Just as an aside… Why is a canvas shelter any safer from fire than a wood shed? 
And… The whole reason a three sided shed is safer than a barn is that the horses can easily leave if it does catch on fire - regardless of the cobweb situation. 
SCFarm
Excellent post! Would anyone board at any facility represented in the pictures that were provided??
I certainly wouldn’t…
So sorry for your friend also - losing her husband because of someone’s known negligence :no:…I could not even imagine losing a family member over something so preventable… absolutely horrible.
[QUOTE=LLDM;5162305]
Just as an aside… Why is a canvas shelter any safer from fire than a wood shed?
And… The whole reason a three sided shed is safer than a barn is that the horses can easily leave if it does catch on fire - regardless of the cobweb situation.
SCFarm[/QUOTE]
I don’t believe the concern was fire safety, but roof collapse from snow load, as with fabric there is less to cause damage to the horse than with wood.
Occasionally horses get out even with good fences and all the gates closed. (I’m still scratching my head on this one, but it has happened and no, it wasn’t a horse known for escaping.)
Shit Happens, but you don’t need to tempt fate.
Not being snarky, just curious - on what official Maine gov’t site did you read that? Can you cite the regulation that specifically mentions the dates, November 1 through April 1?
I keep reading that here, but I still haven’t been able to find the regulation that contains that actual clause.
Did you have to board your cat while on vacation? Oops, I mean the other person’s cat?
I may have started that little rumor. In NH, the law is nov 1 to april 1, but when someone linked maine law, it is not date specific like nh.
Because very few field shelters are wired for electricity, they have an open side and thus are extremely unlikely to catch fire unless struck by lightning or someone careless drops a cigarette? He’s talking about FIELD shelters, not barns that are wired up to electricity and -those- are kept cobweb free, but a field shelter is just a three sided structure with a roof not a barn. Not stacked to the gills with hay that can combust, not full of kiln dried shavings (no one I know beds field shelters unless they are wanting the horses to use it for a potty), not wired to electricity. . . .what is going to catch it on fire? That’s the point he’s making, that there is a distinct difference between the two types of shelters. barn =/= field shelter.
Actually, a shelter for horses in Maine needs to be available “at all times”, at least according to the Animal Welfare Law Book from 2006 that I found.
“A constructed shelter, with a minimum of three sides and a waterproof
roof, shall be provided at all times to protect equines from sun, rain,
wind and other inclement weather.”
Page 118:
http://www.maine.gov/agriculture/aw/documents/2006ANIMALWELFARELAWBOOK.pdf
Has anyone read the comments from the original article? They have bigger pitchforks and larger torches! WOW…just nastiness. A direct quote from one of the “neighbors”: “shes weird ive gone and knocked on the door many times over years and she is home but never answers the door shes wacked if you ask me ive lived next door for 17 years”. Interesting the article states her age (the neighbor’s) as 17! Her other comments were well… just odd. I must say they were some of the calmer posts.
And comments from “acothmember” was “helpful” enough to link this thread to fuel the fire.
Seriously, PP has to deal with this situation with AC and whoever has the authority to issue legal ramifications.
While we all can have our opinions, has anyone been selected for jury duty yet?
[QUOTE=cholmberg;5162369]
a field shelter is just a three sided structure with a roof not a barn. Not stacked to the gills with hay that can combust, not full of kiln dried shavings [/QUOTE]
Actually I have seen quite a few field sheds that have a storage area for hay, and hay mangers inside them. Not everyone feeds round bales to their field kept horses, and the fields are sometimes a good trek from the main barns so it is easier to occasionally stock them with square bales, and just fill the mangers from there.
Aside from the possibility of lack of feed or water or “proper” shelter…how can anyone feel that containing your animals in fencing you know is inadequete to the task is proper, responsible behavior?
Amen. I also know someone who hit and killed horses that got loose on the road last winter. My equine massage therapist of all people! The owner thought that the creek was appropriate fencing and 40 horses got out in the middle of the night and ran out in front of her truck at a full gallop. She had her 3 yr old son with her and thank God she survived, but she has been so mentally scarred by that event (a few of the horses were killed) that I am sure she will never totally get over it. To make matters worse, there is no law that prevents people from having horses loose here, so I am sure it will happen again.
There was also another case close to my house where two percherons got out on the highway and were hit . Nobody was killed, amazingly, but the horses are still there, enclosed by that same shabby barbed wire fencing. Just a death waiting to happen.
Totally irresponsible and inexcusable as far as I am concerned.
Given the number of animals of all kinds, wild and domesticated, that are killed by cars, maybe drivers are committing animal cruelty?
:lol::lol::lol::lol:
My previous career with Dynasplint caused me to visit 100’s of farms/properties, boarding facilities, etc… I’ve worked at some of the best facilities in the country and some of the scariest. I probably wouldn’t choose to board at half the places I’ve visited. What’s the significance of that? There is none. Just because I personally would not board a horse at your place it doesn’t mean your property is not fit for horses.
vineyridge, I have a problem with owners of animals (horses, dogs, etc.) who have a track record of these animals getting out (or just letting them roam with no concern as to keeping them contained) and it eventually leads to the death or harm of the animal(s).
Fortunately it hasn’t happen to the subject of this thread, although it does seem that she has many posts through the years that mention her horses getting out.
Here, livestock on the road are a normal fact of life. We’re a fence out state and people take advantage of it. Of course civil damages can still be sought from the owner of the livestock, but it is not illegal and very common. I’ve had to help two different friends do a midnight drive to move a herd of horses in one case and cattle in the other far enough away so that they’d stop breaking down the fences and eating all my friends’ hay.
Also it is not uncommon nor illegal for horses to have no shelter even in pretty small areas. I know of several well-respected breeders (including 2 high quality WB breeders) who have no shelter in many of their pastures and only limited natural shelter for the others. For those that do provide shelters in the field, though, cobweb removal is not regarded as a bad thing but not worried about either. :lol: Also it is very common for horses to be turned out for months with access to either a natural water source or stock tank and not checked on during that time. This is on much larger pastures, however.
Not that that has anything at all to do with PP’s case, but since we seem to have moved onto a general discussion about husbandry practices I thought I would share.
edit: before anyone bites my head off, I’ll say that my horses are both fenced in and sheltered. :lol:
Why bother with a trial, you heard the jury of ‘her peers’: off with her head.
acothmember…what a pathetic troll…not even enough back bone to put her name to it…or her COTH handle…
any more meat and potatoes (new facts) for this thread ? or are we down to the part where each person has drawn his line in the sand and is defending that spot unto death…
Everyone agrees/disagrees about something and facts won’t get in the way of opinions at this point… and heck… if this all keeps going on maybe there will be a new thread record . Onward to 1400 !!
[QUOTE=JackieBlue;5162536]
My previous career with Dynasplint caused me to visit 100’s of farms/properties, boarding facilities, etc… I’ve worked at some of the best facilities in the country and some of the scariest. I probably wouldn’t choose to board at half the places I’ve visited. What’s the significance of that? There is none. Just because I personally would not board a horse at your place it doesn’t mean your property is not fit for horses.[/QUOTE]
As the poster the poster you quoted was quoting (yikes, say that 3 times fast!), I apologize for not making my point clearer.
I was refering to all the people who have commented/insinuated that there wasn’t anything much wrong with PP’s fencing, and coming off with the attitude that “geez, horses get out occasionally, so what?” I was asking if the conditions were so acceptable, would they willing board their personal animals at PPs? I believe it is easy to defend someone when you have nothing at risk, but the issues regarding PP’s horsecare might become more apparent if they pictured putting there own animals in those conditions and had to worry whether they were wet and cold, hungry, thirsty, or had escaped and were roaming the roads.
As my post mentioned, I have had the bad luck to be well acquainted with both “sides” of horse vs. car accidents, and find the attitude that “oh well, horses get out, no big deal” rather horrifying.
Again, I apologize for inadvertantly steering things “off course” (no pun intended).
We are trying to make this the longest lasting train wreck in COTH history.
Got a problem with that?!
:lol:
