Please help!!

[skyeliana]

Over summer I moved my horse to a yard just up the road from my University!
At first it seemed like a really nice quiet yard, but as it turns out, moving there was the worst mistake I've ever made.
Firstly, despite it being a DIY yard, the owner insisted on EVERYTHING being done her way as she knew best! From what my horse got fed, to controlling when I was allowed to use the school, even though it was never busy.
After a few weeks, my horse got turned out with one of the liveries 5 year olds who turned out to be a bit of a bully to mine. I told the yard owner I was concerned but she advised me that he was very good natured and they were just sorting out the pecking order of the field, obviously!
A month later, I got a phone call one day telling me that my horse had been kicked in the field by one of the horses he was in with (the 5 year old). The owner of the yard had then called out the vet without my consent. At first it just seemed as though he had a cut on his gaskin on his right hind so the vet stitched it up and left it.
The next morning his whole leg had swelled to twice the size and he was refusing to put any weight on it. I called the vet straight out and he decided to x-ray, but nothing was clear due to the excessive swelling. the vet reccomended i put him on bute and boxrest until the swelling went down, and after that he would re x-ray! When he finally came back, mroe x-rays were taken and it turned out that he had actually sustained a hairline fracture to his fibula.
After 4 months and minimum a minimum of a £1500 vets bill, my horse should be able to start being brought back into work. He now has a permenant bone malfuction causing and obvious lump thanks to the fracture and since he is an event horse, I am extremely concerned about him passing his vettings when we compete!
I'm not sure what to do about this incident as it has potentially cost me more than just a vet's bill! Any advice??
__________________

 

[Birker2020]

Over summer I moved my horse to a yard just up the road from my University!
At first it seemed like a really nice quiet yard, but as it turns out, moving there was the worst mistake I've ever made.
Firstly, despite it being a DIY yard, the owner insisted on EVERYTHING being done her way as she knew best! From what my horse got fed, to controlling when I was allowed to use the school, even though it was never busy.
After a few weeks, my horse got turned out with one of the liveries 5 year olds who turned out to be a bit of a bully to mine. I told the yard owner I was concerned but she advised me that he was very good natured and they were just sorting out the pecking order of the field, obviously!
A month later, I got a phone call one day telling me that my horse had been kicked in the field by one of the horses he was in with (the 5 year old). The owner of the yard had then called out the vet without my consent. At first it just seemed as though he had a cut on his gaskin on his right hind so the vet stitched it up and left it.
The next morning his whole leg had swelled to twice the size and he was refusing to put any weight on it. I called the vet straight out and he decided to x-ray, but nothing was clear due to the excessive swelling. the vet reccomended i put him on bute and boxrest until the swelling went down, and after that he would re x-ray! When he finally came back, mroe x-rays were taken and it turned out that he had actually sustained a hairline fracture to his fibula.
After 4 months and minimum a minimum of a £1500 vets bill, my horse should be able to start being brought back into work. He now has a permenant bone malfuction causing and obvious lump thanks to the fracture and since he is an event horse, I am extremely concerned about him passing his vettings when we compete!
I'm not sure what to do about this incident as it has potentially cost me more than just a vet's bill! Any advice??
__________________

I am sorry to hear of your problems with regards to your horse being kicked and his resultant injury.

I think you will find that on this occasion you would have no recourse against the yard owner or owner of the horse that kicked yours as you were aware that the horse yours was put with was a bully and so you had accepted the element of risk associated with this.

I am not criticising you for one minute, I have had a similar thing happen to me, but I think that if this went further with interaction from a solicitor they would say the same. Unfortunately as they say, it comes with the territory and horses get kicked and even have to be pts as a result as happened with one of mine which broke his leg when he slipped on the mud (the vet thought he'd had a hairline fracture from a kick previous to his injury). In my case I would not have taken it further as 'horses are horses' and my particular situation did not warrant this.

However, that said, you have nothing to lose by appointing an equine solicitor, some solicitors will offer an initial free consultation either over the phone or face to face and you should explore this possibility before you give up on the idea. You should not worry about taking this further or feel bullied into dropping it by fellow liveries or staff. If you do take legal action against the yard owner you will no doubt be asked to leave the yard which would probably be fair enough, but the yard will have insurance and legal cover to cover this eventuality so the yard owner will not suffer financial loss himself/herself.

Finally I would suggest that you ask your vet if your horse can have as much physio,equine swimming sessions and rehab that is possible under your current insurance claim so that you can maximise the chances of him making a good recovery.

Here is a link to a few equine solicitors. Good luck and i hope this is not the end of your horses career.


http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sour...&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=2681f0dd6d9da3e6

 

[ImogenBurrows]

Over summer I moved my horse to a yard just up the road from my University!
At first it seemed like a really nice quiet yard, but as it turns out, moving there was the worst mistake I've ever made.
Firstly, despite it being a DIY yard, the owner insisted on EVERYTHING being done her way as she knew best! From what my horse got fed, to controlling when I was allowed to use the school, even though it was never busy.
After a few weeks, my horse got turned out with one of the liveries 5 year olds who turned out to be a bit of a bully to mine. I told the yard owner I was concerned but she advised me that he was very good natured and they were just sorting out the pecking order of the field, obviously!
A month later, I got a phone call one day telling me that my horse had been kicked in the field by one of the horses he was in with (the 5 year old). The owner of the yard had then called out the vet without my consent. At first it just seemed as though he had a cut on his gaskin on his right hind so the vet stitched it up and left it.
The next morning his whole leg had swelled to twice the size and he was refusing to put any weight on it. I called the vet straight out and he decided to x-ray, but nothing was clear due to the excessive swelling. the vet reccomended i put him on bute and boxrest until the swelling went down, and after that he would re x-ray! When he finally came back, mroe x-rays were taken and it turned out that he had actually sustained a hairline fracture to his fibula.
After 4 months and minimum a minimum of a £1500 vets bill, my horse should be able to start being brought back into work. He now has a permenant bone malfuction causing and obvious lump thanks to the fracture and since he is an event horse, I am extremely concerned about him passing his vettings when we compete!
I'm not sure what to do about this incident as it has potentially cost me more than just a vet's bill! Any advice??
__________________

Hi there,

Sounds like a frustrating situation, but I agree with Applecart14 about the recourse - I think you will have to let it lie....these things are deeply frustrating but there is a risk attached to keeping groups of horse together and in a livery situation there is an accepted risk, so I doubt there would be any fault at the yard manager's door.

On an aside, the fibula is a non weight bearing bone, so as such is unlikely to cause any lameness or persistent problems.

I'm not sure what you mean but permanent bone malfunction. I'm not sure I've ever seen damage to the fibula cause problems, other than risk of infection if there is a wound??

Is your horse sound? If so, I would think that this problem is unlikely to cause future issues for eventing, and even vetting as part of the ground jury, unless there is a lameness or unsoundness that the on site vet(s) is/are unhappy with there is unlikely to be future problems.

I hope this puts your mind at rest a little with respect to the future performance. Obviously, should there be evidence of further injury that your vets detect then this would alter the situation.

Hope your horse is ok!
Regards,
Imogen

 

[smellsofhorse]

Firstly move your horse to a nicer yard.
Apart from obviously abiding by general yard rules.
No one has the right to decide what you do to your horse.

As for the concern over event vettings, i dont think you can do anything to the yard owner apart from tell then what you thinks.

If your horses has made a full recovery and is sound then hopefully nothing will change and he will pass the vettings