Sooty
Well-Known Member
We bought Fraser (horse in sig) almost exactly a year ago. He was sold to us as a novice hack, and that is what he seemed to be over the summer. He has always had some quirks, such as cribbing on his rope when tied in the yard, and kicking out when eating/being rugged/being mounted and so on. This has got better over time, but he still does it occasionally. He is fine to catch, load, shoe etc but has turned into something as far from a novice hack as is possible to imagine!
Part of the problem is he has formed a very strong bond with Toffee, my daughter's mare (she is Troggy on here). In fact it got so bad that we thought he would injure himself when left in the field alone, so we got a miniature Shetland as company for him. Toffee only has to be outside the field, not even out of sight, and he gets hysterical. He was fine to hack over the summer, but over winter he has got very bad, bolting with OH who fell off and cracked a rib, (although to be fair, there was a bird scarer involved, so maybe not all horse's fault). However, last week daughter hacked him out with a very experienced eventer friend, and whilst they were trotting home Fraser did a massive fly buck (according to friend, daughter doesn't remember anything other than trotting alone one minute then being on the ground the next). That in itself is bad enough, but then he galloped home, crossing two roads in the process. Presumably, to get back to Toffee. Clearly this is not something we can tolerate, and the consequences could have been horrific.
The problem now is what to do with him. He clearly isn't suitable for hacking, and because of his conformation, and previous lameness issues which we found out about after we had bought him, he isn't suitable for being ridden in a school. His behaviour started to deteriorate after he started coming in at night, as previously they had been out 24/7 until 1st December. He has had his teeth, back and tack checked (in fact the vet came out again yesterday to see if there was a physical cause for his behaviour, and she says he is basically just being nasty). He has also been scoped for ulcers, in case there was a problem there.
We want to ensure his future somehow, and the vet recommended a horse charity or having him pts. If we sold him, there is no guarantee that someone wouldn't drug him and resell him as a sound horse, which he isn't. He spent half his life in a riding school which specialised in dressage, and before that was shown a lot as a youngster. He is 11 years old. Sorry this is so long, but I am at a bit of a loss and curious as to what others would do. Our options seem to be charity (which is possibly a non-starter as they are packed and it doesn't seem very fair), pts (probably best but very hard to contemplate) or sell (which would mean it would be impossible to ensure his future). He is apparently not suitable as a blood donor horse because of his behaviour in the stable.
Thanks for any replies.
Part of the problem is he has formed a very strong bond with Toffee, my daughter's mare (she is Troggy on here). In fact it got so bad that we thought he would injure himself when left in the field alone, so we got a miniature Shetland as company for him. Toffee only has to be outside the field, not even out of sight, and he gets hysterical. He was fine to hack over the summer, but over winter he has got very bad, bolting with OH who fell off and cracked a rib, (although to be fair, there was a bird scarer involved, so maybe not all horse's fault). However, last week daughter hacked him out with a very experienced eventer friend, and whilst they were trotting home Fraser did a massive fly buck (according to friend, daughter doesn't remember anything other than trotting alone one minute then being on the ground the next). That in itself is bad enough, but then he galloped home, crossing two roads in the process. Presumably, to get back to Toffee. Clearly this is not something we can tolerate, and the consequences could have been horrific.
The problem now is what to do with him. He clearly isn't suitable for hacking, and because of his conformation, and previous lameness issues which we found out about after we had bought him, he isn't suitable for being ridden in a school. His behaviour started to deteriorate after he started coming in at night, as previously they had been out 24/7 until 1st December. He has had his teeth, back and tack checked (in fact the vet came out again yesterday to see if there was a physical cause for his behaviour, and she says he is basically just being nasty). He has also been scoped for ulcers, in case there was a problem there.
We want to ensure his future somehow, and the vet recommended a horse charity or having him pts. If we sold him, there is no guarantee that someone wouldn't drug him and resell him as a sound horse, which he isn't. He spent half his life in a riding school which specialised in dressage, and before that was shown a lot as a youngster. He is 11 years old. Sorry this is so long, but I am at a bit of a loss and curious as to what others would do. Our options seem to be charity (which is possibly a non-starter as they are packed and it doesn't seem very fair), pts (probably best but very hard to contemplate) or sell (which would mean it would be impossible to ensure his future). He is apparently not suitable as a blood donor horse because of his behaviour in the stable.
Thanks for any replies.
