Help! What to do with my horses whilst abroad?

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Biscuit

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Hi everyone,

I need to go abroad for ca 2 years and have no clue what to do with my lovely two horses! One is my horse of a lifetime top bred 2yo little WB filly which I would like to keep for ever. The other is a 4 yo Irish TB x WB mare I got to keep my filly company and to bring on as an allrounder. I am backing her at the moment but would still need lots of work.

At the moment I keep them on own rented land in Oxfordshire. I do all the work myself and sadly there is no way I could afford livery for both whilst away.

For my 2 year old I am not sure whether to try a companion loan, or to put her on grass livery in a livery stable or stud. I would like her to get regular handling and ideally lots of turnout with a companion and good fencing. I would not want her to be doing any ridden work until I get back.

I guess I will need to sell the 4yo unless I could find a kind responsible person who would take her on loan for 2-3 years. I think it would be a good opportunity for someone wanting to bring on and compete a youngster but who would not want to buy themselves. However I have heard quite a few loan horror stories - she is a youngster and I would not want her to get ruined, and if anything went wrong I would not be in the country so would make it hard to make other arrangements. I would like to keep her ideally but it might be safer to sell?

We have nearly 9 acres so there would potentially be space for another 1-2 horses if I could find the right person to look after mine in return for grazing it could be an option, or to loan them both out with the field to someone needing grazing and companions. I would be able to come back and check every couple of months or so and also send a trainer there on a regular basis to keep an eye on things. But I think it would be hard to find the right person for this type of arrangement.

Any ideas or suggestions about what to do or where to advertise given these circumstances? Sorry about the long post.
 
I read your post and can sense your sense of what to do for the best. I think because you are going away for such a long time, the best thing would be to sell them both. This way you can (lets hope) fully ensure they go to the right homes and have good futures.

I think if you made an arrangement, no matter how good the friend or water-tight you made it to loan etc it could easily break down, if their circumstances changed. Nor would you be able to ensure the horses were cared for in the manner you would wish or be ridden correctly. You may well end up coming back to two completely different horses. Things let vets bills, who would pay them, if it was not yourself, could you completely trust another person to fork out for an expensive bill.

I understand you want something to come back to, but two years is a long time in an animals life and yours, you may find yourself staying or moving on. Anything can happen in that time span.

I remember a post a little while ago, where a lady had moved to the states (I think) and left her horse on loan for a similar time span and it was begining to present problems in that she needed to sell and it was left to the loaner to handle and manage.

I hope my advise is helpful, I do appreciate your feelings.
 
All of your ideas above are good, but if I was going to do any of the loan/share arrangements I'd want a friend/member of my family to keep a close eye on things.
 
If you can do that, excellent, it would give you peace of mind and remind the loaners that they are being watched.
 
It is a shame you don't know anyone suitable already such as a friend but to trust someone with your horses will be difficult and you would need the highest of references. Anything can happen and their circumstances may change as well.
I don't envy you with this decision
 
There are lovely loan people out there, if you're going down that route make sure you have a water tight contract, get regular updates, photos and know someone who can check up on them.

If I were in your situation I'd send the 2 year old to a stud and sell the other one.

If you do decide to loan your 4 year old you're also presented with the problem that someone may feel like their doing all the work turning it into a lovely ridden horse then you take it back as a well behaved 6/7 year old.
 
thanks for posting. Perhaps the best thing would be to sell but I really do not want to part with the 2-year old. I am hoping that given her age it may be ok to turn away at a stud to mature for 2 more years or so. I would have to find a place I'd trust to look after her well and not to ride her though.

I have a lot more doubts about keeping the 4 year old due to her age.

I think if I put them on loan I will probably also pay the insurance so I know they are covered for big vet bills.
 
Unfortunately I do not have any family in the area, but if I would be able to find a local stud or loan home I think it might be good idea to continue paying for my trainer to come out and work with the horses on a regular basis to be my eyes on the ground...
 
Im not convinced a stud would take her as they have enough with their own youngsters. You would have to pay livery and this would probably work out expensive.

The main problem with 2 year olds is how impressionable they are, you could come back to anything. You would need to find someone really special and like BH said would anyone want to do all the work to hand the horse back to you at 4?

I dont envy you this really hard decision. Good luck X
 
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