Horse taken for livery debt Whilst on loan x

[Horses24-7]

Might be a silly question but can't you pay the rent owed and come to some agreement with your 'friend' to repay you, and get your horse back? Or has the sale gone through?

 

[zaminda]

Inn your position I would be finding out where they were keeping my horse, and going along with some bolt cutters and removing it. Yesyou would be trespassing, but this is a civil matter, and the police would be hard pushed to take action, and what they are doing is theft, which you can prove.
I know someone who was illegally evicted, they were within their rights to break in to retrieve their property, and this situation, whilst different, has similarites.

 

[imasmartie]

imasmartie: Like it or not, livery yards are a business. They are not there to finance someone else's hobby. If the owners could no longer pay the bills then they should have sold the horses themselves or moved to cheaper livery instead of keeping them there and racking up a huge livery bill.

In the OP's position, the livery owner should have had her contact details so that they could get hold of her once the loaner stopped paying the bills.

get off your high horse they got into trouble, they sorted it.

 

[SonnysHumanSlave]

I do believe you cannot be prosecuted for tresspassing.... now go get your horse.

 

[Clippy]

Does this horse have a BRITISH passport? If not, there is nothing to stop the farmer from applying for a new passport and selling him on.

If you know the microchip number, I would apply for a British passport to stop this happening. The passport issuers liase so there can't be one chipped horse with 2 British passports. This will stop the farmer from getting a passport and he cannot sell the horse without a passport

 

[Mince Pie]

In theory yes, in reality a horse can have as more than one as PIO's never check when ordering a replacement

 

[justmemydear]

thanks everyone so much conflicting advise we are getting given, go get him, no don't step foot on his land without police escort. Getting all the facts together now and MWOL is helping get to the truth and we thank her for her help xx

 

[robden]

Any news yet?

 

[weebarney]

I do believe you cannot be prosecuted for tresspassing.... now go get your horse.

Trespass not criminal however it does become criminal once you are asked to leave and do not, as far as I know. But yeah if it were me in that situation I think I would be sneaking in and getting him in middle of night.

 

[applecart14]

Similar thing happened to friend of a friend who own a riding stable/livery yard in Yorkshire. One of the liveries who kept her horse there lost her job but didn't try to speak with the owner about her non payment of rent and didn't try to come to an arrangement over it. In the end the rent grew and grew over the weeks until she found herself in an impossible situation and had no way of ever paying it back so she signed the horse over to the owners of the yard in full and final payment for her rent she owed. The horse was a good quality animal and for a while the yard owner was going to keep and compete the horse themselves but ended up selling it and presumably one would think making a large profit in the meantime. The girl whose horse it was did hand over the passport and sign the horse away which made it legal and above board. I suppose she had no other choice although I would go on the game to pay for my horse if I had to (wouldn't get any takers or would only get loose change if I did but still) And no... I am neither of the men in the siggy photo before you ask!!!!

 

[Miss L Toe]

If farmer knows the horse is not his to sell, go and get it back, but dont do any damage as this will allow him to call police.
Take a witness, large and burly.
Take written evidence of your ownership, and give it to him, copies not originals.

 

[Tinseltoes]

Any news yet??????

 

[wench]

Is it possible to get WHW or RSPCA to go and check that the horse is still in possession of the farmer on the farm?

Tbh I would be going on the advise of your equine solicitor now. "Going and getting your horse" is really not a good idea. I know you will want him back, but this will not solve the issue, and will only make it worse.

 

[Dolcé]

Is there not some sort of emergency order you can get to prevent him selling the horse before it gets to court? If you can stop that happening (and the horse disappearing) then I think that if it is all as you say it will be obvious to a court that he is being unreasonable and acting illegally. If he continued to plan to sell the horse (as in selling it to another part of his business) then it proves that he has no intention of giving the horse back regardless of your rights. This must be an awful situation for you and I hope you manage to get your boy back. I suspect when you start serving papers he will back down because he won't want to spend money on legal fees.

 

[CatStew]

Any news about this yet? I remember seeing the photo's on a facebook page a while ago, OP you're very close to me.

 

[igglepop]

Is there any news?

 

[bobajob]

The English Police always use the excuse 'it's a Civil Matter' it clearly is not. Get intouch with the Duty Inspector, if you get no luck there, go to that Force's Police Complaints Department. It will cost you money all the time to keep going to a Solicitor when the Police should be acting on nothing more than a Theft Case. Good Luck

 

[singlefarmer]

What a mess.
Using bolt cutters would be criminal damage & police would get involved.
Theft is "depriving someone of their property". Different circumstance-we live next to a large quarry.They owed haulier £30,000+.He removed loading shovel.Police confiscate his lorry for a year.He taken on for theft.His barrister got him off as like I said theft is depriving someone of their property, he didnt do this as he hadn't sold the loading shovel.Insurance paid out to the quarry on the machine, insurance company got machine back(they nor the police could find it) & haulier finally got paid.
I would be annoyed also in your situation.Think you should take it higher but be prepared for consequences. You can go to police station & ask to see most senior officer at the station.If he not there they will have to get him (out of bed if necessary) but then youd get the backs up of the local "bobbies" for going above their heads. Still annoying thought when people dont seem to be doing their job correctly nor taking you seriously.
Hope it gets sorted.
As a farmer myself, we are owed money for having horses on tack,never taken horse in lieu of non-payment of rent & never had the money. Have changed now to aksing for 1 month in advance.Unfortunate for genuine horse owners that some spoil it.

 

[Star_Chaser]

If this situation were for a car loaned to an offspring I am sure the police would have been involved long ago.

Personally if it were me I would be knocking on the police's door shortly followed by the local media!

 

[Burmilla]

Go for the media!

 

[poacher82]

Gosh this sounds very scary indeed, I hope you are wining the uphill battle.
I don't know anything about the legalities so just wishing you luck really, but a quick thought - the British Horse Society has a very good legal helpline available to it's Gold Members. Might be worth enquiring with them to see if it could help, and if so join quick!
Good luck with it all.

 

[EquestrianFairy]

Am i the only one who would turn up early hours of the morning to remove my horse?

having helped a friend have to do a similar thing when the police were unable to help, i wouldnt hesitate in doing it for my own horse.

 

[ponypilotmum]

Am i the only one who would turn up early hours of the morning to remove my horse?

having helped a friend have to do a similar thing when the police were unable to help, i wouldnt hesitate in doing it for my own horse.

If you had been threatened with the implications of trespass, and dare I say it, a shotgun, would you REALLY?

Can confirm horse is safe and with it's legal owner.

 

[Christsam]

Just seen this thread. This is awful. Your "friend" needs to be the one sorting this out and she owes you big time. To be honest I would go and get my horse. If you cant get the horse out through the gate using bolt cutters is there a way to ride and jump out or something? I know people are saying about being threatened etc but i would give it a go once!

Any news?

 

[ponypilotmum]

Just seen this thread. This is awful. Your "friend" needs to be the one sorting this out and she owes you big time. To be honest I would go and get my horse. If you cant get the horse out through the gate using bolt cutters is there a way to ride and jump out or something? I know people are saying about being threatened etc but i would give it a go once!

Any news?

yes, the horse is back with it's legal owner, and safe. As stated above

 

[Christsam]

yes, the horse is back with it's legal owner, and safe. As stated above

Thats great news

 

[EquestrianFairy]

If you had been threatened with the implications of trespass, and dare I say it, a shotgun, would you REALLY?

Can confirm horse is safe and with it's legal owner.

Trespassing threats would have no bearing on me, i must have missed the part where a shotgun was mentioned?!

 

[singlefarmer]

Would the Police bother with a mere tresspass incident??? Depends what had been trepassed of course- like the Super's car or golf course !!!!!

 

[AmyMay]

Wonder what the outcome of this was?

 

[crabbymare]

Wonder what the outcome of this was?

As the horse is back with its legal owner I would hope the person involved was eventually sensible and saw the sense in handing the horse over