I am so cross, I don't care if the owner is mad at me !!!!

I would have taken the rug off tbh. Horse will not get cold over the next few nights - its still 18 degrees here (Leeds) my horse is in the stable (box rest) with only a mesh magetic rug on, and my sisters is in as a companion with nothing on.

Def take it off tomorrow - poor thing. Even if it did get a little chilly overnight, a turned out horse with access to grass is not all of a sudden going to drop dead, at least they can move/shiver to keep warm, they cannot do anything to cool down with a rug on :(

Then again, I am the kind of person who if I see a rug hanging off a horse in winter will happily go into the field to re-adjust/put right I know many HHOers would see me as a busybody - but I think most reasonable horse owners would understand - I know I would. :)
 
Echo Bravo said:
Just log how much water you have given her and the days temperature and how much distress she's been in that if nothing is done a call to the RSPCA. Simples
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I agree

Can I ask why there appears to be a double standard on horse care.

If this horse was on a tether at the side of the road I bet everyone would have said report it.

Just because this horse is on a yard doesn't make this right. Rugged and sweating with no water for at least 48 hours, its a cruelty case.
 
Just from another point of view when I first got my girly (very stressed tb who had been fed high protein diet with no work and idiot owners!) I left her in her lw on October day as it was freezing in the morning and it got to 20• during the day during my lunchbreak I toddled on down to the yard to swap for her fly rug to find that someone had already taken it off but not put her fly rug on and due to her extremely sensitive nature and diet she had been bitten to pieces by flies and was shaking and in a bit of a state, so sometimes I feel it's better to not interfere!

However having said that this owner appears to not bother coming at all and can't even be bothered to ensure this horse gas water! Before doing anything I might be tempted to get some advice from the RSPCA or something!

Good luck!
 
RSPCA wouldnt come out to a field full of starving horses in Selby. All they will ask is if they are in immediate danger! WHW wouldnt come out either too far away. So doubt they will come out to see one horse.

Good for you OP for shaming this owner and I hope they do read the forum and recognise themselves. If you see a horse in trouble no matter who it belongs to do your best to help it. asnd if it was for fly protection they need to buy a fly rug and rain sheets just make a horse sweat.

After all they obviously dont give a damm and you need to make sure your friend has a nice word with them about the water and rug situation.
 
I reported a pony recently to the RSPCA as it had a rambo wug with full hood on in the heat - would have taken it off but locked gates and on private farm so couldnt get to it - they did come out to the pony so def. report it even if its your last day going there - then at least you have got the horse in the system (turns out this pony had sweetitch and lo and behold day later it had heavy rug off and fly rug on thank god).

I would def remove the rug myself if I could get to it (and of course fill water)- I have removed ripped rugs before that have been hanging on floor or wrapped round horses legs - if it was my horse I would want someone to intervene (unlikely it would be needed though as llike most people I am down twice a day regardless of broken bones, weather) I have also taken hay and water to starving horses that the RSPCA wouldnt do anything about ! ahhhhhh

good luck x
 
emmaln said:
Just from another point of view when I first got my girly (very stressed tb who had been fed high protein diet with no work and idiot owners!) I left her in her lw on October day as it was freezing in the morning and it got to 20• during the day during my lunchbreak I toddled on down to the yard to swap for her fly rug to find that someone had already taken it off but not put her fly rug on and due to her extremely sensitive nature and diet she had been bitten to pieces by flies and was shaking and in a bit of a state, so sometimes I feel it's better to not interfere!

However having said that this owner appears to not bother coming at all and can't even be bothered to ensure this horse gas water! Before doing anything I might be tempted to get some advice from the RSPCA or something!

Good luck!
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My friend has a TB mare exactly the same, but she freaks out at fly rugs (think they make a funny noise, but we have tried umpteen different fly rugs and she runs through fences), she always wears a light weight sheet, in summer it's sometimes a sweat rug that she wears in the field.
Why don't you phone the RSPCA and ask for advice i.e. leaving a note on the gate for the owner to contact you stating that if you haven't heard from her with x number of days you will contact RSPCA about neglect, although I don't know how far you want to take it.
 
meesha said:
I reported a pony recently to the RSPCA as it had a rambo wug with full hood on in the heat - would have taken it off but locked gates and on private farm so couldnt get to it - they did come out to the pony so def. report it even if its your last day going there - then at least you have got the horse in the system (turns out this pony had sweetitch and lo and behold day later it had heavy rug off and fly rug on thank god).

I would def remove the rug myself if I could get to it (and of course fill water)- I have removed ripped rugs before that have been hanging on floor or wrapped round horses legs - if it was my horse I would want someone to intervene (unlikely it would be needed though as llike most people I am down twice a day regardless of broken bones, weather) I have also taken hay and water to starving horses that the RSPCA wouldnt do anything about ! ahhhhhh

good luck x
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I think Id be pretty pickled off if my horse had sweet itch and you took the boet rug off.The rug is there to protect it from flies and a Boet rug has a hood on.
 
Bigginge said:
If I was the owner I'd be more mad if someone had come on a forum to tell the world about me and would prefer they'd just taken the rug off.

Not that I'm saying it's right to leave a horse in this heat with a rug on, I'd have whipped that rug off right away and thought no more about it, I don't see it as interfering just helping.
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Do you really believe that an owner who doesn't regularly water or tend to their horse is going to sign up to a horsey forum?........I don't think so :(
 
My old chap has a rug on at nights, if you are taking the rug off be sure to put it back on at night. If you can't do this then just phone ILPH/WHW/RSPCA and ask that someone visitsafter explaining the water situation
 
What worries me is if she can't be bothered to see to her horse in this glorious weather, what on earth is the horse going to have to endure when winter arrives! Ice not broken on water trough, no hay. It is awful thinking about it. And this is only one horse. There are posssibly thousands of similarly neglected horses throughout the uk. :(
 
This is a welfare issue, in this heat with no water for days and sweating at a rate of noughts in a rug this horse would become sick very quickly through dehydration and its accompanying problems.
Leave a note telling her what youve done, and if it was me id continue to keep water topped up and see to rugs until the owner appears or your friend is back and agrees to go with you to talk to yo.
Be prepared for a mouthful from the owner, but hopefully she or he will be so ashamed of themselves they'll know to be quiet.
Its through people ignoring or even worse knowing and doing nothing in cases like this that horses are suffering every day ..... No its not a starving scabby emaciated horse, but try walking about outside in this heat with a jacket on and no fluids all day, Good on you for seeing to the horse, and im betting the horse is bloody glad to see you every day
 
Make sure you leave a note after you've filled up the water bucket each time. If the owner does happen to drop by shortly after you've filled it, it's going to give them the false impression that the horse doesn't need topping up more regularly. And yes, you or I would pick up on the fact that this would suggest the horse was not drinking sufficiently - but you know what some people are like :mad: It would just go right over their head :rolleyes:

Have a chat with the friend you're horse-sitting for when they come back. Maybe they know more about the situation and can help get it sorted.

If all else fails, defo contact a welfare charity. If you'd not filled the empty bucket over the past few days and no one else had done it, wouldn't the horse be dead by now :confused: Something needs to be done, def.
 
amymay said:
Hopefully you've now taken the rug off and spoken to the YO.
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The field owner is away apparently. It's not a yard, just a divided up field from what I can gather. Hopefully the field owner will be a conscientious person who'll care about the welfare of the animals on his rented land. But so many aren't and simply wont get involved.

OP: And yes, do go ahead and take the horse's rug off - assuming you live in a part of the country that's having this heatwave ATM. It's meant to stay warm night and day for another couple of days. If the owner ever says anything about it, say the horse was overheating and you assumed it was being seen to at least ONCE a day by its owner or owner's representative, so weren't worried about having to re-rug him as they would notice the rug was off and handle the situation from there. Can't see they'd have a leg to stand on.
 
Hi Daisy, I would take the rug off. We had someone at our yard who really did not bother with her horse it would either be left with it off or when it turned warm the poor old girl would just have it left on, so I just took it off the poor mare did not derserve to be treated that way, and what you have said about that poor horse coming over to you is just the same. Some people should not have a horse if they can not be bothered about it, so as you say who cares if the owner is mad I dam well would'nt.
 
M_G said:
My old chap has a rug on at nights, if you are taking the rug off be sure to put it back on at night. If you can't do this then just phone ILPH/WHW/RSPCA and ask that someone visitsafter explaining the water situation
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Yep the field with 10 horses didnt have any water and they werent bothered.
BHS welfare inspector is your best bet they actually did something.
 
Ok rug should probably definitely come off and if you want to assume responsibility work away. Or even call RSPCA and talk to them about what you should do.

Here in lies the problem and I'm not saying it's right. Giving water is no big deal really. You're not interacting with the horse. If you go to take rug off and something freakish happens and horse ends up hurt, you are in serious trouble. Again, I'm not saying this is right or fair but you need to be aware of these issues. I board with people who wouldn't give there horses water in the winter during the day. Never even cracked the pot. I offered to bring them warm water out of my house. Nope. I watched those horses come in every evening and guzzle Icey water. Now if I go down and start watering their horses everyday and one colics, I'm getting the blame. I know how these people are so it will be my fault. I put prepared feed in to her horse one day because she asked me to and he colicked. Guess who had to hear about it.

Of course I do not want to see any horse suffer. Of course I want to do the right thing. All I'm saying to you is weigh up the risks of responsibility. I have a mare with a rug phobia that after years I have restyled rugs to make her pretty acceptable. I know her but if someone else were to go out without knowing she could indeed kill herself. So be wise to what being a do gooder entails. My horses don't have to worry about stupidity and I spend a lot of the time in the winter making sure water is tempid for drinking. I have a big thing printed off this winter from the holistic horse that describes why getting water from snow is not good for your horse. I will put it on the bulletin board. Since they are holistic nuts maybe they will get the hint. But I am not assuming responsibility for other peoples horses. Then I'm at liability.

Just look at it from all angles is all I'm saying.

Terri
 
Equilibrium Ireland said:
Ok rug should probably definitely come off and if you want to assume responsibility work away. Or even call RSPCA and talk to them about what you should do.

Here in lies the problem and I'm not saying it's right. Giving water is no big deal really. You're not interacting with the horse. If you go to take rug off and something freakish happens and horse ends up hurt, you are in serious trouble. Again, I'm not saying this is right or fair but you need to be aware of these issues. I board with people who wouldn't give there horses water in the winter during the day. Never even cracked the pot. I offered to bring them warm water out of my house. Nope. I watched those horses come in every evening and guzzle Icey water. Now if I go down and start watering their horses everyday and one colics, I'm getting the blame. I know how these people are so it will be my fault. I put prepared feed in to her horse one day because she asked me to and he colicked. Guess who had to hear about it.

Of course I do not want to see any horse suffer. Of course I want to do the right thing. All I'm saying to you is weigh up the risks of responsibility. I have a mare with a rug phobia that after years I have restyled rugs to make her pretty acceptable. I know her but if someone else were to go out without knowing she could indeed kill herself. So be wise to what being a do gooder entails. My horses don't have to worry about stupidity and I spend a lot of the time in the winter making sure water is tempid for drinking. I have a big thing printed off this winter from the holistic horse that describes why getting water from snow is not good for your horse. I will put it on the bulletin board. Since they are holistic nuts maybe they will get the hint. But I am not assuming responsibility for other peoples horses. Then I'm at liability.

Just look at it from all angles is all I'm saying.

Terri
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^^ Agree with this... Although the horse is clearly suffering, be very careful and wary. Don't leave yourself open to another person's advantage if you or the horse end up injured. Maybe take another person just incase?

I fully understand were your coming from and by no means do I want to see any horse suffer but your saftey is more important.

Hope it works out and you have some spot on advice from users to help resolve the matter :)
 
If I didn't know my rugs I'd be wary,but since i know he differenc between a fly sheet, a boett and a bog standard turnout as I'm sure Daisy doo does as well.
The case we're discussing is in a standard turnout rug and in he described condition better off than a dead horse .
 
Wagtail said:
What worries me is if she can't be bothered to see to her horse in this glorious weather, what on earth is the horse going to have to endure when winter arrives! Ice not broken on water trough, no hay. It is awful thinking about it. And this is only one horse. There are posssibly thousands of similarly neglected horses throughout the uk. :(
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Ditto this. Water the horse, ring RSPCA, tell them it has no water, and empty the water before you go.
They won't do anything unless the horse has no water and if you have watered the horse and left a full bucket they will not interfere.
 
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