free to good home

Just sticking my oar in again.... it makes me laugh when people post in here about letting a horse they're selling go on trial and comes back "spoiled" in some way. They've tried to ensure their horse will go to a suitable home/rider but it's not worked out for some reason. Then they'll get loads of replies about the dangers of trials, better just to sell the horse straight (no matter that thay may go to a totally unsuitable home). Yet here we have someone stating that they are only letting the horse go to a good home, not out to make a profit and they're being slated for it. Similar to when someone posts a link to a cheap horse on another site.... ooh, let's all post that there just has to be something wrong with the horse to be cheap, umm if the seller has something to hide why alert the HHO sleuths by putting a low price up? Bit like plaits in manes...
 
Frisky Filly said:
it is a fact of life that horses are bred for a purpose whether it b for colour or ability!
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but colour is not an ability though is it? It doesn't make the horse faster or jump higher does it? Maybe I am stupid but I'm just not that bothered about colour. Then again I don't breed, but I do think this is a sad case, free just isn't a good idea and he should get cut without a doubt.
 
Colour is an ability if thats what you wanted it for!!!

I.e. If I had my dreams set on winning every coloured show on earth, and it came out solid bay, then it wouldnt have the ability to do what I wanted! So I would move foaly on - either with price or free to good home - and get something else that had the ability!

Bloody hell peeps....
 
flamehead said:
I really don't see the issue-what if it hadnt made the right height would you all be up in arms then?

My only comment is that you should get him cut, and then ask a price for him. I think free to a good home encourages certain types of people. Xxx
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There is a bit of a difference between height and colour. Height is a practicality, ok not so much with a horse that is going to be put in a harness as opposed to being ridden, but still it is a practicality. The mare that I have was expected to make 16hh, she only made 15.1 so the womans husband couldn't ride her. That is the only reason the seller agreed to part with her. I don't know, perhaps bay will not look nice enough in a harness?! It would look well if OP ended up with a coloured with good breeding but cr ap at trotting and this one turned out to be a stunner!

On the other hand I agree with your second point. OP, why not handle, cut and sell for a price, factor in the cost of another stud fee etc and use that to buy your dream youngster. A far more practical solution than the one that you are proposing, give away and continue to breed until you get a coloured.

It is not the fact that you are giving away a foal for free, it is your reasoning behind it that has outraged many on here, and the fact that not only are you being irresponsible by adding to the number of horses out there but that you are prepared to give away a colt and not geld it. There are so many people out there who give an undertaking to geld or not breed, and are actually lying through their teeth. You have said yourself that the colt has good breeding, why would someone take that on and then cut it when they could breed more... that is what you are risking.

You have to some extent been responsible in the fact that you have sourced good breeding stock and expressed a wish to find it a 'good home' as far as you can. So continue to be responsible and put your hand in your pocket and have the unwanted inconvenience gelded prior to passing the buck
 
I think the OP is sitting back chuckling having thrown the popcorn on the fire!!!

My belief is it is the blase way in which the OP has posted that a bay is no good to her that has upset everyone. Many people sell or pass on horses for all sorts of reasons and myself having been now landed with an aggressive 17hh through being completely lied to - I think at least OP is being honest (rare thing amongst horse sellers!) There is probably a little deliberate provacation on her part even if you wouldn't do as she would;is she that bad?

Is she actually any worse than the many 'shoe string' owners I know who would struggle to pay a vet's bill let alone insure the horse lest anything really serious should go wrong. They call themselves 'horse lovers' yet they deny their horse anything over and above the absolute basic fare. That to me is rotten and selfish; as we all know upfront that horses are a very expensive animal to keep.
I recall someone giving away free a TB youngster with a slight parrot mouth due to it not making the height and the stick she got for it. If you saw an ad as follows
'Quality 10mnth bay colt superb standardbred bloodlines. Unhandled and only for sale as owner is desperate to breed a coloured for showing. To good home only £800' Would you honestly be so judgemental?
 
Coloured trotters are more highly prized, the same as an unusual coloured traditional gypsy cob would be, it's what's known as fashion!

In my opinion selling a horse because it isn't the favoured colour for the sport you wish to compete in is no different than selling a show horse that didn't make the height or a dressage youngster because it's paces aren't flashy enough.

Good on the original poster for trying to find his colt a good home rather than selling to the meat man.

Many trotters make excellent riding horses. (My friend brought one as a project last year and sold on 6 months later to a top PC home for nearly 5K).

& is trotting a healthy 18 month old up and down the road any different from racing a TB of a similar age?
 
tabithakat64 said:
coloured trotters are more highly prized, the same as an unusual coloured traditional gypsy cob would be, it's what's known as fashion!

In my opinion selling a horse because it isn't the favoured colour for the sport you wish to compete in is no different than selling a show horse that didn't make the height or a dressage youngster because it's paces aren't flashy enough.

Good on the original poster for trying to find his colt a good home rather than selling to the meat man.

Many trotters make excellent riding horses. (my friend brought one as a project last year and sold on 6 months later to a top pc home for nearly 5k).

& is trotting a healthy 18 month old up and down the road any different from racing a tb of a similar age?
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exactly!!!
 
YasandCrystal is spot on saying:

'Quality 10mnth bay colt superb standardbred bloodlines. Unhandled and only for sale as owner is desperate to breed a coloured for showing. To good home only £800'
I would just add "can be gelded if required".

Advertise the colt like this (and email the Standardbred Society) and I am sure there will be a happy ending to this tale. xx
 
Frisky Filly said:
In regards to all you who had replied with negative comments!! get off your high horses!!!

in this climate who can afford to keep something that is just laying around?

In this climate, who can afford to breed if they're not sure if they'll actually want the foal? breeding isn't cheap by the time you've arranged transport for the mare, covering fee, ongoing vets bills, had a mare not working for however long, are feeding for 2 in 3rd trimester and caring for the new foal... why go through all that if you know there's only a small chance the horse will be to the specification you want? Why not just save up and get the right stallion, or even better, the right youngster?

i am a proud yet skint owner of two TBs they cost me a fortune but i do it! if i wasn such a sucker to my oldest boy he would of been loaned out or sold as he does not have a purpose to me apart from eating expensive feed and endless money on rugs!!

kindof not the point being made here...

you see foals/mares/geldings sitting neglected in fields day after day because there careless owners can’t afford them...at lest this woman (gypseycob) has taken the chance to try and find someone through here to give this little lad a good home! maybe she thought you lot would give her some help or offers but no you shot her down like she was a clay pigeon. Some of the comments you bunch of PMTs came out with were ridiculous!!

Simple message to all the breeders out there. Don't breed unless you have a very good reason for doing so. I don't think trying on the offchance to get a coloured, and whoops its not so I'll just get rid of it in the least responsible manner possible is very responsible.

i love my two Baby’s very much and all horses big and small bay or grey but the way you ,lot were going on made me laugh seemed as if you had nuffin better to do that make a fool of some one!! i feel sorry for your husband’s && and horses.

reli i mean come on? it was unneeded and you made yourselves look stupid..it is a fact of life that horses are bred for a purpose whether it b for colour or ability!

I object because the foal shouldn't have been produced in the first place, but that the person should have gone out to buy if her specifications were so exact. And if you breed a foal which isn't suitable for your needs, don't give it away free to a good home, because its a surefire way to get it taken by a dealer (either in good disguise or passed on to a dealer) and to guarantee an uncertain future for the foal.

Both mine are ex-racers who were going for meat money because they weren’t fast enough..but hey ho they have a forever home now!!

At least one breeder is being responsible for their offspring! so give this lady a chance ffs.

Giving a foal away free to a good home isn't being responsible, IMHO. Breeding for colour isn't responsible IMHO... Oh forget it I've repeated myself enough.

and that is my thought on the thread!!! :)
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flamehead said:
Colour is an ability if thats what you wanted it for!!!

I.e. If I had my dreams set on winning every coloured show on earth, and it came out solid bay, then it wouldnt have the ability to do what I wanted! So I would move foaly on - either with price or free to good home - and get something else that had the ability!

Bloody hell peeps....
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If you had dreams of winning every coloured show on earth, why on earth would you breed one which isn't certain to be coloured. Why would you breed one anyway, when you can buy a horse which has already been produced and get to see how good a potential show horse it is. And don't anybody tell me this is about affording it. No horse is cheap, and at the end of the day if you can't afford to buy what you want but you can afford to keep it, well then put away the money you'd spend on keeping it until you had enough to buy it.
 
Lady La La said:
How many "excellently bred" and "potentially very talented" race horses do you know that have been sold out of racing for being the wrong colour?
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I do know of a black racehorse that was sold because his owner believed blacks were unlucky. I don't believe it's any different than a racehorse being sold because it hasn't grown big enough or has grown too big in some cases or just isn't fast enough.

What I do think is that the original poster should have been more chosey in order to gain a higher chance of getting the foal in the colour he wanted.
 
I just think the OP is irresponsible to breed if they are not prepared to care for the youngster whatever its colour until such point as they have good prospects for their future ie gelded, backed, trimmed or shod and well handled.

Having had my friend from my old place have to deal with a dead trotter just dumped in the road near their place last week, seeing very tall s/breds covering tiny welsh As, and then being dumped off their horse as the sulky with screaming men beating the trotter hammered past the yard, as well as the dual carriageway being blocked by rolling roadblock as the barely 2 year olds are whipped up it (tarmac not grass or polytrack like racing....!), and loose entire horses all over the place, I dont have much time for those breeding trotting horses and then offloading them for reason of colour, especially ungelded......
 
flamehead said:
Colour is an ability if thats what you wanted it for!!!

I.e. If I had my dreams set on winning every coloured show on earth, and it came out solid bay, then it wouldnt have the ability to do what I wanted! So I would move foaly on - either with price or free to good home - and get something else that had the ability!

Bloody hell peeps....
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I have to say that I do agree with this! What does it matter why the horse doesn't fit the OP's requirements? It just doesn't.

People sell horses everyday because they're not fast enough, flashy enough, big enough, strong enough, athletic enough. None of these things are the horses' faults and we sell them on because they just aren't what we want (this is a general 'we'!). The OP wanted a coloured horse, she didn't get one, so she's trying to find him a nice home. I guess people struggle to understand why someone would move a horse purely for aesthetic reasons but in my eyes it's all the same - passing a horse on because they don't fit requirements.

I do disagree with indiscriminate breeding (which this sounds like) but I think the OP has become some sort of poster-child for this issue and I think that's unfair. However, some good advice has been given re. having the colt gelded and perhaps asking a fair price for him to discourage the wrong type of person. Having said that, my family have taken on freebies and given them a great home.

OP, I wish you the best of luck in finding your colt the great home he deserves.
 
The fact that the OP has not bothered to do anything with the foal just shows how irresponsible she is. 10 months old and uncut left out with its mother, highly sensible i think not!! the mare must be in a state having a foal on her for that long and i doubt she will have been properly cared for just the same as the foal hasn't been, People like this poster should not be allowed to keep horses!!
 
OP...Can you answer my question of a previous post?..that being Why didn't you put your mare to a 100% Homozygous Stallion to get a coloured?

Or was it all about costs from the start?

I have no problem selling horses on because they don't do the job they were bought for..but selling because its the wrong colour?.....surely you should give him a chance to prove himself as a Trotter?
 
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gypsy cob said:
thanks, as you said there is no good homozygous standardbred stallions, and i'm not looking to gain anything just a good home for the foal. come and see if he suits you.
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alligator, apparently there are no good homozygous standardbred stallions available.
 
Hey, I was always taught "a good is never a bad colour"! An unhanded colt with a full undercarriage? My god that will need some serious handling - not for he fainthearted!! Please don't breed again unless you make do with what pops out, on the plus side at least you are not making a profit out of him. Good luck with finding him a hopefully permanent home.:rolleyes:
 
I'm on the side of nothing wrong with deciding the foal is not for you, whatever the reason you wean it, handle it, geld it etc etc and then you sell it knowing that you have given it the best possible start at having a decent life.
 
Well I hope the foal gets a permanant home. He needs to be gelded and wormed and deffinatly weaned.
If hes given away for free theres no guarentee that whoever has him will keep him,he'll more than likely end up on a one way ticket,very sad.
If gelded,well handled,at least he has a chance for a good start in life. Not too many people want colts and this is why there are so many going for meat.
 
Damnation said:
Threads like this are what puts me off HHO.
The gang mentality.

I see no problem with what the OP is doing. Yes have him cut and then ask a price to say cover vets fees and mare covering.

At the end of the day if its not the colour she needs its her perrogative.

Yes I know there is alot of unnescisarry breeding in this country but at the end of the day its not our decision as to what the OP does.

You can supply and campaign the information but throwing it down peoples throats is different. This is but one foal of MANY bred in the UK every year.

What difference will it make to jump down this persons throat? Surely you would be better off targetting people who breed 10-15 foals a year not just one.
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Agree with Damnation. Think some of the comments are ridiculous. Yes there are too many horses with poor breeding produced with the sole reason of making money in a flat market. This colt was bred for a reason and the breeding was carefully considered, but it didn't turn out to be what the owner wanted. The OP has posted this on the HH forum perhaps thinking that there are some decent horsey people on here who could give the colt a very good home and who may stay in touch to give progress reports! Not everyone would be prepared to pay much for an unhandled 8 month old colt but would be willing to give it a good chance in life if it wasn't going to cost them anything or much in the current climate. I agree with having it cut but I think you could potentially encourage the same unscupulous type of people if you try and sell it for a few hundred quid as you would offering it free. I would try and find a home with someone I knew or was at least known by people i trusted to be a genuine home and not a dealer pretending to be.

You all think this is so wrong but its fine to discriminate against gingers!!?

:confused:
 
I can sort of understand she is moving the horse on because he is not what she wants.

My concern is that he is 10 months old, entire, unhandled, so obviously if unhandled that means, no jabs done, feet not done, not been wormed and not weaned.

If you really want the best for your foal please try and address some of the points above, and then maybe find him a good home
 
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