What a strange post! It sounds as if the yard isn’t set up very safely, especially as there doesn’t appear to be a closed yard gate which would stop any horses escaping onto a main road. If l ever had to look for a livery yard this would be my first consideration. I think she’s been very sensible in leaving, it doesn’t sound as if you are very friendly. Fortunately l’ve only ever had to use a livery yard once, a long time ago, when relocating and the people there were very helpful to incomers. It sounds as if the whole set up needs reviewing with a risk assessment in place to ensure you ALL are aware of possible risks / consequences. And as you ask, suggesting that it’s possible to ‘Claim against Someone’ maybe your yard owner/ you should make this clear to anyone who may come into contact with your horse so they aren’t victimised by your thoughts or actions.Hiya!
There has been a recent incident at my yard, whereby a new livery, of about 4 days, came to feed her horse outside the field (This is common practice at our place, remove the horse from field, feed, return to field.)
I would like to know what/if I would have been able to claim against her, if something awful were to have happened!
When getting her horse in, a few in the herd followed to the gate (The herd consist of 8 horses - 4 Irish draught types, 2 cobs and 2 Thoroughbred types)
When she got to the gate (which opens inwards to the field) she was nervous of the other horses and has stated she felt threatened by them and they were bullying her horse (This isn't usual behaviour of our bunch..)
When she opened the gate to get hers in, she says that she tried to only let hers through, but he was nervous from the attention of the others and the others had clocked her feed bowl waiting and were rowdy and pushy.
She claims that one of the bigger horses pulled the gate open and out of her control.
Then the horses all pushed through the opening and ran up the driveway - She managed to keep hold of her horse though.
Witnesses from other fields state that instead of acting straight away and putting her horse back and trying to start catching them, she called the YO, but continued to remove her horse's rug and let him nibble from his bowl - Taking time to put her rug away in the back of her car etc.
When her horse had finished his supplement feed, she put him back and went after the others with a lead rope and as the YO arrived from the house.
My horse was unfortunately in this group that had been let out - In one direction, the driveway they ran up leads to a heavy plant and lorry park, the other way leads to a busy road...
Fortunately, my horse and the others were returned and checked, by our yard owner upon her arrival from the house - No injuries or issues.
Unfortunately, this woman has proven fairly incompetent on a number of occasions, such as feeding treats to her horse in the field, struggling with latching the electric fencing correctly and this incident.
She was unapologetic for the incident, didn't consider our horses' welfare and in fact blamed the YO for 'lying' to her that the herd is a chilled out friendly bunch!
She was more concerned that the YO didn't pay her more attention and apologise to her for the incident!
I am of the opinion that this is nothing to do with the YO - The field gates are secure and safe. Metal gate, with two levels of electric fencing and a chain latch.
The usual behaviours of the horses is not of this nature - I've never had an issue exiting/entering the field and been here 2 years. So, we suspect she has been feeding treats regularly, which attracts them to her, as well as having the 'new boy' in the herd.
Additionally, my opinion is, and I am angry, that my horse was put at risk, by her incompetence (and to a degree, negligence) in leading her horse from the pasture safely.
She states she was nervous and felt threatened by the other horses, as she doesn't know them fully, yet had walked into the field in trainers, no hat or gloves, nor a whip to help her out of any potential trouble - When I first came to the yard, I was wary for a similar reason, of not knowing the boys, so initially caught my horse in all my PPE and walk at the edge of field, so I could get out if anything did happen... but it never has done!
As a result of this incident, she was asked to leave the next day, either returning to her old yard, or finding an alternative within 30-days - Our yard owner had zero-tolerance for the incident occurring, especially due to the livery's reaction and slow response to aid the situation and this never occurring before.
She has since left earlier, as her horse and another were playing/bickering and hers got a kicked to the knee, which meant she had to move swiftly to a yard with stables available for box-rest.
Thank you for any comments
Bit of an over reaction! Horses being horses - it happens
Bella there are always at least two sides to every story BUT the simple answer to this is that a yard without a closed main gate and the ability to safely take in and out a horse is lacking a serious amount of direction. Obviously we don’t know much about the set up but it appears a rather Heath Robinson set up.
Because from what i understand the YO hasn't provided a safe environment for the horses to come in/out of the gate. The OP is looking to claim against the livery who was in an accident apparently, if there is any claim - which you've got to seriously doubt. Shit like this happens with horses. It's happened to mine and I didn't sue, just dealt with the injuries.