Seriously lame horse at yard.

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I've posted before about a old mare at my yard who is vary lame (hopping) and has been for some time. I thought it was just me getting upset about it but speaking to some friends at the yard, they are thinking about calling RSPCA and YO has asked owner to sign something as a disclaimer!

It makes me a bit angry because why can't they either have her PTS or at least give her some bute?

Bloody clueless horse owners do my nut in!!
 
The yard owner should ask her to call vet, and if she does not then yes RSPCA or whoever should be called. She should be advised that something must be significantly wrong if the lameness is so evident and that it is an animal cruelty/welfare issue if it is left neglected. It should be spelt out to her.
 
Your yard owner has a duty of care to all horses on the premises, signing a disclaimer will do nothing, if the owner wont call the vet then the yard owner should, and have something in the livery agreement to cover the fees.

Someone should have a strong word with the YO and get them to fulfil the obligations to make sure all horses on the yard are looked after, failing that call the welfare in and let them take their chances.
 
As Scally has said, the YO should give the owner a warning that if she (owner) doesn't get the vet by eg 24hrs, the the YO will. Then she does it and vet bill goes to owner. Duty of care.
 
I may have missed a bit, but have any of you tried talking to the owner? I'm just wondering if he/she is in denial (perhaps the old mare has arthritis and they know in their heart of hearts it's the end of the line and just can't face the decision to admit thatsomething's radically wrong). The owner may even need a shoulder to lean on rather than approbrium and antagonism?

While, like you, I would be very angry that this poor old girl is left in pain, see if you can't work things tactfully. If you or the YO go in all gung ho the owner may just take the mare to another yard where there won't be the kindness and concern you are all showing.

Had a rather similar case once when the donkeys at a farm where I kept my horse were in a sad plight. One day one of them went down in the field and couldn't get up. A vet (not mine) happened to be on a visit to another horse and I just went up to him, told him I knew what I was doing was unethical but there was a donkey in great distress etc.etc. and that I would pay for any initial treatment. "Don't worry about paying" was his response. He went out to the field with me - farmer off somewhere else - treated the donkey and got it on it's feet. He rang the farmer that evening and told him what had happened; I menwhile had done the same. The farmer took it really nicely, admitted he'd lost the plot with the donkeys (which had been wished on him by some relative) and from then on their lives improved considerably. And it all happened without threats or unpleasantness. So maybe this could be the way forward for you and your friends at the yard and the old mare? I hope so!
 
I got thrown off a yard for making a fuss about a horse that had needed to be put down, difficult to know what to do, RSPCA will work, because they will call a vet out:
it is called causing an animal unnecessary distress and is cruelty, you need to be anonymous, and describe the exact location of the animal, plus an exact description (eg a brown horse with a black mane and a white bit on face), all a bit tricky if you are one of very few who have access to it.
If you approach the owner you will get a negative response, if you approach the yard manager and nothing is done, he will throw you off if you then go to the RSCPA.
One yard I went to, had a few older horses left overnight in bad weather in winter, but when the RSPCA turned up, his complaint was about three donkeys (no donkeys there), anyway, the unrugged horses were brought in that night. We never found out who complained, because it was so vague, but it worked!
"Kindness and concern", sorry the animal is in distress, and action needs to be taken. To hell with this poor owner, the only tears I have seen has been from owners, the first was distressed because I told them they were a disgrace, starving the pony, and turning it out without a rug on, they were not in tears about the pony.
The second owner came to see her pony two weeks after it had broken down (not seen a farrier for a year) and it was diagnosed (by a vet) as beyond repair (she did not have enough compassion to have the job done that day,) no bandaging was applied, and as far as I know it had no pain relief, the farmer/YO had to help it out to the knackers lorry where it was shot, no Sedolin ...... farmer and I had a bit of a tear too...... poor thing it had to stand on three legs for three weeks.
 
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YO would want to get on with their job...they have a duty of care and should be getting a vet! I don't understand why you think if they don't call the vet they should at least give it some bute...medicating without knowing the cause of the problem is not a sensible thing to do!
 
As said already, the yard owner has a duty of care to the horse.

If you do go down the reporting route, WHW may be better. I'm sure RSPCA get it right some (most) of the time but had a fairly horrific experience when we called them out to a very lame (laminitic) old horse on a diy yard (had other problems too) who couldn't stand up.

They said that she was too ill to move and did NOTHING. We took it in turns to stay with the horse so she was never on her own, she took several days to die..
 
MrsD123 said:
There must be more to it than that, owner has a duty of care, was he/she prosecuted for causing unnecessary suffering, if not why not.
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If you were replying to my post, then no, the owner was not prosecuted. Obviously the RSPCA have to keep a degree of confidentiality but my understanding was that they were 'unable' to make contact with the owner (who had come up to the yard when the horse was found 'down' but had not been seen again). I realise that the RSPCA is a charity and it was not the best idea (financially or for the horse) to move her but she should have been pts. YO ended up paying for disposal and lost a fair bit in unpaid livery fees too.

I should point out that this was about 12 years ago now so hopefully things have changed for the better.

Bumped into the owner, with her new horse, at a show a few months later :(
 
rhino said:
If you were replying to my post, then no, the owner was not prosecuted. Obviously the RSPCA have to keep a degree of confidentiality but my understanding was that they were 'unable' to make contact with the owner (who had come up to the yard when the horse was found 'down' but had not been seen again). I realise that the RSPCA is a charity and it was not the best idea (financially or for the horse) to move her but she should have been pts. YO ended up paying for disposal and lost a fair bit in unpaid livery fees too.

I should point out that this was about 12 years ago now so hopefully things have changed for the better.
Bumped into the owner, with her new horse, at a show a few months later :(
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yes things have changed a good bit in last ten years, new legislation and a more hard line by Authorities, the RSPCA are taken as the "experts" in law, they will always call out a vet, as the inspectors are not qualified.
There are still many horse persons who do not have welfare as a primary consideration, I can name several examples, a BHS instructor who does not see a need to feed if a horse is not working for its living, a breeder who keeps a stallion in a dark stable all the time, I mean except when it is covering, owners who consider that their pony is at fault for not eating the hay they gave it, (mouldy) , another owner who blamed the farmer for not providing enough grass (paddock was about 1/3 of an acre)
Funnily enough most of these things are sorted when the RSPCA visits. They were "doing the right thing" before of course, but now they are doing more!
 
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rhino said:
If you were replying to my post, then no, the owner was not prosecuted. Obviously the RSPCA have to keep a degree of confidentiality but my understanding was that they were 'unable' to make contact with the owner (who had come up to the yard when the horse was found 'down' but had not been seen again). I realise that the RSPCA is a charity and it was not the best idea (financially or for the horse) to move her but she should have been pts. YO ended up paying for disposal and lost a fair bit in unpaid livery fees too.

I should point out that this was about 12 years ago now so hopefully things have changed for the better.

Bumped into the owner, with her new horse, at a show a few months later :(
Click to expand...

Things are very different now, the AWA would have definately affected the situation you've described giving the ability for the horse to have been euthanased without contact with the owner if all reasonable attempts at contact had failed and a vet insisted on euthanasia on welfare grounds. The rspca really are just a middle man, they know the law and can only act within it, if a vet fails to support then the they are severely restrained as to what can be done.
 
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