Legal Question in Consumer Law in 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.

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