Do you think a basic license should be needed for owning a horse?

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showqa

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Felt so sorry for this guy at the feedstore. He had stress written all over his face and after a while asked for my advice as he'd been sent with a shopping list for his wife's horse. 7 year old TB mare, been on box rest for 11 weeks and was bouncing off the ceiling, to the point where the wife was terrified and he was having to handle the horse even though he knows nothing about them. The horse by the sounds of it had lost muscle - of course. Anyway, someone had sent him for barley rings ( !!! ) AND a calmer??? To be honest, I have a TB and a sniff of barley rings would send her bananas and she's generally reasonably sensible. So I said I wouldn't go for the barley rings and explained that you can't feed for muscle, only a gradual re-introduction to work is going to help that improve. I suggested some alternatives he might like to look at, but suggested he get an RI in to work with his wife and the horse. The guy was clearly totally out of his depth, very worried and then he told me that this was his wife's first horse after being out of the saddle for 25 years! The very thought of me not riding for 25 years and suddenly being responsible for my two, who are not especially difficult but do have their moments, sent shudders down my spine.

I know some of you will say he was a numpty, but I can't help but feel for these people who end up in this situation and of course the horse. Just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Really think there should be some sort of basic license needed to own a horse - don't mean able to ride piaffe or jump 4ft 6, just be able to stay safe and cater for the basic needs of your horse comfortable. Scary.
 
I know where your coming from i had to go through all this when my neighbour decided to buy a horse after nearly 30 years away from riding.

Luckily she found she had an instructor across the road from her which was myself. She took everything in that ive advised from feeding to rugging & she still has regular lessons & is becoming a very tidy rider about to start competing in dressage.
It is very worrying what would of become of her & the horse though if she hadnt sought an instructor.

There are courses out there in the form of the horse owners courses but no-one ever thinks they need them. So maybe a basic license is the way to go but i do hate the thought of it i must admit.
 
While I appreciate the reasoning behind your post, I have to disagree. Would you also extend this to (for example) dog and cat owners? They have the same duty of care towards an animal.
 
I would have no problem with having a license IF everyone had one. Alas it would be the responsible owners that would get it and the other, ahem, not so's that dont bother.

I also think you should have a licence for having children tho.
 
Muchadoaboutnothing said:
I also think you should have a licence for having children tho.
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That sounds like a plan! (Seriously there are some parts of my home city where a licence or at least a test before having pets/children would be a good thing.)
That would scare me though. Without help I would never have survived getting my first horse. Riding lessons and helping on yards isn't enough and my parents are having to learn everything from scratch.
Taking a test to show basic competency sounds good but probably hard to enforce.
 
I've often thought that there should be some sort of license in place before anybody could own/be responsible for the care of a horse. The amount of people I've seen come and go at the livery yard we keep our horse at that don't have a clue what their doing and are usually just an accident waiting to happen has really opened my eyes recently! I suppose the legislation of a license would be very difficult to control though?

It really annoys me that some people have a few lessons on a quiet pony/horse and think all of a sudden that they know everything there is to know about everything! Inexperienced people often just don't realise the time/commitment/money it takes to keep and enjoy a horse and I really do think that courses such as the BHS horse owners certificates and equine first aid really need to be encouraged on people more.

I also think that anybody wishing to hack their horses on roads should undertake the BHS riding and road safety course and get the equivalent of a driving license - do I vaguely remember the BHS trying to put this in place several years ago? I'm not sure!

Haha, I sound like a spokes person for the BHS but I'm not! :D
 
Muchadoaboutnothing said:
I would have no problem with having a license IF everyone had one. Alas it would be the responsible owners that would get it and the other, ahem, not so's that dont bother.

I also think you should have a licence for having children tho.
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What world you living in? Get real a license for children???? get real will you.
As regards to horse liscening hmmmmm dont think it would make much difference.
 
Yes basics at least!! should be there before even considering owning your own, so many have been riding for years and are good at it and think hey I can ride I will get my own, but have never once looked after a horse and wouldn’t have a clue how to spot lameness or anything else.

But If i sent my hubby to get feed (wouldn’t as I doubt a 20kg sack would fit on his motorbike!) from what would come out of his mouth the shop assistant would be forgiven in thinking wow they shouldn’t have a horse, they are not his thing and he hasn’t a clue about how to do anything horsy neither does he want to, so the point I am trying to make is not all partners are horsy, and there could be a total expert who had done it all and owned horses fro 60+ years behind one partners ignorance.
 
TBH, I don't think you necessarily need any skills/knowledge to own a horse, you just need enough money to provide experienced care for it. A licence would be very difficult to enforce and the criteria tricky to draw up.
How about the many racehorse owners that never fed a horse in their lives? Or owners that keep horses with pros? Or the ones that pay for full livery and just ride/have lessons?
 
I think in theory it would be great - for horses and dogs. But would never work, there would surely be a cost involved, a black market, people who bypass it, and it would be a nightmare to police.....

But totally understand where you are coming from.
 
martlin said:
TBH, I don't think you necessarily need any skills/knowledge to own a horse, you just need enough money to provide experienced care for it. A licence would be very difficult to enforce and the criteria tricky to draw up.
How about the many racehorse owners that never fed a horse in their lives? Or owners that keep horses with pros? Or the ones that pay for full livery and just ride/have lessons?
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I must say I disagree, so many get a horse and buy a bit of land, so there is no one around with the know how to help like there would be in a livery. Some will miss injury’s and problems until its very late and sometimes impossible to treat.

We had a friend that did this and she didn’t even know how to safely tie a horse up as she only ever went to a riding school got handed a horse rode it and handed it back.
 
That might be, SamanthaG, but those are not people who would get a licence anyway. I think needing one to look after a horse would be better than one to own a horse. Whichever way, though, it's not enforceable.
 
I haven't read the rest of the thread so may just be repeating.

Do you think a basic license should be needed for owning a horse?

No, I don't.

With the best will in the world, I can see where you are coming from, but, NO, and NO again.

Why just pick on horse owners/ carers? If we begin going down that road then (proficiency) licenses should be issued to have a child too, opening a BIG wriggly, slimy, can of worms here. How about dogs? Cats? Gold fish?

I pay $35 a year, per dog for a license (x 3 in my case) but no-one cares if I know how to do anything more than rip open a sack of kibble for them. In my Municipality there are only three dogs permitted per household, should we be restricted on the number of horses owned too? I know that in some places there are restrictions based on acreage, in the US I know that for sure.
 
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I was out of horses for 25 years. I have to say I'd be pretty pissed off if I'd given my husband a list of what I wanted and someone had taken it upon themselves to tell him that I'd asked him to get the wrong stuff.
 
How far would you go and what would you need to learn ??
There are so many things that are important to know but generally having experience of them is the only way to learn !!
Having a licence wont stop people having no money or time or buying horses that are too much for them !
I know some people who know nothing but ask for help ... its the ignorant people that cause the trouble who wont ask for help and will let a situation get out of hand .
And this would put people off getting into horses which wont be good for the equestrian world at all!
Its trial and error most of the time ... some methods of care dont suit all horses and there is no set way to care for a horse
So no i dont think there should be a licence !! For breeding maybe but otherwise no
 
martlin said:
That might be, SamanthaG, but those are not people who would get a licence anyway. I think needing one to look after a horse would be better than one to own a horse. Whichever way, though, it's not enforceable.
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Yes I agree with you there its not Enforceable and never will be
 
jemima_too said:
I was out of horses for 25 years. I have to say I'd be pretty pissed off if I'd given my husband a list of what I wanted and someone had taken it upon themselves to tell him that I'd asked him to get the wrong stuff.
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Hehehe.....I'd kill my husband!

Mind you, he is horsey so knows what he is doing so it wouldn't happen anyway!

I think you need a licence for most things these days! Not very practical though, some would pay, others wouldn't bother.....
 
I think people should have a basic understanding of horsecare/tack/maintenance before being allowed to buy and also be sure to chose a yard where there is knowledgable staff onsite at all times to help keep them on the right track? There is a really good article on line somewhere which is really informative.
 
I can see what you are saying but the basic care for one horse is no good for the next and it isnt going to help them choose the right horse or have a horse dishonestly sold ! I personally dont see how it could work... Also maybe the woman has been fine up to now as it has been on 11 weeks boxrest and sounds very lively! there would be no way of preparing someone for that situation until it happens
 
Muchadoaboutnothing said:
I would have no problem with having a license IF everyone had one. Alas it would be the responsible owners that would get it and the other, ahem, not so's that dont bother.

I also think you should have a licence for having children tho.
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Agreed, like most things it's the people who it would apply to the most who wouldn't bother, whilst the rest of us have to deal with yet another cost/bit of red tape. Shame as I know where you are coming from.
 
Erm, Jemima Too, I was ASKED for help - I didn't foist myself on the guy. I have better things to do quite honestly. So what do you do when someone asks you - just give them the flick because you don't want to bother trying to help them? Great attidtude that.
 
Poor guy, at least he had someone like yourself to help him out.

I can't think why anyone would think he was a numpty though bless him, he was trying to help his wife out, god he must of looked like those guys you see going into a ladies sexy underwear shop... like Ann Summers for the first with a frightened nervous clueless look on his face, rabbit in the headlights (if you pardum the slight pun :D)

As for basic license, no, basic common sense yes, there is nothing stopping people from seaking advice/going for lessons.

If I was goig to buy another sort of pet for the first time, a large animal for example, surely most people would have the sense to learn about the creature and it's needs, I don't mean that to sound harsh, but sometimes I do wonder how people get on in life, sometimes just a bit of common sense can go along way with out having to indroduce licenses etc.
 
Jemima Too - you might like to expend your energy on doing something rather more constructive than being unnecessarily hostile and confrontational.

If some poor bloke, who by his own admission didn't have a clue what he was doing, asks me for some guidance Im not going to just walk and let him flounder. I'd hope that someone would take a few minutes out of their busy lives should I ever need an honest opinion about a subject I was struggling with. Clearly you're so accomplished in every single area of your life that you've never been in that postion - lucky you!
 
Poor bloke probably got a right earfull when he got home with only half the shopping!!!

Anyway, onto the original question, no I don't think you should need a licence. I'm with Martlin on this, I couldn't give a fig whether someone who buys a horse knows which end bites and which end kicks as long as the horse gets proper care. There are a great many livery yards and riding schools who stay in business because people buy horses and haven't a clue how to look after them. Buying a horse and having it on working livery at a good riding school (like redmone on here) can be a terriffic way to learn. But why do you even need to learn if you don't want to, the horse world relies upon people buying horses and letting others care for them and ride for them.

I also don't think that being "out of horses" for a time should mean that you can't get straight back into horses. Much of it depends upon the level of your knowledge at the time you gave up, and the level you come back in at. In all honesty if you look after your horse by the book by the standard of the 1970s it probably isn't going to become a welfare case. Ok so it might be more comfortable in a synthetic rug and modern feeds may be more targetted but a horses managed fine in the 70s with straights. I'm not saying people shouldn't update themselves but it is hardly the end of the world if people are a bit out of date. There are plenty of people out there who haven't updated their skills for years without having had a break!
 
The problem with having a course, in my mind, (apart from the enforcement issue many have mentioned) would have a major flaw- you'd need one course per horse! Yes, you can teach extreme basics like horses eat, horses sleep, horses get old, horses will reproduce but beyond that what would the course entail? If one attendee wants to buy a shetland for their 3 year old and another wants a shire, and another a TB, you can't even cover basic tack/what to feed/proper conformation... you could perhaps say 'This is the end food goes in, this is the end food comes out, and this is where the saddle goes.

Ditto children, much as I LOVE parenting group (I make lots of friends at mine!), nearly everything they teach us about discipline/feeding/sleep enforcement is *******s for my autistic/epileptic 6 year old.
 
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