Yard have been negligent.

I'm sorry but I can't agree with you. I too have many yrs of experience and I am a very fussy owner, however, I cannot see into the future and I do not have a bottomless pit of money. At no point in my life do I want to get myself into a situation where I have to consider selling my horse to be able to pay its vets bills. Imagine if he needed colic surgery for example! No amount of fussiness can foresee of stop that happening. My last horse cost me £1, he is still insured for vets bills.OR if you choose not to insure then you have to put money away in case of this sort of thing happening.
 
MrsD123 said:
Absolutely sure that these people were genuine, in fact I thought they were naive when they told me the symptoms, having to feed and water a head heght etcetera, it was only last week that they happened to mention that they had told the yard manager that their vets had told them that the disease was strangles, unproven by testing, but all the symptoms pointed to it.
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Unproven... well get it proved first before you ramble on about compensation, negligence and more vets bills. I can see that as the very first step i woudl make.

Secondly, yeh i feel for you, its not a nice thing to go through. BUT... you have a horse, with a duty of care to that horse. Regardless of how much the vets bills amount to.. just suck it up and pay it like everyone else has to when they ahve a sick horse. Horses get these viruses even when yards have the most stringent isolation procedures, its bad luck. Take it on the chin and move on. And stop whinging. :D
 
No, my beef is that the yard have been negligent, and my horse is stuck on his own in a tiny field, there are other fields available but they want to keep him in this one. In some of the other fields I could take him out and let both of us enjoy life. I do not want to pay yard charges to keep my horse in a bog.
why should I?
I am struggling to pay the vet bills, but I feel that the yard should have made a move, especially in view of the information I have, do they really want to go to court?, I don't think so, but if they do I will have to call the farm manager, the farm owner , the yard manager and any staff involved, it does not cost much to go to small claims court, that is the idea of it, but I do not see why , having been negligent, they should get away with it.
 
if you have no insurance..... if you think the vets bills are big, wait until you pay the legal costs........esp if you lose.
 
MrsD123 said:
No, my beef is that the yard have been negligent, and my horse is stuck on his own in a tiny field, there are other fields available but they want to keep him in this one. In some of the other fields I could take him out and let both of us enjoy life. I do not want to pay yard charges to keep my horse in a bog.
why should I?
I am struggling to pay the vet bills, but I feel that the yard should have made a move, especially in view of the information I have, do they really want to go to court?, I don't think so, but if they do I will have to call the farm manager, the farm owner , the yard manager and any staff involved, it does not cost much to go to small claims court, that is the idea of it, but I do not see why , having been negligent, they should get away with it.
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Then - take them to court.

p.s. BHS Gold membership is about £50 per year and they provide a legal advice line. It would also mean that you are covered in the event that you get sued because your horse has damaged someone or their horse.
You say you are a "professional", what insurance do you have yourself? Maybe you could get some advice through that policy.
 
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why would the yard not know, I'm not sure how your yard runs but I am the manager of a yard, I would know IMMEDIATLEY if any horse on my yard had strangles, I we have over 90 horses on the premises.Bizarre, this post!
 
I have been on a yard with strangles, we all had suspicions where it came from but nothing could be proven, there was a new horse on the yard but many other were also out hunting/competing.

The horses that became ill were a mixture if DIY (i.e. only looked after by their owner) and livery but a mixture of horses became ill even though precautions were taken. Our horses went out in twos, when the strangles was at its peak there was always a paddock between them but even so it still spread. It was also clear that the horses were contagious before they were ill as a result by the time it showed they could have already infected another animal. It took six months for the all clear, each time we thought we were free another horse became ill (annoyingly at three weekly intervals not two as per the suggested incubation period).

This is a long winded story to say it is almost impossible to apportion blame in this situation. Whilst I also recommend that you take legal advice I don't think it will easy to show liability. You will need to be supported by your vet as well as other witnesses to show that there has been negligence, if this does not happen I don’t believe you have a case and you might just as well save your money.
 
My pony is normally the healthiest beast in the yard, he normally has a wonderful shine on his coat and is highly treasured, by me, at the moment both he and I are a bit fed up, and he gets no grooming, as he is in a bog he is covered in mud.
 
umm, why is he not groomed? You can still groom a horse with strangles? Just don't use brushes on another horse or touch another horse.
 
You are not aware about strangles testing, my horse has never been tested, it is not necessary, it is self evident, it is symptomatic, just as when you go to the doctor with a bacterial infection in your lungs, they don't test for the disease, they treat the symptoms.
 
MrsD123 said:
My pony is normally the healthiest beast in the yard, he normally has a wonderful shine on his coat and is highly treasured, by me, at the moment both he and I are a bit fed up, and he gets no grooming, as he is in a bog he is covered in mud.
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OK, this is coming close to trolling now surely? I'm gone.
 
Not true, when ours had strangles they took a swab. The ones with abcesses didn't get swabbed as they were most def sick enough not to need one. Does your horse have abcesses? If not, then they would need to test to see if it was strangles or just a cold.
If you went to the doctors with a bad enough lung infection that wouldn't go away then they most def would test- lung cancer for example.
I think I am wasting my time, you are much more clued up then any of us, prob was a waste of time posting. Maybe you should tell us where your horse is kept, then we can all avoid this terrible, uncaring, unproffesional place.
 
Very strange and rambling post OP.

First you want compensation for alledged but unproven negligence, then you say you don't want to go to court because it won't do you any good. Make your mind up.

I'm struggling to work out if you have a £400 vet bill or an £8000 one but either way you made the choice not to insure your horse / pony (again can't work out which) so ultimately if you could't afford the vets bills you have no business owning the animal.

You have stopped paying your livery and thus breached your contract - expect to find yourself evicted shortly with no one to blame but yourself.

If you have been professionally involved with horses for 50 years that puts in in your late 60's at least - certainly old enough to know a lot better!

Your animal and yard owner have my sympathies.
 
MrsD123 said:
At this moment in time I can't sell him .... in order to pay the bills!
I can't loan him, he is in isolation.
I can't move him as I would not ask anyone to take him until the all clear.
Anyone who has had a horse with bad strangles should be aware that they will have to nurse him and suffer with him, anyone who says,,,, strangles, no problem has not suffered like me and my horse
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Is the main problem here that you can't afford your livery and vet bills and would now like to sell your horse asap? This is what is sounds like to me, so let's consider this step by step.

No matter who is responsible you now have a horse which cannot be sold or loaned in the short term, so that's not an option.

Supposing the yard has been negligent you cannot stop livery payments in lieu of compensation. What you need to do is pay your livery bills, take legal advice and take them to court. If the court finds for you they will award you compensation, but be prepared to pay out money first as a negligence case will be complicated and you will almost certainly need solicitors, expert witnesses, etc.

Supposing the yard has been negligent you cannot refuse to pay your vet bills because your vet is not involved either way. If you win a negligence claim against your yard you may be compensated for vet bills already incurred, but you need to pay these now. So speak to your vet and arrange a payment plan that will allow you to pay them off.

Either way convincing total strangers on a forum that you are in the right is completely irrelevant and you're best spending your time talking to a lawyer and figuring out what your legal chances are of getting any money back and how much more money it would cost you to pursue a legal route.
 
Anyway, I am not going to post any more, all I can say is that I am surprised that most peeps are on the side of the yard, so be it, but I can assure you if you to see your horse tomorrow and find he has been put in with a horse which has an infection, you will change your mind.
 
MrsD123 said:
No, my beef is that the yard have been negligent, and my horse is stuck on his own in a tiny field, there are other fields available but they want to keep him in this one. In some of the other fields I could take him out and let both of us enjoy life. I do not want to pay yard charges to keep my horse in a bog.
why should I?
I am struggling to pay the vet bills, but I feel that the yard should have made a move, especially in view of the information I have, do they really want to go to court?, I don't think so, but if they do I will have to call the farm manager, the farm owner , the yard manager and any staff involved, it does not cost much to go to small claims court, that is the idea of it, but I do not see why , having been negligent, they should get away with it.
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Hmmm. You are saying the yard has been negligent for allowing strangles to spread. And yet you are pissed that he is being kept in isolation:confused:

You can't have it both ways.

ps...you actually have mud?
 
MrsD123 said:
Anyway, I am not going to post any more, all I can say is that I am surprised that most peeps are on the side of the yard, so be it, but I can assure you if you to see your horse tomorrow and find he has been put in with a horse which has an infection, you will change your mind.
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Oh come on MrsD, act your age. People aren't taking sides, they are trying to advise you. Although sounding less and less sympathetic as you keep changing your tack and have now said you aren't even grooming your poor horse.

I think you are right not to post now, you have more important things to be doing.
 
I made the case that no matter how much a horse was insured for, the vet bill could be greater, so I would still be in the same situation.
The bill have only just started to come in, they could go on and on. In the meantime, although my horse is fit and well, he could still be a carrier, therefore has to be kept apart, but that does not mean he has to be stuck in a bog for months, there are areas where he could go and not meet any other horses. As to rambling, I did not want to identify the yard, otherwise I could have been more specific.
 
Hmmm

I perhaps OP could be a candidate for this post

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=9580602#post9580602

I am sorry but your story does sound strange - your yard has put you in isolation and you are grumbling - I dont get it. If you are that concerned you will want to leave the yard once your horse is clear. So in that case why not go and see the yard owner, tell them what you think and ask if they will pay up - what have you got to loose .
 
Sorry, couldn't go after that comment. Your horse is fit and well, therefore showing no signs of strangles, (although you just said how he was no longer 'shiney') , you haven't had him swabbed so how on gods earth are you telling he has strangles??
Also, you are saying that a YO would not isolate a horse that did have syptoms but yours that does is isolated. I'm sorry but this is all codswallop! I think you need another hobby other than writing stories as you are naff at it!
 
I am pissed that he is being kept in one field which is not ideal, when there are other fields I could use that would allow me to hack out on mu own. This could go on for months, tests, tests test, some horses have tested negative but have still been kept in quarantine.
 
but then why are they not testing and isolating every healthy horse in the yard- why pick on yours? It makes no sense whatsoever.
 
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