Long rant cos I'm properly annoyed!!

[Chinchilla]

About four years ago a cob appeared in a field near our house and never seemed to have anyone doing anything with her. Bit of a bag and could nip and be naughty but I asked around and found out a local chap and his friend owned her. Knew one quite well so offered to nip up and give her a brush and just spend time if he liked.

"Yeah that'd be grand she could do with someone spending time with her really. We paid someone a grand and had her broken to ride / drive and she was out on the cart most weekends in summer but it's tailed off so she could do with a fuss making. You can ride her in the field she has a bridle hung up in the stable"

Day or two after my daughter and I went up and decided to get Loo out of the field, lead her onto the yard and give her a good top to toe scrub and spa and were warned by the farmer to be careful because she could be very hard work and in a habit of kicking and biting. She was good as gold.

She was good as gold each time we went up and got playful and daft giddy and would chase around after a giant football and canter down to the gate when she heard the whistle that meant we were there and really showed a fun side to her. I asked her owner if he'd mind us taking her off the farm just for a short walk down the lane to see how she behaved outside. Got on well with her and really felt she would / could be a belting horse with just a bit of work but wasn't willing to get on her until she'd been outside the farm and on neutral territory if you will.

Flat out no. She can be hard work / has run off and needed several people to catch her / it's too risky. I could ride her round the field though she has a bridle hanging up in the stable...

She could have her odd moment and was still being a bag in the field and frightening members of public / bullying the life out of geldings in the field but underneath all that she was a good horse that needed more time and attention. If you didn't let her get away with being a witch and handled her with confidence she wasn't a bit of bother but most people were scared to death of her and she knew it.

Over the next year or so I offered to spend time with her, loan her, buy her straight out but her owners wouldn't entertain me. No idea why because they didn't touch her.

Put it to them it was a waste of the grand they'd spent but I'd help get her going for when spring arrived and they could take her out on the cart. Nope. Not interested. :blue:

Just kept paying rent every month and letting the farmer and other horse owners deal with the fallout.

One afternoon I find half the field fenced off with the geldings safely on one side and Loo on the other. Farmer had decided it was too risky and felt she might do one of the other horses or owners an injury.

From that point on she got worse and would nip and bite and be quite aggressive towards people just walking dogs along the path on the other side. I'd go up and she'd hurtle towards us and be playful and gentle and it really annoyed and upset me that she was wasted and isolated and totally neglected.

For safety the farmer moved her into another fu@king field so she couldn't be stroked or bite people. Owners never went near so farmer felt increasing need to keep her at arms length which is understandable but frustrated the hell out of me.

Didn't see her for a while until I went to pick up some hay tonight. Wandered around looking for the farmer and right at the back of the yard spotted “DANGER! ELECTRIC FENCE”

There stood this forlorn, fed up and filthy cob surrounded by electric fencing and although she recognised me, she stood perfectly still in the middle of all this fence and wouldn't move. Not even for mint treats or apple I went and got from the car.

“Well she got worse and it was getting dangerous you see.. can't risk her doing an injury to herself or others but she's got used to it”

FOUR YEARS they've kept that horse from having any sort of life or attention and affection and now she lives in a square of electricity in a sodden field right out of the way of everything and everyone.

I'm absolutely ripping.

This anywhere near a place called grove by any chance?
Sounds like an experience I had with a coloured cob called Cassie.

 

[eatmyshorts]

Poor mare, & poor you xx You did everything you could to improve this mare's life so don't feel bad. You were not the one at fault. To quote Animal Welfare, one of the Five Freedoms is " ... by making sure animals have enough space, proper facilities and the company of other animals of their own kind" (unless there are good reasons to suggest otherwise) so i think you were correct to be concerned over her welfare.

 

[minesadouble]

She's dead. Found at 4.30am.

Haven't had chance to read through replies and won't be home until late eve but if any admins are online you can delete thread in its entirety. It matters very little now anyway.

Oh no, that's really sad, maybe she died of a broken heart - I've heard that animals can do that. At least someone cared about her if they were checking her at 4.30 am. RIP.

 

[Dave's Mam]

Oh no. Poor pony. Poor you. Hugs.

 

[Cecile]

That is quite sad, there must of been something wrong there but thankfully someone was watching over her at 4.30am

Doubt this helps much but I had a pony staying with me as the family who owned her were in crisis due to terrible health, I rarely saw them. The pony was experiencing multiple age related health issues and I had to talk kindly to them about ending the ponies life, one of the things I said was I do so wish all ponies/horses just lay down and die in the field quietly but doubt that happened very often, although they rarely saw the pony they were having huge problems making a decision so I just kept cracking on doing what I could.

I went into the paddock very early one morning and she was not in the right place, I saw a mound in the upper paddock and walked up, there she was, she had died, not a mark on the ground, no disturbance anywhere to show any problems and when I looked closer she had a mouthful of grass still sticking out the side of her mouth. Vet said it had happened instantaneously

So I now know that sometimes but probably not often death happens and its not all trauma and awful. I hope something like this happened to the horse you spoke of as I have never seen anything so incredibly peaceful

 

[meesha]

So sorry x

 

[Wagtail]

This is just awful. I am so sorry, OP. I don't understand all the people telling her to keep out of it either. Makes me so angry how some horses are treated.

 

[AdorableAlice]

isolated and totally neglected.

For safety the farmer moved her into another fu@king field so she couldn't be stroked or bite people. Owners never went near so farmer felt increasing need to keep her at arms length which is understandable but frustrated the hell out of me.

Didn't see her for a while until I went to pick up some hay tonight. Wandered around looking for the farmer and right at the back of the yard spotted “DANGER! ELECTRIC FENCE”

There stood this forlorn, fed up and filthy cob surrounded by electric fencing and although she recognised me, she stood perfectly still in the middle of all this fence and wouldn't move. Not even for mint treats or apple I went and got from the car.

“Well she got worse and it was getting dangerous you see.. can't risk her doing an injury to herself or others but she's got used to it”

FOUR YEARS they've kept that horse from having any sort of life or attention and affection and now she lives in a square of electricity in a sodden field right out of the way of everything and everyone.

Your words puzzle me. you detail neglect and abandonment, yet the horse was found at 4.30am deceased. It is a rarity for a horse to simply keel over and die. Of course some colic and are found needing a quick end. The landowner, regardless of whether he is being paid livery or not has a duty of care the stock on his ground. A strange story to say the least. If there has been a welfare issue you need to contact the local authority and hope they have the staff levels left to respond to your service request.

 

[merlin12]

So sorry to hear this. Thinking of you.

 

[stormox]

Your words puzzle me. you detail neglect and abandonment, yet the horse was found at 4.30am deceased. It is a rarity for a horse to simply keel over and die. Of course some colic and are found needing a quick end. The landowner, regardless of whether he is being paid livery or not has a duty of care the stock on his ground. A strange story to say the least. If there has been a welfare issue you need to contact the local authority and hope they have the staff levels left to respond to your service request.

I too found it a strange story. The fact that the cob wasn't seen by OP for ages then turned up in a small paddock, OP posts it on line and next morning cob is found dead.
I wonder was she ill and they had just put her there? The fact she was checked at 4.30am means someone was concerned about her.

 

[jrp204]

School holidays............

 

[Rosiejazzandpia]

School holidays............

Yep, coming to the end of them too so people are getting bored

 

[stormox]

Yep, coming to the end of them too so people are getting bored

If it's a joke it isn't in very good taste

 

[Rosiejazzandpia]

If it's a joke it isn't in very good taste

It wasn't a joke, I thought troll as soon as I read the post and was glad to see somebody echoed my thoughts. Regardless, troll or not, the thread seems to be over now

 

[MileAMinute]

Seems very odd that it's all come to a head, you've come online and ranted about it, and then all of a sudden the mare is dead, and discovered st a time of day that isn't particularly normal to check a horse, unless they were unwell. Which also suggests the owners cared enough to either check her or arrange someone to check her.

Hmm. I, too, smell something fishy.

 

[Equi]

Unfortunately random things do happen. My friends horse was in a field at a house and the house owner text me (cause he always text me rather than her for some reason) to say he's left a bin of pony nuts beside the gate as horse may as well have it as they felt sorry for him being in bare field. Friend text back sayin thank you but she didn't want it as he was already fat Hence why in bare paddock. She went on holiday the next day so I was going to be doing checks and before I got up I got a call to say he was dead. Bin of food had been removed and the horse had been let into the long grass and had colicked overnight presumably dying a slow and painful death. House owner then thought it appropriate to send a borage of abusive texts (to me) about how awfully the horse had been treated and it's no wonder it was dead. I never did divulge that bit of information to my friend - I just told her the sad news and dealt with the body. I fully believe interference killed my friends horse but what's done is done and no point going back over it.