I let a local girl put her horse on my yard, she never really (to me anyway)
was interest in him. but as the girl was young i gave her lessons, and help
her out lots off times, by feeding her horse in mornings and putting him out
cleaning the stable, and never charge her. only saw her parents 4 times
in 5 months, then she stoped alltogether turning up at all.

after 3 weeks off her not turning up. i went to her house to find they had moved.
now after one year, i came home to find, a letter stuck to my door, saying can i phone
them as they come to take the gelding, to find new locks on the stable, so they could
not take him. my son in tears as we become very attached, and my son has worked
so hard with him as he was so naughty. and now hes bombproof. but just dont no
where i stand with not giving him back. ive spent allnight writeing a list for them
how much they owe me for me keeping him for just over a year, hopeing this
will put them off, and they cannot take him untill they pay in full. not
phoned them yet, as does anyone know do i have a chance to fight for him.
loulu

If the same applies as with other services, ie car repairs, then I believe that yes you can stop them takig the horse until any bill is settled.
Unfortunately what you can't do is keep the horse, you will have to get their address and send them an account by recorded delivery with a letter stating your intention to sell the horse to cover the cost of the money owed to you if they don't pay up in a reasonable time, but you must not make a profit on the sale either.
Hopefully someone better versed in civil law will correct me if this no longer applies.

Don't know the law either but would have thought that you could offer to pay the difference between the bill and the value of the horse and if that is agreed keep the horse. First thing is to send the bill for the length of time he has been with you unattended, then if you get a complaint about the bill make the offer to pay the difference. You may need to get a 3rd person to value the horse.

JackieH,

If the horse is a xbred that wasn't fully broke loulu should have him valued as such. Her family have done all the work and made him a more valuable horse.
The bill should cover all 'keep', training, re-breaking, excercise and ongoing schooling. The horse was probably not worth that amount in the first place.
The original owner probably wants to sell the poor creature anyway so I would get the legal advice and keep him.
I wouldn't pay the owners anything they are a waste of space and I personally think they won't persue the matter if they receive a solicitors letter.
Horses are so easy to buy now people don't realise how much it costs to keep them happy and healthy.

I think you have a good case, especially as they have haven't even kept in contact with you for a year. Make sure you put everything at the going rate ('d use the most expensvie going rate in your area!) plus a rate for private individual training of this horse, which will make it very expensive. Also tell them of the daily on going charges that will apply up till the time the bill has been settled. I'm not sure what horses are classed at but as vets can keep animals until bills are settled I don't see why you can't do the same with this. Good Luck.

Jesse

"to find new locks on the stable, so they could
not take him. "

You LOCKED a stable....OMG....how dangerous is that?????

You stated that you did everything for the girl no charge. Did you ever have a financial agreement when you took over the care of this horse? if not, then I don't think you can send them a bill, well you can but don't think they would be liable to pay it. I had a legal prob once and found a wonderful advice forum full of legal boffs who told me where I stood. Have just tried to get the addy from my favourites but it has disappeared. Type  "consumer advice forum" into google and see what it comes up with. Good luck hope you get it all sorted out.

I would temperaraly removed the horse to a safe place and then get legal advice ,trading standards,CAB etc...I would feel they have abandoned the horse and you have a right to him.
Failing that offer money it usually works  and charge them for feed,stabling,training vet fees etc..

I know of this happening in kennels when people have abandonded a dog then wanted the dog back they slap them with a large enough bill and they give up

I think that Harriet makes a good point & it will depend on what the original agreement was about payment ?

Morally & if there was any justice in the world you should at the very least get your expenses reimbursed but sadly the law is an ass !

The C.A.B. would seem a good place to start.

we do have agreement for stable rent, hay and straw, and not turning up befour 9.30am,
the horse is 15.2 xbreed, not sure if its legal if i move the horse, till its sorted out.
i know i have rights that they canot move the horse untill ive been paid in full,
but we all love this horse as we looked after him for so long.

i have locks on all stables, which all locks are the same so one key is only needed
as i find this better then a horse beening stolen.
thanks for all your help.
Loulu

loulu, thats really  hard.  I think that they should expect to pay up - and i wish there were some case you had against them for leaving the horse. essentially they were abandoning it, and maybe the rspca could help you out to know what the deal is here?

Locks on stables are ok - but if you werent around then how would they get horses out of the burning stables if that were to happen? what about locks on the outside 5,bar gates instead of the stable doors? and freezebranding?

I know this is naughty.......but cant you say that the horse has died!!!!.  If you can move him somewhere else then they wont be able to see him.  I know it is a lie but surely after all this time I would think it as an option.

Locks on stables are ok - but if you werent around then how would they get horses out of the burning stables if that were to happen?

Surely we do exactly the same thing when we lock out dogs in our homes?

You can break a window in a home - the only place in and out of a stable is the door ;)

In your written agreement with the owner - do you not have a clause stating what happens if payments are not made regularly? If not, you may struggle. I would write to the owner through a solicitor suggesting that as they have not paid toward the horses keep, nor visited him in a year, you are keeping the horse in lieu of payment. Work out how much they owe you - say 52 weeks @ £15 a week DIY or whatever and then offer them the difference to keep the horse yourself. Move the horse somewhere else - and fast.

well the police where called, he turned up tonight with 3 big fellas, which i dont really know why as im
here on my own with 3 kids and the eldest who is 10, so dont know what he thought we where going
to do. anyway the police have ask him for something in writing saying the horse belongs to him.
he has nothing, and says he bought him from a auction. well i have vet bills his card and his
freezebranding cert. in all my name and the horse name aswell.

which made this fella very mad, so i think the police did get a fed up with him shouting,
and upsetting my kids, so they allso check his car and horsebox and found his car and the
horse box not road worthy. and this bloke im trying to write this with out laughing now,
has now goto leave his car outside my property, as the police are going to get someone
to come and collect it. as he had no one to tow it away.

anyway im feeling better now, i phoned my sister up tonite, she said god so now you
have his horse car and horsebox. ive just got back as i did a moonnight (what ever its called)
so now horse is safe and hidden, spoke to my friend who works with the r.s.p.c.a  she said i should off
reported it when they abandon him as she said it the same with dogs after 7 days they rehome them.
so going to make appoiment with solictor to see what i can do. and stop him from taking him.
and if it comes to it going to say i no longer have him.
loulu

It sounds like he thought that intimidating you by turning up mob handed (so he probably knows he hasn't got a leg to stand on) you'd just hand the horse over. Well done on calling the police and good for them for checking his vehicles out. Clearly he has no regard for either a person safety nor that of his horse so not a suitable candidate for horse ownership. Think someone else mentioned that he probably just wants it to sell. Did you tell him how much he owed you in fees?

Jesse

this happened on the yard I had my ponies on a few years ago. Not my ponies mind you.
the woman never came for about 6 months to see to her three. They were two very eldery mares and a young stallion.
After not being able to contact her, because she had moved house, the farmer and his wife got legal advice.
They were allowed to take ownership of the horses. the original owner turned up and demanded them back she was told the extent of her owings and consequently decided to leave the horses where they were.
The two old mares, Jade 27yrs old and Creme 25yrs, were sponsored by a horse charity so they could stay at the yard.
Jason the stallion was gelded and broken and the daughter of the farmer still rides him. He's about 10yrs old now.
Get legal advice. I'm almost certain that you will not have to return the horse.

Another mare was found to be stolen when she was brought to the yard and the farmer was told by the police to remove it to a place of safety in case the thieves, who had put it on the yard, came back and tried to take it. It took the police 6 weeks to find her owner. She was returned to a very happy young girl who paid all her fees to the farmer. So there are horse lovers out there. The mare had been missing for about 3 months.

if i were you id email the BHS to see if they can help with legal information they will know how you can get help . other people will know too how to help :)

It looks promising so far with what others have said of their experiences so I would stop worrying. A thought occurred too, if this went to court it would look very bad on the original owners for having abandoned the horse in the first place. Imagine what Judge Judy would make of them! she'd wipe the floor! Definitely don't think any judge would return an animal to someone who had abandoned it for 12 months, I mean they couldn't be trusted to look after it properly could they?
Get some legal advice too though.

I'm no expert on the legal side, but from what you have said, the horse was basically abandoned! I mean, what if they had turned up in ten years time, expectign to get the horse; it's no different really but does illustrate how unfair they are being. Also, how dare they just come into what i presume is your property and take their horse after not appearing for such a long time? What if you had had no idea that they were returning and had sold the horse due to not being able to afford to keep it, and so on?

They are being really stupid and have no care for their animal.

Hope you manage to get things sorted to your satisfaction..... :)

Lindsay
X

have they got proof you still have the horse? or the horse is theres ? is it freeze marked ? go to the meat market and buy another for a quid :) say its been really ill :P no not really but i do think you can still claim grooming costs , feed costs , basicly a full livery cost for the whole time it was at yours , and medical ie.. worming ...fly prevention , sweetitch . dosent matter write it all down and bill them, if it comes to court say you had a verbal agreement that you would be paid blah blah for this it totals this , and a stable owner down the road is charging this and this.... the judge will look and know that no one gets things for free, and to go away leave the horse and not come back  . he will put two and two together and realise not only are these people not fit to own horses but cheats . you should win at the least the money for a full livery for all that time.

remember possesion is 9/10ths of the law - if they can't prove the horse is theirs then i wouldn't worry most solicitors will not get involved in anything to do with horses as its sucha mine field also the police will probably just tell you to sort it out between yourselves so just tell them to sod off and see what happens!!!!!

In both cases where my ponies were the police were called in.
They were really good. They were concerned for the horses. In the case of the two elderly mares it was a police officer that advised the farmers wife to approach a charity. They couldn't have afforded to keep them on the premises otherwise.
It is worth talking to the police about the situation I would think. Also, what would have happened if you had 'moved home' when these peopl came to get the gelding. Would they then have been done for tresspass. You may be able to frighten them off with that. I'm sure you would not have given them permission to enter your property after so long.
I would not leave anything to chance I would get legal advice. The law changes so much nowadays.
If they couldn't be bothered to pay for his keep over the last year they won't want to spend money getting him back.
If you have a friend that can 'house' him for a while I would send him away until it is sorted. You could always say he didn't get on with other horses on the yard.