Leaving a headcollar on overnight

[CaliHummers]

More of an equine AIBU but I'd rather post it here than AIBU! Also yes, I've named changed.
My horse is on assisted livery which means I go down once a day and either catch in or turn out. I muck out, do his haynets, make his feeds up, change water etc. The yard owner then does the other end of the day - catch in or turn out, change rugs if need be. Generally I go down in the morning, get everything ready for him so all she has to do is bring him in.

Got down this morning to find him in his stable still wearing his nylon headcollar, with lead rope attached. He'd been like it all night and he was very pleased to see me. I usually get a "hello" whinny, this was more "oh thank goodness you're here" and I thought that even before I saw what was wrong. Fortunately he was safe and sound.

When the yard owner came out I told her he'd spent the night with his headcollar on. I got a very dismissive "oh sorry that was me". Yes, she apologised, but the tone was "oh whatever". I pointed out that he could have hung himself off his door at which point she snapped back "well I didn't do it deliberately did I", stomped off and didn't talk to me for the rest of the morning.

So AIBU? Would this bother you? It bothered me that he'd spent the night like that and then it really bothered me that she was dismissive and, IMO, rather rude. I'm not sure where I go from here. It's not the first safety issue I've encountered there. I've been on the yard several years and no, things aren't perfect, they aren't anywhere, but there is a lot to like about the yard.

Wow. Yeah that would bother me a lot! More the response from her than the actual offence. Can you catch the yard owner in a less harried moment, have coffee or something, and talk it over?

Obviously wondering here what other safety issues?

Don't want to give too much away with the other stuff in case I get recognised. But it's things like haynets routinely being tied low enough for horses to get caught in, or being tied to baler twine rather than rings. Electric fencing is sometimes loose and they could get caught up. My horse is sensible but any horse can panic and hurt itself.

It's also the fact that him being in a headcollar overnight (between 5pm and 7am) means there's no routine check to make sure all is OK with the yard before they're left.

Yes it would bother me, I’ve seen several accidents where a headcollar has got caught on the bolt of a stable door. One horse lifted the door off its hinges and the owner was lucky not to be seriously hurt.

We all make mistakes however the attitude would bother more than the actual mistake. It’s one you wouldn’t make again if you made it - I once forgot to put a water bucket in a stable I now go through a ‘hay, water, bed, rug, door’ list in my head before leaving!

I think you may be projecting slightly too much on to his calling you this morning and most people tie to baler twine that will snap if a horse panicked. But low hay nets and loose electric fencing is not good. Could you send her a message for a chat and explain you were a bit scared by what could have happened?

I think you may be projecting slightly too much on to his calling you this morning

No, as soon as I heard him I thought "what's up with you?". I know my horse.

He is now retired. Back in January I was away for 4 days and he was on full livery. When I came back he was decidedly lame. He's had various investigations but basically has now been retired from ridden work. Thing is, they didn't notice he was unsound and I will never know what he did. Might be normal horse stuff but every so often I've wondered what the hell he did and I'm wondering even more now.

Thanks for the responses. Seems I'm not unreasonable to be concerned. I've seen horses hang themselves over doors - it's horrifying trying to get in there and not knowing what's going to break first, headcollar, door or neck. And potentially he could have been stuck for hours.

Oh and I always tie a horse up to baler twine and make sure it's cut through so it will break. But the haynet I tie to the ring or there's the risk the baler twine will fray through and you'll have the net on the floor.

totally would bother me.

I could have forgiven the headcollar if it was a one off, but to leave the leadrope on as well is worse! I tie haynets to bake string so if they did get caught on anything (shoe, rug, etc) the horse wouldn't be attached to the wall all night. I always thought it was better to have a haynet attached to a shoe on the floor than the horse stand there with its foot up all night?

It's a trust issue. I have to trust that they will care for him when I'm not there, not just bung him in his stable and forget to even take his headcollar off! And he's easy to do. If you're bringing two horses in together you can let him in his stable and he'll turn and come back to the door for you to take his headcollar off. He's used to doing a lot of ride and lead and if I'm trying to manoeuvre two horses on my own he knows to come to the door to have his bridle/ headcollar removed.

I wonder if the yard owner just got defensive because she knows she's in the wrong and didn't like having it pointed out.

@Fireba11 I think it's a bit swings and roundabouts. I was always taught to tie haynets directly to the ring but to make sure they're high and pass the string up through the bottom of the net so the net does not drop too low as it empties. That way they shouldn't even get a foot in it in the first place.

I know I'm being an overprotective PFB over my horse (and he's not even a PFB of any description!) but I really hate the thought that he could have been caught up and distressed all night. It's just luck that he wasn't. I have an old leather headcollar that would probably break fairly easily. Wondering whether to just swap him into that.

Tbh it doesn’t sound as if he was caught up all night. Was he sweaty or was the stable messier than usual? If it’s any comfort it does sound like at least there’s no harm done, although it’s a horrible feeling when you think of what could have happened. One of mine managed to get his leg twisted in a haynet (still haven’t figured what he did as his near fore was twisted underneath his near off and in a net). He was a bath of sweat and luckily hadn’t been there too long, I don’t think, as he was still steaming. It was awful, luckily he was ok but his distress was obvious. I only use haylage nets now to lessen the chance of getting a hoof caught.

YANBU about the headcollar on in the stable, I cringe when I see people doing this and have told people not to, based on what I’ve seen horses do!

No, I think this time Chief, it's a case of no harm done. He is sensible and if he trod on the leadrope he'd just have worked it out and got off it. I've seen him get a rug caught on a haynet and he just stood and waited for me to free him - and now I use rugs with buckle fronts not that kind of clip. I think it's different attitudes. My mind goes through what could have happened and I think of it as Russian roulette - just because I got away with it this time, doesn't mean it was a good idea. The yard owner is way more laid back.

I'm sure they didn't do it on purpose. We lead two in at a time and always let the first one walk in with their head collar on and lead rope over their neck. We then shut that door and put the other one away before going back to take off the head collar and lead rope on the first one. Very occasionally we forget for a moment but of course we always double check everything ie hay, water, bottom bolts, lights etc before we finish so would always pick it up. The fact they didn't do a last check would be my biggest annoyance but sure they won't do it again.

Yes it would bother me a lot. On an assisted livery yard they should do a final check as routine - my yard certainly does, and they've noticed things that would otherwise have been missed (horse colicing). I would be pretty upset about the lack of a final check, and her dismissive attitude. Only you can decide if it's enough to warrant finding another yard.

Re the headcollar - I never use nylon headcollars any more for this very reason. Leather ones break pretty easily if any serious pressure is put on them - as I know only too well as every single one of my 3 have broken at least one leather headcollar at some point!

It's an easy kind of mistake to make (I've probably had similar near misses myself) and if everything else about the yard and the care they give was great, something you'd easily forgive particularly as no harm was done.

But it does sound like you've been feeling uneasy for some time and at the end of the day you are a paying customer and deserve to feel completely confident about the care of your PFH (precious first horse ) so perhaps its time to start to look elsewhere - no need to make a big drama out of it with the yard owner if you don't want. As he's no longer ridden you could perhaps look for a smaller yard that specialises in care for retired horses or rehab?

The only thing I'd say is that if you're anything like me you will probably find that no livery 100% lives up to the standard of care you'd give him yourself - it's just not possible on a busy yard and where you are depending on staff working unsupervised to ensure that every single horse has that loving 1-1 attention all the time, and inconsistencies/mistakes/carelessness happen on the best of yards, so perhaps think of what the really truly important things you can't compromise on are - e.g. last thing at night checks, and what you can let go - I understand your point about the haynets but either way is feasibly correct depending on how you were taught so probably not worth worrying about?

YANBU. I put a headcollar on one of mine in his field shelter, which has a gate on the front so I can shut them in if needed. I turned my back for 45 seconds to pick up the other one's headcollar, there was an almighty clanging noise and I whipped round to see the first one clattering around the field shelter with a 5ft gate attached to his head - he'd rubbed his head on the hinge trying to take his headcollar off and lifted the whole thing off. Fortunately he was sensible, stood still for me to unhook him, and there was no damage.

I would be worried about laxity around basic safety! Loose electric fencing, and so on! It's not just a one-off and totally agree with pp about her curtness due to being called on it.
Things change in a flash with a panicking horse. Hence the need for such measures for their safety.
I wouldnt feel confident in them to take safety seriously.

@KevinTheYuccaPlant - that's exactly the sort of thing I meant! Couldn't have put it better. I hadn't refreshed and seen your post before posting mine. i have massive time gaps

Thanks for the advice everyone. it's reassuring to know I wasn't over-reacting, given that the YO was so dismissive. I think whereas I imagine what could have happened, she just thinks nothing actually did happen so she's not bothered.

I terms of moving him, it's not as easy choice. He's pushing 20, he's been on the yard for years and his equine friends are there. They go out in small groups and they're carefully introduced. I agree with maxelly no livery 100% lives up to the standard of care you'd give him yourself and therefore I have to compromise somewhere. I think if I asked my horse he'd say he wasn't really all that bothered about the headcollar, he's more fussed about the good quality hay in the nets than what happens with the nets and he can take care of himself. But he loves his herd buddies and really likes hanging out with them. At his previous yard they were much more safety conscious but he was hardly ever turned out and there's no way he'd choose that.

At some point I'll swap him into his old leather headcollar. I can keep an eye on the other safety issues and just monitor how things go. Thanks again.