Loan terminated - but i have to pay VETS bill advice pleae

Should I Pay the vets bill?

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Grinch

Grinch

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I am so upset please give me some feed back of what you think..

I have had a loan Pony for 4mths all was well till she had to be stabled! In the agreement it states she has to be in with another horse that panics with out her.
The owner of this horse is the Mother of the Owner of Loan pony. She (Mother) has been bringing her in at 3pm and feeding her doing her stable for past 2 weeks
I had regular txt messages to say don't come up as she has been fed and in the stable. So I txt owner and said no point to loan continuing as never see or do pony gave 30days notice
The mother still continued to feed and bring in pony, So I said would it be better for horse and me to terminate straight away - WE BOTH agreed this was best and the following day I went to the yard
to drop the key back and owner said Pony had Colic and vet on the way I was shocked... Vet arrived said it was down to the Mother opening up a strip of grass on field and she had a "Fermenting tummy"
My agreement was terminated the night before .... She is demanding I pay the vets bill.

I said I did not cause the pony to have Colic and I am not paying ....

Who is right and who is wrong ?
 
From what you say, you're right.
Mother seemed to have taken over the care of the pony and you terminated the contract before the colic, which the vet felt was due to the mothers management.
I wouldn't worry about paying and quite honestly, I'd ignore further requests.
 
No way would i be paying the vet bill. You did everything by the book by the sounds of it and had nothing to do with the colic. Tell them no and walk away
 
Not sure who is actually liable in a legal scenario. But I wouldn't be paying you didn't open the strip up or turn pony out onto it. And your contract was over. As owner of a loan pony and have a horse on loan the owner of the horse is liable for the well being of horse and I would be happy to say my ponies vet bills if required as would my current loan horses owner.
 
Difficult one.. if you had the immediate termination in writing, then you are right, dont pay the bill. But if you have nt got it in writing and its within the 30 days notice, then I am afraid I think this one will be down to you. Yes, her mother was bringing the horse in and dealing with it, but, as the loaner, it was your choice not to stop her.
 
I had a txt message saying Thank you for all you have done with Pony I(owner) & my mum will look after her from now your contract is terminated.

The Mother just took over. She is saying I had a contract with her not her Mother!
 
If you have just a verbal loan agreement then I'd say tough to the owner and walk away.

If a written one and you had to give the 30 full days notice then I'd expect you to pay.

Was the pony on full loan to you? If so why was the mother interfering ( was she? ) difficult, but then if I was in that situation I would offer half and leave it at that. Put it down to experience, and next time, if you haven't get a written contract.
 
I agree with what you are saying but I work till 5pm and made it very clear I was not able to go to yard till 5.20pm which we went every day same time. The Mother would bring her in because this other horse panics - So everything was done at 5.20 when we arrived. I could not stop her I asked could she wait till 5.20 and she said that's to late for her.
 
Grinch said:
I had a txt message saying Thank you for all you have done with Pony I(owner) & my mum will look after her from now your contract is terminated.

The Mother just took over. She is saying I had a contract with her not her Mother!
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Make sure you keep the text, tell her the contract is legal ( even if it was just verbal, it still its, just difficult to prove! ) and ignore them.
 
Grinch said:
I had a txt message saying Thank you for all you have done with Pony I(owner) & my mum will look after her from now your contract is terminated.

The Mother just took over. She is saying I had a contract with her not her Mother!
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If that message came through before the colic, then no, the pony had nothing to do with you from the time of that message, so not your responsibilty and no need to pay.
 
Yes it is all down the Mother really - If I felt in any way responsible I would pay with out a doubt - like u say may offer 50% and put it down to experience. :( - Horrid people - Lovely pony very sad.

AngieandBen said:
If you have just a verbal loan agreement then I'd say tough to the owner and walk away.

If a written one and you had to give the 30 full days notice then I'd expect you to pay.

Was the pony on full loan to you? If so why was the mother interfering ( was she? ) difficult, but then if I was in that situation I would offer half and leave it at that. Put it down to experience, and next time, if you haven't get a written contract.
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No that is a good point because this all came to a head as my daughter wanted to ride her at 8am Sat and the Mother said it was to early and I was not to take Pony out of stable as other horse would panic.

VERY good point she was not fit for "purpose of loan" - We had a written agreement off the BHS website.


Caol Ila said:
Were you also not able to ride your loan horse?
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Right. So as I read it, not only were you not doing the chores because mum thought 5:20pm was too late for her. You were also forbidden from riding your loan horse in the evening or early-ish morning (indeed, the only times you could ride it) because mom said her horse would freak out if your horse were removed from the stable. Fantastic.

Run away. And don't pay a penny of that vet bill.
 
When you pot it down like that - ITS SPOT on that is exactly what situation was - God I was Mad but loved that Pony so much.

Caol Ila said:
Right. So as I read it, not only were you not doing the chores because mum thought 5:20pm was too late for her. You were also forbidden from riding your loan horse in the evening or early-ish morning (indeed, the only times you could ride it) because mom said her horse would freak out if your horse were removed from the stable. Fantastic.

Run away. And don't pay a penny of that vet bill.
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If you have the txt message and it came through before the vet visited then legally you owe her nothing. Do not speak to her or relpy to any of further txt's. It sounds like she's trying it on or maybe she has no insurance.
 
Odd that they loaned the pony out in the first place and then kept telling you not to bother turning up!

I see it this way: if the pony had injured itself charging round the field on a day that wasn't yours (ie when it was their care of duty) , would you be liable? No.

Don't pay. I'd love to see them try to prove how you caused the pony to colic when you weren't even anywhere near!

As someone else has said, maybe they don't have insurance and are now left with a hefty bill they can't afford.
 
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No she does not have insurance - I know that.

hnmisty said:
Odd that they loaned the pony out in the first place and then kept telling you not to bother turning up!

I see it this way: if the pony had injured itself charging round the field on a day that wasn't yours (ie when it was their care of duty) , would you be liable? No.

Don't pay. I'd love to see them try to prove how you caused the pony to colic when you weren't even anywhere near!

As someone else has said, maybe they don't have insurance and are now left with a hefty bill they can't afford.
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What everyone else has said the agreement was terminated you are not liable.
ALSO an incredibly important point is that you only found out the horse had colic because you went to return the key. Surely if the horse had been in your care I.e you still had it on loan, they would've called you immediately to inform you the horse was ill.
They are trying it on. Don't pay a penny. It sounds like you are well rid TBH
 
What a horrible situation to be put in. I agree with the others, they want to have their cake and eat. Please don't be put off by this and put it down to experience, there are some lovely loaners out there.
 
I fail to see why you would need to pay even if the pony was still on Loan to you. A loan is exactly that- the owners are still the owners & so responsible for paying vet bills.
 
pansymouse said:
I think aside from the moral perspective if they called the vet to they are legally liable to pay the bill.
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Not always. That's like saying if another livery, or YO, or whoever sees my horse very clearly ill - colic or worse, whatever - and I'm not contactable at the time (abroad, on an operating table, etc.), they have to ultimately pick up the bill. Of course they don't; the horse is legally the owner's responsibility. This is presuming the client/owner is known - if I called the vet to Joe Blogg's horse bleeding out in a field with 'no known owner' (ahem), then yes, I'm liable as the client.

If my horse didn't actually need the vet but one was called to them by a third party (bizarre situation anyway), I'd be less than pleased but 1) would in most situations rather not have the situation given the benefit of the doubt re. a horse's health and 2) that isn't what happened in OP's situation.

And el_Snowflakes - totally depends on the terms of the loan. Part loan, I'd never expect the loaner/sharer to pick up a bill for something they didn't cause. Full loan and it depends what's set out at the start.
 
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