Hello,
I have my horse at a trainer for a tune up. While there, her and another horse were tied near each other. The other horse got loose and began kicking my horse. She has a severe edema (on vagina) and required stitches. My question is, who pays the vet bill? The trainer hasn’t asked me to pay and is keeping her for a couple extra weeks to tend to her injuries. I’m just not sure how something like this would usually be handled…
You pay. Accidents happen. It’s part of owning a horse.
[QUOTE=FineAlready;8231656]
You pay. Accidents happen. It’s part of owning a horse.[/QUOTE]
EDIT: Redacted. I thought the OTHER horse was the one with the edema, not OP’s horse.
sorry. you pay. That’s horse ownership for you.
Someone’s signature block basically defines a horse as a mammel trying to find expensive ways to die…
accidents happen. sorry and hope your horse is okay.
I may or may not expect trainer to foot the bill.
Did the other horse get loose because someone screwed up? Was she known to be a problem to tie, and highly likely to break loose or was she tied incorrectly? Trainer pays.
If horse was tied well and not known to be a problem and she still got loose somehow, I’d file it under crap happens and pay the bill.
That trainer has not asked you to pay and is keeping her longer makes me suspect scenario #1.
[QUOTE=gaitedincali;8231684]
I may or may not expect trainer to foot the bill.
Did the other horse get loose because someone screwed up? Was she known to be a problem to tie, and highly likely to break loose or was she tied incorrectly? Trainer pays.
If horse was tied well and not known to be a problem and she still got loose somehow, I’d file it under crap happens and pay the bill.
That trainer has not asked you to pay and is keeping her longer makes me suspect scenario #1.[/QUOTE]
It’s the trainer’s horse who “untied herself” and kicked mine. He had asked prior to this if he could keep her for a couple weeks to use on the ranch as his usual horse had recently been injured.
Interesting coincidence…
Have you seen the injury?
Just saying…
Are you sure he said edema, not hematoma?
And while I am sure there are injuries to the area under the tail…that isn’t a really big target zone for horses to get kicked at…
something is NQR here ``` go see your horse !
I plan to go see her this weekend. I’ve know the trainer for about 3 years and we have several mutual friends. I don’t think there’s anything shady going on. I had already told him that I had no problem with him keeping and using her (he works a large ranch and has a lot of cows to tend to).
I’d plan on paying the vet bill. Perhaps the trainer will offer to pay, perhaps not. Considering the fact that he was keeping the horse around to use for his own convenience and that the horse was not in training at the time, it sounds like it would be nice for him to cover the vet bill. If I were to borrow or lease a horse, I would expect to be responsible for the bills. However, unless I had another problem with the person I wouldn’t ruin a relationship over it. Horses are horses, and accidents like this happen. Tying two horses near each other is pretty normal in many types of barns, there’s nothing negligent about that. Horses also occasionally break loose from where they are tied, that’s horses being horses.
When you send a horse to a trainer, they do not become financially responsible for vet bills when horses injure themselves unless there was blatantly obvious, clear cut negligence or deliberate harm inflicted. I don’t see any negligence here, it sounds like an accident. FWIW I’ve seen cases where trainers WERE IMO obviously negligent or abusive where the owner still was unable to collect for vet bills.
You pay. (Unless the trainer generously offers, but there’s no requirement there.)
I would hope the trainer would care for her (holding for the vet, cleaning, any stall rest/walking, etc.) for free. Since both horses were in his care, and it happened because he did not secure the horses correctly, I think that’s a reasonable expectation. If it were a pasture accident, I wouldn’t expect that.
She doesn’t have any stallions on the property does she? That may have gotten loose, and she needs time to administer lutalayse and make sure she goes into heat normally? Odd spot for a kick to land…
Horses are animals. They get hurt. It’s our job as owners to pay. Period.
Owner pays. Unless you have a contract saying otherwise. File this under “stuff happens when you own a horse”.
My horse got kicked in the same place. No stallions anywhere, and the BO is someone I would trust with my life. Not typical, but not unique.
I would assume that I, the owner, would be paying the bill if my horse was in training and got injured.
Now you are saying that the trainer is basically free leasing your horse, not hired to train the horse, am I reading that correctly?
If that is the case then I would expect the trainer to pay the vet bill, which I assume is covered in your lease contract. 
[QUOTE=m&m;8231932]
My horse got kicked in the same place. No stallions anywhere, and the BO is someone I would trust with my life. Not typical, but not unique.[/QUOTE]
Yep, happened to my old mare that was out in a field with other mares. Required a lot of stitches. It doesn’t happen often, but it can happen.
[QUOTE=FineAlready;8231656]
You pay. Accidents happen. It’s part of owning a horse.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=dungrulla;8231666]
You pay. Accidents happen. It’s part of owning a horse
EDIT: Redacted. I thought the OTHER horse was the one with the edema, not OP’s horse.[/QUOTE]
Wait - how are you redacting a post you didn’t make?
The trainer or barn owner should have liability insurance. IF you want, you can file a claim against their liability insurance to cover your horse getting injured, since this did not happen out in the field, but while the horses were tied up, and one “got loose.” But that would probably cause bad feelings all around.
[QUOTE=SuckerForHorses;8231951]
Wait - how are you redacting a post you didn’t make?[/QUOTE]
I believe Dungrulla took out the post she made because she realized she read the original post wrong.
