disgusting state of her stable. YO has repeatedly asked him (owner) to sort the bed out and it gets better for a bit and then goes back to being disgusting again.
Personally, I think it is idleness and tightfistedness. Owner is a very competent horseman, has owned horses for years, come up through pony club and competes in eventing. He should know how to muck out a stable, is what I'm saying.
If I was YO, I would tell him to sling his hook, but I think YO wants him to stay because he is otherwise a very good livery.
Difficult one, but where to go next? Is it something the RSPCA would be prepared to offer 'words of advice' on?
 
God no. Although less than ideal horse management it is not something to waste a charities money on.
 
ihatework said:
God no. Although less than ideal horse management it is not something to waste a charities money on.
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Yes, I'm inclined to agree. Although how do you get someone to change their (slovenly) habits without putting the sh*ts up them?
 
Isn't there someone there who is friendly with him? Can't someone just say to him in a friendly manner - 'look mate, you might not mind sleeping in and smelling of pi55, but don't expect your poor mare to feel the same and for gods sake wash her rugs"! And just keep on at him till he gets the message.
 
ihatework said:
God no. Although less than ideal horse management it is not something to waste a charities money on.
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Your Y/O has a responsibility to all of the horses on the yard, regardless of owners. As a Y/O, if I was in that situation, I would give the livery a warning, then a threat, then literally empty the bed, disinfect, re-fill it with clean bedding, leave it immaculate and then hand them a bill charging for your time/inflated bedding costs (about £50 usually shocks into submission) and politely say if it happens again the horse will be getting the same treatment at the same costs.
 
You don't say if shes on rubber mats or not? For those of us old enough to remember the introduction of rubber matting.. the idea was that horses no longer needed HUGE beds to protect them from bashing themselves on the cold concrete. So at first, people had small beds... I'm always amazed when I see a giant bed on top of expensive rubber matting...

My horse stinks of wee... doesn't matter how big the bed is. So over time I've given up wasting money on a huge bed for him to churn up every night, which makes mucking out a nightmare and he still gets covered in poop/ pi55 anyway.

And anyway, hes a lot cleaner than the one I had before that, who literally made your eyes water! LOL.

I would say no, not one for the RSPCA, unles her skin is saturated and shes getting sores/ infections.

Can you suggest he switch to wood pellet bedding? its dirt cheap and brilliant for wet horses. The more they wee the bigger the bed gets :-)
 
No its not a welfare issue at all, and if it where the RSPCA are about as much use as a chocolate teapot anyway, WHW (previously ILPH) would be the one's to go to.
However it sounds like the guy needs a boot up the arse to get him into gear and sort it out.
 
Perhaps you could suggest to the owner that there are now other types of bedding available that are cheap and very quick to muck out?

We use wood pellets with rubber mats. We are paying £3 a bag, which means that even very wet horses can be thoroughly cleaned out daily and then topped up with fresh bedding for a relatively economic cost. This wood pellet bedding is also much quicker to muck out than shavings or similar, and it's also more absorbent, which might avoid the wee running out of the door scenario as well.
 
R2R said:
Your Y/O has a responsibility to all of the horses on the yard, regardless of owners. As a Y/O, if I was in that situation, I would give the livery a warning, then a threat, then literally empty the bed, disinfect, re-fill it with clean bedding, leave it immaculate and then hand them a bill charging for your time/inflated bedding costs (about £50 usually shocks into submission) and politely say if it happens again the horse will be getting the same treatment at the same costs.
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Love that idea! It would be worth doing it just to see her snuggling down into a lovely clean bed.

I don't think she's on mats - certainly haven't seen any evidence of them.

Yes, some horses are naturally messy (my horse is wet himself) but there's a difference between a wet bed that is replaced regularly and an old, manky one that is left to resoak for days on end.
 
Misinterpreted said:
Perhaps you could suggest to the owner that there are now other types of bedding available that are cheap and very quick to muck out?

We use wood pellets with rubber mats. We are paying £3 a bag, which means that even very wet horses can be thoroughly cleaned out daily and then topped up with fresh bedding for a relatively economic cost. This wood pellet bedding is also much quicker to muck out than shavings or similar, and it's also more absorbent, which might avoid the wee running out of the door scenario as well.
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The wood pellets are fab, aren't they? I have my chap on mainly shavings, then throw a bag of wood pellets in if the air is damp or it's been raining (we have a rising damp problem) and they just dry it up lovely.
 
This has reminded me. A few years ago there was a DIY on our yard who sometimes didn't muck out every day, and the bed sometimes became discusting. When it got like this our YO would clear the stable, put fresh bedding in and charge the owner. They didn't stay at our yard for very long!
 
OH's mare is an absolute stinker.....she has rubber matting and a small bed of straw- next morning its a mashed up collection of poo/straw/pee- with pee running out under the stable door.

We sweep the entire lot out, dry it off during the day and put a fresh lot down at night. Takes no time at all. With her previous owner she was on a 'proper' straw bed- it was back-breaking.

Perhaps the rubber matting and minimalist approach might be something you could sell to him?
 
I also have a horse that stinks and needs washing down EVERY morning if you dont want to stink yourself! Have tried different bedding and quantities of bedding which makes no difference at all! Horse is healthy, happy, fit and hates water!!! Previously had a horse who wee'd for England and needed the middle of his bed removed every day if he was stabled I would be furious if someone reported me to the RSPCA Sorry!!
 
Poppymoo my 'posh' horse does not have 'posh' bedroom habits...he is on rubber mats with 1 section of straw a day (big bale) and I do the same thing...he is SO gross and disgusting.

We have a new girl on the yard who mucked him out last week...she gave him a massive thick bed and the next day we took 6 YES 6 wheelbarrows out! GROSS!!!!
 
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