Deciding to sell first horse

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SunnySide12

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Story pretty short and sad. Some time ago stared searching for first horse. Didnt need to be fancy just a good soul. Found this horse, tried him 3 times. Loved him and then bought him. After some time of riding it turns out he dosent like to be ridden outside (tried him in indoor arena) - he bolts (with brain completly shut), he rears, he spooks, he dosent jump. First tought - vet. Something wrong. Gets checked, gets scoped, saddle, teeth you name it - nop all good, just hates outside. On one of bolting episodes get my neck cut by fence as he rushed into it even tough tried one rein stop. Even then didnt want to give up, worked more and more me and my trainer. My trainer came to me one dat and finally said to me - hei you both dont trust each other and you need to finally seperate. After long thinking decided - ok it is time to finish this and find each other diffrent person/horse. I tried everything but im so heartbroken and shameful and blaming myself. I have been feeling guility riding to barn now, like I have failed him. Any cheering up or resulution to this how it could be handeled would help.
 
The horse is only 4? So still very green. How much do you know about his past? It's possible he was never properly taught the basics before you bought him. Anyway at this age he's still teething and growing which can be painful and cause balance problems. And moving homes can shatter a horse's mental balance as well.

I'd give him a long break 24/7 in a herd in the field then carefully and slowly start from scratch like an unbroken horse. That could be you, if you want to and have competent help (perhaps another trainer) or his new owner.

Next time you buy a horse try all the things you want to be able to do right away (hacking, jumping, whatever), if you don't have the patience or expertise to teach the horse yourself.
 
Turn him away for the winter and then evaluate in April. If he’s only four and your first horse you are probably not an experienced combination singularly or together. How much did you pay for him? It’s hard when things don’t turn out the way you would like them to but it takes a lot of time, effort and experience to produce a young horse correctly, that’s why the good ones are frequently expensive these days. People have neither the facilities, experience or skill to educate them properly. He probably feels safe in an indoor arena, maybe it’s all he’s ever known so if you’re not able to continue his education you need to pay someone to help, someone experienced with young horses who has worked with a lot of them NOT someone who thinks they know what to do!!
 
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He's four. Four-year old horses have brains like a goldfish. You can't expect them to act like adult horses who can hack, jump, and do all the things. If you don't have the experience, skills, or useful people around you to produce a baby (and who knows what happened to him before you bought him), then you're in a tight spot.

Could be pain, or could be that he's been asked for too much and his brain is fried. Hard to sell...finding someone who wants a youngster with a brain and body to unravel when there are plenty of clean slates of the same age, but there's always a Good Samaritan somewhere.
 
So you bought your horse when he was only 3.5yo. He had problems lunging which you believe to be due to be due to a level of abuse in a previous home. He is OK when ridden by the trainer but you are having difficulties.

Are you in the UK?

What type of horse is he, breeding?

How long have you been riding for?

How many horses have you owned before this one or is this your first?

Have you been involved in training a young horse prior to buying this one?
 
Like many people (me included) you made some mistakes in the first horse you bought. First thing is to keep safe - don’t ride him again. By all means have everything checked - if you are insured this will help. Teeth and vet. Then, if he is not in pain, he will need a professional if he is ever to be a safe ridden horse. You could send him away to one, fully disclosing what has happened - they should start from scratch to ensure he feels safe and not scared to be worked with and ridden. Alternatively you could sell or give away, again with full disclosure, as it may be that a more experienced person could work with him. That would be their choice in full knowledge of his past, but you’ll have to be careful he doesn’t go to someone looking to make a quick buck and pass on an unsafe horse. Please don’t just try to sell him on now, you’re in a horrible position but you now have to make the right next steps.

When you have resolved it, get the help of an instructor to find a more suitable horse. But the most important thing here is to keep yourself and other people safe, and find whatever the best outcome is for him while doing so.
 
I am sorry you are in this positiion. It's easy to be wise in hindsight but an uneducated baby is not the right horse for you, even without an abuse history/poor backing experience.
I don't think his behaviour with you is necessarily indicative of his potential in more experienced hands. So I would not write him off as needing PTS or retiring just yet. 'Bolting' can actually mean just running away from aids that a horse does not understand or running off because you have not established a woah button yet. A true bolt is quite rare.

In your shoes I think I'd choose between:

* Sell for very little money (not not free to a good home as that attracts the wrong people!) as a project horse with full disclosure and try and find a home that wants to put time and effort into a project, not turn hin round rapidly for a quick sale. Those homes are out there for people willing to take a punt and willing to PTS if it turns out the horse is a true bolter. But they take some finding to avoid the ones who miss-sell and will hide his issues to get rid.

* Invest in re-training & sales livery. More risk for you, but probably safer option for the horse. You may end up discovering he is a gem and you get a reasonable price for him, or you may lose all your money.

Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
Ample Prosecco said:
I am sorry you are in this positiion. It's easy to be wise in hindsight but an uneducated baby is not the right horse for you, even without an abuse history/poor backing experience.
I don't think his behaviour with you is necessarily indicative of his potential in more experienced hands. So I would not write him off as needing PTS or retiring just yet. 'Bolting' can actually mean just running away from aids that a horse does not understand or running off because you have not established a woah button yet. A true bolt is quite rare.

In your shoes I think I'd choose between:

* Sell for very little money (not not free to a good home as that attracts the wrong people!) as a project horse with full disclosure and try and find a home that wants to put time and effort into a project, not turn hin round rapidly for a quick sale. Those homes are out there for people willing to take a punt and willing to PTS if it turns out the horse is a true bolter. But they take some finding to avoid the ones who miss-sell and will hide his issues to get rid.

* Invest in re-training & sales livery. More risk for you, but probably safer option for the horse. You may end up discovering he is a gem and you get a reasonable price for him, or you may lose all your money.

Good luck with whatever you decide.
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Having read the previous threads on this horse I would agree with the above. Unfortunately just an unsuitable partnership and I'm sorry OP that you were sold this horse and it has been such a rubbish experience of first time horse ownership for you.

Mine will 'bolt' but it's not what I consider a true bolt which to me is running blind for no apparent reason. He bolts when something goes wrong and I don't shut him down quickly enough and it escalates to a point of panic, when it's happened it has almost always been my fault. I have no doubt with an inexperienced rider he would easily be quite dangerous as he is very anxious of riders losing their balance or behaving in a way that worries him. He is however just a sensitive soul with a sharp side that doesn't have the tolerance level for the rider to make too many mistakes. As an example a few weeks ago I took him to an arena hire where he refused a spooky filler, I half came out the side-door but stuck it, however he panicked at me nearly taking a tumble and took off - I was already unbalanced and lost both stirrups so me clinging on for grim life sent him into a complete panic and we did a few laps of the arena doing the wall of death before I unceremoniously got decked straight into the wall of the indoor. I wouldn't call that behaviour dangerous or unrideable, it was an unfortunate serious of events on a sharp horse that easily escalated quickly. We went jumping a week later with no issues. Just from what I have read on here, I think this is the sort of thing that might be happening with this horse and rider. Though of course I'm making assumptions just based on what we are told here - e.g. that he behaves perfectly when ridden by the trainer etc.

Again - I'm truly sorry OP, it's obvious you love this horse very much and have done everything you can to try and make this work, but please don't feel too disheartened that he can't go on to have a career with someone else. He sounds like a sharp youngster that just needs to be in the right hands. Would your trainer be able to help with any suggestions for reschooling or sales livery? I'd want to put him with a professional rider for a few weeks myself and see what you end up with and sell from there. Alternatively, there are good dealers out there (avoiding the dodgy ones) who will take a horse like this at a fair price and give it a good test-run and find what buttons to push and sell to an appropriate home. Look for the dealers who evidently have the horses for a good few weeks before advertising them and post lots of behind-the-scenes footage of their horses being worked and trained throughout the process, avoid the ones where every horse advertised sounds to be 'perfect' and they seem to get a lot of different horses through very regularly.
 
I would hesitate to say PTS even though you describe bolting, as a 3.5 year old would struggle to be a first horse and a 'bolt' may well just be a panic when everything is going wrong meaning he can't see where he is going.

I'm afraid I would invest some money in him to hopefully see him right at an experienced breaker's yard and then sell. In the UK, I would expect 3 months or so at £250 a week for the correct calibre of yard. I would probably turn away first, until March, as this is not the right time of year to start a program. This would also give him time to decompress and heal any niggles. The yard could then assess and do further investigations if they thought there was a physical issue. They would also probably help you sell if the horse trained on well. PTS would be a consideration if a physical issue came up or if they believed there was dangerous blind bolting going on.

I am aware that this is not welcome news financially but I could not in good conscience PTS a 4 year old when I believed I could be the person who kicked off the problem through inexperience.
 
Abacus said:
Like many people (me included) you made some mistakes in the first horse you bought. First thing is to keep safe - don’t ride him again. By all means have everything checked - if you are insured this will help. Teeth and vet. Then, if he is not in pain, he will need a professional if he is ever to be a safe ridden horse. You could send him away to one, fully disclosing what has happened - they should start from scratch to ensure he feels safe and not scared to be worked with and ridden. Alternatively you could sell or give away, again with full disclosure, as it may be that a more experienced person could work with him. That would be their choice in full knowledge of his past, but you’ll have to be careful he doesn’t go to someone looking to make a quick buck and pass on an unsafe horse.
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I did the same, although my horse was nine and I did try him (twice) hacking, which was what I needed him to do. Despite that everything unravelled after a couple of weeks at home. I believe he hadn't been properly backed, so re-backing by a professional helped, but he was still unpredictable and prone to taking off in a panic. I sold him very cheap to a kind professional, who did a lot more work with him but ultimately concluded that despite the various vet investigations not turning much up, he was in pain somewhere. She found him a new home as a companion to another horse of his breed, which was made easier by the fact that he was smaller (14hh) and an unusual breed. So the horse had a good ending, but it took me years to get over the stress and financial loss of it all (I haven't described the whole story but it was horrible).

If he's looking like a write off as a ridden horse for you it might be emotionally easier to accept that now - don't keep hoping he'll come right for you - and take action accordingly. Given his age reschooling and hopefully sale by a professional definitely sounds worth a go. Very best wishes with it and please don't torment yourself with nonsense about what you should have done / not being good enough etc etc. Horses aren't machines, this (sadly) happens sometimes.

FWIW, for my second attempt at horse buying I bought something who was much more of a known quantity and a member of the local PC. I could see on his teenage owner's social media that he was performing well above what I needed him to, and that their reason for sale was true and genuine. Medical niggles aside he has been 110% straightforward, so don't lose heart, they are out there.
 
PS Mine used to take off (fast and at the drop of a hat) in a sweaty panic and was very hard to pull up. I once rode him into a pile of old mattresses (home renovations by the YO!) to stop him. A lot of people might have described that as bolting but he wasn't - he did retain some self preservation. Actual bolting is really rare, most horses will be taking off in panic as a response to pain / confusion / fear / all of the above (as mine was). If you remove the cause of the distress they will usually stop doing it or at least reduce the intensity and size of the reaction.
 
You're expecting a lot from a 4yo. He just sounds like a young horse has gaps in his education and lacks confidence. If you like him, but don't yet have the skills to bring him on, I'd turn him away for the winter and then either get a lot of help from a good young horse producer to bring him back into work or send him to someone who is good at producing young horses for amateurs and, once he is more confident, get some training from them. Bringing on a young horse can be a lot of fun, but if you don't have the required skills, its best to get help.
 
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