Livery Yards - The Downside

sjp1

sjp1

Well-Known Member
Sep 14, 2009
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I love my yard, I don't think I have ever been happier in a horsey environment. Mostly because YO is fab, and keeps her finger on everyones horses and gives people a good ticking off if their horses are not properly looked after.

We have recently had two new additions - a haflinger with a history of lami and a quite ancient 18hh shire.

Last Friday, fellow livery and I brought both of them in. Haffy with an awful back leg and we had a job to get him down the track, and shire with a cut on his wither.

The owners of both are very novicey which of course is fine. The shire with his cut wither was no problem and they had a vet come on the Monday to see both. Personally with the Haffy, I would have had the vet out immediately. Because they are novicey they had a general practice vet out, which is fine, but she was about 12 years old and couldn't diagnose the Haffy's problem. The owners originally thought it was laminitis, which fellow livery and I who brought them down the track thought unlikely because the haffy couldn't put his toe to the ground. I thought it was an abscess initially, fellow livery feared it was a big problem, but not lami. Owners then thought perhaps it wasn't lami, but 12 year old vet couldn't diagnose and said to leave Haffy for 48 hours to see what happened and couldn't even decide on bute amounts????

Owners have him on one a day and he has the most miniscule haynet twice a day.

Sadly he has a temporary stable next to Tobes and I just can't bear to look. The poor pony is starving, they aren't soaking the hay to get the sugar out, he is on only one bute a day, and then to give him the bute they are giving him a bit of mollichaff??????????

If it is laminitis, they should not be giving him mollichaff and if it isn't the poor pony should be eating far more than they are giving him. Even if it is laminitis, I cannot believe that one pleat of hay from a small bale a day is sufficient. He goes at least 10 hours with NOTHING to eat. Good way to get ulcers I would imagine. He is as thin as a rack and to be honest it makes me absolutely sick to see him.

For all those people who have lammi ponies - surely you feed more than this? Surely you soak hay to get the sugar out, give straw to eat, or really low value grass chaff???

Said to YO about it today who also isn't too impressed.

Why could they not get another vet who actually has some experience? I would be livid if I paid a call out and a vet said 'am not sure, give it 48 hours' when I already had? I certainly would not leave it at that.

And breathe, rant over!!!

Edited to say it is his back leg, which he is holding at a peculiar angle outwards
 
Can't you or YO tactfully suggest they get a horse vet out? Hay wise he should be getting a minimum of 1% bodyweight & that level can only be sustained for a few days, after that he should be on 1.5-2%. Soak it thoroughly & rinse well & you can increase that by a bit, but not ad-lib, though you should then add a vit & min supplement or balancer.

If he was brought in Friday & he's still really bad then he needs the vet back, and this time they need a specialist horse vet. Can YO recommend a vet, saying she prefers people on the yard to use them?

TBH it's people like this that are best on yards, at least they can then be educated & their ponies kept an eye on.
 
I didn't see them tonight, but last night gave them a big bucket of Simple Systems timothy chaff for pony - very low sugar, and protein, as felt so sorry for pony.

Interesting about the percentages hay wise, thank you for that. Shall gee YO up tomorrow morning about proper horse vet and return visit.

Yes, I suppose it is good they know little, but I just want to shout at them. They are both really fat, not that I am being sizeist, and I just want to say 'could you survive on one carrot a day!'
 
Must bite lip and refrain from offering either Ryvita or carrot, as clearly they are eating a lot more than that a day!!!

Shall remember percentages - reckon Haffy is well under 400kg which for a stocky thick set horse is far too little I would have thought. If you were to weight score him, I think he would be poor. His eyes are out on stalks because even the bones of his face seem to stick out. He is bargy and grumpy and stressed because he is hungry bless him, and they just seem too dense to find out what has caused his lameness - grrrr!!!!
 
You see this would upset me - I would probs keep nagging YO to have a word. Sounds like he should be eating more - even if it was lami it is inportant not to starve them. As already said, it is a good job they are on a yard where people can offer help - and keep an eye on them. I was always glad to have YO help us at first as there was so much to learn.
As for the vet - well, that's just rubbish ! I would have been very cross if they'd been so unsure - afterall that's what you pay for; to get a professional opinion! They didn't sound very capable at all.
Fingers crossed YO intervenes - poor pony.
 
If you have concerns speak to yard owner.

We had people at our yard that would feed hay once per day. Therefore they run out, they would nicker when i went past with mine. Eventually yard owner removed them off the yard for the lack of care.

I have to say people look after their horses how they want which will be different from you. I am quite sure my care of the cob was different to how others would have done.

You could offer help and see if they take it.

Confused though because one post you say he is a thin rack and next they are both fat. Then you say about condition score. If a pony has a history of lami, then i would think the weight would be a tad under the norm due to lack of grass and goodness. Also loss of muscle tone from not being ridden probably or moving about. So it could look poor, ill ponies do.
 
Last edited:
Virago said:
I think it's the horse who is thin and the owners who are fat!
Click to expand...

It is indeed!

My vet came today to give Tobes his annual flu and tet jab. As haffy is next door to Tobes stable, I pointed to back foot and told him the story. He immediately said abcess.

So that poor horse has been in for two weeks, I suggested to them two weeks ago it looked like an abcess from the way he was standing with his toe only on the ground, and it still hasn't been investigated or dug out.

What to do? YO now away on holiday for a week. Praps just say and get it over with?
 
I couldn't bear to see the Haffy suffering and starving, so really sympathise with you.
My OH says I am a bit like a terrier when I get a bee in my bonnet but I think I would have to say something for the sake of the Haffy. I can just imagine myself hovering near the 'fatties' and offering little snippets of advise. I.m not saying my approach would work as quite often I do offend but I know I would have to say it.
You never know if they are new owners they may well welcome some advise, sometimes people can feel intimidated if they are newbies surrounded by people in the know.
I have a big soft spot for Haffies so sending lots of healing and love to your Haffy neighbour
 
Yes, I agree a good farrier would sort it no problem. Am just not sure how good their farrier is, seems to be one of the 'know it all gobby variety!' Still, will suggest to them!
 
sjp1 not only do they need a farrier but you don't give bute to horses with an abscess as it can stop it developing & bursting therefore making it rumble on & off for months. You're going to have to interfere in a nice way , if it's not an abscess it could be a fractured pedal bone. Mind you god alone knows what you can say without appearing overbearing but no doubt you'll think of something :wink:
 
I understand all your concerns but personally I would not say anything to the owners or get actively involved. It is the YO's responsibility to ensure the welfare of the horses on her property, not yours. By all means voice your concerns / opinions to her and make suggestions if you wish - but then leave it to her. Interfering directly is more likely to make the owners irritated with you than anything else.
 
Well, I've done it. I told her she could tell me to mind my own business and p.. off, but actually she seemed quite grateful and said she would get onto her farrier.

You appear to be dead right Tubby, it is less lame than it was, and as they immediately thought it was laminitis 'because it was like that when it had laminitis' before it came to our yard, I reckon it had an abcess, they gave it bute, it went away for a while and has now re-appeared. I know laminitis can be on all legs, but just one? And crippled on one? Doesn't sound right to me.

So, by giving it bute, they have just prolonged the whole thing then?
 
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