GAH

Note how the pony from your yard has a. stayed in work rather than retiring, and b. NOT BEEN SOLD :rolleyes:

Yes, that is very true, the little mare is ridden for an hour or two several times a week and covers a lot of miles. She was not sold, but as her owners are thousands of miles away, it is of little practical difference.

My point is simply, that we do not know what is best for this pony given that the owner is unable to keep him. For all to condemn without knowing the pony or the reason regarding the sale, I think is a little unfair. Is the pony's life worth so little that ending it, based purely on age, is preferrable to what may be a desperate attempt to find it a new, good home ?
 
Yes, it's sad, and upsetting....

We agree. To be honest that was pretty much all my post was trying to say, if you have a little read back... :rolleyes:

We could sit here all day saying 'what if' and 'its better than....' but at the end of the day a pony who has reached the grand old age of 30, having given his owners the best years of his life is now being sold ...sad...upsetting...

I see no reason to sit here and condone (or otherwise) the actions of the seller. They have 3 other horses that I'm sure they will continue to enjoy...

This post seems to gone off on a rather strange tangent, and into the realms of whether the pony is better off dead or on loan... so I'll leave you to get on with that :cool:
 
Its very sad and upsetting and if we feel for the horse imagine how its owner must feel. I couldnt do it personally, my girl would be with me till the end of her days even if they turned round to me tomorrow and said she would never be rideable again. Shes everything to me but if this person that is selling their horse has others it would be so difficult to choose, how could you choose? Its all well and good thinking well this poor little horse has served its life for them but put in that situation could you really chose between your babies. And then think of quality of life? Why not let him go to someone that is going to love him and get the joy out of him and care for him every day. If there are three other horses to be looked after that are potentially in work then realistically how much devoted care and attention can this little guy be getting and im sure the owner has thought about that and is probably one of the reasons as to why they are selling him x
 
And YorksG...you doubt my ability to read? I doubt your ability to SPELL. My user name is right in front of you.

I think some, not all, but some of you have a very fluffy concept of the world. You don't know the conditions of the sale. So, ripping me apart is one thing (that I really don't give a toss about, because I 100% doubt you'd ever say any of this to my face) but ripping apart someone you truly don't know, is awful.

Turns out you can lead a person to the gene pool, but you can't give them an IQ.
 
OMG - Wow is all I can say to this. I do think that it is a bit heartless as a horse is not a fashion accessory which you can throw out when you are bored with it or a newer model comes into fashion, they are living and breathing animals -I would like to know if this person would like to be thrown out of ther house when they reach old age just because "they are of no us and taking up room"!! :mad: Ok, when my boy gets too old to be ridden, I will not be getting another horse (unless circumstances dictate that I can have 2 horses) whilst I still have him, I could not be so heartless as to throw him on the scrap heap just to make room for a newer model!! :p
 
Everyone on HHO always seems to think the other owners are awful, and not possibly capable of ever looking after a horse. Yet we have a forum where all of us claim to be excellent owners - thats surely cannot be true on a law of averages.

I don't see how the pony can be worse off in a suitable home. If we didn't have 2 mid 20's effective field ornamemts (semi-retired) we'd probably take on a pony like that (albeit for free ;) ). Thats how we got our 16h TB ex racer at 21 - his owner was going to PTS - TB ex racers aren't exactly cheap to feed/keep! ;)
 
Whilst I agree its sad that an old horse is sold on (and I couldn't do it - I've still got my very first 2 ponies who are now in their 20's). I dont think this is particularily horrendous. I agree with SusieT. There ARE people out there who dont mind an old companion and who would be more than happy to offer it a home. So why on earth shouldnt the seller try? If the pony is of least 'use' and is suitable as a companion, what on earth is the issue?

I have sold horses when they get to a particular age, purely because if I keep them any longer - their age will make them unsellable and I couldnt possibly afford to keep every single horse I've ever owned into its retirement and beyond. I'm sure not many of you could either! I think it depends on the person - some people buy one horse and keep that horse forever more, whereas some people do sell them on at some point - I'm the latter because I own horses to compete. I'm not a 'happy hacker'. Plenty of people are though, so when a horse needs to settle down a bit - why not sell it on to that person?
 
I find it quite disturbing how for so many of you, the throw away line is PTS.
No. You don't. When all reasonable avenues are exhausted, then and only then think about the bullet.
You know nothing about the pony in question, nothing about the owner, yet many shout 'Bad owner, best PTS then. Sorted.'
Know the facts before you judge.
 
I find it quite disturbing how for so many of you, the throw away line is PTS.
No. You don't. When all reasonable avenues are exhausted, then and only then think about the bullet.
You know nothing about the pony in question, nothing about the owner, yet many shout 'Bad owner, best PTS then. Sorted.'
Know the facts before you judge.


Ditto this.

I'm sure most ponies could survive the 'mental trauma' of a move to another grassy field, and doubtless would prefer that over a bullet and no grass?! (No, I'm not suggesting horses can understand that - thats purely to illustrate my point!) ;) :)
 
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