When do you step in and do something?

Noodlejaffa

Noodlejaffa

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 March 2006
Messages
2,139
Location
Edinburgh
www.ailsamactaggart.co.uk
I have a huge dilemma. There's a so-called livery yard (on farm) 2 mins walk from my front door, 'run' by a person with very odd ideas in horse management. At the moment I've a short term lease of a stable block in the farm for my three horses while my stables are being renovated. So, I'm seeing everything that's going on at the 'livery yard'.

I'm down at the yard to do stables 4-5 times a day, plus when I'm riding. While I don't expect everyone to keep their horses the same way as I do, I would hope that someone running a yard would skip out their horses everyday, give them fresh water and make sure they have plentiful hay/haylage.

How can people get away with keeping a horse stabled 24 hours a day, not mucking out at all, leaving it without water for at least 12 hours, fully clip it so you 'don't have to groom it', and not exercise it and then feed it full competition mix. It would be bad enough if this was a DIY livery client, but this is the woman's own horse. And she has a large number of horses kept like this, so you can see how awful this is.

I find the whole thing very distressing as I can't bear to see the animals kept like this. But I'm not sure if it's the sort of thing a welfare organisation would pay any attention to as the horses. What should I do? It's literally on my doorstep so is a very awkward situation.
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Very difficult to get anything done. My YO had a livery before me who had 5 horses, she never let them out to graze, didn't exercise them, fed them when she felt like it, never mucked out (I saw the stables - they were disgusting).

YO contacted ILPH to see what she could do and they said unless as the horses had access to food/water so they weren't seriously dehydrated/starved there was nothing she could do
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Shame, imo.
 
Crazy thing is, the woman labels herself as a rescue centre, but for whom?! She is forever boasting about how she's rescued a horse from a cruel owner or near starvation.

To be honest, it's more a case of ignorance than anything else, but that doesn't make it any easier for the poor animals.
 
If you consider it to be a welfare case, try redwings welfare dept. Tell them the situation, and see if they can get a rep to talk about things with the lady.
These organisations may not have the power to do anything about it, but they can offer advice and imo they are worth a go.
 
Buy her a horse management book as a "thank you"?

The only thing you can do is tell her, which she probably won't take kindly to. Welfare organisations will not get involved as long as they are fed & watered.

Must be seriously frustrating for you.

How are you anyway, keeping busy!
 
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How are you anyway, keeping busy!

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Very busy! New boy preparing for his first BE and I've another youngster arriving next week. I must be mad!!
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What you up to? You heading to Kirriemuir in April?
 
I think a call to you Local Authority might be in order, as it could be said she is in breach of Section 9 (subsect 1 & 2) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006:

"9 Duty of person responsible for animal to ensure welfare
(1) A person commits an offence if he does not take such steps as are reasonable in
all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which he is
responsible are met to the extent required by good practice.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, an animal’s needs shall be taken to include—
(a) its need for a suitable environment,
(b) its need for a suitable diet,
(c) its need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns,
(d) any need it has to be housed with, or apart from, other animals, and
(e) its need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.
(3) The circumstances to which it is relevant to have regard when applying
subsection (1) include, in particular—
(a) any lawful purpose for which the animal is kept, and
(b) any lawful activity undertaken in relation to the animal.
(4) Nothing in this section applies to the destruction of an animal in an
appropriate and humane manner. "

I would say 24/7 isolation in a stable breaches Subsect 2 a & c at the very least.
 
I doubt any welfare organisation would say a word to her, as they have only your word for what's going on.
I agree the horses should be mucked out and not left without water, but as for standing in and fed too much food, well there are hundreds if not thousands of horses on livery yards kept like that all over the UK.
Are her horses thin? does their skin look tight as in dehydration?
Perhaps take some pics to show on here (heads blanked out of course) and see what others feel about their condition.
Unless you can show something concrete to the inspectors you're wasting your time.
Sadly I think there is little you can do other than lead by example, get her into conversation and drop hints.
 
My YO is the same - we're somewhat insulated from it all as us DIYers are on a separate yard at a different site, but whenever I go down to the main yard I am appalled. Nothing has ever been done by RSPCA as the horses get what they call sufficient food and water (so why do I see horses tied up on the yard in their tack in full summer heat left there for several hours with no access to food or water, simply because a client hasn't turned up for a ride and they can't be bothered to untack it and put it out before they go for their hack?)

I would say lead by example but it obviously doesn't work on these kind of people!
 
Do try Redwings, they came out to a neighbour of ours who were keeping a stallion in unsuitable conditions and gave them very sound advice, which amazingly they took!
 
As I said in my title, when do you step in? To be honest, I'm not prepared to get involved, primarily because it's one of those borderline cases and one which, unfortunately, appears to be common across the country. It's too close too home i.e. literally on my doorstep, and getting too involved would result in unpleasantness in many ways.

The woman is pleasant, but lazy and not the brightest button in the box. She has readily admitted that horses do not need to be skipped out more than once a day, even if they're in for 24 hours. And she doesn't believe in grooming. She claims to be running a high quality livery yard, but with a stable of twenty boxes and only three grass liveries to show for it (and there is a reputation locally which means no one will go near her with a barge pole) it's difficult to know what else to do.

Personally, I object to seeing horses with ringlets in their manes because they haven't been handled for a good five months, and horses with full clips who are aged 20 and not ridden at all due to 'chronic arthritis', but are turned out in temperatures of minus 5 with no rug. And what about the horses with full clips who have been turned out 24/7 without rugs for the last two months with no rugs and no hay. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid...?

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against older horses (I have a 28 year old mare who still kicks her heels around the place), but surely these animals deserve some kind of quality of life, albeit forage and water. That's not too much to ask, surely?

But, as it's not my yard and I have no power to do anything and no welfare organisation would be interested because the horses are not on death's door, I shall continue to grit my teeth and turn a blind eye to it. To ride past it three, four times a day is very difficult and I, for one, have difficulty coping with what is going on.
 
Maybe you could try a chat with your county BHS welfare rep who might be prepared to advise, or get her a leaflet from the BHS on how to become an approved yard - she might see then how far she is falling short of the required standards.

Maybe, for personal reasons, she simply can't cope. This is one of the reasons people fall in to neglecting their horses. Do you feel brave enough to point out that the horses and stables could be a lot better if she got in some help - even if it is a knowledgeable livery who might do some work in lieu of paying.
 
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