Legalities of horse injured on sales livery

[Luckycharm]

Due to tragic personal circumstances i have had to send my horse away to be sold to what i thought was a reputable horse producer/dealer. Within 12 hours of arriving at the yard my horse has somehow managed to injure herself on the horse walker. The dealer said told me she had injured herself in the stable but would be ok within a month to sell. He also began to push very heavily for payment upfront which it was originally agreed payment out of the sales price. After speaking to the treating vet it has become apparent that my mare hurt herself on the walker and now requires 3 months complete box rest followed by a further 3 months box rest and controlled exercise. Prognosis to return to previous level of work is good (BE90/100).
I do not have any transport and have left the yard i was previously at. In short i cannot due to the personal circumstances i find myself in have her back.
she has been at the dealers for a month now and the dealer has advised that if i 'gave her' to him we would call it quits with regards to the livery money and the fact she is worth peanuts now. I am completely at a loss as to where i stand. I took my horse to him, easily expecting to achieve a minimum of £5.5k (she's worth about £8k but need a quick sale so was fine to keep the price low). She has good eventing breeding and has competed up to novice level (she's just 9 now) so could sell her as a broodmare with ability to come back into work with correct rehab but this is a very small market i feel he is taking the piss! he was aware of my sad circumstances and now i have nothing.
any advice etc?????

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Are you a BHS member? In which case I'd ring their helpline.

Sounds like you need a good solicitor who specialises in equine matters.

Also sounds like the dealer is a very nasty piece of work indeed and is frankly taking the P!ss.

You need some good ammunition. I'd firstly get a vet to give a detailed report, describing the injuries, period of rehab needed, and also hopefully indicating the loss of value of the horse.

I would take your mare away from there PRONTO.

Get vet report, consult solicitors, and take things from there.

You might also consider reporting this to Trading Standards and the Local Council if they have licensed this premises for instance.

Sorry (edited) also meant to say that as you're obviously new on here: it is a lot less complicated if you put just the ONE post up, either in your regional board, or a general post on the "Tack Room" or whatever. If you put up a lot of posts on a similar subject in various places you will only confuse yourself - and annoy people. Just a word to the wise!

 

[ihatework]

This is obviously not going to be a straightforward situation and I think the best thing to do is discuss it with an equine specialist in law. Either BHS gold or via your insurance.

The thing is, ***** happens with horses. So unless you can prove the sales yard was negligent then this could just be a genuine accident that they rightly/wrongly perhaps tried to cover up.

Either way it's your horse, so in my eyes you either go and collect her and pay the yard what you owe under the contract you signed, or you cut your losses.

Most of us around horses will have had situations where you loose, but that's life.

I hope you find a good solution for everyone.

 

[TheMule]

Unfortunately I think pursuing anything will cost more than it's worth. Accidents happen, injuries happen and unless you can prove negligence, that's an unavoidable truth with horses that will always end up costing you money.
I would try to find a middle ground with the dealer. How much is 6 months of livery worth? I'd say maybe 3k if half of that is just box rest? So I'd subtract that from the 5.5k figure and offer her to him for 2.5k