abandoned horse advice urgently needed

A lady brought a horse to go in a paddock in June 2010, she was to pay 50 euros for the paddock and water. She paid on arrival(i wasnt there when she came). She hasnt paid since nor been anywhere near. I have phoned her numerous times with no answer on 3 different numbers i have from when she did ring, i have sent her messages by email and facebook, I have been to the gendarmes who arent interested, the spa not interested as i live next to the field but if if walk it away from the house and so to speak dump it, they will do something then(once someone reports the horse to them that is), phoenix not interested only after 2 years. So much for people setting up these places and wont do anything. She is constantly getting out as it was in a field on its own, i have now put it in with mine and she still gets out only this time my 3 are joining her so i have to get 4 back home. She is always in season and i have heard this can be normal for some mares especially if used as broodmares. There is a stallion 1 km away from me(not mine)
A friend of mine got the vet out to see if she was microchipped which she is and to give her a wormer and health check. I now have the address of the woman who however is registered pyscho and can be dangerous.
The woman now owes 100 euros for the vet, plus for the paddock now 500 euros.

Where can i off load this horse so to speak, can i sell her to recoup our expenses(the owner has the passport)

I have 3 stables and i need to bring my horses in off the grass but cant because of this other one, she is hard to catch on her own and if she comes near me my horses attack her cos they are jealous. 1 of mine got laminitis last year and i dont want him to get it again, the farrier said i must get him off the grass

Can anyone help

i don't know french law but what i know from similar situations in the UK where livery yards sometimes get stuck with the same situation is this :-

simply put she has a contract with you, even if not on paper, if you have a paper contract fine, if not did you put an advert up/posted etc anywhere & if so do you or can you get a copy of it, if so this copy forms the basis of a verbal contract which she agreed to.

now assuming some sort of contract which she has defaulted on then after 'a reasonable length of time'

(taken as the length of time a reasonable person would expect to wait,- but not actually fixed in law- usually 1 month after failure to comply with terms etc)

you are within rights to issue her with notice - registered letter.notieres letter whatever - of intent to furthur action if she does not pay/do whatever within same reasonable period, but this time state it as within 1 month from../../....

declare to her what the action will be....

usually it is the intention to sell the property (her horse) & take payment & any costs due including costs of selling such as agents fees or auction transport etc from any money obtained, & by law you have to forward any left over to her so you need to know where she wants it sent.

Note 1- if she does not tell you where to send her 'change' you can put it in an account/jamjar whatever & keep the interest forever, it's not up to you to find her to pay her.

note 2- the price paid if not at public sale has to reflect the real value of the horse, no selling a champion to a mate for a quid is allowed.

state on the letter that if she does not contact you with payment or other terms of offer by the stated date then you will assume she has voided all ownership of the property (horse) which you will now dispose of (in a monetary sense we hope!) as stated above.

if in fact the amount owed to you is about what the mare is worth & you are prepared to swallow it and choose to give her away thats ok too.


if you have a mairee or a local notiere i would go see them, they may be able to help and the notiere is p'haps the person best able to word this sort of thing, any cost he charges will come out of the mares sale or can be added to the owners bill to pay.
i am told there is a system of small claims court in france, again ask the mairee or notiere about it.

i have used a similar format in the UK on solicitors advice with a human tennant who left owing rent and the house full of his furniture, after the old reasonable time & due notice waffle we sold the funiture to cover costs, inc cost of solicitor & removal to the auction & sent him the change to his Mums address, so in Uk law it is deffo an OK way to go about this.

good luck, bye

Thankyou salee for your response
Its a difficult one isn't it as I'm not sure at what point they are 'legally' abandonned , I'll try and find out for you but yes a mairie or notaire may know when you can legally rehome a horse in such circumstances

as far as the law is concerned the horse would be property & as such have a value, what jilm is owed in law is the value of the rent she has not been paid under the terms of the agreement she had with the owner,
if she used the format i suggested she would be claiming the ownership of the 'property' (horse) against the value of the debt owed to her, it would not be nessesary to proove the owner had abandoned the horse, the basic principal applies if its stuff left in a shop for repairs, cars left in a car park or boats at moorings or as in my case furniture left behind in a house.

i have known several yard owners in the UK who have done just this, taken the horse/pony against the owed livery and sold it on, quite legally, 1 such owner had a solicitor/baraster as a boyfriend & that was his advice.

the biggest problem i could see is how she gets the microchip or whatever changed to any new owner be it her or someone else?

i suppose this is another reason why stable owners insist on keeping the horses papers with the horse, as the old saying goes possession is 9 tenths of the law....so don't let the horse leave before you get paid if you want to see any money.

bye