Overstepping the mark.....what to do??

MontyandZoom

MontyandZoom

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I'm getting really frustrated with a situation at my field. I posted a while ago about a novice owner who had bought a VERY underweight (think skeletal) mare which was showing discomfort in it's back end.

I was very helpful and gave her a feeding plan to include 4 small meals a day and recommended several excellent weight gain feeds and suggested she call the feed helplines. I also suggested she got the vet out to x-ray the pelvis of the horse.

Instead, she got no vet, feeds the horse once a day on an unbranded chaff and pasture nuts :confused: The horse is being ridden into the ground on weekends by teenage son, cantered around until she is dripping. They are also riding her (small tb cross with very high withers and no muscle or fat) in the saddle belonging to their 13hh overweight NF. This has caused a weeping sore on the mare's withers.

I have tried to help them out since they are not meaning to be cruel, they're just ignorant. I think she is getting fed up with me interfering so i have stepped back a bit but I don't know what to do. I came down yesterday to find them (lady and 4 children) grooming their 3 (yes THREE!) horses with metal curry combs.

What is my next step? I have tried to help but she is now getting pissed off with me so is even more unlikely to listen to my advice. The mare is SERIOUSLY thin. I have spoken to the land owner but they are unlikely to take action.

Oh god, I've answered my own question.......I'm an interfering cow-bag :( I guess i just leave them to it??!
 
I am afraid I would report them right now, do you want to go down one day and find the poor thing dead? I hope the owner gets prosecuted, it is disgusting that your field owner does not feel they have a duty of care to the animals in their field.:mad:

Please report them, you are not interferring you are caring.:)
 
:( :(

I dont think you can do anything unless the Farmer will take action or if bad enough to call the RSPCA... they are all so ignorant there (well quite alot of them) So I think you have to take a backseat as you have tried to be helpful and have given good advice .. the rest is up to them!! Its so frustrating I know but theres no telling some people!!
 
Report them.

You have tried to advise them so they are not ignorant (not that ignorance is an excuse) of what the mare needs feed wise.

Jane
 
If you consider what they are doing to be cruel, it matters little if they actually mean to be or not, involve the ILPH or whatever they are called now. RSPC are not the best people to deal with horse matters.
 
I'd also call BHS welfare line, you don't sound interfering to me if I saw a situation as you describe Id also want to help and have the horses best interests at heart. Worth a call if it helps get the horse back to health
 
I think report them. It's not worth risking the health of the horse. You've done all you can, but if she's not listening there's no point. SOMEONE needs to get her horse some help, and maybe she's more likely to listen to someone in a position of authority, eg WHW..!

It's really good you've been trying your hardest to help the mare :)
 
amymay said:
Call the BHS welfare line, love.
Click to expand...

I think I'm gonna have to :( They honestly don't seem to understand how riding a horse in that condition is cruel!!! I mean, I know Zoomy is skinny at the moment (although will post some pics tomo since she is looking MUCH better) but the difference is.....I make changes!!! I am down there all the time trying to keep her healthy and happy. Plus, she is fit!

They will know it was me.....but I'm past caring. I just feel sorry for the poor thing.
 
BHS or WHW, both have offered to help me in a similar situation in the past. Before either could come out the offending livery (teenager with rich but totally uninvolved parents in that case) moved, telling the yard she went to she was being "bullied". Thing is the yard owner where she went is far less tolerant than mine and unsurprisingly the horse went up for sale very quickly. Fingers crossed you can move the situation forward one way or another.
 
I am sorry and this may sound dramatic but a truely thin horse with a weaping sore where it's saddle goes sounds like something out an advert for the Brooke!! So, I would definitely report them. How ignorant to they have to be to realise that would be painful for the horse.

She wouldn't let her child get that thin! Thin is thin, we all know what thin is? Plus she wouldn't put shoes on a child with a sore under the foot. So i don't they are ignorant I think they are selfish. Report them.

Goodluck and let us know how you get on. At least you care, as it sounds like no one else does.
xxx
 
It's difficult since the horse was bought about 6 weeks ago. She bought it out of pity.....which I can totally understand :( If I had the money i would have bought her too! However, people don't seem to understand the time and money involved in getting the horse better.

You would not believe what Monty looked like when I got him. He was skin and bone....and 25!! It cost me, not hundreds, but thousands of pounds to get him looking better. A main factor is the spoilt child (also a novice) who wants to ride. She MUST know that horse is in no fit state to ride yet lets him ride for hours on the weekend. She is now talking about buying a lorry to take them on weekends away :rollseyes:

She has put a budget of £5k........money that would be better spent on some feed!!!!!
 
BHS welfare department are ideal for this sort of thing where education rather than seizing the animal is probably the best course of action. It looks less agressive than calling RSPCA or WHW too.
 
BHS deffo, they need advice and monitering, and trust me, it is such a weight off your shoulders that someone else is doing it....it's so hard to just watch. (((((hugs)))) sm x
 
Definitely contact BHS welfare and also this month as advertised in H&H news:

A new code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies and donkeys comes into force from from tomorrow (6 April).
 
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