A 'what would you do'

Montyforever

Montyforever

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For a friend, in a tricky situation! :(

Im april her & a friend bought a shetland x. Pony was very nervous and still hasnt really come round to people yet! Hes very unpredictable, unable to be caught and still very scared. Hes a very sweet pony and has started to trust friend.

But friends friend decided she no longer wanted him and offered friend to buy her half.
Friend couldnt afford to buy the half and keep him so they decided to find him a loan home.

Theyve been advertising him for ages now for full loan and nobodys come forward, until they got an offer of full loan but then hes messed them around and now doesnt want pony.

Friend cannot afford to keep him, and shes now had to put him up for sale and other half owner is not paying for his keep at all! Friend is having real money issues, and cant afford to pay for all the ponies keep unless hes sold soon.

So what would you do in this situation?
 
Not a nice situation at all :-(

Unfortunately at the mo, with prices rocketing for hay/bedding this winter, I think so many people are not looking at the moment.

What I will say though is that if the friend is not paying for keep at all then your friend should be deducting half the monthly costs from her half share of the pony, so if she does not pay towards upkeep then your friend deducts accordingly until she automatically has full ownership. I know it doesn't help in the meantime whith finding him a home but at least if sold, she would reclaim monies for herself.

Think that would be the fairest thing.
 
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i would suggest your friend sits down with other owner and suggests that half the costs of his keep comes out of his sale price.In the meantime can she get pony into a stable at all? its the easiest way to get them to come round to people being a good thing and once he has been handled a bit more he should be more saleable
 
Seahorse said:
how much did this pony cost? Did they have an agreement if one decided they didn't want the pony any more?

Can she move the pony somewhere cheaper?
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He cost £250, and no i dont think they had a written agreement, but they keep their horses together on their shared yard.

Nope, shes currently unable to drive so has to keep him within walking distance from home/work (she lives in)

They had him in a stable to start with, but she cant get hold on hay so cant keep him in at the moment.
 
not being rude but how much can a shetland cost to keep ?
and really if your friend cannot afford to pay half to buy out the other owner of in the nicest way a worthless little pony then she shouldnt have got it in the first place, anyways i dont think it will sell in the current market but the other owner who doesnt want the pony has no right to just stop paying ! tbh there nothing really she can do she will just have to keep the pony.
 
hannah28 said:
not being rude but how much can a shetland cost to keep ?
and really if your friend cannot afford to pay half to buy out the other owner of in the nicest way a worthless little pony then she shouldnt have got it in the first place, anyways i dont think it will sell in the current market but the other owner who doesnt want the pony has no right to just stop paying ! tbh there nothing really she can do she will just have to keep the pony.
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Umm, livery, feed, insurance, hay, farrier, vet. Just because its a shetland does not mean its any less expensive.
She cant afford to keep the pony, if she could she wouldnt be in this situation!
Paying half of a pony, to keep hers company was not alot. But shes practicly had the pony dumped on her!

Oh and just to add hes fine in the stable and around you in the stable. Hes just nervous and hard to catch in the big field!
 
So pony cost |£250 and your friend can't afford to buy the other half of the pony? To be honest I agree with the other poster - if she hasn't even got £125 going spare thats pretty worrying, as even a minor vets bill can cost that and more!

I don;t really think there is much your friend can do to be honest. She could find some super cheap grass livery somewhere while she continues to try and sell, but otherwise I think she might have to bite the bullet and send the pony to the sales for a guaranteed sale. Sadly a nervy shetty cross is never going to be in high demand.
 
ditto if she cant afford £125 then she shouldnt have purchased him
and a shetland does not in any way cost the same as a horse to keep ?
her best option is to give the poor little mite away...........even that may be easier
said than done :{
 
xspiralx said:
So pony cost |£250 and your friend can't afford to buy the other half of the pony? To be honest I agree with the other poster - if she hasn't even got £125 going spare thats pretty worrying, as even a minor vets bill can cost that and more!

I don;t really think there is much your friend can do to be honest. She could find some super cheap grass livery somewhere while she continues to try and sell, but otherwise I think she might have to bite the bullet and send the pony to the sales for a guaranteed sale. Sadly a nervy shetty cross is never going to be in high demand.
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I dont have a spare £125 a month, does that make me a bad horse owner? :confused:

She wouldnt stick him in a sale! I dont think theres much doubt about where he'd end up :o
 
Unfortunately my friend had to give away a pony of similar breeding (shetland cross section A) as she couldn't sell it for ages. And that was well handled.
If she's desperate why not take him to the sales?

I agree with the other posters, if you can't lay your hands on £125 then what on earth would you do if you had to get the vet out? That's the excess on most insurance policies.
 
you mention she's struggling to get hay and bedding.
my advice would be to get her in contact with her local farmers, sometimes they can be extremely apathetic and may be able to help you with reduced costs, i dont know about kent but up here there is still alot of standing wheat and abandoned hay because of the dire weather conditions, maybe she could strike up a deal and maybe be returning a favour.

or in the same breath still look about for local contacts for someone who would like to help the situation, someone pony mad who'd be willing to pay the odd £10 here or there for the privelege of gaining some knowledge.
 
the_sophies said:
If she can't afford £125 to pay for him she had no business owning him in the first place.
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She could afford the half of his keep when she agreed to it. And possibly the whole of his keep at that point. Circumstances change!

Im pretty sure you cant say youve never experianced a sudden change in your situation?
 
montyforever said:
change!

Im pretty sure you cant say youve never experianced a sudden change in your situation?
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Think we've all been there unfortunately. Regarding the cost of keeping a shetland - I've just found a new home for my mini. He didn't need much hay or feeding, but he still had to have his feet trimmed every 7 weeks (£25.00), tetanus injection every other year, teeth done every year, bedding etc. It's amazing how just the basics mount up.
 
Happytohack said:
Think we've all been there unfortunately. Regarding the cost of keeping a shetland - I've just found a new home for my mini. He didn't need much hay or feeding, but he still had to have his feet trimmed every 7 weeks (£25.00), tetanus injection every other year, teeth done every year, bedding etc. It's amazing how just the basics mount up.
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Yup! His livery alone is almost all the '£125' a month :rolleyes:
 
Friend wanted me to add -

She would keep the pony, but she does have another horse which she had long before the pony and why should the horse suffer because she had a pony dumped on her.
 
can she not offer some lessons or something on her other horse to help pay for the pony???
im sure there will be someone in her locality that needs a horse to ride and would be willing to pay.
 
I'm sorry, but if you make the decision to keep a horse you have a responsibility to take care of it. I'm not saying that circumstances never change, of course they do, and i have no doubt that your friend will maje sure that this pony us taken care of. However, it is situations like this that account for horses and ponies getting passed on, abandoned and neglected in the UK.
 
the_sophies said:
I'm sorry, but if you make the decision to keep a horse you have a responsibility to take care of it. I'm not saying that circumstances never change, of course they do, and i have no doubt that your friend will maje sure that this pony us taken care of. However, it is situations like this that account for horses and ponies getting passed on, abandoned and neglected in the UK.
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She is looking after him, Shes working with him everyday to gain his trust, and getting herself into debt paying for him. If the others are in she spends hours catching him so hes not left alone.
She wanted him to go on loan, so he isnt passed around but shes got no other choice now.
She is paying out for him and she is looking after him but she cant keep doing it!
 
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montyforever said:
I dont have a spare £125 a month, does that make me a bad horse owner? :confused:

She wouldnt stick him in a sale! I dont think theres much doubt about where he'd end up :o
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Not spare a month, just able to find it in an emergency, which this obviously is! £125 is really not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things.

What would she do if one of them had an accident and needed treatment that could easily run into hundreds?
 
Ouch there are some harsh replies on here!

I agree about always trying to have a spare kitty but as Monty pointed out things do change unfortunatly.

Monty if she loned him out until say the spring, would she be prepared to pay his insurance and flu/tet?

If so I may know someone who is looking for a companion for their horse over the winter. Might be easier to try and sell him then?
 
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