What is the fair thing to do?

[martinka]

I have my 2 year old filly on grass livery where she has been without any harm for last 7 months and we were all happy. We had a woman who moved her 7 horses to our fields 2 months ago. She used to have her own yard and seemed to be a really nice person at first. I have told her specificaly as she brought 2 stallions that supposed to have been gelded prior to her coming but that did not happen, that the mother of my filly who is currently on breeding loan to my friend was injured and crippled for life as 2 y. old by a gelding that kept mounting her and I was anxious that she manages her stallions after they gelded carefully. The YO assured me that if there was at any point a problem, the problem horse would have to be either separated or leave. The stallions were kept along with 2 other geldings separately from the herd in a smaller field. Soon the grass in the smaller field run out and I was happy for the 2 geldings to join the mares as I was assured they were ok. The ex-stallions were still in the smaller field. Needles to say my filly was in season that week and few days after the geldings were put out, I found her with bite marks and scratches and massive swolen back leg. My gut instinct was telling me she was mounted on, but when I asked the woman if she noticed anything unusual or has she been runnning around more than usual, she said no. When the vet came, he asked the same Q. the woman was there and she again said no. The vet said the injury occured from some kind of stress on her leg and the vet bill came to over £100.
More to the point, my filly had to go to the small grazed off field to recover from her injury while the woman's ex-stallions went out with the herd.
few days later as I was leaving the yard early in the morning after giving my filly her antibiotics etc and I saw the woman's gelding mounting her own mare. And it was not the ex-stallion, but one of the original geldings. A big heavy skewbald. I phoned the YO immediately and she promised me she would deal with it as obviously it was a problem.
Last Fri I spoke to the YO in person and asked for my filly to join the herd again as her leg is ok now, but the skewbald would need to come out. She said it was absolutely ok and I should contact the woman and arrange for the swap around.
But the woman's response was a bit of a shocker, because she said she was happy to have her mares and geldings together and virtually she is not bothered if they are jumped on. And that I should speak to the YO.
suddenly the following day I was told that it is my filly that is going to be excluded from the herd and not the skewbald!!!
My filly has done absolutely nothing wrong yet she is being punished, being stuck in a field that with fairness was extended on Sat, but is grazed off, full of weeds and ragwort. Hardly a healthy environment for a growing horse.
Everybody I spoke to agrees with me that it is unfair for my filly being deprived of being in a big field with lots of grass and that she is excluded from the herd rather than the gelding.
Plus the other day I also saw one of her ex-stallions trying to climb on one of her mares as well.
I am so so so upset as I feel I am treated unfairly only because she has more horses than me.

 

[joanne1920]

speak to the yo again, is there anywhere else that you can move your filly too another field/yard?

 

[dianchi]

Unfortunatly always the way!

 

[wizzi901]

There is fair then there is money orientated YO. In reality if she upsets the other woman, then she loses more money, if she upsets you and you go, its only one...majority will always win in money even if unfair.

On a separate point, if there is ragwort and YO wont remove it then go and pull it up!! - I have just spent two weekends removing the stuff and that is in field full of grass. If you dont have much grass it would be the first thing I was doing rather than posting on here.

 

[martinka]

FYI - I have been pulling out the ragwort after work. I work 6 days a week so I can afford my horse. There is so much of the stuff that even after pulling it there is still more than 90% of it. and not much grass.
When I was more fortunate and had 4 horses and stallions, I have always made sure that no other liveries were put out. And always did the right thing however inconvenient it may have been for me at the time.
And any decent human being should do the same.

 

[martinka]

to your Q. Unfortunately I am going through very serious financial circumstances and trying to do my best to keep my baby. I work 6 days a week just to keep my head above the water. There are other places but you would have to have a stable or the grass livery is not available through winter. I bred my filly's mother for myself out of my stallion to keep the genes running and she was my dream horse till somebody came along and ruined it for me. But at least she gave me this filly in Q and it seems the history is repeating itself. I have put so much time, love, effort and money in my horses and it gets wrecked by careless, selfish people. That is my point. That is why I am so upset.

 

[Happy Bird]

I do feel for you. My mare is the only female out in our field. Luckily the current liveries do not try to mount her, but two previous liveries have (resulting in twisted back not to mention ripped rugs)

Are there other mares in the herd ??? If so, would they separate mares and gelding so your filly is not out by herself ? If this is not an option, I would personally look for grass livery somewhere else especially if the grazing is not great anyway. Don't risk your filly.

 

[TequilaMist]

Sorry I put no but meant to say yes .This would annoy me too.
Agree the offending geldings should be removed from mares.
What do the other liveries say about it cos chances are their mares will be getting mounted too.If enough of you complained to YO would may take more notice.
Shame for a youngster not to be involved with other horses.
Personally I would move yards or are there any local farmers that would rent you a field?

 

[martinka]

thank you happy bird! There are 7 mares and 4 geldings. I have suggested that the mares and geldings are separated, or even that the 7 mares and 2 geldings that are no problem stay together, but without any response.
My friends wanted to move their mares to the fields but now because of the situation they decided not to, because they don't want the aggrevation.
It would seem to be the obvious solution because if the 2 problem geldings were separated, there would be more liveries moving to the fields. Which would be only benefitial to the YO.
It is not easy to find a field around my way. I have been trying for last 3 years with no succes.

 

[martinka]

Thank you TequilaMist. As I said to happy bird, wish i could find a field but really difficult. believe me, i have tried absolutely everything to get one. I am sad for my youngster who is the sweetest thing in this world. she has no vices and must be one of the kindest horses i have ever come accross.
there is another new livery that came in last week and their horse is a mare who has just one eye. They said they would not be happy if anything tried to jump on their mare, but don't want to say anything because they new and don't want any upset. it is just worrying that if something does happen it may be that little bit too late. like it was for my mare 5years ago.

 

[Tia]

If there are 2 good fields that the YO can split the herd into 2, then why can't your filly go into the other good field? I don't understand why she has been shoved into a weed-infested paddock?

I actually think you possibly have the best deal here - your filly will be safe, no doubt she can still see the other horses but won't be in danger of being injured by them. Individual turnout without individual prices.

 

[tabithakat64]

To be honest I feel that the yard owner should go with the majority or horses/owners needs, although I do think it is unfair to your filly and that she should have the company of another horse or pony.

 

[Skhosu]

I feel that the injuries sustained are not at all blameable on the other woman if no-one has any idea how they happened.
Re: moving, that's the YO decision but I certainly wouldn't leave m y horse in a ragwort field.
I would have thought she could go in another field surely?

 

[martinka]

To summarise it all. As soon as i got back from work, i have loaded my dogs and went to the field, arrived at 6.30 and did not go home till gone 10 when it was too dark to see. all that time i was pulling the ragwort. yet another day. And it does not seem to make much difference. I had to watch my filly and one other that is in the field with her calling out for the others and galloping around madly as they wanted to join the herd where they were happy prior to the geldings being turned out. It was really sad because all the other mares came back to my bit of field nuzzling them over the fence. I just cried and cried pulling the ragwort.
<u>My entire point is that the YO promised that it would be the offensive geldings that would come out, not my filly OR that she will separate the geldings and mares.</u> I am not a malicious person, people who know me know that I am easy going and happy to help out anybody and share.
In past I had 2 mares and 2 stallions and it was more time consuming and demanding to have 2 stallions, but I would never jeopardize anybody's health or safety.
I expect the same from ANY DECENT PERSON and i don't think that is wrong at all.
Furthemore, this woman that caused so much upset has never even said SORRY. She knew prior to my filly's injury that the gelding was jumping on her, becasue she said to the YO that my filly was in the game and up for it!!!! Then, she laid to me and the vet when we both asked if she noticed anything unusual, different.
Now if that is not offensive, what is???
In the past I have been looking after horses that their owners abondoned, helped out many other people and animals without even being asked and always considered other liveries. Is it wrong to expect the same from others?
Needles to say, I am now looking again desperately for another establishment where people are nice and do not lie.
And lastly, 2 of my other friends will not be moving to the current yard, so the YO just lost future 5 liveries that have been at the place before and wanted to come back. If the mares and geldings were separated or at least the two offensive ones, there would be more people coming in. It is a shame and I am very sad, the YO's are lovely people and I was very happy there, I don't understand why they promised one thing and did another, but I guess such is life. Not always fair.