Horse boarding service provider was negligent, now demands contract termination fee

[Reisender]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia


Hi, I'm seeking advice regarding a contract made with a small business that provides horse boarding service (food, water, shelter, notification in case of needed medical care). The horse spends half the day in his stall and the other half in a small field; ample food and water is supposed to be provided in both environments. Over the past couple of months it has become apparent that the owners of this small facility were providing inadequate care for the horses; and so my girlfriend and I decided to remove our horse from the premises after giving notice. Here's a quick rundown of the contract terms.

--Contract states that the services to be provided are sufficient food, water, shelter for the wellbeing of the horse.
--Contract states that 30 days notice is required before a boarder can terminate the agreement.
--Contract states that there is no pro-rating of the month.
--$100 deposit is required in case of early termination.

Here's the situation: My girlfriends rides the horse 3-5 days a week, sometimes twice a day. Every time she has visited her horse over the past couple of months, he NEVER has water in his stall. The horse also started to lose quite a bit of weight because the small field that he has to share with 5-6 other horses has no grass whatsoever; it's just dirt (the owners stated that the field would have grazing grass). Instead, one small round bale of hay is placed in the field next to the small water trough, which all the horses have to fight over. This daily competition for hay and water has resulted in frequent (and photographed) injuries which should have been treated with stitches by a vet, but the service provider never notified us of these injuries when they happened; they would only be discovered the next day or week, depending on when my girlfriend next saw the horse. Since our horse was not getting enough food, we provided our own daily supplements.

We have tried to work with the service provider in order to get better care for the horse. We have documented that the many emails, texts, and phone calls to the owners requesting additional food and water in the stall, and notifications upon injury, over the past two months have gone completely unanswered. As such we provided 30 days notice on the 9th of April stating our intent to leave. Last week, however, we experienced an unseasonable heat wave, with the temperature reaching 90 degrees F. This made the lack of water an even more dangerous situation, and our horse was once again injured in his attempt to get to the small water trough in the field. Instead of waiting for the 9th of May to roll around, we pulled our horse out of the boarding facility and placed him in another. This has launched a flurry of emails from the owners (who are now suddenly interested in communicating with us) demanding the boarding fee for the full month of May.

So, looking at it from a purely contractual standpoint, they do not pro-rate the month, and so if our 30-day notice ended on the 9th of May, we would have to pay the full rate for May. However, their service has been utterly negligent. We have had more communication with them in the last week than we have in the last 2-3 months, our horse never has water, the food supply is inadequate, and we have never been notified of his injuries. I would like to know at what point does negligent service trump the terms of a contract? We feel that we have documented the negligent service sufficiently that we would be willing to take this argument to small claims court if they try to sue us for the May boarding fee, but I'd like to get some advice on the matter.

Thank you in advance for any response.

 

[RRevak]

Does your contract state exactly WHAT kind of food would be provided, how it would be provided, and when? There may be no grazing grass but the owner did at least provide hay. It might not be to your liking but its hay nonetheless which is food. Was there another paddock for you to move your horse to where there weren't as many horses? You state the horse acquired injuries that required stitches, are you equipped with the medical knowledge to make that determination? What did your vet say when they came to inspect the injuries? Many times horse owners see an injury and automatically think the worst despite the injury being only mild. You also state that sometimes as long as a week would go by before your girlfriend would see the injury. Yes the barn manager did have some obligation to notify you of injuries to your horse but you as owners also had a duty to care for the horse. If that much time lapsed before your girlfriend returned to the horse then your girlfriend was just as negligent. It is her horse after all, not the barn managers. When the heat wave hit how injured did the horse get? Why didn't you simply request that the horse remain in the stall during the hottest part of the day then be turned out during the cooler parts or during a time where there weren't as many horses also turned out? I'm asking all these questions because I'm getting a feeling you believe the barn manager to have far more duties to care for the horse than your girlfriend did. It was her responsibility to also maintain her horses' health and well being. If he wasn't properly cared for to her standards, then she should have amped up her own care while giving proper notice to vacate per the contract. Until you answer the questions I asked, it seems to me you owe the full board for the 30 days you did not provide proper notice.

 

[Reisender]

Hi Rrevak, thank you for the response. I'll reply to your questions one by one:

Does your contract state exactly WHAT kind of food would be provided, how it would be provided, and when? There may be no grazing grass but the owner did at least provide hay. It might not be to your liking but its hay nonetheless which is food. Was there another paddock for you to move your horse to where there weren't as many horses?
No, the contract doesn't specify what type of food would be provided; the service provider verbally stated the paddock would have grazing grass. It's a small facility so there aren't any other paddocks that we could move the horse to. Our horse was losing weight until we started providing our own buckets of food supplements.


You state the horse acquired injuries that required stitches, are you equipped with the medical knowledge to make that determination? What did your vet say when they came to inspect the injuries? Many times horse owners see an injury and automatically think the worst despite the injury being only mild. You also state that sometimes as long as a week would go by before your girlfriend would see the injury. Yes the barn manager did have some obligation to notify you of injuries to your horse but you as owners also had a duty to care for the horse. If that much time lapsed before your girlfriend returned to the horse then your girlfriend was just as negligent. It is her horse after all, not the barn managers.
My girlfriend previously worked as a barn manager for competition horses for about ten years and is currently working at an emergency vet clinic while studying to get into vet school, so she is quite experienced at assessing and treating injuries. She has taken pictures of all the injuries that the horse has sustained and showed them to her vet, who firmly stated that the injuries should have been treated that day with stitches. To clarify the amount of time that passed before the injuries were noticed, I stated that my girlfriend visited the horse 3-5 days a week; so the injuries would be noticed by her either the next day or four days later. Reporting animal injuries is one of the duties of a barn manager, as the manager takes them out/brings them in every day and so is in a position to allow the owner(s) to treat an injury before complications can arise.


When the heat wave hit how injured did the horse get? Why didn't you simply request that the horse remain in the stall during the hottest part of the day then be turned out during the cooler parts or during a time where there weren't as many horses also turned out?
As I said in the original post, the barn managers/owners did not reply to any of our requests to improve or alter the care of the horse over a two month period. We have documented the frequent calls and emails we have made about the water situation. Because the barn manager was not interested in communicating with us, my girlfriend visited the barn twice a day during the heat wave to provide adequate water for the horse to prevent heat stroke. The barn manager was nowhere to be found during this time.

Thank you for attending to my post; do you have any recommendations or additional questions?