Following on from "daughter's horse" post

Well I have only met one who I would deem to be truly dangerous and in fairness to him, he had been completely screwed up by previous owners. In his time he had been a truly awesome jumper and, at home, was fantastic over a fence - at home, but if you changed anything (ie went outside the school - or god forbid tried taking him to a show) he would deck you and was the only horse I knew who would actually come to get you when you were on the floor. He also had a nice little habit of freaking out when he saw another horse out hacking - again, get you off and then go to trample you. Yet to handle he was a sweetie (!) and when I started to do dressage with him he was a star and went out competing happily. I had him on loan for a pre agreed sum - when it came to buy, the owner upped (nearly double) the original amount. Bearing in mind that I had paid for xrays etc and my vet told me not to touch with a bargepole, PLUS I wanted to event and NOT dressage on this horse..I said no.

He was sold to someone else for hacking and jumping after being thrown out in a field. She contacted me wanting the xrays and vacs I had paid for
and weren't part of the agreement) - I did warn her but she told me she had been warned I would be be off with her. Oh well I did warn her...

Later found out that the owner and his so called friend had been hoping I would pay for the insurance so they could claim again but apparently I didnt play ball...
 
i was told within the 1st/2nd month of owning my pony that i would never get anywhere with her, and she is too dangerous to ride...

3 years on... she now stands still outside her stable, will be tied up, doesnt take 3 of us to turn her out... or all night to catch her
she no longer rears on the spot at the gate when i want to hack her out, or fly backwards (or just piss about when she doesnt want to do something) etc
i can now jump her without her tanking off so much, i can school her and she will work in an outline

yes she still has her problems, but at 18 she isnt going to get out of her spookyness/stubborness... i think that most of her problems were caused by other people, she has clearly been beaten up and its taken me 3 years to wash her on my own! she also had alot of problems physically... bad back, lack of muscle, sore teeth, lots of pain in her poll and was very very very tense

but as she was deemed dangerous, i feel i have come a long way with hard work, patience and lots of tlc

some horses cant be helped and i understand why alot are pts
but others if you put in the work can become better than they were...
 
Maybe one of the people on this thread who has had such great success with dangerous horses could offer to take on the original poster's ("daughter's horse" post) horse and sort it out so that they can either ride it safely or sell it on safely?
 
i wasnt saying that i was amazing and can cure all horses

and i completely sympathise with the OP, if the best place is for the horse to be pts rather than cause more trouble and danger to other people.... where it will only be passed around more and probably get worse

i just wish the OP good luck with whatever decision she makes, and all future horses her daughter and her have

x
 
Sadly, by the very nature of the way we expect Horses/ponies to be kept...stabled sometimes 24/7...or at best limited turnout, feed them with totally un-natural feeds, can we, as humans really wonder that Horses are evolving into something tat, no, we actaully cannot control...or like?

I'm no "tree-hugger", but it saddens me that horses are no longer treated as such...or indeed allowed to be as such.
 
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i think 99% of horses who are labelled as dangerous/unrideable/unsellable... actually aren't.

plenty of owners seem to take pride in telling stories of how badly behaved their horse can be, how they are the only person in the world who can cope etc etc.

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That sums up my view. I don't, and will never, get why 99/9% of people on low level livery yards insist on banging on about their horses "rearing all the way" - if it reared constantly, how did it go forward at all? Or "hating ditches" or "freaking out on grass". It's all rider induced in my experience, and the horses in question are bloody saints!!

I do believe there are horses who cannot be turned round - the brain tumour brigade. I knew one when I worked on a racing yard, it was just so odd, very sweet but just not right in the head, not a horse. It would fall over, throw itself on the floor, just do loads of odd things you could find no motive for in a normal horse.

I suppose the thread lead me to wonder, mainly, a) why do people insist on maligning decent horses, and b) how much is due to our society now, and the massive availability of horse ownership compared to 20 or so years ago, in that horses are being messed up by novice owners, and/or that so called "experts" are signing the death warrant on perfectly good horses, just because they do not have the experience or know how to deal with them?

And yes, I am referring to "NH" trainers in this. Not exclusively. BUT I do feel that going on a course does NOT equip you to deal with a seriously messed up horse. Particularly if you are not advocating riding it!
 
QR

I'm with tamba on this one, dare not say anything really!
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I think there are VERY few geninuely problematic horses out there. Every horse can have issues, and whilst mine is a complete donkey hacking with me he could be 'dangerous' with an unconfident rider. Plus i hate the label 'bolted'. VERY few horses truly bolt, most just run off IME.

We have a pony who we were unable to sell, who was sent away twice for reschooling. Neither time away helped him, both places labelled him as dangerous (14.2 pony) and said to my mum that they wouldn't let their kids on him. One place sent him back before the week was out - v well known sjer in yorks...... Yet, we have had him for 15 years, and never had a bad fall. yes he is quirky, but you just have to know his limits, and I will put total novices on him on a lead rein with me walking, and again - total donkey. We have also loaned him out twice to teenage girls, who both fell in love with him
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Skewby, can I please ask, why didn't you post on the other thread, as you seem to write the things I was trying to say (apparently badly!)?!
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(Although when I think of NH, I think more of monty roberts/richard maxwell and not Parelli.........)
 
In the old days (I am pushing 46 here!) it used to work like this.

You had riding lessons at your local riding school, you helped out you learnt. When you could ride sufficiently well you thought about buying your own horse or pony. At that stage your instructor or experienced friend would normally recommend something that they knew well and was at the level or just a little bit better than your riding ability. You kept learning on that horse then you traded up if you wanted to. This could take years. I remember being 14 and wanting the 16.2 flashy chestnut WB and my parents saying no sorry you are not up to that horse yet.

Now it seems that people have a few lessons and go off and buy something totally beyond thier capabilities.

Case in point is some people I know a mother and daughter who have had 6 months worth of lessons before wanting to buy their own horse. Have they listened to all the advice and gone off and bought a sane sensible confidence giving horse they can learn from of course not they have gone off and bought a 4 year old WB dressage diva for 15k. They are both now terrified of said horse and can not even lead it safely.

This horse is exceptionally well bred and talented and frankly deserves to be owned by someone who can continue its education sadly it is an accident waiting to happen and no doubt said horse will be sold on as difficult or dangerous. Hopefully it will fall into the right hands and that person will be able to undo the damage of the last 4 months. The current owners will of course go on to repeat this experience with another too much to handle horse.

Yes there are dangerous horses out there, they are the ones that have no care for their own safety and will run through anything in a panic, throw themselves on the ground and all manner of other horrific behaviours. I used to own one like this who in 9 months managed to drain 43 years of experience and confidence out of me.

The majority labelled dangerous are quirky and need good patient riders to stop them escalating however there are a few out there that in all honestly are not suited to being riding horses if they are ok to use as a companion and happy with that life and you can afford to keep giving them the best care great go for it.

When I was younger and learning to ride we were all proud of the fact that our horses and ponies were well behaved and you could ride them into any situation without them having a total batshit attack. Unfortunatly more and more people nowadays seem to think that to be a great rider you have to be seated on a snorting lunatic.

There is a contingent of people who seem to get a buzz out of the whole my horse is dangerous and only I can manage it. If that lights your candle great personally I much prefer to have a sane sensible horse that I know if anything should happen to me then he could be sold on with a secure future ahead of him
 
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i wasnt saying that i was amazing and can cure all horses

and i completely sympathise with the OP, if the best place is for the horse to be pts rather than cause more trouble and danger to other people.... where it will only be passed around more and probably get worse

i just wish the OP good luck with whatever decision she makes, and all future horses her daughter and her have

x

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Sorry, that was supposed to be QR and refer to people in the original post, not you in particular!

Almost all horses are difficult in one way or another and many people learn how to overcome challenges with their horses and become better riders on the way, while other people decide they need a different horse or give up on riding altogether. HOWEVER, there is a huge difference between a challenging horse and a dangerous horse.

It seems disingenious to me to post on the original thread merely to say the OP is wrong. At the end of the day if people are so concerned with the welfare of this horse they should take it on themselves. It's very easy to criticise someone else from the safety of an anonymous post, quite another to have to deal with a dangerous horse day in day out.

I had to PTS a dangerous horse and it was not a decision taken lightly. My YO at the time wanted me to keep her, despite the fact that she could not handle her (horse was on full livery but they still had to call me up to do things with her because they were too scared of her) nor would she take her on herself. Talk is cheap...
 
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