Having to sell your horse :'(

As said life gets in the way. I sold my horse when I was eighteen and was leaving home. Couldn't afford to keep her so she was sold. I promised myself then that one day I would have another horse. 30 years later, kids grown up and fairly finacially solvent I bought my boy just over a year ago. Would go through help and high water to keep him now though. X
 
I kept mine. I never finished uni as I needed to work far more than I could fit in around studying and looking after my horse.
I am 34 this year. I wish I had finished a degree. I wish I had a better job but more than anything else I wish I had not kept my horse.

I had him from a yearling when I was 15 almost 16. I backed him, brought him on with a view to event and kept him through 2 years at uni.
I had difficulties at this time getting a regular farrier. The yard one was always oversubscribed and would prioritise "urgent" cases. My horse had decent feet then and rarely lost shoes, he had been shod every 6 weeks, he started going 8 and 9 and 12 weeks plus, regularly. I was working and studying so I could not get down to make sure he was done. I think this was the start of the issues that eventually caused lameness and eventually led to him being put to sleep.
I kept him when I inherited some money and managed to put a whack of a deposit down on a house. The house needed some work doing, a bit of time and money spending on it. I had neither of those things I had my horse!
I used a proportion of the money I inherited to buy 2 beautiful saddles and bridles for him. I used more to get my lorry licence, to buy a box, to insure it, to tax it, to mot it.

I had make do furniture but it didn't matter, I had my horse, my box and my tack. Now we could finally get out and compete!
And then we had some intermittent lameness.
And we had some vet fees, and the insurance wouldn't cover the recommended treatment. And the bills started running in to thousands and I had the money in some savings, so I paid and I paid and I paid. Afterall, I could always sell the box that was going to rack and ruin because I wasn't using it and no longer had any savings to pay for taxing etc again.
And it wouldn't matter as long as I had my horse. Except the lameness came back, and there was no more money and not much more to be done even if there had been.
And now, when the house needed to be reroofed, when I needed new furniture, when I want to do anything at all I can't really afford anything. My only asset is my house, I don't have a massive mortgage fortunately as I put down a big deposit but the rest of any inherited money is gone on a horse I ended up putting to sleep at the age of 9.

With hindsight, yes I wish I had sold him, not for the heartache, but maybe with a different owner under different circumstances his feet would have been looked after, a different owner might have been more confident about dealing with insurance if the lameness happened anyway, and maybe my lad would have enjoyed a healthy happy life. And maybe now I would have a decent house, a half decent car and maybe could afford a horse of my own as well.
 
Dear OP I am glad to hear that you are being sensible enough to realise that life has different demands on you. I sold my forever horse when I was pregnant with my daughter. She was my forever mare but the girl I sold her to has given her even more than I could give her and that gave me the ability to take time off work until my daughter went to school. We have now bought my daughter a pony which was someone else's forever pony. we all want perfect ponies been there done that good as gold etc, these ponies only ever come from good homes with loving owners who have to make the heart breaking decision to sell their horses and personally I'm glad they did.

You will know who is the right person for your horse when you see them around your horse. You never know where life will take you and in the future horses will return to your life.
 
SpringArising said:
That's fine if that's what you want to do. But some people don't want to be tied to a horse at any cost. Personally it's not worth it to me. In fact, I can't think of much I'd rather do less than work even longer hours just for the privilege of shovelling yet more $h1t. :eek3:

There's more to life than horses and if you want to explore that then there's nothing wrong with it. It's what works best for you.

And absolutely all of this:
Click to expand...

For sure, I see where you're coming from. I wouldn't do it for any horse, just the one I have currently.
I also appreciate that I am more privileged than most in that I have savings to fall back on if needed. So although my life may take a hit in terms of what I can afford, horsey would still be well off!
 
Roxylola said:
I kept mine. I never finished uni as I needed to work far more than I could fit in around studying and looking after my horse.
I am 34 this year. I wish I had finished a degree. I wish I had a better job but more than anything else I wish I had not kept my horse.

I had him from a yearling when I was 15 almost 16. I backed him, brought him on with a view to event and kept him through 2 years at uni.
I had difficulties at this time getting a regular farrier. The yard one was always oversubscribed and would prioritise "urgent" cases. My horse had decent feet then and rarely lost shoes, he had been shod every 6 weeks, he started going 8 and 9 and 12 weeks plus, regularly. I was working and studying so I could not get down to make sure he was done. I think this was the start of the issues that eventually caused lameness and eventually led to him being put to sleep.
I kept him when I inherited some money and managed to put a whack of a deposit down on a house. The house needed some work doing, a bit of time and money spending on it. I had neither of those things I had my horse!
I used a proportion of the money I inherited to buy 2 beautiful saddles and bridles for him. I used more to get my lorry licence, to buy a box, to insure it, to tax it, to mot it.

I had make do furniture but it didn't matter, I had my horse, my box and my tack. Now we could finally get out and compete!
And then we had some intermittent lameness.
And we had some vet fees, and the insurance wouldn't cover the recommended treatment. And the bills started running in to thousands and I had the money in some savings, so I paid and I paid and I paid. Afterall, I could always sell the box that was going to rack and ruin because I wasn't using it and no longer had any savings to pay for taxing etc again.
And it wouldn't matter as long as I had my horse. Except the lameness came back, and there was no more money and not much more to be done even if there had been.
And now, when the house needed to be reroofed, when I needed new furniture, when I want to do anything at all I can't really afford anything. My only asset is my house, I don't have a massive mortgage fortunately as I put down a big deposit but the rest of any inherited money is gone on a horse I ended up putting to sleep at the age of 9.

With hindsight, yes I wish I had sold him, not for the heartache, but maybe with a different owner under different circumstances his feet would have been looked after, a different owner might have been more confident about dealing with insurance if the lameness happened anyway, and maybe my lad would have enjoyed a healthy happy life. And maybe now I would have a decent house, a half decent car and maybe could afford a horse of my own as well.
Click to expand...
. Such a sad story. 😒 But very true. I work as a cleaner so, not much money. I should have sold my daughters horse when she went to college. But I was attached to him. He cost thousands in vets bills and maintenance. Which I couldn't really afford. And it almost becomes like ground hog day. He became an expensive, pet that I had to work so hard for
 
You are doing the right thing.

I was in a similar situation a few years ago. Had taken on a horse when circumstances were good, then they changed and I was suddenly living alone paying rent plus car plus horse. I managed to keep going for almost two years by dipping into my savings, accepting help from my ageing parents and eventually moving in with some very kind friends for the summer so I could go out and compete. By this point I had accepted I was going to have to give him up but I was so excited for one last summer.

First event of the season I fell off and busted all the ligaments in my right ankle. Was told by the doctors I'd be out for months. I gave up the horse at that point and spent years clawing myself out of the hole I'd gotten myself into.

There comes a time when the heart has to take a back seat and the head must take over!!
 
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