HELP NEEDED TO FIND SUITABLE HORSE ON LOAN-BUCKS/HERTS/BEDS AREA

Spottyappy

Spottyappy

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I very sadly,and suddenly, had to have my homebred boy PTS recently. He was almost 18. Besides missing him dreadfully, our mare is lonely plus my daughter and I want to ride out together.
Have tried many sites, local saddlers,charities,pc, local breeders etc but so far no luck. How has anyone else found a suitable loan horse? Many people dont even seem to bother to reply to voicemail(if phone off) or emails when I have contacted them with a response to their advert loaning a horse.Assume manners go out the door even if a home already found :(
I have my own yard, viewing welcome, plus can supply references. Been rider/owner over 40 yrs, although I now mostly hack and do LDR, but my daughter does pc rallies, local shows,hacks and LDR so horse needs to suit us both. Needs to be min 15hh, max 16.1hh, and capable of carrying the wrong side of 12 stone.
My only other requirements are that horse needs to be good with traffic, as we have to hack via a main road, and must load and travel in a 7.5t herringbone horsebox.
Any help/ideas of what more I can do welcome.
 
how about rehoming a racehorse from somewhere like Heros? They do loan horses. Although I guess it will depend on the horses history and how much bone it has as to whether it would be okay with 12 stone plus - I know some of them need lighter riders but they tend to say that on the site.

Few suitable looking horses on here that they are saying would be good for PC etc:

http://www.heroscharity.org/heros-horses/competition/

I'm a little bit in love with Zanay and Be Lucky :)
 
You are going to need some serious good fortune to find a loan horse that is going to be good in traffic etc. as these paragons of virtue are in big demand (even if they are elderly). My advice to you would be to put up some wanted adverts in the local tack shops and feed merchants and put the word around to your farrier, vet and riding instructors. Also ask members of the local hunt as at the end of the season some horses are retired for a quieter life.
 
Let everyone you know, know that you're looking and keep an eye on Facebook too... There's probably a 'for sale/loan' group in your area on there...

A friend of mine who knew I was looking spotted an advert for a 'jumping schoolmaster and road safe hack' which sounded perfect for my son who'd outgrown a pony and is ready to start learning to jump... She put us in touch and a rather lovely mare, has come to stay with us... Perfect really as she was a bit young to properly retire, too old to still hurtle around at higher level cross country, but old enough to be a very experienced school mistress at novice/low level...

Much as facebook drives me totally batty sometimes it can come up trumps...:)
 
I would echo exploring rehoming an ex racer from a charity. Some of the chunkier NH horses would carry heavier riders. I am an older rider, restrict myself to hacking and schooling and I have owned Che for 4 years now, he is perfect in traffic, good to hack out alone and with others and generally a bit of a star. He has his moments, of course he does, hes a horse, but on the whole hes a good boy.You sound an experienced owner who could offer a brilliant home and the perfect lifestyle for one of these horses. I would never have considered a TB but his ad sounded perfect and he was for sale very locally so I thought Id go and have a look. Very pleased I did! Just to add, if you have a look on the ex racehorse owners forum, there are often horses looking for homes, often available to loan to the right people.
 
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Thx all.
I have contacted the various racehorse sites, but again not one has even bothered to acknowledge my application....
Have contacted the FB link, thx Herts05. Had forgotten my own local group though, so will put wanted ad on there.
Thx too for the other link mandwhy.
Keep suggestions coming please!
 
Hi... I may have the sort of mare you're looking for...

She's been at a retirement livery since January simply because I didn't manage to find her a new loan home before I went back to uni after Christmas, terrible time of year to find loaners. She came back to me as her previous loan home was simply not giving her enough work to keep her ticking over and she was starting to spook and be silly as a result - and I mean they were leaving her in the field for 2 months to get herself obese then expecting her to be perfect to hack!

I found her advert on Equine Adverts from December:

http://www.equineadverts.co.uk/-1/16/106/46913_15_1hh_mare_for_loan.html

Obviously she's completely unfit now, having spent all her time since January eating pretty much constantly in her little herd of ex-eventers at retirement livery. But I'm sure she would be a doddle to bring back into work, she's really a lovely mare and I can assure you she is truly fantastic in traffic once confident in her rider! The yard where she was kept at before I went to uni was on a busy road frequented by buses, tractors, lorries and motorbikes all doing waaaay above the speed limit, which I had to hack along in order to reach bridle paths.
 
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