How can people live with themselves?

[Miss_Millie]

I saw an advert for a horse this morning which has only been owned for 8 weeks and was 'brought from the field'. Apparently the previous owner was 'untruthful' and she has reared under saddle, 'horse does not like being ridden'. Going off of the advert, the now owners have not investigated what the underlying cause is and are instead trying to pass her on for 2k 'Please don't message wanting much more than has been said in ad because we don't have much previous history.'

She is an attractive looking mare, no doubt a dodgy dealer will snap her up and sell her for 3 x more and bute her up to the hilt, which could well result in an innocent person getting badly injured trying her or even once she is in her new home.

How can people live with themselves knowing that they are 1. prolonging the suffering of an animal who clearly has something wrong with them and 2. Potentially someone getting badly hurt by the horse.

I do have sympathy for people being mis-sold a horse, but when that animal is in your care you should do right by them. If you are buying from the field, untested then you can't complain really when the horse is unrideable.

I just feel sad for the horse.

 

[SpeedyPony]

Poor mare.
I can understand not having the financial wherewithal to go through thousands in diagnostics to maybe (probably?) end up with a laundry list of unfixable/costly issues, but if that's the case you have to either send the horse back or PTS (or, if comfortable in the field, keep as a companion).
Also, leaving the ethical considerations aside, who is paying 2k for a horse with undiagnosed issues? I can see someone taking a punt at £200, as it might be fixable- but surely even a dodgy dealer wouldn't want to pay much more than that?

 

[FlorrieBrown]

Poor horse. But, on the plus side, someone with some common sense might buy her and re-start her properly, or investigate her issues and give her half a chance at a good life.

 

[Miss_Millie]

Poor mare.
I can understand not having the financial wherewithal to go through thousands in diagnostics to maybe (probably?) end up with a laundry list of unfixable/costly issues, but if that's the case you have to either send the horse back or PTS (or, if comfortable in the field, keep as a companion).
Also, leaving the ethical considerations aside, who is paying 2k for a horse with undiagnosed issues? I can see someone taking a punt at £200, as it might be fixable- but surely even a dodgy dealer wouldn't want to pay much more than that?

Yes, it's a lot to pay for a potentially very broken horse She is an attractive looking 16.1 palomino warmblood, which is probably why they bought her from the field to begin with. Wouldn't surprise me if she was bought unseen. It just frustrates me that many people seem to treat horses like Amazon deliveries!

 

[blitznbobs]

She will probably be bought as a brood mare … and on goes the cycle ..

 

[Ambers Echo]

Also, leaving the ethical considerations aside, who is paying 2k for a horse with undiagnosed issues? I can see someone taking a punt at £200, as it might be fixable- but surely even a dodgy dealer wouldn't want to pay much more than that?

Dealers who are happy to disguise the issue and sell on for 6k..... And they won;t pay 2K. They will offer - say - £500 and the owner will just want rid. Buying broken horses super cheap is a business model for some. There is an ad from a dealer I see fairly regularly on FB offering 'trade prices' for horses that might not pass the vet or who have a 'quirk'. Code for broken and reacting behaviourally to pain.

 

[Goldie's mum]

Apparently the previous owner was 'untruthful' and she has reared under saddle, 'horse does not like being ridden'

She is an attractive looking 16.1 palomino warmblood,

Sounds familiar. There was one we talked about on "Cheeky/Ridiculous posts on FB" a while ago. Beautiful looking mare that didn't like being ridden. Someone had run out of money after getting her re-started by professionals. We said at the time poor thing would be going round again.
(Sadly, there are probably loads that meet that description of course.)

 

[Goldie's mum]

Found the one I'm thinking of- she was called "Biscuit" & was 4 yo last December.
It's Cheeky/Ridiculous posts, 4546 & then 4997 (There were two HQ adverts within a few weeks because she was re-advertised by a different dealer)

 

[Miss_Millie]

Found the one I'm thinking of- she was called "Biscuit" & was 4 yo last December.
It's Cheeky/Ridiculous posts, 4546 & then 4997 (There were two HQ adverts within a few weeks because she was re-advertised by a different dealer)

This mare is 15, the ad is on Preloved. Sadly I imagine that there are many similar stories

 

[Pinkvboots]

Sounds familiar. There was one we talked about on "Cheeky/Ridiculous posts on FB" a while ago. Beautiful looking mare that didn't like being ridden. Someone had run out of money after getting her re-started by professionals. We said at the time poor thing would be going round again.
(Sadly, there are probably loads that meet that description of course.)

Was that the buckskin mare?

 

[HorseMaid]

I've got one in my field at the moment, doesn't belong to me but has come to stay for the summer after her owner had an operation. Bought unseen in January off a dodgy advert and the owner has learned a hard, but valuable lesson. She's unrideable but was sold as such, current owner did no research on her prior to buying (saw cheap, pretty horse and said yes!) and turns out she's had 8 homes in two years. Poor beggar. Passed pillar to post just to make a quick buck and sold on quickly when her issues became apparent. I'm not sure what the future holds for her as I can't keep her permanently, I think it's likely she will will be it's at some point.

 

[Waxwing]

I am at the moment considering whether our current horse is the right one for me long term, for various reasons I won't be making a final decision until after the winter. However as she isn't an entirely straightforward horse and if I have any concerns that any quirks are due to an underlying medical issue ( I don't at present ), I won't be selling her on unless these are resolved.

I sent one horse back to a dealer two years ago as despite passing a vetting he arrived on the yard with several issues that made him unsafe to ride; it was evident he was in pain somewhere. I shared the report from my vet with the dealer which detailed the concerns and after some discussion I was given a full refund. The horse went straight from my yard to a dealer in Scotland and was immediately advertised by them with a different back story. He didn't sell, was reduced and then turned up on Horse Quest with a different dealer for double the money. The dealer I bought him from was reputable with good feedback on the various dodgy dealer sites.

There is no way I would risk this for our current horse; we have owned her for over a year and it is my responsibility to ensure her welfare as far as possible. I also wouldn't want to risk harm to anyone else, as could have potentially happened to us with the horse we had from the dealer.

At present there are nothing that indicates she cannot carry on having a ridden career; it is just that this thread and some of other threads about the difficult choices people are having to make has got me thinking about what I would do. The horses welfare will come first in any decisions I make.

 

[clairebearfur1]

This is sad! Any links to the ad?

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Poor mare; it might be an easy-fix issue, it might not.

I bought a cracking mare 7 yrs ago now. She'd done RDA actually, but they were selling her on as she was "unsuitable". I was told that she "had bolted" when she'd been sent on summer loan to a novice rider. Apparently they'd met a tractor with a trailer, the saddle had slipped, and she had "bolted" up the road.

Against my better judgement I got on her, and immediately just "knew" that no way was this mare a natural bolter! There had to be a reason. I liked her, just couldn't help myself, and dunno quite how, but ended up bringing her home!

As soon as I'd got her home and tried to hop on her, she moved very deliberately away from the mounting block. I put her away and rang the physio. Physio duly came - and diagnosed significant pain in the mare all over her back but particularly in the sacroiliac area. Said that being an RDA horse she'd have been used for assymetric & unlevel riders, and also perhaps her saddle hadn't fitted her particularly well. After treatment, and rest, and a further check, she came good and showed no evidence of ever "bolting" or being scared of traffic, in fact she was a really nice sensible mare.

Sadly a few years down the line she developed trigeminal nerve headshaking and I had to make a sad decision; my lovely girl, who I still miss very much.

The other thing that happened was I bought a horse who reared; he'd do it as a rider-frightener, and I didn't know it until after I'd bought him. I got a remedial behaviourist to help me with him, and she gave me coping strategies to both prevent him doing it and also emergency measures for if he did, and he never did it with me again after that. I was prepared to make a tough decision about him rather than sell him on. However when he was 20yo (I'd had him for 9yrs at this point) I put a pic of him on Facebook - and unbelievably a previous owner got in touch with me. She'd had him when he was around 6 - 7yo and her mother had suddenly sold him without telling the daughter, really because the kid had lost interest - and "boys" were suddenly more interesting than horses. However the daughter had always wondered what had happened to him. She lived about an hour's journey from me, and came up to see him. She told me that she'd actually "Taught" him to rear; she figured that he was gonna do it anyway and if she taught him to do it on command that might sort him. Hmmm............ but at least I knew. I'm glad that I knew that. 2yrs later I had to make a sad decision about him, he was 22 and I got the vet out one crisp autumn morning and we put both my veteran mare who I'd been gifted by a friend, and him, down, PTS side-by-side. Two fantastic horses.

Sorry am aware I've digressed. But what I'm trying to say is if I see a horse advertised with a "problem" at least someone somewhere is being remotely honest, and it might just be fixable with a bit of effort (and obviously £££).

 

[Miss_Millie]

This is sad! Any links to the ad?

16.1 warmblood mare,brood mare For Sale in Baldock, Hertfordshire | Preloved

16.1 Warmblood mare broodmare 15 years old, limited history. Previous owners not truthful. Upto date with vaccination and dentist, recently shod. Lovely on the ground and a sociable horse, currently in heard turn out. Does not like ridden work likes to read big. Only owned 8 weeks brought from...

www.preloved.co.uk

Reduced to 1.5k now...

 

[Sealine]

So sad! She has a kind eye. Whatever an animal has done it doesn't deserve to be pulled from pillar to post between homes.

 

[Jenko109]

I don't think she is a particularly nice example anyway.

Nice colour, but not a mare I would be rushing to put in foal. Even without the problems.

 

[webble]

I have been browsing sales sites to see how I feel about another and there are some real sad stories on them. The chestnut standie there was a thread about is still for sale too - been reduced even more, its a difficult world we live in

 

[Miss_Millie]

I don't think she is a particularly nice example anyway.

Nice colour, but not a mare I would be rushing to put in foal. Even without the problems.

They aren't great photos so it's hard to see her conformation properly, but her hind end looks camped under and too upright at the same time. I hope that she has a soft landing with someone.

 

[Clodagh]

They aren't great photos so it's hard to see her conformation properly, but her hind end looks camped under and too upright at the same time. I hope that she has a soft landing with someone.

She’s got a pretty face, that’s all you need to breed. (And a uterus).

 

[Pinkvboots]

I don't think she is a particularly nice example anyway.

Nice colour, but not a mare I would be rushing to put in foal. Even without the problems.

Agree about not being a great example and the colour is not great either wishy washy palomino, definitely not breeding material.

Hind end looks suspicious.

Poor horse