Help me rehabilitate Bobby and fight his case

Hi, my name is Kaylee and I’m the current owner of Bobby, the now nearly 14 year old Connemara pony. I bought him in late October 2021 (under a different name) as a forever pony and a best friend, suitable for my current ability as a novice rider but able to grow with me over the years. It turns out he appears to have been physically abused and he is too challenging for me to work with. I’m opening this GoFundMe with the hopes of giving Bobby the future he deserves, with an understanding and experienced owner.

I met Oggie in late October 2021. I rode him and I also had a horse friend of mine ride him on two separate occasions. There were no apparent issues on both occasions - he seemed sound and I purchased him after a full 5-stage vetting, which he passed.

He came to my livery on November 3rd 2021. This was a full-livery position as I am a novice horse owner and wanted to make sure he was properly cared for while I ‘learned the ropes’ of horse care. My chosen livery primarily specialises in the rehabilitation of horses that have been injured or suffer from other conditions such as laminitis, in addition to horses that need to improve their strength and fitness - as there is an excellent swimming pool. The local vet also comes around to the livery once a month and gives each horse a check up. This is the perfect place for a novice horse owner. I could go on forever about how great my livery is, but that’s besides the point.

It became very apparent shortly after I received him at my livery yard that the previous owners had hidden a lot of Oggie’s aggressive behaviours from me prior to sale, particularly in his stable. (I did not see Oggie in his stable as when I arrived, the previous owners had him tied up just outside his stable, eating hay). It turns out that Oggie is very aggressive in his stable and will try to lunge and bite. He has on many occasions pinned livery staff members in the corner of his stable when they skip him out and reared up at them. He has also bitten staff, both in the stable and he has even lunged over his door at passers by. The previous owner had used treats to mask his over-the-door aggressive stable behaviour when she dropped him off at the livery . A horse person that has experienced these issues can perhaps deal with Oggies behaviours, however a novice like me could not. Out of the stable, he is not aggressive - he almost becomes a seemingly normal pony, he can be lovely in fact, that is, until ridden.

Unfortunately Oggie also had a few behaviours under saddle that a novice like me cannot handle. He can drop his shoulder and bolt without the proper contact. After I first became unseated, experienced livery staff have ridden him multiple times in the first month or so that I had him and were almost unseated. The livery owner’s daughter, who has evented to BE 100, also rode him and was thrown off one afternoon in the school. This is after 4 days of Oggie schooling well and not putting a foot wrong. She let him have some contact for a rest during a schooling session and he bolted. This behaviour doesn’t happen every time he is ridden, which is why in the two different riding sessions before I bought him, it was not witnessed. It seems to happen most when there is less contact. It became apparent very quickly it was not safe for me to go in the stable with Oggie or ride him anymore - I was potentially going to suffer a serious injury.

After over a month of having experienced riders and livery staff work with him, both in the stable and through schooling, they determined that he is not the pony for me and I cannot give him what he needs as an owner. It is obvious to professional horse trainers and livery staff that he has been violently abused in the past - both in his stable and when ridden - he is lashing out from fear and he doesn’t trust anyone. It’s heartbreaking to watch.

In December 2021 I asked the previous owner to take him back and they refused. They revealed to me that he had not been in work for the past 3 years but he was instead, turned away in the field. This was completely new information and my livery owner was in shock just from hearing that. I immediately made it my mission to reach out to further previous owners (despite a huge gap in ownership and time in Oggie's passport) - to find out what may have happened to him; his first owner was extremely sweet and deeply saddened to hear about Bobby. You see, Bobby was his original name and he had always been Bobby, seemingly all the way up until his current previous owners.

I found myself a solicitor and began litigation with the current previous owner as it was clear I was mis-sold Bobby. I had full support of my livery owner and I was ready to fight in court. Fast forward 1 year and I am still in litigation with the previous owner. There is no end in sight because they refuse to participate properly in litigation - they ignore any requests, deny any liability and say that Bobby is absolutely fine. I did not realise at the time that I was buying this pony from multi-multi millionaires - that did not care at all about Bobby's welfare. They lied about everything, even down to his name. It has become clear they just wanted rid of him, despite the assurances prior to purchase that they would happily welcome him back if he wasn't a fit. I won’t go into details for litigation purposes but this owner has told a pack of lies. If you are the previous owner and you are reading this; shame on you.

Throughout this past year Bobby has not been ridden (under advice from my livery owner and staff) but he has enjoyed around the clock care by the experienced and compassionate staff and plenty of turnout in the fields over spring and summer, in addition to some lungeing. He has his monthly checkups with the vet and has a clean bill of health, but it’s clear he’s not happy in himself. He’s clearly had a really rough time. I've had people tell me to turn Bobby away for a year to ‘get over it’ - he has effectively been turned away for almost a year now. He is exactly the same pony as he was one year ago.

I’ll make a point of flat out stating that I don’t know for sure who has abused this poor pony - I don’t know if it was the current previous owner or an owner before that. But the current previous owner is clearly well aware of his issues and refuses to take any accountability for the missale of Bobby.

Here comes the financial side of things:

I paid £13,000 for Bobby originally, under the belief he was safe, experienced and suitable for a novice rider. This is how he was advertised and reassured at viewings. It was more than I could afford at the time but my priority was finding a very safe and versatile horse - so I pooled in all my savings. I had been wanting a horse of my own for so long and had been preparing for so long with as many riding lessons as I could possibly get. It was worth it for the right horse. It turns out due to his issues he was worth only a fraction of what I paid. His care since November 2021 costs me around £450 a month on full-livery, not including other basic expenses (farrier, feed, medical insurance etc). Those expenses add on an average of £150 a month. My total expenditure so far since my ownership of Bobby has exceeded over £20,000 which has been extremely tough, however this total does not include any legal fees incurred over the past year which amount to additional thousands. I have not placed Bobby on a grass livery - as the advice at the time was the previous owner would use it to say that I am negligent and/or suggest that the horses behavioural issues are due to this. I cannot place him on DIY livery as I have very large work commitments.

The previous owner has made it very clear they will not participate in any form of solution and will drag this out as long as humanly possible - to the bitter end. And quite frankly, after researching the previous owner - they are more wealthy than I could have imagined. After doing a little digging, it turns out from media articles the previous owner (and their spouse) have a history of scamming and bullying pensioners for money for expensive funeral plans - on a pretty large scale through one of their many companies. Makes you feel pretty sick that there are people out there that will happily take advantage of old and vulnerable people. Clearly if I had known of their reputation prior to purchase I would not have purchased Bobby - but I unfortunately only found out the previous owner's full name after purchase. Clearly they do not care how they make their millions which explains why this is so insignificant to them. Whilst they are indeed multi-millionaires living on National Trust land and can afford to take me on a ride, I’m almost out of savings and I need to think about what is best for Bobby. He shouldn’t have to have his life on hold while this goes on for potentially another year if I continue down this path. So I have another option:

Yesterday, the 29th October 2022 my solicitor came to see Bobby, along with 2 professional horse trainers that came with a high recommendation. These trainers specialise in extremely problematic horses and ‘last chance’ horses. They assessed Bobby in his stable and came to the same conclusions that my livery staff have - this was an unhappy, previously abused pony that wants to be good. He's just very frightened of people and he lashes out at them before they can hurt him. The trainers seemed to really understand Bobby and how he was feeling, which was a huge comfort to me - he’s not an evil horse, he does not need put to sleep - he needs someone experienced who can work with him and deal with his behaviours long-term, not a novice with little to no experience that intended to learn on the job with the help and support of experienced friends and livery staff.

During this visit, Bobby was then lunged before being briefly ridden to assess him further. After a long discussion with myself, my solicitor, my livery staff and the professional horse trainers, we came to the conclusion that he could be rehabilitated significantly with time and although he would never be 100% ‘normal’, he could have a happy future with an experienced and understanding owner he can trust, and I understand that I am not that person. They told me his rehabilitation and training cost would be £250 a week (to include sales livery if a suitable owner could be found) and will continue for an unknown amount of time. It could be weeks, it could be more - they couldn’t say as they don’t know how good his response will be.

All of these costs and legal expenses are pushing me to breaking point financially. I am terrified of passing this pony along without giving him the help he needs to move on with his life and live out his days a much happier pony, if he ends up in the wrong hands the way he currently is, I fear he may be further mistreated. My solicitor says I can ultimately sell Bobby for a huge loss, and still fight in court afterwards. This would also mean that Bobby would not go back to the previous owner if I won my case. The court fight however is not what is important to me - Bobby’s wellbeing and happiness is. At this point, I am willing to walk away from a court battle with a huge loss.

If you choose to donate to this cause, the money will be used for Bobby's future care and rehabilitation / training. First, Bobby will undergo swimming sessions at the livery to increase his strength, cardiovascular health and lose some of his extra weight gained over his summer in the field. This treatment costs extra on top of my full-livery, but I am lucky to have a reduced rate as I am on livery there. Once he is suitably fit and healthy, Bobby will be in the hands of the professional trainers. He will be rehabilitated via trust work as well as ridden training. Once he is happy and ready, a new owner will be found for him. This owner will be loving, understanding, experienced and ultimately, the right owner for Bobby. They will know about his history and his past and present issues.

If I can financially continue my fight in court, I will continue fighting to the end and hopefully force the previous owners to take accountability. If not, I can at least rest knowing that Bobby is safe and happy, and that I was a part of that. If all I can afford to do is rehabilitate Bobby - then I will walk away from the legal side of things with the knowledge I did the right thing for this poor horse.

I’m going to continue working as hard as I can to pay Bobby’s costs, but they are about to skyrocket with the added cost of rehabilitation. That is the £450 for livery, medical insurance, farrier, feed etc at around £150, the training costs of £1,000 a month + extras that the training costs don’t cover (sales adverts, admission costs for hunting and some non-included vet costs). I haven’t been told of what these extras can amount to as it depends on what they decide to do with his training. I don’t know how I can afford this process without help.

You have no idea how embarrassed I feel writing this and asking for help, believe me, it is the last thing I would ever do. but I’m almost out of options. If you choose to donate, even if it’s a small amount - from the bottom of my heart - thank you so much, on behalf of myself and Bobby.