anybody else been in this situation?

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Arniebear

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we backed a very sweet little coloured pony 1.5 yrs ago to bring on and sell, he was the sweetest cheekiest little pony but he was genuine. very easy to back, never bucked, reared or did anything generally naughty from day one, he was a little nervous if he didnt know you but once he got to know you he was fine, you just had to take your time with him and not rush him.

we sold him about a month and half ago, sold as seen, about 3 people (friends and family) rode him and fell in love with him (not surprising, he was very cuddly!) the new owner is a small adult (hes only 13.2hh) who had lost her confidence and wanted to gain it back, we explained that he was a little nervous and that all you had to do was take your time with him and not rush him and he would be fine, she hadnt cantered a horse in 2 years but obviously felt safe enough on him to canter him in the arena, completely out of choice no one made her do anything.

anyway we've had a phone call today saying hes unrideable, and aggressive and is here anything we can do? apprently hes put someone in hospital and chucked a professional rider off and is very aggressive in the stable.

obviously this is a completely different pony to what we sold (no idea what has happened in the month and half they have had him). apprently shes getting to the stage where she thinks shes going to have to sell him, we didnt want him past from pillar to post and feel like we want to help the little fella (hes obviously not happy).

what have people done in the past??

technically its not our problem, he was sold as seen and tried by plenty of different riders at the time of purchase.

would you help? or would you wash your hands and say sorry not my problem anymore?

we dont have the funding to buy him back and we dont have the use for a 13.2hh which is why he was for sale in the first place, but cant help feeling sorry for him, he genuinely was the sweetest pony ever even with his very cheeky nature of demloishing fences to get to greener grass!!! (his only vice!)

so what would/have you done? help or not help?

the other issue to make this even harder is the person who backed him and knew him very well has recently found out shes preganant so obviously cant go falling off naughty ponies! i myself have the confidence to get on him and attempt to sort out any issues but dont know the pony that well, only ever rode him once or twice when my sister was away.

sorry its long!! :) just wandering what people would do in this situation, hate seeing ponies/ horses going backwards when it properly isnt their fault, we are off to see him next week to assess the situation and see if we can offer any sort of help
 
Depends on you personally.

I've seen it happen countless times though.

If it was mine I'd probably offer to go and see him and see what's going on. My first guess would be badly fitting tack, soreness somewhere caused by this or nervous/incompetent handling etc and he's taking the piss massively.

But there isn't really a lot you can do. If you have the space I'd see if they'll just give you him back for silly money.
 
Its a shame he was sold to a nervous rider in the first place, nervous pony and rider lacking confidence is rarely successful.
If he had been mine and this happened I would offer to have the pony back to resell paying whatever is left after expenses are taken off. Give the pony some time to settle if you get him back then put in a few weeks work and hope he comes back to what he was.
He otherwise will have to take his chance in life, often ponies like this do unfortunately get passed from pillar to post as they are the type that get more nervous if they do not find the right home fairly quickly.
 
Are they close enough to offer to go and give them a hand?

that would be the first thing to do imo, before offering to have him back.
 
be positive said:
Its a shame he was sold to a nervous rider in the first place, nervous pony and rider lacking confidence is rarely successful.
If he had been mine and this happened I would offer to have the pony back to resell paying whatever is left after expenses are taken off. Give the pony some time to settle if you get him back then put in a few weeks work and hope he comes back to what he was.
He otherwise will have to take his chance in life, often ponies like this do unfortunately get passed from pillar to post as they are the type that get more nervous if they do not find the right home fairly quickly.
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This is excellent advice!

Poor pony. I have to say that before I got to the crux of your OP, alarm bells were ringing loudly as soon as you mentioned nervous rider.
 
I would go over and see for myself. He might just have turned his bum on them or something and they have got in a flap. If you can cut through the emotional stuff and get to the facts - what does "put someone in hospital" actually mean? Ruptured spleen? Broken foot? and find out which 'professional rider' he has chucked off and how.
 
I sold a very good little horse years ago we had her two years she was well shown an dalways in ribbons no problems sweet as a nut ,sold her to go showing with new owners three months later theyring me me up saying horse is crackers dangerous and they could ride her at a show as she was kicking out at everything and couldnt lead her to field ect she was totally different horse to what we sold ,they threatened alsorts i offered to take her back and sell her once we had sorted out the problems but she insisted we bought her back i couldnt do this but a friend who had ridden her and knew her went and bought her for 2k less than they paid us he brought her home and had her out competing in weeks he never had a minutes trouble with her ,i can sympathise but leave well alone whatever has happened isnt your fault .
 
be positive said:
Its a shame he was sold to a nervous rider in the first place, nervous pony and rider lacking confidence is rarely successful.
If he had been mine and this happened I would offer to have the pony back to resell paying whatever is left after expenses are taken off. Give the pony some time to settle if you get him back then put in a few weeks work and hope he comes back to what he was.
He otherwise will have to take his chance in life, often ponies like this do unfortunately get passed from pillar to post as they are the type that get more nervous if they do not find the right home fairly quickly.
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^^^ This. Excellent advice from Be Positive which hopefully the new owners will take you up on.
 
Can you find an new home for him with a rider you know, or is it possible you can get him back for a few months while they pay for a rider to come and school him, he may settle better with you than anyone.
I don't think you can really take any financial responsibility, they have taken on the pony and it has gone wrong, as others have said a young nervous pony was not going to be ideal, but that is water under the bridge, if they had had lessons and so on this might not have happened.
i think the best think is for them to sell the pony as it is not going to work.
 
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Poor little guy. I dont think what has happened is in any way your fault but I feel for the pony.

He obviously hasn't settled quickly in his new home. I have a coloured cob who is just the same when moved, even with us and her two friends of years, she cant cope with change well.

I agree with Be Positive, if you could manage to arrange that. He might be fine once hes "home" with people who understand him. You will just have to be more careful when finding new owners for him.

I wouldn't worry too much about him putting a professional rider off either, you dont know the circumstances. Our cob did that when we first bought her. The rider took a whip to her and the pony reacted faster than me. I would have done it if the pony hadn't.
 
I would never sell a nervous horse to someone who has lost their confidence, no matter if she cantered the pony in front of you or not, she most probably felt like she had to... The lady really needs to go back to basics i.e riding school and gain her confidence back.

I am selling my mare at the moment and the amount of people who have rang up and after speaking to them I've said point blank "I'm sorry this mare just ins't for you" My mare doesn't buck, rear, bolt, nap or do anything remotely stupid, but I know that she isn't for a complete novice, she is schooled to a good level and I know that a novice person wouldn't be able to continue and keep this up... and it doesn't take long to ruin a good decent horse! but it can take twice as long to fix things... I just hope whatever the out come for this pony, that he doesn't get pushed from pillar to post...
 
Amymay and golden star - you come across as very judgemental and unforgiving. Life isn't often "black & white". It can't be easy for the OP knowing the pony she sold is unhappy. My view on it would be to ask how the pony is being kept. Turn out, feed,saddle fit and amount/type of exercise would all be things to look at for reasons why the behaviour has changed so much.
 
I have been in a similar situation.
I took the horse back to sort out and rehome.
I didn't buy him back.
The plan was to take a cut if the most from the new purchaser to partly cover keeping him etc.

In the end we kept him.
But that's another story.
 
I'd go and see him. wouldn't worry too much about the professional rider bit, there are professionals and professionals!
If possible I'd take him back. My pony has been out on loan a few times, and he is a saint, but has come back a demon on the odd occasion.
I know one woman who sold a horse 3 times, and bought it back 3 times, each time for less than she sold it. In the end she gave up and kept it. Hopefully after he has been with you for a while, he will be fine, and you can find him a confident competent home. Not easy I know!
 
Another vote for be positive's reply.

It is a shame that the pony went to someone nervous - no matter how well the pony was going it needed an experienced first owner..

I'm another one that sold a pony to someone and it came back a year later having put someone in hospital (broke her foot standing on it). Within days of returning it was the same pony that I used to own - they just weren't up to the job, so don't worry too much, it can be recovered..

Initially offer to go over and see/ride the pony. Make a fuss of it and have a quiet groom with it first for it to get to know you again and be calm.. Then go from there. I think the offer to sell it for them if they pay livery is a very good way forward.. Just make sure it has the right home next time.
 
Yeah I explained all about my pony's nervous behaviour etc but the buyers had done this and that and knew everything - seems they didn't know everything and the so called professionals at the livery yard they were at said it was traumatized - I bought her back straight away and was happy to find a properly experienced home rather than someone who said they knew it all and didn't.
 
Well if the pony is as bad as they say it is, it's only going to be worth peanuts anyway. I'd offer peanuts, take it back, get it right and start all over again! And next time I'd advertise it as needing a "rider to instill confidence". Good luck.
 
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