what rights do yard owners have?

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ponypilotmum

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A brief background:

I loaned a pony out to a 'friend' who took him to the yard she had her horse on. I had met the yard manager, but not the yard owner. I knew my friend was having trouble with the yard owner and intended to move as soon as she could. A loan contract was drawn up stating that the loaner was responsible for vaccinations. I told loaner when the vaccinations were due. As i had moved house recently I had to send his passport away to be changed but loaner had seen passport and had no immediate need for it. It was agreed that i would hand passport over once I had got it back from the stud society.

I recieved a phonecall from her yard owner, demanding to see the passport. I explained I had just sent it off, and she said she needed to know his vaccinations were up to date. I said that I had proof of this (photocopy of passport) and offered to show her.
I later found out that the yard owner had called her own vet in and had MY pony vaccinated without mine or loaner's permission.
Loaner was mortified.
I'm angry that her vet did this without possession of the pony's passport and would like to make a formal complaint to the veterinary surgery. However, first I need to find out if what the vet / yard owner did was legal or 'correct'.

Pony has now been moved.
 
No it's probably technically criminal damage.., they did something to your property without your consent but I doubt she's going to prison for it and civilly you have to show a 'loss' which you can't really. The yard owner could demand you leave but nothing else..
 
Silly as it may seem, my understanding is that the yard owner should have the passport so it can be produced on demand. However I would be hopping mad if someone treated my horse without consulting me, or at least the loaner! I hope she at least had to pay for it herself, I certainly wouldn't.
 
intouch said:
Silly as it may seem, my understanding is that the yard owner should have the passport so it can be produced on demand. However I would be hopping mad if someone treated my horse without consulting me, or at least the loaner! I hope she at least had to pay for it herself, I certainly wouldn't.
Click to expand...

^^ This.
I believe if DEFRA turn up, they can ask (and expect) to see a passport for every horse on the yard.

I would say it was wrong of the YO and quite unprofessional of the vet too, assuming he knew he full circumstances.
 
To be honest, I think this is one that you have to think more broadly about, in that you can't turn back the clock as the deed has been done.

You are never going to get compensation from the vet or an apology from the YO, that just isn't going to happen and will cause you incredible stress if you try and persue that route.

IMO the best thing to do would be explain to the vet that the vaccinations were done without your/loanees authority and in future anything, unless a complete emergency, needs your/loanees authorisation.

Without rubbing in it, the vet will conclude that the YO was acting outside of their authority and then it is up to them to find a diplomatic way to manage the situation in future. You never know, as you didn't ask for the vaccinations, they are going to have to be quite brass necked to send you the bill - but again, my advice would be to think carefully before completely falling out with the local vet!!! It can have bad ramifications when you need them, so a diplomatic attitude in this case is likely to get you a whole lot further?
 
Wait til a bill arrives, then return it to the parctice with a brief explanation. Seems bizarre tbh. How would vet know what injection was required, the only thing I can think is that YO told them a lie, and if so the bill will not arrive at your door, or the loaners.
 
I've no intention of suing or trying to get the vet struck off. The yard owner paid for the vaccs, but had not mine or the loaners permission to have him vaccinated.
I would simply like to raise the issue with the vet as I feel it's unprofessional of him to vacciate an animal without seeing it's passport.

I hadn't met the YO, and loaner had inspected the passport and handed it back to me for change of address to be done. When the YO 'demanded' posession of the passport I explained it would be with her ASAP, I had no idea she needed it there and then, and had proof of his vaccinations.
 
I'd be straight on to the vet as soon as they open tomorrow. You could see what the BVA has to say about it. Then I'd be moving the pony asap. The YO deserves to at least lose some income as a result of this. If they had a rule about knowing a horse's vaccination record as a condition of livery they should have dealt it before taking the pony in, not after.
 
The vets could have acted in good faith.
I have at times arranged for liveries to have their jabs done [with owners knowledge] but occasionally have not had passport for some reason and taken it in later for signing.
If the YO has a good relationship with her vets this could have been the case here.
 
As far as I know vaccinations are recorded onto a horse's passport and is stamped by the veterinary practice performing the vaccination. How was this recorded then if the passport was not present? Did the vet therefore hand out a piece of paper with the necessary details on it. Personally if it was me I would be fuming and wishing to land a punch on that idiotic pipsqueak of a person, the yard owner!
They had no legal right to insist that the horse be vaccinated when you had given proof of the horse's passport via photocopies.
There is no way on earth I would be handing my passports to a yard owner!
On one yard I was at I gave them photocopies for records and said that should DEFRA visit I would be happy to produce the relevant documents.
Handing out a passport to a yard owner when a horse is on loan is asking for trouble. What if the loanee doesn't pay the bill? You as the owner are not aware of this and then the yard owner is able to sell on the horse to settle the bill as they have the passport that is needed in order to complete the sale.
In theory the loanee should have the passport though or at least a copy of it so that they are able to transport that animal legally if they need to.
I have a horse on permanent loan and I have his passport. In that passport is a copy of my agreement so that the vet can see it at any time. It clearly defines what I am responsible for and when the owner's permission is needed. There is also a clause in that agreement that should the owner not be available to contact given a reasonable time ( do have mobile numbers etc) then I as the loanee can authorise the horse to be euthanised if the horse is suffering and any sedation would not be in his best interests while the owner was being contacted. In other words in a dire emergency I have the right to end the horse's suffering, god forbid. That is a matter which I myself included in the contract when I drew it up and the owner agreed and signed with witnesses to prove this. I would never allow any horse to suffer just because of a technicality hence why I included it.
In the OP's case though the yard owner acted irresponsibly and I would be asking for legal help on this matter at the very least.
Depending on when your horse was due for its booster as I am guessing that this is what it relates to then if it was not due for a while then it has now buggered you up as you will be due for the next jab earlier than you should have been.
I would also be contacting the vet as well because in my opinion they should not have been administering drugs like that without the owner's or loanee's permission. A routine vaccination is not an emergency, unless of course the horse was not vaccinated against tetanus and had been wounded. But I doubt that is the situation.
I would be very, very angry!
 
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