What would you do?

[Alexart]

A friend of ours sent her mare to supposedly the top AI centre to be inseminated, will not mention the name of it, the mare had a month old foal at foot and was in perfect condition when she went, she sent me some pics a few days before she sent her and she looked beautiful, although she did have a bought of laminits a few weeks before the foal was born after breaking into a feed barn and eating a load of goat mix, she had never had it before that, the AI centre were told.
She got laminitis the day after she got there and could barely walk, x-rays were done etc at great cost as the vets had to borrow an x-ray machine from else where and my friend had to pay extra for that, she was quoted £150 but she got a bill for £400!!, pain killers were also given.
They kept the mare on box rest for over 30 days, they didn't feed her or the foal or even take them out to let the foal stretch its legs. They also continued to inseminate the mare and charge full livery of £20 per day, which I would be very surprised if a starving horse would get in foal, every time she rang up they kept saying they would inseminate her and she would be coming into season at any moment - 3 weeks later they did! She was not bothered if she wasn't well enough to be inseminated at all and asked if they thought she should be sent home - they told her that she should be fine and well enough to be put in foal - she took their advice and left her there.

When she went to pick up her mare she was warned by the stud vet that she had lost a bit of weight, she was not allowed to see the mare until after she had paid. Another vet working at the stud saw my friend in the car park and told her she had been on at the grooms for weeks to start feeding the mare as she was loosing far to much weight - the grooms made the excuse that they didn't have anything available to feed a laminitic mare so were giving her and the foal very little hay if anything, at this point my friend was really worried at how bad a state her mare was in!

Anyway owner picked up her mare and was totally gutted to see this bag of bones walk out of the stable, the foal was fine though and very happy to be out!!
She took pics of her mare and showed me - you could see her spine, ribs and hip bones sticking out - she had lost all her muscle too, now you would expect a bit of muscle wastage with box rest but the poor mare has put everything into the foal. The stud took the full amount of money and said they may give her a bit back if she was scanned not in foal next week! She really didn't know what to say to them and was just so shocked at the state of her - she just wanted to get the 2 back home so left. The whole thing has cost her nearly £2000, just to get an RSPCA case back - she's terrified someone is going to report her for cruelty as the mare is now home and back out in the field which is visable from a road.

So the question is would you have expected to pay for the livery etc?, and who do you report it to? My friend is just gutted at the state of her mare and it is going to take alot of careful feeding to get her back to what she was. I would have thought such a huge AI centre would have known how to deal with a laminitic mare with a foal at foot especially since there are several vets there, and certainly should have been feeding the foal?!!
Cookies if you read all that!!!

 

[Eriskayowner]

God, that's horrific. I'm not sure what I would do as not been much involved with breeding, but I would get my own vet/solicitor (backed up with vet evidence/photos) to write a strongly worded letter and get x % of fees back.

Best of luck x

 

[flowerlady]

That sounds horrific. In your friend position I would have fetched the mare back after a few days when she had been seen by the vet. I would also be claiming lack of duty of care from the AI centre if she is that bad. I can well beleive it a friend of mine sent his two mares to an AI centre and the state of his two beautiful mares when they came back made me cry.

 

[Hollycat]

Now she has paid, I think it will be hard to get any money back.

I would write a very strongly worded letter of complaint. I would also want to be in contact with the vet that treated the laminitis to see what feeding regieme he had advised for the mare and whether indeed box rest with no exercise for the foal had been reccommended. I would want a full explanation as to why this feeding regieme was presumably not followed and why I was not kept properly updated with my mares condition.

I would be very angry that I was not informed my mare had been loseing weight like this. Its too late in the season to do much now if she does not have enough condition to conceive.

We trust in the professionals that take care of our animals and its awful when something like this happens

 

[Shay]

If your freind is a member of BHS get them to speak to the legal advice team. Or indeed if she has any legal advice cover on her household, car or horse insurance.

There is probably a claim for damages here which could be pursued. But legal fees are high and it would be better to get an assessment covered by insurance.

 

[bj_cardiff]

Don't mean to be a fly in the ointment but I know what its like sending a mare away to stud.. The AI centre informed your friend of everything they were doing and they cared for the mare during her time there, wether or not it was adequet care I don't know..

I think if I was your friend - I'd of gone straight out when they said the mare was lame with lammi and brought her back, I would question someone's judgement putting a laminitic mare with its second bout of lami within a month in foal too..