Looking for some insights/ideas about a dilemma I have. I have an older horse and recently had to move to a new livery yard due to the one I was at being closed.
The yard owner seemed very nice at first (as they often do!). But recently the cracks have been beginning to show and all the liveries have issues. Things like lack of bedding so we are having to buy shavings even though we are paying the yard for this (they won't do DIY), horses running out of hay by 7pm when they're in at night, turnout time being gradually reduced each week, the owner being miserable and rude, the usual stuff! So, I am not overly happy with the yard but loathe to move my oldie again. The liveries are all really lovely and 100% look after their horses.
On top of this is my real dilemma. I caught the owner using an illegal glue trap to catch mice and rats. I had gone into the feed room and could hear this awful squealing noise but couldn't tell where it was coming from. The owner came into the feed room and I asked what the noise was. I was told it was a stuck mouse and was shown a poor mouse stuck on a glue trap. The owner had an evil smirk on his face and said to it, 'Good, I've got you.' I was so upset by this that I walked out in tears.
I then looked into use of glue traps online and found out they were banned in the UK in 2024, but it's not illegal to sell them, just to use them! Only professional pest controllers who have been awarded a permit can use them, and only in very specific circumstances. The penalty for use is up to 6 months in prison. In addition anyone who finds one and fails to disable it is committing an offence. Also, if you know someone is using them illegally and you don't report it you are also committing an offence.
About a week later I heard the same noise coming from the feed room and went to investigate. I found yet another mouse stuck to a glue trap (at this point I hadn't looked into how to release them so failed to act, which I feel dreadful about).
I know rodents are pests, but the traps are illegal because they are considered to be hugely cruel, and affect wildlife and pets as well. My last yard managed the vermin by keeping everything clean and previous yards have had dogs/cats to keep the vermin down.
My horse has recently been given a clean bill of health by my vet so I feel he could travel further and cope with a yard move, but it seems unfair on him. On the other hand I am having to buy my own bedding (which was recently stolen by the owner - actually from the bed! - to use in another horse's stable). Meanwhile my poor old boy has a thin and damp bed :(
I also feel that if this person thinks it's fine to let a mouse suffer, what happens with the horses when no-one is there? I know he's hit one of the livery horses a few times and there was an incident where his friend was riding his (the yard owner's) horse and she was booting the horse in the ribs with spurs and jabbing it in the mouth.
I know the shavings were moved from my horse's bed as I buy large flake shavings and the yard uses small flake shavings. I had put a new bale in and couldn't work out why the bed looked really thin and tiny two days later. I then happened to go and stroke the horse next door and noticed my large flakes in its bed! I am friends with the owner so I let him know that his horse was getting my second hand bedding - he then went out and bought us both some shavings, saying that the beds were very low when he was there in the morning. We are on full livery and the bedding is supposed to be included. I don't think there is any point saying anything as the owner will lie and just make things even more awkward than they are.
The mucking out is appalling and I recently had to take out four barrows of crap from the bed and then make up a decent bed with my own shavings. The water is topped up even if the remaining water is dirty (even with poo in) and the water buckets are only cleaned when the liveries do it.
But my real issue is that I feel I should report the illegal goings on, although I don't have proof, but will take photos if I come across any more traps (and then disable them and release any wildlife). I feel I should start looking for another yard, but realistically that could take a while as there are very few yards in the area. But what do I do in the meantime?
I am at the yard every day to make sure my old boy is okay. I will start turning up at odd times, unexpectedly. Especially on days when they are supposed to have new bedding (by my estimation I think the yard is putting in 1/3 of a bale each week!). I make up my own feeds (the yard is supposed to provide a 'basic' feed in the price but it's just a big bucket of chaff so I buy my own feed as well), so I go into the feed room each night and can check for glue traps.
Any suggestions re getting the glue traps reported/discovered by the authorities without me being implicated? Don't want to have a homeless elderly horse.
Also, any suggestions re how to deal with the bedding issue? I have thought about maybe asking to put down Sorbeo or similar and just getting the yard to skip out in the week, but I am supposed to be getting bedding included in my livery price.
Sorry for the long rant!