Distressing Situation,much loved pony from a local sanctury, your experiences please

R

R-D

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Feb 2, 2006
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Essex
Dear All,

Please could any of you that have had any type of experience in this situation reply so that I can offer the family involved some kind words, advice or whatever comes of it.

Its long but I have tried to be to the point.

Last June, I went off to a local rescue centre to veiw a horse that a client (I teach) wanted to consider for her daughter and her to look after and love, for her daughter to ride and for her perhaps to learn more on and ride for a walk and trot about.

The pony was lovely, he ticked all the boxes, he was a little bolshy (to handle, he'd done nothing for a year) and not well schooled but he was safe, sensible and a really good stamp and character. The match between horse and rider appeared good and my clients agreed to the terms of the sanctury/rescue centre, paid their £500 in order to take the horse to their yard and look after him and love them as though he were their own.

The choice of livery yard was inspected and approved and the pony arrived home and everything went really well. His bolshiness improved and he remained happy and content. The daughter had lessons on him every other week and I always enjoyed teaching them, she had managed to start to get him a little lighter down the rein (he had been driven and not ridden an awful lot) and although she mainly hacked him she was working towards lifting him off the forehand and I was impressed with the progress.


I got a call in April from my client in floods of tears saying that the someone from the sanctuary had called her, they were at the yard and were taking the horse because they had had four phone calls advising them that they had not been feeding him!!!!!!!!! She told my client that she was not fit to keep a horse and would not wait for my client to attend the yard saying that he was on the box and being driven away NOW!!!!!!!

I was utterly shocked although having looked at the photos since can see that there hads been a gradual loss of weight in the time that the people had him. This had been due to an increase in work load and decrease in nutrition in the grass for the time of year we have just left but there is no way in the world anyone owuld look at that pony and think he is UNDERWEIGHT.

Anyway, the sanctary were most unhelpful initially, still keeping the tone that my client would not get the pony back and that she was not fit to keep horses.

Then after a few days she agreed to a meeting and apologised to her, said that is was obvious that they had looked after him and that she was happy with his condition and that the pony should return to the said family.

THEN, a vet came to check him (all part of the process) and took blood tests whic came back fine, but a weigh tape said the pony had lost too much weight and that he needed to be built back up a bit. Because of this the board of trustees had to reciew the situation and come to agreement of the pony coming home, this was turned dow and now the pony is to stay at the sanctuary.

My client asked the sanctuary for an independent vet to attend the pony for her own peace of mind, the request was turned down rather rudley (they refused and said that it's their pony and they will decide who goes near it).

The sanctuary also advised that they did not like where they had kept the pony (a seperate issue) and when my client said that they had approved the yard in the first place and that it was an issue seperate to that of her own personal battle with them (client offered to move yerds and was told it wouldn't make any difference). The lady from the sanctury told her even if the queen approved the yard she would not want any of hers there!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone from the yard has obviously got a bee in their bonnet about the family and unfairly made false claims of ngelect, the sanctuary even apologised and admitted that they had been wrong to take him in the dramatic way that they did.

Think I have given the main points her to be digested (alot of little bits inbetween though) Has anyone ever had such bad treatment from a rescue centre/sanctuary????

It has left me in total shock and absolute despair for my clients who are a heartbroken and very aware of the bad reputation amongst the yard that could have stuck if it hadn't been so blatently obvious that they are good caring horse owners.
 
My god !

My heart goes out to the family who had the pony taken away ! :(

The only advice I can offer is I would consider taking the case to a solicitor if the family are dead keen on the pony. The sanctuary have already made apologies for things they have done wrong, having said that though I would be interested in knowing just how much weight the pony has lost.

It seems ridiculous though that the sanctuary has suddenly gone against them about the yard the horse is kept at when they approved the yard in the first place !!

I know this hasnt been of much help, but I hope the family manage to resolve the situation as soon as possible.
 
That is disgusting, can she demand her money back from the sanctury. I know some of these people give their lives to looking after neglectied horses but these seem to be verging on extremist issues here, as in caring more about what the horse looks like than the general situation. Obviously there is an underlying issue perhaps with someone at the yard not liking the sanctury trustees or something also. Have you been incontact with the sanctury to support the people, I feel gutted for them but good luck to them in finding another suitable pony, sancturys can be funny places you just have to look at all the T&Cs to put you off adopting from them.
 
This may be a little controversial and of course I respect and admire charity workers and people who give selflessly of their time to care for neglected animals but sometimes I wonder for whose benefit this is.

Generously, I believe that perhaps some of these people must see so much ill treatment that they cannot accept that most people treat animals well and give them a loving home. They therefore assume that anyone other than themselves is a neglector of horses.

On the other hand, I think that some people get their own kicks out of thiws sanctimonious behaviour; they need to work for a charity because they are emotionally needy themselves; when they get what they need then they use it in any way they can. In this case it is power and their behaviour is bullying.

How are these sanctuaries licensed? Are they licensed? The licensing authority needs to know about this at the very least.

I don't blam you for being angry, I hope your clients can get this sorted out very very soon and these charlatans get their come-uppance.
 
I kinda agree with AAH, who benefits from this. A family that clearly care about a pony have been left heart broken, a pony is back in a sanctuary doing not much, and the sanctuary have another mouth to feed.
Since we are always told how tough charities find it looking after so many truely abandoned animals would it not have been better to initially offer advice and monitor the situation and then if the family truely weren't making the necessary actions take further measures.
Vicki xx
 
I'm surprised that the sanctuary didn't liaise more before such extreme intervention. It doesn't sound a very professional approach. Ours do a 6 monthly check and discuss any issues either way. After all, even if the pony did lose weight, they should visit & discuss why / lifestyle changes / feed etc and give any advice needed; not barge in like this! Some owners make errors through ignorance (though not your case here) so they shouldn't assume active neglect in the face of no other evidence.

Overall I think the horsey charities do a brilliant job in difficult circumstances. But personally I have also come to the sad conclusion that they are under-resourced and hence often far from ideal. Their halo has somewhat slipped from my own encounters with taking on rescue ponies so far, though let's hope time improves this...

~ they were economical with the truth re behaviour (though if they told you everything, they'd probably have a hard job placing them!).
~ they were persistently wrong re special shoe type (led to my steep learning curve after initial humiliation with vets & farrier).
~ they were unhelpfully defensive when I rang with health queries - I wanted advice, not blame (now armed with a lovely vet, BHS/vet manuals, horsey friends and NR I've coped without them - thanks to you all out there).
~ they nit-picked over trivia when we've made significant health improvements in areas where they didn't have time for 1-to-1 attention.
~ when I wrote humourous, positive tales re how well they'd settled and improved etc, never got a word of acknowledgement back. Rather dispiriting, though no doubt they're too busy...
 
Thanks all, I e-mailed the page to the family just so they could se the response.

Part of them wants just to put it behind them and buy a horse of their own and part of them feels like takng it further (small claims??). I will keep you posted of any major turn around.

Thanks again.
 
Depending on the contract, I would take the Sanctuary to small claims. I'm sure they have a clause in their adoption contract saying that the pony would be seized if there was any mistreatment, but I think your client should have the oppertunity to have a vet check. In addition, without having the vet check the horse BEFORE moving the horse was extreme, and probably in violation of their contract. Once the adoption was cleared, then the pony belongs to the client until some governmental authority deems otherwise. You never know what kind of motives the rescue has, maybe they feel they can get more for the pony, or they need the pony back. If it were me, I'd get at least two vets to corroborate my story, then take the rescue to small claims to either 1) sue for the return of the pony or 2) sue for the cost of upkeep (and I mean every little thing - treats, rubberbands, training - you name it).

I'm sorry it's such a nightmare. There are so many good rescues out there, please don't let one like this ruin your opinion of them.
 
What a nightmare! I was recently accused of "starving" my horse to keep him placid, so I know how it feels to have your reputation ruined. My horse has lost a lot of weight since January, but (as I keep reminding people) was so poorly the vet didn't think he would survive and had almost three months out of work, on small feeds when the nutrition in the grass was very low (the vet initially advised us to take him off hard feed, but he soon had to have it back as he lost too much weight too quickly) and is now back in work and so is working much harder. I am currently in the process of changing his feeds over to help him put weight back on so that we can start building up muscle again. I think when a horse has done very little and then starts working much harder, even an increase in feed doesn't instantly balance it out, and some weight-loss is inevitable. Especially if the horse is over-weight to begin with, he can look as though a very drastic "starvation diet" has been adopted when really he is just getting to a healthy weight.

I really hope things get sorted out for your clients. Personally, I would seek legal advice, as I'm certain they should not simply remove the horse without consulting the family.
 
I must admit, I too agree with AAH. Perhaps they were jealous at how well looked after the pony was and how good he was going when ridden! Of course santuaries should be allowed to seize the pony if it's neglected but clearly this isn't the case here. It may be as well to seek legal advice but if the pony is the property of the sanctuary, then I think there is very little that can be done, sadly.
 
I must admit, I too agree with AAH. Perhaps they were jealous at how well looked after the pony was and how good he was going when ridden! Of course santuaries should be allowed to seize the pony if it's neglected but clearly this isn't the case here. It may be as well to seek legal advice but if the pony is the property of the sanctuary, then I think there is very little that can be done, sadly, unless there was any sort of contract signed.
 
thats awful i feel so sorry for the girl riding him it must be awful to have 'your' horse taken away from you like that i would take it to court they cant treat people like this. i know at our yard some people have horses from a rescue centre and no one has a good word to say about it. I'm not sure exactly but they interfere a lot call up whenevr they feel like it, once a month once a year no strict rule. one girl had to give her horse back and she didnt want it to gotheir cause apparently they arent that good.
 
My mums a soliciter and she says that this is a case for small claims. The pony belongs to the family who paid for it. You usually need to have recived warnings before your pony is siezed aswell. Its definatly worth talking the contract to a soliciter and getting a professional opinion if you want your pony back.
good luck
 
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