Hardest decision, think might have to have healthy pony PTS :(

The wonders of the internet and misconstruding the way things are typed! No one is asking the OP too defend herself, OP, do what you and the ponies owner think is the right decision, you deal with the pony on a day to day basis, you have to pick up the mess when he takes off however, you might think you might like to give the pony a chance in which ever you see fit. Don't let people on a forum, who do not know you situation, facilities, ability, experience, instructor etc etc ect sway you either way. Its a massive decision and one only you and the owner can make.
 
havent read all the thread but what we would do is first of all give the pony some time off, probably hunting has blown its poor mind. Then slowly bring it back into work with a lot of time and walk him for a good few weeks until he is happy.

Depends how much time they are prepared to put into him or if they are too scared now.
 
zebedee said:
Tell you what C, ask the owners to sell him to me for £1, then I'll make the decision if you'll deal with the practicalities your end. That way people can have a go at me not you, & you can just get on with what needs to be done instead of having to defend yourself on here.
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Are you 100% serious?
 
kept telling myself i was not going to comment but cant help it anymore so here goes!!!! there have been so many for and against comments, sadly most if not all the against are for PTS sad. I agree that a childs life could be put at risk and also that there are so many ponies out there looking for a home, sadly charities are stocked with healthy horses so those that really need a hand cannot find one these days (i think the charities should have an age 17+ when old horses in their care are PTS to make room for the young uns - they also deserve a chance of a life instead of the kill pen, in the wild the old ones would have been preyed on by now making way for the young uns). Anyway back on track, seems the pony is just very nervous and i dont believe there is a single very experienced capable child rider out there who at some time is not going to feel nervous and transfer this to the pony/horse they are riding. Throwing the reins at it and then a 5-6 stone child trying to stop a pony in full flight that weighs about 350kgs is just *******s, it is not going to happen, and therefore this situation cannot even be called upon as an explanation of what happened. So poor ponio gets the PTS tag its a bolter!! Wish i could take it i am on 5ft but i couldnt afford it as already have an expensive one. Do honestly feel it should be rebroken - if it is a true bolter it is going to bolt on the lunge line then you would know it is not the saddle, the rider or the way the wind was blowing. But give it a decent chance please. Rebuild its trust for starters horses/ponies are not daft they can tell when they are either disliked by someone or that person is nervous of them so if you cant do it get someone else to. Horses with tumours can do many things one of the signs is foaming at the mouth and walking like they are drunk then hitting their head against the stable wall in pain. Hope you find an answer soon
 
zebedee said:
Tell you what C, ask the owners to sell him to me for £1, then I'll make the decision if you'll deal with the practicalities your end. That way people can have a go at me not you, & you can just get on with what needs to be done instead of having to defend yourself on here.
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Bloody well said...
 
zebedee said:
Tell you what C, ask the owners to sell him to me for £1, then I'll make the decision if you'll deal with the practicalities your end. That way people can have a go at me not you, & you can just get on with what needs to be done instead of having to defend yourself on here.
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Now there's an offer!

R2R - I had to go through this last year and there's a reason I never talked about it on this forum :rolleyes: - you obviously have a sensible head on your shoulders, so do what you think is right and don't listen to people who are more concerned with who can shout the loudest.

Or, take the offer above!

Good luck. I know exactly how it feels, sadly.
 
Can I ask a serious question?

What is SO wrong about putting this pony to sleep?

Because i'm damned if I can see that anyone has actually pointed that out?

WHY does this situation need further investigation?
WHY should "experts" be involved?
WHY?

A short, and to the point reply will suffice.

Thank You.
 
nativeponies said:
Can I ask a serious question?

What is SO wrong about putting this pony to sleep?

Because i'm damned if I can see that anyone has actually pointed that out?

WHY does this situation need further investigation?
WHY should "experts" be involved?
WHY?

A short, and to the point reply will suffice.

Thank You.
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Nothing.
 
nativeponies said:
Can I ask a serious question?

What is SO wrong about putting this pony to sleep?

Because i'm damned if I can see that anyone has actually pointed that out?

WHY does this situation need further investigation?
WHY should "experts" be involved?
WHY?

A short, and to the point reply will suffice.

Thank You.
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Ask Papa Frita.

Or did you want a serious answer to the serious question? If so, I agree with Groom42.
 
nativeponies said:
Can I ask a serious question?

What is SO wrong about putting this pony to sleep?

Because i'm damned if I can see that anyone has actually pointed that out?

WHY does this situation need further investigation?
WHY should "experts" be involved?
WHY?

A short, and to the point reply will suffice.

Thank You.
Click to expand...

Nothing at all, as I have said before, there are many sound and sane ponies on the market, going for peanuts. Nothing wrong with pts one which is not safe for the job it was trained for.
 
R2R said:
Are you 100% serious?
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Yes I am. Unless the owners take him back & make him 100% their responsibility there is only one way forward. I am so impressed by those who have left instructions in their wills that 'quirky' horses currently in their care must be PTS if they should pre-decease them. What wonderful owners, who obviously have the welfare of the animal at the forefront of their decision making process.
I was also serious that you would have to deal with the practicalities though.
 
have not read whole of this thread but got the gist of it. I had a pony which did exactly the same, just suddenly started bolting ridden or in hand. A few weeks after this started he ras straight into a stone barn and broke his neck killing himself outright. PM showed he had a brain tumour.
 
I think this pony has seriously lacked a proper education in the past. It clearly lives it's life in fear (not saying it has any reason to) since it is difficult to handle and the ground and to catch. I wouldn't even be sitting on a pony which was too nervous to do groundwork with. I'm not surprised it bolts. It obviously needs a lot of desentising work, as a minimum, before anyone else gets on it. Then long reining for a long time and in various situations, with people shaking bags etc at it (only in a safe enclosed environment) until there is no response.

If the pony is **** scared of everything on the ground, how can you expect it not to be under saddle?

As it is though, this pony is not yours, and no one seems to want to put in the time for the long haul. So maybe it's better for everyone if it is PTS. What a shame though. I also agree, maybe there is another underlying problem, but you have to eliminate the other causes (obvious fear or pain) before you can establish whether it is too deep seated to be fixed. I can see both sides.
 
As it is though, this pony is not yours, and no one seems to want to put in the time for the long haul. So maybe it's better for everyone if it is PTS. What a shame though. I also agree, maybe there is another underlying problem, but you have to eliminate the other causes (obvious fear or pain) before you can establish whether it is too deep seated to be fixed. I can see both sides.
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This sums up my thoughts on the matter, too.

I can perfectly understand why the OP doesn't want to put a child at risk. On the other hand, no horse or pony is 100% safe and riding any horse or pony is a high risk sport. At the end of the day they are all prey animals with a powerful flight instinct. Perhaps this pony could be made safer with the appropriate reschooling. But it would seem to be the owner's responsibility to take responsibility for this, not the OP's.

There may be other factors involved, too. What is the pony being fed? Does it get enough turn out? How long has it been at its present home? Has it settled in? Etc. etc.

A child's life is more important than the pony's. Obviously. But still it seems sad for the pony, especially if it *could* be fixed, given patience and time.
 
I just re read my post. I am not suggesting that people shake bags at a scared pony until it dies of a heart attack. I'm saying it's obviously nervous and so needs gradually getting used to seeing and hearing scary things, without scaring it so much that it feels the need to run in a blind panic. Just felt the need for a disclaimer there before i get jumped on.
 
For me, this pony is actually perfectly OK as a pony. It is what we want to do with it which turns it from being passed as fit to live or have its life ended because it doesn't conform to our requirements. I find this is the only distasteful 'fact'. Whether it is incurably quirky, in pain or just plain bonkers, it has no future as far as we are concerned.

Sad, but true. Poor thing.

I have to say, though, PTS is really the fairest, safest and most sensible thing to do. I don't like it, but it is.
 
brighteyes said:
For me, this pony is actually perfectly OK as a pony. It is what we want to do with it which turns it from being passed as fit to live or have its life ended because it doesn't conform to our requirements. I find this is the only distasteful 'fact'. Whether it is incurably quirky, in pain or just plain bonkers, it has no future as far as we are concerned.

Sad, but true. Poor thing.

I have to say, though, PTS is really the fairest, safest and most sensible thing to do. I don't like it, but it is.
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Exactly. What a throwaway society we live in.
 
I am disgusted with this post.
This poor pony needs to go back to square 1 and start over. It has obviously been pushed too quick and blown its head over big fences.
If we pts all horses which didn't do what we wanted them to it'd be a very sad world, what we must remember is what we are asking these horses to do isn't natural to them.
The poor ponies only vice seems that it bolts? retrain.
Failing that, retire.
Or use it for gymkana!!
 
The eff.
You can't just "retrain" a bolter! If you could hell, there'd be a LOT more riding horses out there.
Some just aren't and never will be suited to riding life. You can't expect every horse to never have a vice.

It's all assumptions. This pony probably had a good start to it's riding career. Maybe, just maybe, it has a screw (or 20) loose.
If I had the land, I'd gladly buy it. I love working on the ground with little ponies.
You're making the right choice if he "simply must" be a riding pony :/ The market is dead for little pony companions. You can't just turn them out and expect them not to get lami or someone little pony prone :(
 
The thing that really gets to me about this post is that nobody seems to have bothered to investigate why this 12.2 (or is it 13.2?) pony "bolts". The "shoot it" brigade are all too keen to jump on the "kill it" bandwagon without having any real understanding as to:

a) what it does
b) why it does it
c) and if, indeed, it actually does it

I'm not saying the pony should not be put down if it transpires that it has an unsurmountable problem, it's just that it seems to me that nobody can be bothered to investigate the situation further. The pony is surplus to requirements/doesn't fit in with the current set-up and hence should be dispatched forthwith.

Great.
 
Aren't there any homes that would only want a companion and that would never attempt to ride the pony? I would be perfectly content to have a companion that couldn't be ridden- if I needed one I'd take him. I've had my section a mare since she was 2yo, she's now 7yo and only this summer I thought I'd try lunging her. I only wanter to lunge her for her to 'learn something new,' I would never ride her or be tempted to- she's purely a companion. Isn't there anyone else who feels the same as I do?
 
Rueysmum said:
The thing that really gets to me about this post is that nobody seems to have bothered to investigate why this 12.2 (or is it 13.2?) pony "bolts". The "shoot it" brigade are all too keen to jump on the "kill it" bandwagon without having any real understanding as to:

a) what it does
b) why it does it
c) and if, indeed, it actually does it

I'm not saying the pony should not be put down if it transpires that it has an unsurmountable problem, it's just that it seems to me that nobody can be bothered to investigate the situation further. The pony is surplus to requirements/doesn't fit in with the current set-up and hence should be dispatched forthwith.

Great.
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The problem as I see it is that "someone" has to provide the time, money and knowledge for this to happen. If the pony doesn't have that person to do it, remembering that at his size that his saleability/desireability is through being a childs pony then his future is uncertain - and JMHO, I would prefer to see him PTS rather than being potentially passed on and on for HIS sake.

The sad fact is that at the moment there are more horses than good homes....that leaves the difficult ones in a very dangerous position. Not only are they basically valueless but they cost the same, if not more to keep than the easy types. sad but true.

In saying all that, I have a horse who aged 14 has been retired for nearly 6 years due to his nervousness and the unreliability associated with it. It would make sense to PTS (and that will happen if my financial circumstances change or anything happens to me) but I choose to keep him as a rather dangerous if not handled properly pet. I have no illusions that while there are homes out there that could handle him, why in God's name would they want him? when there are a shedload of easier horses available....and the ones who want him because he's a big flashy Welshie with movement to die for (when he's not having a meltdown, going over backwards, throwing himself under moving vehicles or running over people in panic) seem to hugely overestimate their abilities and end up scaring the horse even more - and that is when he is lethal - along with themselves.

On the last yard he was on I was villified when I mentioned PTS because "there's nothing wrong with him" despite the fact that 90% of the people there were terrified of him. I could give him to a charity or give him away :rolleyes: Tell me how that's fair to an already nervous horse or to the poor sod who gets hurt?
 
Kaylum said:
Have you advertised as a free hunting pony.
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Why in gods name would anyone advertise a pony that BOLTS as a hunting pony? So he could kill someones child in the hunting field instead of in the school perhaps?

cbmcts - excellent post. I wish more people would take on board that just because they love their unrideable horse, there is no conceiveable reason why anyone else should.
 
Rueysmum said:
The thing that really gets to me about this post is that nobody seems to have bothered to investigate why this 12.2 (or is it 13.2?) pony "bolts". The "shoot it" brigade are all too keen to jump on the "kill it" bandwagon without having any real understanding as to:

a) what it does
b) why it does it
c) and if, indeed, it actually does it

I'm not saying the pony should not be put down if it transpires that it has an unsurmountable problem, it's just that it seems to me that nobody can be bothered to investigate the situation further. The pony is surplus to requirements/doesn't fit in with the current set-up and hence should be dispatched forthwith.

Great.
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a) I think its been mentioned a few times IT BOLTS!!!

b) Have you ever tried understanding a horse's reasoning for legging it for no apparent reason? I have, its soul destroying, sends you round the bend and is totally futile as the only "person" that might know why the horse is bolting is the horse and they are not going to explain it to you any time soon. In the mean time while you are on this quest for understanding, you collect injuries and it is so not worth it!

c) So the OP might be lying or wrong. This is always the case with stuff on the internet but people can only respond to the information they are given, taking into consideration that the OP is a regular, sane poster without a history of posting mad made up stuff. :)
 
I haven't read the whole thread, cos I'm getting tired now, but this reminded me of something ...


R2R said:
The pony is nervous on the ground and wont be caught in the field,and therefore is hard to work with.

If I said he would jump a jump three times, then duck out at the fourth for no reason like he had never seen it before and run off - I dont really know what to say other than it is a tough one?
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I can't remember if it was on HHO or where, but someone had a mare who would spook randomly despite being ridden in the same place, she was eventually sold or loaned to a family who's daughter was at veterinary college and she used the mare as a guinea pig to check her eyes, and found the mare had something in her eye that floated around, which was what was causing the random spooking ...

*shrugs*
 
Agree very bad idea to send to a dealer or give the pony away to someone. If something costs you nothing do you look after it?

We got a 14.2 pony on loan as a companion for our horse who wouldn't be on his own. This pony had paces to die for and a huge jump BUT it had been difficult for a child to ride, so the owners sent the pony to a professional eventer to "sort out". Upshot of that was the pony had been terrified and came back to the owner in an unrideable state.

We had the pony for almost 10 years, a complete sweetheart and wonderful companion. Yes grownup daughter did have the odd shot on him when feeling brave, he could canter backwards at speed...no joke but she knew exactly what he was like and so he was never a danger to anyone.

Do try and find him a companion home where he could maybe do another job, if that isn't possible then PTS is the best option as I'd fear for his welfare and could see him getting beaten up presuming he continued to bolt for whatever reason. If I needed a companion, I'd take him.
 
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