Views on this please - Newspaper article and subsequent letter

Is standerd table salt good for horses

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Taboo1968

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Now this seems to be a rather hot story in the local papers!! And I wondered what everyones views are!!! Have added a poll so that people can express their views

Riding for the love of M
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View GalleryA HORSE owner is holding a fundraising ride on Sunday in a bid to save the life of her sick gelding M.
Miss T is hoping as many riders as possible turn up for the ride as she tries to raise £2,000 to fund an operation for her 19-year-old horse.
Miss T (32), of West Langton, noticed he was getting nose bleeds earlier this year, which led to the discovery of his illness.
M was diagnosed with a growth in his sinuses blocking his airways and had injections from the Oakham Veterinary Hospital to try to reduce the ethmoid haematoma. The nosebleeds stopped initially but returned a few weeks ago.
Miss T said: “I panicked when I saw M had had a nose bleed. I didn’t know what on earth to do. I was distraught and couldn’t stop crying when I went back to work.”
The vet found the lump had returned, leaving no option but to operate, which will cost £2,000.
Miss T, who works for Joules Clothing in Harborough, added: “Everyone has been so supportive and so far I have collected £200.
“He’s like one of the family and I’ll do everything I can to save him. If someone said what’s the one thing you want for the rest of your life then it would be him. He’s my life.”
Former motor rally driver Miss T said M could have the operation as early as January 3 if the money can be raised. The ride will start from The Manor, Tur Langton, from 10am.
There is a £10 per horse registration fee to pay on arrival. There will be two maps available, for a 15-mile ride and a shorter journey of six to seven miles.
For more information, phone Miss T on *********** or K on ***********.
The full article contains 317 words and appears in Harborough Mail newspaper.Last Updated: 21 December 2007 2:01 PM

Followed by this letter to the editor from this weeks paper

Letters To The Harborough Mail 03/01/08
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View GalleryCharity ride should not fund vets bills
I am writing in response to the article published in the Mail on Thursday, December 27, about Miss T trying to raise money for an operation on her horse M. I was amazed that this was not for charity but just for Ms T's own benefit. Charging people £10 each for a ride out on their own horses. Not even a sponsored ride to go to the International League for the Protection of Horses perhaps?
Has she not thought of insuring her horse in the first place, to cover such instances? Or maybe actually paying for the treatment herself? Surely any understanding vet would come to some payment arrangement, if the full amount could not be paid in one lump sum.
Instead, Ms T is expecting other people to pay for her vets bills. Over the last 12 months, I have personally lost two beloved pets and spent a lot of money myself (a few hundred pounds at least) on their welfare and treatment. I did not come 'cap in hand' to the local newspaper, or expect anyone else to pay off my bills. If people cannot afford to look after their animals, should they really be keeping them in the first place?
What next – will we be seeing requests for M to have a new set of shoes?
Ms L W,
Rothwell.
 
i voted no to first and yes to the second right or wrong i would want to try and help wether horse is in care of a charity or still at home charity is charity no matter who it is given too people fund raise for ill people so why not i suppose ,no one is forced to give or take part .
 
I think when you add up all the facts, it is wrong..... firstly an ethmoid haematoma is not life threatening! (Now I actually went with this person to the vets on the first visit and it was NOT blocking his airway) The haematoma has been injected twice with formalin and had considerably shrunk.... at no time had it disappeared and come back!
We have a horse on our yard that has an ethnmoid haematoma who is approx 22 yrs old, he was still out eventing till last year.... he has nose bleeds from time to time, but his owner is not rushing said animal to vets having it injected, nor is she expecting other people to fund her vets bills!
Sorry but out of principle I think this is wrong! (Or maybe we could all start a fund to pay my vets bills too!)
At the end of the day your £10 registration fee would be going to pay for this!
 
My mare is coming to the end of treatment for a Squamous Cell carcinoma which was growing across the surface of her eye (£5000 worth of treatment). Luckily, NFU are very helpful people and my mare is not 19.

I suppose people are paying £10 for somebody to organise this ride, and I applaud her initiative for choosing to raise the cash rather than go into debt. She isn't asking for a straight donation, she's offering something in return.

Now if she was just asking for donations towards her vet bill, I would probably not want to be interested

As long as she uses the cash to help her horse, then how is this different to giving money to the ILPH?

After thinking this through, I think I voted wrongly for the first bit - it's up to the individual how they spend their money.
 
Ahhhh - now if she hasn't been entirely truthful about things, then that puts a different light on the subject!!!!!
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I would run a mile from something like that!
If Miss T can afford to have 2 horses, then I am sure she can raise/ borrow the necessary money for the operation.
Is it not against the law to beg?
Also as the ride would produce income I am sure that Miss T is liable for paying Income Tax on any amount raised.
As per usual I am opening a can of worms, but it is begging plain and simple!
ETS sorry just re-read and realised it doesnt say that she has 2 horses
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, but either way, you take on a horse knowing full well that vets bill can easily be expensive!
 
mmmmmm...... I still think it is wrong..... its the principle of the matter..... if we want to keep these animals, then "we" should be rsponsible for them, which includes paying our own vets bills....
Most people would attempt to get a loan if the situation was that desperate......
It leads to my next question of "exactly how many people on here have a horse with a diagnosed ehtmoid haematome and what are they actually doing with their horse? Are they still riding"?
Reports back have said that those that participated were fed up as they all had to walk because they could'nt go any faster because of her horse - yes, this horse needs a life saving op but is still being ridden???? Something not quite adding up here!
 
At 19 it would be very difficult to get insurance to cover vets bills for anything other than an accident.
That said, £2000 is not a large amount of money to borrow in the grand scheme of things.
Had it been a life threatening situation that was going to cost £10,000 plus then I would happily support her but not for £2k.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Reports back have said that those that participated were fed up as they all had to walk because they could'nt go any faster because of her horse - yes, this horse needs a life saving op but is still being ridden???? Something not quite adding up here!

[/ QUOTE ]
WTF Now that is not right at all!
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I have never heard of this condition, thankfully I have always had healthy horses who have died of (very) old age!
A LIFE THREATENING condition means the horse will die with out treatment!
Good God, please dont tell me any more as my New Years Resolution will be all gone out the window!
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hmmmmmmm - enlightening. No, I would have been cross about her riding the horse we were raising money to treat - if I had been part of this!

Has she heard of interest free credit cards?
 
I just wanted a consensus of opinion based on the facts to see how they compare to what others in RL are saying...... and at the moment.... it seems everyone is of the same opinion!
 
At this point I am so disgusted I am seriously considering writing to her C/o Joules!!!
What is still distasteful, but morally more sound is that if she is as poverty stricken as that, would be to ask local companies for sponsorship, but I doubt that would get her anywhere with something like this.
Aaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhh ANGRY!
*counting to 100*
 
If this were a charity, ie the RSPCA ,ILPH or some other that had rescued this horse then i would help, but this is just not on.
I think the writer of the letter needs praise for sticking her neck out.
I have a few vets fees does anyone fancy helping me out??
I think not. It is her responsibility and as others have said if you have a horse and it means so much to you then by hook or by crook you do something about it without resorting to this begging. Perhaps she should go out on the strets and sell the 'Big Issue'
 
I wonder what Joules think about being associated, even peripherally, with this business? I would imagine they aren't too pleased.

The thing that bothers me is that this isn't an illness that will kill the horse in six weeks left untreated. Certianly if the horse is capable of being ridden, then she can't realistically say its a life-saving op. Someone below mentioned interest-free credit cards, this would have been the sensible option for me as well. A decent vet would have helped her to set up some sort of payment plan if she was really really stuck.
 
I think the vet would have definitely set up some kind of payment plan for 2 grand - mine does for 200 quid! It obviously isn't life threatening as she's still riding - if it was then I could have some sympathy for her desperation to get the money to pay for the op, but it's not like she hasn't got any other options. As for "If someone said what’s the one thing you want for the rest of your life then it would be him. He’s my life." - I would do anything for my horse, I love her dearly BUT the woman is going to have to realize the horse can't live forever and by the sounds of it no matter what the problem was she would keep the horse alive despite the amount of pain he would be in and therefore raising funds for an operation that isn't for the horse's benefit but for hers (just playing devil's advocate - what if he got another condition that made his quality of life really poor?). People with this attitude make me so angry - I used to share with a woman who said she would kill herself if one of her horses died - WTF? What about people with seriously ill children who struggle to get operations?
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WTF! If I was Joules I would take immediate action to distance the company from all this. It is disgusting. The horse is not dieing, it is simply a selfish woman begging. The horse would be fine if it retired/semi retired, it is obviously capable of light work. The horse is not in pain, she just wants to get her sport back.

Genuinely needy horses could suffer because of this. It is likely that people who support this will not contribute to genuine causes that save horses lives on the grounds that they have already contributed to this.

I hope the Inland Revenue hear about it, that will make her think twice about doing the same again. As she is ultimately running a business I wonder if she has insurance for her rides etc.

IMHO it is iresponsible to keep a horse if you haven't got the finances to fund medical treatment. It is not like 2k is much on the grand scale of things. God help the horse if it needs colic surgery.
 
QR
For the 5 of you who replied saying they supported this....please send ME your money.
My (ex orphan) 2yo Shire X TB needed urgent colic surgery last spring for small colon impaction caused by a blood clot (life threatening). My bill for the surgery was £3700...follow up visits another £200 approx....
Cash/cheques/credit cards accepted...
S
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So thats what I should have done when Mac racked up £15k worth of vets bills? Insurance covered 2/3 of it but the 1/3 that was left was hard to pay !

THe article says she has a job so I think she should cough up and pay for it herself.
 
I answerd No the first question. If she has a horse she should be able to pay for its care, vet bills included.

But I answerd yes to the second question. I would want to do my bit to make sure this horse did get the help it needed as I would not want it to suffer because the owner didnt have the funds to pay for treatment.

But then I thought, as its not a registered charity how do we know that all the money raised would go towards the vet bill?

Bit of a silly artice really, can't honestly believe that someone would organise a ride to pay for vetinary care. Perhaps it was their only option though, maybe their funds have all been used up and they have no other way of raising capital. Hard to comment I suppose without knowing the owners personal circumstances.

I am now in 2 minds about this, I will leave my comment open, I can see both sides but cant decide as I do not know the full story.
 
Anybody fancing chipping in for the fees for the chiropractor for Jack and his rotated pelvis? In my personnal (but nonetheless unimportant) opinion this woman has a bloody cheek!
 
I voted yes for both, however reading the truth I would have to say no to the first vote.

Im going to stick my neck out now and change the circumstances some what ...

Two years ago I had a new livery come to the yard who had just bought a gorgeous 16.3hh liver ch. Warmblood from an advert in H&H. She only paid £2k for him as a 6 year old and unfortunately, didnt have him vetted. He felt completely sound when she tried him. She insured him immediately. The second time she tacked him up to work him in the school he was obviously lame on his n/s hind and the inside of his hock had swollen up to the size of a grapefruit. I took him for x-rays to find that he had 3 small pieces of bone floating and spavin. To cut a long story short, he needed an operation to correct this and could lead a relatively normal ridden life, i.e. beach rides, low level dressage, RC activities etc.

Her insurance company would not help as this was discovered within the first 14 days of her policy, and the injury was found to be pre existing. The operation at Willersley would cost around £2,300.

I took it upon myself to raise funds to send him there, even though a number of people were telling me to have him shot! We organised a Christmas party in our indoor school, had a huge raffle (first prize was tickets to the Millenium Centre to see Wales v Italy), an Auction of Promise with 50 odd lots. We put on hot food, a disco, licenced bar and charged people £5 all inclusive. It was a fabulous night with over 100 people from the local community who all had the opportunity to meet the horse. It is still the talk of the village
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We raised £2,500 on the night which paid for transport and the operation by Sven Colt which was a huge success. The horse has competed novice dressage and hacks without a problem at all. In this scenario, everyone was happy, however a number of people from the RC which I was a committee member refused to support us as they felt that we all had vets bills to pay and that the owner should have had him vetted.

I also arranged another fund raiser in April last year when we lost little Magic foaly which was in house, with a yard gymkhana, bbq etc.

If people know the full story and are prepared to give, that is their decision. So much good can come out of helping in these situations, however I personally feel that it has to be a desperate situation to warrant my own personal involvement.
 
I choose to have my horses uninsured, so therefore I take responsibility for all my vet bills starting with Harry who had to be put down, then Mac had a suspensory and shockwave treatment followed by Dusty getting pus in the foot and lastly Kelly impaled her lip on the fence and needed stiches etc.... . Over the last two years I have wracked up vet bills of over £3000 and guess what? I have nearly paid it off all by myself. I got another job and I sold stuff on ebay. I would never expect the public to cough up on this! nuff said!
 
I put no to both. Every 3 years I have to find about £3,000 for Cairo to have cancer treatment - I take out an interest free credit card and pay it off. I am about to pay about £600 - £700 for Cairo to have treatment for his joints - again I will find the money and my vet knows he is uninsured and is doing everything he can to keep the treatment as cheap as possible.

If this was a horse at a charity with a life threatening condition I would have put yes to both.

Owning a horse is a big responsibility and if you cannot find a couple of grand then I wonder should you have one. That said, I have a good job and am happy to give up holidays, nights out, expensive clothes, make up etc to pay for Cairo.
 
QR: Interested to read the replies on this as I didn't read it that way at all! I actually thought good for her how enterprising to put on a ride to help raise money for expensive treatment. At the end of the day she is not 'begging' she's organising a fun ride so people are essentially paying for the ride rather than just giving her money. Ie. they are getting something out of it themselves, as were the people in the previous post who had a fun night out at a bbq/dance.
Is it the fact that she is playing on the 'sob' story of her horse being ill to encourage people to attend that you have a problem with? Would it have been ok if she'd just organised a ride, advertised it in the paper with no mention of needing to raise money for vet bills, and then used the money for treatment??
 
[ QUOTE ]
I answerd No the first question. If she has a horse she should be able to pay for its care, vet bills included.

But I answerd yes to the second question. I would want to do my bit to make sure this horse did get the help it needed as I would not want it to suffer because the owner didnt have the funds to pay for treatment.

But then I thought, as its not a registered charity how do we know that all the money raised would go towards the vet bill?

Bit of a silly artice really, can't honestly believe that someone would organise a ride to pay for vetinary care. Perhaps it was their only option though, maybe their funds have all been used up and they have no other way of raising capital. Hard to comment I suppose without knowing the owners personal circumstances.

I am now in 2 minds about this, I will leave my comment open, I can see both sides but cant decide as I do not know the full story.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you will find that the OP has put the whole truth in, firstly a newspaper artical stating what the woman is doing, then from the OP herself as she went to the vets with this woman so knows exactly what is wrong with this horse and it is obvious the condition is infact 'non'life threatening

i have voted no for both, taking on any animal and you are taking on a whole lot of responsibility including paying vet bills yourself, vets <u>'WILL'</u> come up with a payment plan
 
Llwyncwn - I have never found myself in this position but I hope that if I ever did I would have a friend like you, as the saying goes a friend in need is a friend indeed.
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I have recently exceded my limit on my insurance policy by more than double for my young horse with very limited prognosis and am well aware of how difficult the balance is.
 
Having organised a number of sponsored rides myself I know that there are several expenses involved such as insurance (not cheap) etc. So she may well end out of pocket.
 
Thats assuming she has insurance!

I think she has a cheek personally. When I was young I had a pony that needed lots of treatment. I had three jobs to help pay off the bill. My vet also let me pay in monthly installments. She needs to get off her backside and work for the money, not expect everyone else to pay for it.

By the way, I have a slight cold and need someone to pay my mortgage. if any one would like to pay me £300k then I would be very grateful. You can come and walk around my fields for £3000 a time.
 
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