What would you do?

[bellaM]

Theres an old horse at the yard I'm at that I used to ride when I was younger, he is a native pony that is now 33 and I feel a bit confused as what to do for him.
The yard owner looks after him for the owner who comes down once every other month or less and the poor thing is skin and bone. I have fallen out with the yard owner and owner of the pony over welfare related issues before and I know they would be loathed to listen to me to up his feed. The other thing is although I have fallen out with them they have done quite a lot for me and the yard owner has always taken me to shows etc so I would feel like a back stabber if I was to report him what do I do??!!

 

[madhector]

How bad is the pony's condition?

 

[showjump2003]

Be careful! Is the pony underweight because of it's age or because of under feeding?

 

[bellaM]

He's poor, you can see ribs clearly and his pelvic area his flank area has sunken in and to make things worse poor thing is still being ridden.

 

[madhector]

age type etc...? if hes really old, then this time of year is really hard to keep the weight on, my tb looked like a rescue case last year however much i fed him, not so bad this year as i didnt clip him, but he is 17 and finds it difficult to keep wieght on

 

[bellaM]

He is being fed but its not suitable, he hasn't had his teeth done in ages so he can't cope with it, anyway even though he is old and older horses can have problems in the weight department there isn't an excuse for them to look that poor!!!

 

[madhector]

i know its not an excuse, but it is hard to keep the wieght on, believe me, hector looked awful, i am getting him fatter and fatter each year, but he also suffers from lymphangitis (sp) so cant feed him huge amounts of hard feed either, my point is they maybe a reason he is thin other than neglect, is always worth checking first before you start reporting people

 

[bellaM]

No, there isn't any reason apart from his teeth maybe that haven't been checked in ages, yard owner and owner don't really do dentists and yard owner thinks he's a vet!!

 

[madhector]

mmm..does sound a bit like they dont have a clue

 

[bellaM]

You would be correct!! they are the type of people who think they know it all and won't listen to anyone else it gets really frustrating sometimes, I ride the owners other horse and I have had to sneak her round a friends to get her teeth adn back done as well as sneak feeds to their underweight horses, I'm at a loss at what to do as my fear is if I reported the pony they may move it where no one can keep an eye on it as well as the one I ride but it may well buck there ideas up a bit.

 

[Tia]

Oh I don't know about that. Old horses are notoriously difficult to keep weight on, whether they have good teeth or not. Generally I find the people who don't know this are the people who aren't around a lot of very old horses. Old horses in the UK seem to be hidden away because of the comments made about them....

 

[TGM]

So difficult in these sort of posts to gauge how thin the animal really is. How would you rate him on a condition score? Condition score chart here

What sort of feed is he receiving?

 

[piebaldsparkle]

To be fair, I think if you were seriously worried about this horses condition, you would have reported it already, and would not be discussing it on here.

 

[MagicMelon]

You can report it, they dont have to know it was you!

 

[bellaM]

Tia I have looked after a considerable amount of old ponies and am extremely knowledgable about them and sorry to be blunt and I know a lot of people are not going to like my opinion on this but when my pony gets to the point that she is struggling to keep weight on is stiff and has no quality of life I will have her shot rather than hide her somewhere where she can rot safely with no one looking!!
My concern here is what to do to improve this horses welfare condition score wise he is about a 1.5 he is being fed a diet with too much chaff, alfa etc for him to handle its quidded out, he needs something far softer and some teeth care if they are to keep him alive but how do you tell someone that who is pig headed?!

 

[filly190]

You seem to have had a lot of good advise and my comment would be, try and collar the owner when they are next up and have a conversation about loads of things and then drop in your bit about the pony. If you go heading into it straight away they will cotton on and it could cause trouble. So I would hedge round it a bit and then see where the land lays.

I am surprised the pony is still being ridden, this would indicate that it is quite well in itself. I have seen riding school ponies look like this but be perfectly healthy, it is a very difficult balance and a vets opinion would be the deciding factor.

I would not go causing a war about it, but getting people interested in the pony and making a fuss of how "well it is doing" for its age to be ridden etc and then you can develop the welfare issues and weight.

I am sure you can go about this is a professional, subtle manner that wont get peoples backs up. Good luck

 

[bellaM]

Thanks filly, sounds like a good plan! It surprises me it is being ridden unfortuneatly it doesn't mean its well in itself at all the girl that rides him treats him as a toy, unfortuneatly I can't post piccies, I think they would really put the point across though, but I do think that the line of action you suggest would be best.

 

[Tia]

Would you mind PMing me a picture of the horse in question, please? It would give a better understanding as to whether the horse really is in an awful condition, or whether it is just old and looks like any other old horse.

Thank you.

 

[emilyhanstock]

hi i am emily
and i have got a pony called minstral and he is recroving from and musal injary it has been a year now and he is back in full work now everything but jumping he is coping realy well so yesterday i poped him over a very small jump i think he managed ok but i dont no if i should do it agen soon what do you think?