What do you class as neglect?

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JaneMBE

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Just curious on your thoughts.
What do you class as neglect/cruelty?

Obviously skinny under nourished horses.. but what about fat, cresty lawnmowers? Or no farrier, just natural wearing down?

And when would you call one of the various bodies to complain?
 
I know of someone who has a horse that has a poorly fitting saddle, its so bad that the horse has white marks that are almost big enough to have to record on the description of the horse on the passport!
 
significantly undernourished- yes
seriously obese to the extent that injury or illness is likely-yes
No farrier - only if Arabian slippers are a danger

Also I would get in a stew about horses left with no water or in a paddock with items likely to cause injury, or if an injury was left untreated, or a horse being overburdened with work
 
willful neglect is causeing the horse to suffer and knowing or even watching it suffer.ie knowing you horse is skinny knowing your the one responable for not feeding it. but sometimes neglect can come about by being miss informed or ignorance ie not having their feet properly looked after may cause long term problems i would treat every situation differently
 
Well someone who used to be at my yards mare actually looked like she was about to have a foal she was so huge, she never got the farrier out and she was barefoot, so has long toes, and then she started getting sngry with the YO for insisting she takes more care of her horse, she was chucked of the yard in the end.

I would say undernorished is the obvious one which is very publicised, while extremely obese horse abuse is less heard about
 
I hate seeing an over-weight horse, there's some horses I pass every day in a MASSIVE very green field - they are little nativey jobs and very fat already.... laminitis just waiting to happen. Also hate seeing horses without water or standing about with no food (in stables when they've run out of hay or in starvation paddocks - all horses need something!!). I think neglect is basically neglecting a horses basic needs which includes not causing them pain by badly fitting saddles etc.

Unfortunately I have complained to the RSPCA in the past about some horses but basically as long as they aren't on deaths doorstep, they dont do anything.
 
Hmm, tricky to pin down exactly but I supose it would be any aspect of the animals basic needs not being met that cause mental/physical health problems.

Ie, not getting the farrier out is fine as long as the foot wears down well and isnt causing the horse pain/discomfort.
 
Yes, I have to agree with you about the white marks on the withers. My TB mare had shark fin withers when I brought her, she was really an RSPCA case. The owners seemed more bothered about me paying for the tack than her. Her saddle was a very good quality one, apparantly made to measure. Perhaps it did fit her once upon a time. Anyway to cut a long story short it contributed to all the muscle wastage around her withers where the saddle must of pressed into her and hurt her terribly. Huuuugggeee, white mark by her withers now and YES it could be recorded on her passport. This is cruelty but goes on all the time. If the RSPCA were told to come out though every time tack was not fitted properly I would imagine those starving, neglected horses would die. By way saddle was sold straight away I got £650 for it and brought her a lovely endurance, treeless saddle which she and I love and all that muscle wastage from a too narrow fitted saddle has come back. Looks a different horse now so not neccessarily is it cheap, inferior tack!!
 
I suppose neglect is when an animal is unnecessarily in pain or discomfort or in a way which may lead to that ie: as you've stated..too fat, thin, poor feet, no water/feed/grass, poor fencing/stabling,mistreated/handled. However, its a difficult one because everyones opinion of safe weight or environment is different. My natives are always overweight..its a year long struggle as they do very little work and live on fresh air. I do everything possible to get them to drop weight..they have no rugs or feed in the winter. Some people will say not feeding them over winter is cruel, some will say them being overweight is..can't win.
 
I'm with Clare_C on the problem of overweight natives. Please don't judge people who have overweight horses without knowing them. Daisy is ridden 6 days a week, had no rug on for most of winter, is only fed a handful of happyhoof to put her supplements in and has restricted amounts of hay but is still huge. She can't wear a grazing muzzle because it brings her face up in big sores. She can't go in the starvation paddock because she escapes. I can't feed her any less and I can't work her any more.

Deliberate obesity is cruel but I'd be willing to bet that most owners of overweight horses are well aware of the problem and are at their wits end trying to solve it
 
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Deliberate obesity is cruel but I'd be willing to bet that most owners of overweight horses are well aware of the problem and are at their wits end trying to solve it

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But that isnt neglect.We will all at some point have an overweight/underweight/unwell animal in our care.Only becomes a problem if the owner doesnt do anything to change the situation which you clearly are.
 
I think it goes by degrees. What I have seen in England pales into insignificance to some of the things I've seen over here, therefore I think the more you see in life, the more your understanding grows.

I'm honestly not sure that most people have seen real neglect or cruelty to be honest. I don't really see just one aspect as cruelty/neglect, it has to be accompanied with others conditions. I generally feel that neglect is usually done by ignorant people - whereas I think that wanton cruelty is generally done by nasty people.
 
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I generally feel that neglect is usually done by ignorant people - whereas I think that wanton cruelty is generally done by nasty people.

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Absolutely agree Tia. Usually neglect is caused by ignorance, not understanding horses needs, or 'humanising' a horse, babying it, treating it like you would a child.

Trouble is, it's difficult to convince them that they are actually harming the horse. Or they might hide the fact the horse looks sh*te by bunging extra rugs on or something.
 
I'm not sure if you could call it neglect but for the past week there have been 2 horses near here still out in their winter turnout rugs and it has been 20 degs here on a couple of days. I was just bracing myself to sneak in and remove them but luckily yesterday the rugs were actually off. I am always slightly cautious about "interfering" because my little pony who has cushings is an unhealthy shape, i.e. bit ribby and pot bellied, and I am sure some people driving past might think she was neglected but she has the best of everything, its just the cushings. I would understand if someone did stop and ask me about her, might not be quite so chuffed if the RSPCA turned up without warning, though I could show them my vets bills to prove she wasn'tbeing neglected!
 
But I guess there is the difference. You might be a bit peed off if the RSPCA came to inspect after a complaint, but it at least shows someone is concerned and you have nothing to hide and can demonstrate that.

I'd rather be "inspected" and prove I don't neglecting my horse, showing the system is at least working, than no-one care and negligence and mistreatment be ignored.

Not sure I'm explaining it right, - I'd rather there were too many cases reported of which many prove to be false alarms, rather than too few and cases being missed...
 
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