Is Barn neglect horse neglect?

If your barn was totaly nasty and the paddocks (turnouts as well as run outs for stalls) had mud where the horse sank to their knees and were living in stalls that some times hadnt been cleaned in 3 days. Not to mention the buckets are never scrubbed out. Is that just neglecting your barn or the horses also?

I know mud if constantly in can cause hoof problems not to mention their skin from being wet all the time.
They also can't get sick from drinking water from buckets that havent been cleaned in a week but its sick when you can just wipe your finger on the bottom and get loads of gunk :X

Im also wondering is it a form of abuse to feed your horse a huge diet but don't ever work it. So it just sits and gets fat, can't that cause problem as well?

What do you guys think? Poor living conditions for your horse equal neglect?

YES. If my horse was kept in those conditions I would be moving him out immediately and taking down evidence of neglect. If anything, it is horse neglect first and barn second. Planks can be replaced, water buckets can be scrubbed, but it will take a little more to get rid of a nasty hoof abscess or a hazardous digestive system sickness. Also, when horses are kept in their own waste they start to inhale the methane and ammonia and they weaken. Horses that are over-fed can stress out their joints, endanger their heart health, and founder. Absolutely, such living conditions are unacceptable.

Oh good someone agrees with me!!! Im going to get pictures of this place..The knee deep horses and the ponds in their paddocks. Ill get pics of the stalls to and then im reporting it to the Animal control.

I feel really bad for one horse because she never gets turned out. She just has a stall with a run.

Barn neglect is kind of the same as horse neglect. If the barn conditions are bad then it can cause trouble for your horse and the stalls not being cleaned is considered horse abuse. Imagine standing in your own waste for days, that's just nasty. It could also be unsafe for your horse if repairs aren't made to fences that are broke (if they won't clean stalls they will not fix repairs). I would want my horse at the cleanest facility possible and I have turned down many barns. I have seen one time a boarding facility neglecting its barn and horses and the boarders all got their horses taken away by the humane society.

I wouldn't feed my horse a huge diet. Its not abuse but it can cause foundering.

Rissaxbmth- Ya your right cause a couple times horses would kick out the panels between the stalls and those would take days to get fixed. They are lucky a horse didnt get its leg caught.

So far a boarder is moving her horses out, YAY! And my horse isnt there. Im just waiting for the right time to quit or get fired. Only working there 2 days a week just waiting till I find a new job. But im busting the cap on this place. Ill post pics when I get them

I consider it to be abusive but mud and dirty buckets probably won't do it for the the SPCA or animal control.. Usually access to water, well fed and no old festering wounds is good enough.

Is the mud really up to the horses knees? I know first hand how very, very, hard it is to control mud. Last summer was a horrible wet time and in attempts to try and save one pasture I kept them in the 2nd one until the other pasture was dry enough to grow grass. And man! It was muddy. And I would have kept them inside, but I would rather have happy healthy horses that get to go outside than two horses that are stabled 24/7.

To go as far as saying that feeding your horse alot and not working it is abuse, I don't know..

Ya, the paddocks are really that deep. Really its hard to get the horses in and hard for them to even move around in there. Its either they are out there or in dark dirty stalls.

Well I do find it semi-hard to believe that the mud is /that/ deep. Though, mud isn't good to be standing in all the time, it is usually only harmful to horses that have shoes. But horses need to be turned out, I would find them staying in their stall all day us worse than going in a muddy pasture.

Im pritty sure all their horses have shoes. After Gypsy went to her new barn the people who are leasing her told me Gypsy has thrush. I wasnt even able to turn her out as much as the BO's horses and I also cleaned my stall everyday. I wouldnt be suprised if most of the horses have thrush or worse.

I'll be able to post pics later on in the week.