And in my area, I think, there’s an ordinance or something related to burying large animals on your property. As I always understood it, you can’t just bury a horse – even if it’s on your own property. I believe it has something to do with ground water?
I remember, as a teenager, a disgruntled former boarder at my then-barn dropping a dime on the BO for burying horses on the property. Since I don’t remember anything coming of it, we all may’ve misunderstood the law.
In some places you can’t bury a horse. Some people will do it anyway. And in some places you are allowed to bury horses.
Aiken SC is not a place that cares where you bury a horse
A horse trailer that has a ramp at the back for loading and unloading.
I’m sorry, I don’t. But I would be perfectly fine with someone directing the plaintiff to my post[s] or even contacting me if they can’t get Ed’s number.
I’m not at all saying that this is the case here-- it’s much more likely that this horse pulled back, panicked, and fought until it broke its neck or something similar. But I’ve seen severely colicking horses do tremendous damage to themselves and the broodmare we lost to aortic rupture was quite violent, enough so that no one could get her foal out of the stall. A hard tied horse experiencing a major medical problem could absolutely do this-- but obviously if the trainer had any reason to think this was a possibility she would have insisted the horse be necropsied instead of having it buried.
I wonder who paid for the burial.
What happened to the foal?
He got a bit banged up but was okay. He was only about three weeks old-- at the time there was a farm in the area that specialized in raising orphan foals in a group environment and he ended up going there for a few months.
I feel the same and I have a thoroughbred. I taught him to tie resonably well ( I don’t have a need to leave my horse tied and unnatended except for quick pop in the tack door next to cross ties) . But since my horse had a severe fear of tie pressure, I found a safe, gentle way to show him how to react to a tight rope. You start in a round pen, fenced area, long lead is thrown around neck so it can be pulled tight. Since you are holding the rope you can make it tight or release it. It took maybe 3 sessions and my horse learned to walk forward and out of the tie pressure. It was amazing to watch his mind work it out and has made him much calmer when I do tie. But like you I also like ground tieing, or rope over the back, or just working with him in his stall. Every horse is different, but there are smarter, less stressful ways to teach a horse to stand quiet. The method I used also teaches a horse to look to a human if they are in distress or to wait for a human without thrashing about.
I remain amazed at how many seemingly accomplished trainers and riders have little idea how a horse thinks. You actually can’t correct ( you should never punish) a horse after 3 seconds of its behavior . They have already moved on and are living in the now. They will remember you hit them or caused them pain but they won’t know why. Clearly this basic lesson in how horses think is not understood by some horse owners and pros. And then some know but just don’t care enough to take the time to train a horse at its pace.
Any updates?
Also, after this happened, I was at a AA show working as a groom. A very well known trainer was near us and one of their young horses was neighing constantly. One of the staff came in the stall and tied it up away from its water and hay net. And the horse continued to behave in an upset way and did manage to get untied. Obviously, I was extra concerned since this poor Aiken horse death had just come to light. I think I would have been concerned no matter what since, in my opinion, a horse is not going to settle down tied up like that. I believe in making their stalls “happy places” and giving them access to hay and water and letting them settle down by realizing it is safe.
My question….could I have asked the steward to intervene?
I don’t think that tying a horse away from food and water “temporarily” is against the rules. Tying cruelly may be worth reporting (it’s less acceptable in the main English disciplines like hj, eventing, and dressage to snub a horse with its head straight up or tie it to the girth than it is in some others). Not sure how you’d prove they hadn’t just tied it up for a bit unless it was early and no one was around?
I’ve actually seen a trainer (western) tie horses up for a bit, and some start off by being impatient and/or hysterical, but they do settle, and then they’re untied. It can “work” but it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
If a horse doesn’t have water or hay for a bit, that can be ok, but it depends on the length of time and if they’re well fed and hydrated going into the time away from those two things.
I don’t love it, but I’m not sure that intervention would’ve been warranted. Depends on a few things.
I used to work with one who could be weird about things when the barn opened and the activity started. He was not young but he was a screamer. If you tied him in a specific position with regards to the stall walls, he would eventually settle. If the buckets/hay were on that wall, he had access. If they weren’t, he’d do without until he settled. If you tied him to the wrong wall with the hay and buckets, the buckets got flipped and the hay trampled.
I think reporting to the steward at that point would have been inappropriate. If you had come back later and the horse was distressed, maybe that would have been a good time to do so.
Several of our more nervous horses have a specific routine before showing that seems to have helped them settle. It includes tying. An hour and a half out from a class, we get them out for a ride, we bathe them, put a scrim or cooler on, and tie them in the stall with access to hay and water. It keeps them clean but also works to calm these horses, giving them a ritual of sorts to count on.
How do you tie them? This one was tied directly to the stall boards which I was taught was unsafe. You should tie them to something that will breakaway easily. And is there someone around to step in quickly if the horse stops standing quietly?
The rope is tied to the stall boards. The snap is hooked to a string on the halter ring.
GR838 lists food and water deprivation under abuse. I would not have waited, I would advise the Steward / TD and let THEM start the clock on how long the horse is tied up. That is part of their job and judgement
I would never tie to a stall board in a show stall, because those will break, which is unsafe. The only time/place I ever, ever, ever tie a horse to something designed to break easily is on the trailer, where I tie to a loop of bailing twine that is tied to a zip tie that is attached to the trailer tie ring. In the event of an accident, I want the tie to break easily but the horse to still be wearing its halter. In every other circumstance, I tie short and securely, with and to something that will not break. I don’t tie a horse until it has learned to give to pressure and stand, of course, but a horse that won’t stand tied is a danger to itself and everyone around it, and the fastest way to teach one to sit back is to tie it with/to something easily broken.
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