Horses/livery 'dumped' horses on field? How to get them off etc!??

seeingdouble

seeingdouble

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 January 2011
Messages
61
Visit site
Hi,
i'll try and keep this short! We rented grazing to lady x. Lady x was paying the rent and there was an agreement as to the number of horses to be kept on the land. Turns out lady x was letting her friend lady y graze with hers. but rent was still paid and it was the agreed of horses amount so no probs.
Then... an extra horse was put on.....
over a month passed and no extra rent for the extra horse. Lady x said lady y would contact us - suprise suprise it never happened. lady x then said lady y wanted to give us a tiny amount of rent for the extra horse - we said no as it was an insulting amount and TBH - considering it was a large EXTRA horse on the land we said we didnt want it on.......
Rent was due again - still - lady y wouldnt contact us!
Lady x WONT let us have the contact details for lady y......
lady x has moved her horses off..... well you guessed it - lady y hasnt!
SO - now we are left with 2 extra horses on.... we are getting ZERO rent and we cant contact her! We had a few excuses from lady y that her friend was going to move them off in a few days etc - never happened.

SO....

what do we do???

I've just been having a google about doing an Abandonment Notice but from what i am reading, before we do that, we need to send the owner a recorded delivery letter.... well, we dont even have her surname let alone address. Does anyone know if you can do the Abandonment Notice without doing the recorded delivery letter 1st??

i havent been past for a couple of days - fingers crossed i go down with whatever notice i need to attach to the gate and find they've been moved! There is a chain around gate but it seems she is hoping over to check them/do water etc.
 
do you know when she goes down to see them? You said in your other thread they are getting water... I stake it out in your car.

I would also be getting shirty with Lady X. Your arrangement was with her and therefore she is responsible for giving you the money and getting it herself from lady Y!
 
We recently put an abandonment notice up without contacting the owner (because we didn't know who the owner was!) and now have ownership of the horse.....

Can you send a letter to lady X to forward to lady Y?
 
Surely it's lady x's problem as she allowed lady y on to the land and therefore assumed responsibility for the horses? She had a contract with you? :confused:

I'd try chasing lady x for the rent if I were you(via recorded delivery letter), as she might then be forthcoming with money or lady y's details.
 
An unfortunate situation, but I am gob smacked that you let a person on your land without their contact details - even if through a third party. How would you have contacted them in an emergency?

Assuming you do not have a contract in place with lady x, I would be drawing one up pdq!

If you have BHS gold membership you can contact their legal helpline for advice.
 
Ok bit of slight bluffing here couched with some truth. BUT am pretty sure that if a horse is abandoned it becomes the property of the landowner after I think, 14 days. You post up official notices declaring this. Perhaps ( actually) contact the RSPCA for wording as they helped me with this in the past Obviously worth checking your stance with say BHS or CAB but am pretty sure the law is on your side in this instance.
 
I would contact the police say horses have been dumped on your land and you want them off.


tell lady x if they are not removed they will be removed and taken to auction .



tied to outside of gate and tell lady x this is what your doing .

tell lady x if the rent is not paid you reserve the right to sell the animals in lou of rent


these horses are not to stay on your land you have not agreed to it and you are not responsible for anything that happens to them

say unless they are removed by such and such a date you will have them removed
 
Hi, it's a civil matter when someone has dumped their horses on your land.

The first thing you need to try and do is to get a letter to the owner, are you able to do this via lady x? Advising that she has a certain amount of time to move the horses, usually a week or you will be taking legal action. The letter really needs to be sent by recorded delivery.

Id also advise you to contact your local Equine liaison officer through your local police for some advice.

If you cant get hold of the owner at all then id put a padlock on the gate so they cant get them out and put a letter on the gate if possible asking the owner to contact you, that will probably make them react.

Id also get in touch with a solicitor for some advice, you are entitled to half an hours free legal advice, citizens advice can help with this.
 
Sadly due to work commitments i cant stay at the field all day to find out what time shes going down. i dont live near our land hence cant set up a camera etc.

lady x was renting it as a whole, and when asked for the other ladys contact details wont give them so in an emergency - lady x would have to contact her. Lady x has moved her horses off hence in her eyes - the contract has ended.

Lady x - and another member of her family (who we also have the phone number for) are no longer answering our calls (even from withheld numbers).

i get the impression the 2 ladies have actually had a fall out hence i am not sure if lady x would pass a letter on to y. plus i am not sure if legally thats classed as an adequate way to try and contact her before putting up the notice.
 
If you're sure she is going down to do them, might be worth putting a notice on the gate to the effect that horses appear to have been abandoned on your land (which you could in fairness assume as you have no idea who the owner is or whether they are receiving regular care, having never seen anyone give it to them) which is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. I think that as you have no contract with this person and in fact have never met them and can not be sure they actually exist, this is not a civil case as you have no contract in the first place. Redwings have some great advice about abandonment of animals which you can find here:
http://www.redwings.org.uk/welfare-horse-care-advice-abandonment.php
 
Do you have any proof that lady Y exists? I would serve lady X with a bill, and an eviction notice, and attach copies to the gate.

Could you advise lady X that you are passing on her debt (and her contact details) to the large developer who has just bought the land off you - implying they will have plenty of money to pursue her through the courts for any unpaid debts, unless it is paid and the horses removed by the day you sign the contract (in a week's time)
 
gnubee said:
If you're sure she is going down to do them, might be worth putting a notice on the gate to the effect that horses appear to have been abandoned on your land (which you could in fairness assume as you have no idea who the owner is or whether they are receiving regular care, having never seen anyone give it to them) which is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. I think that as you have no contract with this person and in fact have never met them and can not be sure they actually exist, this is not a civil case as you have no contract in the first place. Redwings have some great advice about abandonment of animals which you can find here:
http://www.redwings.org.uk/welfare-horse-care-advice-abandonment.php
Click to expand...

^^ This

I've had to use this exact abandonment notice- http://www.redwings.org.uk/documents/Abandonmen1_2_.pdf before and it works a treat. I laminated a copy and tied it to the gate.

After 14 days of the notice going up, you are entitled to keep, sell or destroy the horses - but you have to contact defra and claim the horses officially first. I'm not entirely sure of the procedure as the horse was moved off my land pretty quick after the abandonment notice went up. :)
 
Last edited:
Had a similar problem with some traveller horses, abandonment notice went up giving them 7 days to move the animals. We knew where they lived but didn't want to 'personalise' the problem, and solicitor said on the gate would be fine. The horses were gone the next day.
 
RebelRebel said:
I might ring Lady x and say one of Lady y's horses is ill. Lady y comes rushing to horse. Gotcha :)
Click to expand...

I'd do this, something along the lines of 'just driven past, the horse is down in the field, can't get up please call someone and they need to bring a headcollar and a couple of ropes so we can try to get him up' and then lay in wait, preferably with a padlock and chain so when they do turn up you can get them to remove the horses while you're there and then padlock the gate behind them. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top