If this a professional, why on earth did she accept a colt without having the proper facilities to house him? I’d ask for proof of the lutylase shots her mare received. If she can’t prove it, charge her a stud fee. It almost sounds like she did it on purpose. What an idiot!
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So, I think as a practical matter your best bet is to settle this without involving lawyers, for two reasons. First of all, lawyers are expensive and fighting something out in court is time consuming. It’s flat out not worth it for the amount of $$ involved. Secondly, no matter what the law says, equine related legal disputes with any complexity can end up being resolved in an unpredictable fashion via the legal system. Lay people do not have a good concept of what is normal, reasonable or responsible when it comes to horses. The courts could focus on her incompetence, or they could look at it that your horse is an unusually destructive or dangerous animal, not understanding that an intact 2yo shouldn’t be kept in such proximity to mares.
FWIW but people can absolutely be held responsible for damages their animals cause, even if they aren’t the person caring for or controlling the animal. This is why even off-site owners have umbrella policies or form LLCs to own their horses, and why all owners should be pay attention to who is handling and riding their horses in order to avoid exposure to liability.
I’m shaking my head at this trainer keeping your stud colt in such proximity to fillies/mares, but I also have to ask you, as a stallion owner, as to whether or not you enquired ahead of time as to the adequacy of her facilities for an intact colt. Just as a practical matter, it’s really important to be a proactive owner as some people, even experienced horse people, do have a laissez faire attitude towards stallions. Also, I feel like you were on notice after the first incident–if you felt that it was so irresponsible for your stud colt to be housed in that manner near a mare/filly, perhaps you had the option to at that time to discuss that matter with the trainer and either insist on different management or choose to move the horse instead.
I do think that you have probably paid the trainer enough if you have paid for the board and training, the initial fence damage, and the vet care to ensure no resulting pregnancy. While I disagree with her management, I also think it is obvious that this situation was a very poor deal for her also, and in the scheme of things it isn’t some ripoff for her to ask you to contribute towards some of the repairs. Of course, as a professional she should have known better, but I think perhaps you could have also had a clue that the situation was not a good setup, especially after the first incident.
I do not think the trainer owes you anything for asking you to move your horse early. The situation / facility was clearly unsafe for your horse and I think that was in everyone’s best interests and in the interest of safety. That was a reasonable request.
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She has a barn that is completely empty. Probably 10 stalls and about 20 acres of property with no horses on the other side of the road. She said she specializes in yearlings. So, I’m not taking any blame. I sent him to the trainer for training and fully disclosed that he will go over a fence that is not on. Bottom line… she’s the trainer and I was completely transparent with her and she took him on as a trainer and equestrian manager. IMO she was negligent in her equine management skills. Thank you all! Happy 4th of July!
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Did you visit and see the facility in person before sending him there?
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Update: Trainer decided to cancel vet appointment to administer her mare the first round of LUTALYSE Injection. Trainer initially wanted to pick up these two shots and give them to her mare herself. As I felt like her story wasn’t lining up, I told the vet office that I would only pay if an appointment was set up to have the vet administer these shots to mare in question. Which brings me to this next thought… Since there was no damage to her mare pasture and now shots were canceled, was this a scam the entire time to make me give her more money?
She canceled the appointment that was set up today to administer the shot to her mare. I believe she was not telling the truth and was trying to get me to pay for her mares hematoma on her chest.
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I’ve looked and can’t find a written law anywhere. I would think there has to be somewhere…
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I mean, if it’s a “scam” it’s the worst, most stressful scam ever. Boarding and training a yearling that jumps your fences, stirs up trouble resulting in fence damages and injury to two horses and worry that a mare has been bred…I mean, this trainer is not coming out ahead here and she may have some extra gray hairs over the situation to boot.
As I reflect on this thread, I’m a little surprised by your reaction to the situation that has occurred here. Intact colts and stallions are often–not always, but often–the cause of some drama. Experienced owners don’t like this drama any more than anyone else, but they are realistic about the hazard and burden their horses are for trainers, barn staff, BMs, etc. and are realistic that there are extra risks, costs and inconveniences related to owning intact colts and stallions. My advice is to let go of your emotion here. Owning stallions is a huge hassle–these animals are difficult to house and care for. My experience is that many trainers are not equipped for it including plenty that think they are.
Most of the places I deal with are equipped to the nines for intact colts and stallions. And yet accidents and property damage still happen. The business model most places that accept intact colts and stallions have is to charge higher fees that account for that. Rate-wise, $1200 per month is a very economical rate for training board. That is not a rate that has a cushion built in to cover extra overhead like property damage and vet bills. I agree that your colt shouldn’t have been in such proximity to mares or fillies, but at the same time, you also knew that your colt had a known issue with not respecting fences. It’s quite possible your colt would have jumped fences out of loneliness/feeling isolated or to get to a gelding as well. I think you should take a breath and be glad that no horses or people suffered irreversible harm and be realistic that your colt is not easy to safely house. Try to think of a reasonable middle ground to settle the matter so you can both move on.
I also think that you should be prepared that this behavior is something that your colt may struggle with at other facilities. Horses don’t always know the difference between 4’ and 5’. Horses can quickly figure out that electric fence doesn’t deliver a shock when they are in the air going over. Horses that don’t respect fence can also learn to barge through. Young stallions can be very highly motivated.
A couple of side notes:
Make sure you have an umbrella or horse owners insurance policy that would protect you from liability if your horse were to jump a fence and harm another person, get out into traffic, etc.
Electric wire over gates is not an industry standard. I can’t think of anyone that routinely uses electric wire over their gates (I’m sure there is someone out there that does, but I don’t know them). If you have a 10’ or 12’ metal gate, running an electric wire over the top creates a very hazardous situation where when you take down the electric wire it has a high probability of touching and electrifying the metal gate which then results in people and animals getting inadvertently shocked on their way through, or the wire is laying on the ground in the grass off to the side–either way eventually someone is getting accidentally shocked at a bad moment.
If at 15 months your colt is going through puberty and has a testicle that has not descended, I would have some awareness on your radar that he could be a ridgling and need to be gelded.
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I would hope a “professional trainer” would have enough common sense to not put a colt next to a filly first, and then a mature mare after things went sideways with the filly. Talk about inviting extra grey hairs. 
ETA: Not to take a shot at the OP, but I likely would have picked up my colt after the first issue with the filly.
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Alas, Professional Trainer is often a self anointed title.
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This right here is a dead give away of this “trainer’s” ability to keep customers, attract customers, and has a good rep.
Sounds to me like you dodged a bullet when she said to get your colt off her property. She did you a favor in the long run.
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Not having read other replies this is my thinking. Situations vary depending on who you are dealing with and this lady seems like she is a real winner.
I wouldn’t pay for damage you can’t see. There is no evidence that your colt bred the mare or caused her any injury so I wouldn’t give her another dime. She isn’t refunding the balance you paid on board/ training so call it even.
So important to really research where you send your animals for board/ training. Personal references from people you know and trust ( vets, farriers, former clients) can help in keeping this from happening.
The biggest issue I see is that both of you failed when you put a stud( even a young one) in unsuitable fencing to begin with. Putting him next to cycling females just set everyone up for a fail and you are lucky he wasn’t seriously hurt.
Lesson learned and find a better place or better yet geld him.
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By allowing your stud colt to breed to her mare, she created a very dangerous situation for him. Young colts aren’t the smoothest ‘dates’. I wouldn’t give her a dime.
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I used to do live cover with Andulusians and even experienced stallions “need a hand” with the act.
Also, I highly doubt a mare would allow a young colt to mount unless she is in heat and willing. We housed two breeding stallions in our barn along with mares and geldings and unless one of the girls was in heat, it was the only time the stallions were interested.
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We bathed him yesterday and found a bite mark on his rear end above his tail. With that said, it looks like the mare was chasing him and then bit him. I’m just glad he’s out of there. Lesson learned!
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