My pony kicked by loose horse - Vets bill?

Well usually yards should insist on 3rd party/BHS Gold as a minimum. Everywhere I've kept my horse the owner has checked my documents.

My horse kicked another while they were tied up. Usually no problem next to each other but hey, that's horses. I paid up. I'm insured.
 
I think its unfair to call the OP petty for wanting the vet bill paid. Horses can be horses and yes if it was just an accident in the field then fair enough. But if my horse was injured because of someone else's negligence then I'd be pretty hacked off and if the shoe was on the other foot I'd be mortified and offer to pay. Yes 200-400 isn't a lot in the grand scheme of vets Bill's but it's called having principles.
 
I remember there was another thread on here recently (don't know if there's a relationship between the two), where someone had said that their horse had kicked another..........

Don't know whether this is the same incident or not, but whatever, it is a very difficult situation and one where there is almost guaranteed to be an element of ill-feeling involved, plus vet expenses for the owner.

IF the person "in charge" of the loose horse at the time of the incident is a member of staff rather than the owner, then surely the Yard Insurance should cover this?? OR the member of staff (if they are a privately employed groom) should have their own insurance, certainly.

I've read other people's remarks above, which seem to major on keeping the peace and not making a fuss, but I actually do feel for the owner in this situation, who is likely to have a vets bill to have to sort out, plus all the unpleasantness of it all.

The way I see it is that whether "negligence" can be proven or not in this case: there has clearly been an incident where either the owner or a member of staff was there on the day. A horse which was in their care and under their supervision got loose and injured another. Horses are horses and things can happen, we all know that, but the owner of the pony is now faced with a situation where their animal has been injured through no fault of their own, and where they are facing possibly considerable vets fees.

I have to say that I wouldn't be best pleased if this happened to either of my horses, in fact I'd be livid, and I have every sympathy with the owner of the horse/pony which has been injured. To be called "petty" about wanting justice in this situation, is unhelpful at best - and the social media vilification, which unfortunately happens all too easy, is frankly awful!

I would advise the injured pony's owner to contact BHS Legal if they are a Gold member; or alternatively perhaps seek out legal advice from someone who has experience in this field.

I think someone somewhere should pay!! Dammit, someone's animal has been injured here - and I think there should be some redress!!

IMO either the owner of the loose horse, OR the yard staff (if they were in charge of it) are liable, and it should be up to either the Yard Insurance or the owner's insurance (or private pocket, whichever) to adequately compensate the owner of the pony which has been injured. End of.
 
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Mijods it was a relative of the owner doing the leading.

I think here we have the difference between what is morally/ethically right, what is legally right, and the rigmarole of getting any money off people if the latter is proved. If both parties were insured and the owner making a claim and had the other parties insurance details you could let the insurers argue it but it doesn't seem like that is the scenario either.
 
Equine_Dream said:
I think its unfair to call the OP petty for wanting the vet bill paid. Horses can be horses and yes if it was just an accident in the field then fair enough. But if my horse was injured because of someone else's negligence then I'd be pretty hacked off and if the shoe was on the other foot I'd be mortified and offer to pay. Yes 200-400 isn't a lot in the grand scheme of vets Bill's but it's called having principles.
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I completely agree. And I too would be chasing for vet fees.
 
Really tricky to prove fault here horse owner, staff member who lost control of horse or yard owner who allowed staff member to lead horse, because you would blame horse, horse owner blame staff member, staff member blame yard owner, yard owner blame the staff/horse/owner round in circles.
Personally if your horse makes a full recovery I'd leave it but possibly reassess yard/friendships....
I had an incident when my mare had just come off box rest for laminitis, was in a field that connected to another via gate. Gate was either left open or opened by one of the horses and my mare was hounded by the group of ponies that got into her part of the field. She was covered in kicks, bites and had either had a rotational fall and landed on her neck or run into a fence with her head down. She had a fractured vertebrae in her neck which we only found out about when she wasn't coming sound a month later and did major investigations that cost a ton.
She's now retired and still lame over a year later....
Obviously massive loss to me money wise and now cannot do anything with my retired 15 year old horse.
But, who do I blame, the horse? Whoever didn't shut the gate properly? Yard owner who should have provided more secure lock? You just go round in circles I'm afraid 😕
 
I’m not sure which side of the fence to stand on here- just a musing- if/ when someone’s loose dog causes injury needing veterinary treatment to our horses, lots of us want to pursue the dog owner. Why not the same if it’s another horse that should have been under control? (Not group turn out situations, I think they’re different)
 
Tricky one, but had it been my horse, I would have offered to pay or at least give the owner the excess for her insurance. Is the horse not insured for public liability? Yes, it was an accident, but it was the other horse that caused injury and as a pp said, if a loose dog caused an injury, we‘d expect compensation.
 
I am fascinated by those who seem to think that £2- 400 is pocket money! If it were my horse which had been kicked while doing exactly what it should have been doing on a livery yard, I would expect to have my vet fee reimbursed. I could certainly spend the money much better on other things - how many weeks livery is that?
 
I think it might be different if it was a staff member as that conveys a level of responsibility, but OP said it was a relative.

But if the person says no PaS would you pursue it through the small claims court, you still might not get the money.
 
ester said:
I think it might be different if it was a staff member as that conveys a level of responsibility, but OP said it was a relative.

But if the person says no PaS would you pursue it through the small claims court, you still might not get the money.
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Yes, I would. The handler of the loose horse, whoever it was, was negligent. Horses should not be able to get loose when being led. If they do they are no t being led in the appropriate equipment.
 
Loose horse kicked by another loose horse in the field - one of those things and injured horse owner should pay (had this one happen and paid the vets bills for my injured horse).

In my view horse being led / ridden etc. unprovoked injures another’s horse, dog, car etc. then for me the person in charge should pay. I have third party insurance for my mini Shetland just in case something happens. This sounds a complete accident - but if I hit a car by accident no one would suggest I shouldn’t pay.

The challenge here is if they won’t pay what lengths are you going to go to in order to get the money... this is tricky, there maybe a limit to the stress it’s worth. If you’re a BHS member worth a call to their legal helpline to see where you stand.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
The handler of the loose horse, whoever it was, was negligent.
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You have absolutely no way of knowing this. She may have fallen in a pothole in the dark, she may have fainted, the horse might, for the first time in its life, have ripped the rope out of her hands taking skin and fingernails with it .... there are may ways this could have happened without anyone having been negligent.

.
 
I think the fact the horse was not under control of the handler, were it was reasonable to expect it should have been, is a justification for expecting them to cover the cost of the incident.
I like the dog analogy. If we replace the words horses with dogs. You're walking your dog in the park. Your dog is on a lead and under control. Then someone else comes along with their dog who (for whatever reason) breaks loose from it's handler and attacks your dog. Your dog ends up with a nasty bite wound and needs veterinary treatment.
Now I don't think anyone would argue you would be wrong to expect the other dogs owner to pay your vet bill so why is it any different with horses?
I do agree that the time effort and cost of actually getting the owner of the other horse to pay, might not be worth it for this relatively small vet bill. But I definitely don't think the OP is being unreasonable for expecting the other owner to cover her bill.
 
Try walking my uncles husky 😜 I honestly believe he has some thoroughbred in him.

Regardless of whether it was a 700 kilo shire or a 150 kilo shetland it SHOULD have been under control. Which it obviously wasn't.
 
Black Beastie said:
Pay your bill and move on. Honestly this sue and Pay up culture does my head in. It was a bloody accident not a deliberate act! Horses are horses for goodness sake. It’s a cut a stitch and some powders. Not a broken leg.
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I agree. Everyone wants to blame someone in this harsh blame culture we now live in. Dogs and horses can’t be compared.
 
Why hasn't the yard owner told the other owner to pay? Where I keep mine, she would be insisting the other owner pay up in this situation, and makes sure everyone is insured before they come onto the yard.
I would definitely be taking it up with them, after all they were in charge of your horse at the time of the incident.
 
ycbm said:
You have absolutely no way of knowing this. She may have fallen in a pothole in the dark, she may have fainted, the horse might, for the first time in its life, have ripped the rope out of her hands taking skin and fingernails with it .... there are may ways this could have happened without anyone having been negligent.

.
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It seems to me that you and I are the only ones who realise that not all horses are easy to lead, not all can be controlled by whatever headgear is on them and not all handlers are perfect. Accidents can happen. Perhaps we have both had horses that have not been easy and have come to realise this through experience and life.

As for what happened in this case, did the difficult horse get left behind and charge off to catch up in which case was it the fault of the front leaders who did not wait for him?
 
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