Is selling/rehoming really so bad?

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FionaM12

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There’s a little horse rescue organisation I know of.

On their Facebook page some time ago they stated that they’re of the opinion that horses should, like dogs, be owned for life, not passed on or sold. They also stated this creates all sorts of behavioural problems in horses and ponies.

From the point of view of horse welfare, do you think selling or otherwise rehoming equines is wrong?

First please let me just explain my point of view:

I feel dogs are a very particular case. They bond very closely with their human family, who become more important to them than other dogs. A dog will usually choose to be with its human “pack” over a canine one. They fret in our absence, and are traumatised by losing their owners. Rehoming can cause major issues of insecurity and many dogs which have been passed around do have behavioural problems.

The old saying, “A dog is for life, not for Christmas” is a good one.

Horses, however, aren’t generally like that. They don’t live (usually!) as part of our households and all the ones I know clearly prefer equine company to humans. They recognise their human carers but don’t have the close follow-you-anywhere relationships with them that dogs do. They usually bond much more closely with other horses than they do with people.

I would imagine that moving yards is just as traumatic to a horse as being sold. The horse doesn’t know whether it’s sold, but it does know the familiar herd and its best friend have gone.

Of course, horses need to be well cared for. But as long as each owner looks after it well, does it matter if it changes hands?

What does everyone else think about this?
 
I have no problem with someone selling a sound, healthy horse they have outgrown, are not getting on with etc, I don't agree with selling aged horses just because they can no longer perform how you want them to anymore.
 
Rubbish. The rescue sounds daft! So long as they have food, water and equine companionship a horse will be quite happy regardless of who is putting the hay out.
 
With some exceptions, I don't have a problem with selling/rehoming. Exceptions would be old or worthless horses, when I strongly disagree, unless its to a trusted friend. And with very old horses who've lived in the same place for years & aren't used to change, I'm not sure I'd always agree with moving yards even.
 
Re dogs - over the years we ve had one pup, and taken on 8 adult dogs, usually about 3 yrs old, of varying breeds. All the dogs settled in and became 'ours' within a few days , so I truly believe any animal, or human! can change environment and happily settle- without problems.
Horses- well apart from our own , we ve had schooling horses, visiting mares, etc etc , dozens ove rthe years and all settled in fine.[one exception was avisiting stallion, who missed his herd, and couldnt bear to know our stallion and mares were nearby]
Problems for horses,dogs,whatever, come from a new environment that is unsuitable for the individuals needs. From a horse s point of view, they need experienced handling , a calm and comfortable life,with company of other horses. If you provide that theres little that will go wrong.
 
Pearlsacarolsinger said:
I agree that for the majority of horses a change of herd will be traumatic. I don't think many owners take enough account of this when they move yards.
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Moving yards is not something I'd do again lightly, but I had to last year and was aware how hard it must have been for Mollie.

I was astonished this rescue organisation were telling us we shouldn't sell horses on though! It's a nice idea to give a horse a home for life, but just not often practical. If a horse isn't right for you, or your circumstances change, of course you'll sell.

I know an ancient, tiny pony mare who has taught many, many children to ride. :) She's an absolute star, she's been passed from family to family as kids outgrew her and is the most well-adjusted old lady I know. :D

Selling very old or unsound horses is unfair IMO, but where would most of us get our horses from if it wasn't for people selling? :confused:
 
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neither of my horses seemed to worry when changeing yards. they were a little excited and interested in their new surroundings and took a few days to trust new people handleing them.

we moved them at diferent times - the mare 2 months before the gelding.....she was just coming back into work from box rest so had no real 'ties' to others...... she settled like she had been there her hole life within that first afternoon.

the gelding was a little more cautious but relaxed and settled once he realised my mare was on the yard and they had 'talked' to each other.

i wouldnt say they have any close ties bar each other....and possibly me

if anything i would be more upset if they were sold than they may be! as long as they have food they are happy!
 
Horses are expensive so are more likely to get passed on if the owner's financial situation, home situation changes, if they get outgrown or an owner outgrows them in ability

I dont think there should be any shame in passing them on whether as a companion or as a ridden animal

What I dont agree with is fobbing off aged or sick animals or selling to the first person who hands over the cash without considering whether its a good home
 
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We keep our horses for life and as we have our own land, they don't change herd except for natural causes. Even when we were at livery our 4 horses were in their own field for a number of years. prior to that, we did move one mare after we'd had her for 6 weeks. Up til then she had been a nightmare and was only really interested in the foal in the next field. She settled well into the new yard and actually behaved better. We have always thought that it was because we had moved with her.
 
I put my old boy out on loan because the retirement home offered was better than what i could offer him with me. We are on clay soil, up to our necks in mud, he has had a tendon injury and has healed much more quickly on their dry paddocks. So there are times when re-homing is the kindest thing to do. I have to confess I do visit roughly once a fortnight as I really miss him, he does not show as many signs of missing me though!
 
i agree that changing yards is very traumatic for horses and some people don't give this enough thought when they decide they'd rather be else where ,then move back n forth

its unrealistic to think all horses can be in the same home for life as they are such expensive animals to keep no one ever knows what is going to happen in life to change things
my horse is one of those lucky few who will have a home for life with me ,i bought him as a foal (so he was sold one once in his life) and he is still with me as a 9yr old ,i'd never sell him now as i just simply couldn't part with him
but i nearly sold him as a five yr old as he grew too big for me and he knew it ,i spent the year in misery thinking of selling him to a man or sorting him out ,i sorted him out but it wasn't easy

my current project horse had at least 9 homes up till he was 8yr old and i bought him for pennies because he was mentally a mess :(
i really think it was because he felt he didn't have a home (kind of, i know horses don't think that way ) he never knew who he belonged to and always looked a bit lost ,he wouldn't interact with the horses in the field ,he used to just stand on the edge of the herd looking at them

i have sold him subject to the buyer raising the money early next year (a good friend) and i am dreading him going as i don't think he is going to settle well and i think he is going to get upset but what can i do ,i can't afford to keep two horses and he was always up for sale but i feel so guilty :(
my only hope is that he is a completely different horse to the one i bought ,he has so much more confedence now and he also has a job and trusts people ,fingers crossed

i agree i think a dog is very different in that they get very attached to an owner ,its horrible that so many dogs are left homeless or simply not wanted :(
 
Ideally I think horses would like to stay in the same home and herd for life, but realistically its not possible. A charity should have more sense and work towards more realistic goals.

I dont have a problem with selling or rehoming horses, even older ones if good homes can be found. I do object to old lame horses being given away free on preloved or put through auctions.

Some horse find moving yards, even with their friends, traumatic. Our little cob mare does.

I dont think age matters to moving. When I moved house my oldie, then 26 ended up on 4 yards in 6 months until we found the right one. We moved house again and he moved when he was 32. He just gets on with it. The mares were more upset.
 
I guess a lot of its down to the personality involved and what they are used to

My three year old gelding slotted straight in here no problems - I am his fifth home though and he has lived out and lived in with different owners and takes most things in his stride, I suppose change to him is normal and if I ever had to sell him I wouldnt worry about him

My yearling colt came to me in July and is still settling in, its been darn hard work and I dont think I could ever sell him without offering support to the new owner for some months afterwards
 
Cortez said:
If moving is so traumatic for horses, how do they cope with going away to competitions?
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I often think that. I guess it depends on the horse. Mine came with problems and has difficulty settling. I remember thinking about all those sane, secure competition horses who don't become a jelly because they've moved a mile down the road! :o

My point wasn't so much that moving yards was traumatic. I was just wondering why the rescue place thought selling harms horses, when moving yards with the same owner would presumably be more upsetting to a horse?
 
FionaM12 said:
I often think that. I guess it depends on the horse. Mine came with problems and has difficulty settling. I remember thinking about all those sane, secure competition horses who don't become a jelly because they've moved a mile down the road! :o

?
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Now thats a very strange thing. Our little cob mare used to compete all over the country. Staying up to 4 days in temporary stables on showground. She didn't mind at all, other than not liking strange water, I had to carry ours with us or flavour it. No stress or upset ever.

But move yards with her friends, always into fields on their own (I like them to have their own field) and she goes into meltdown for about 6 months. Sometimes there is no understanding how their minds work.
 
rockysmum said:
Now thats a very strange thing. Our little cob mare used to compete all over the country. Staying up to 4 days in temporary stables on showground. She didn't mind at all, other than not liking strange water, I had to carry ours with us or flavour it. No stress or upset ever.

But move yards with her friends, always into fields on their own (I like them to have their own field) and she goes into meltdown for about 6 months. Sometimes there is no understanding how their minds work.
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When Mollie had got over the horror of the 10 minute ride in a trailer :rolleyes: she had to be persuaded and coaxed onto the concrete yard, as if she'd never seen concrete before and it might swallow her. :D

Not to mention how long it took to convince her that her lovely new stable had no goblins in it...
 
I think with moving yards, people don't always give enough consideration to how the horse will need to adjust. I agree yard moves are often necessary, but I'm sure most of us know people who have different horses & are on new yards every few months. Not because it was unavoidable, but either because they can't decide what they want or don't check the yard fufills requirements prior to moving.
There's a big difference between a horse like my now 23yr old, who's basically been there & got the t-shirt moving, & a 20yr old that's never gone for more than a ride from the same field. Mines chilled wherever, & with a couple of exceptions who she was/is attached to, isn't too fussed about who's in her herd, she'll run it no matter what. I know from experience she's at home wherever. But not all are. As for comp horses, its built up slowly. They don't just suddenly go away for days.
 
Interesting thread.

All animals are obviously better in one home for life, if its a good one! But they do adapt. Both our dogs were rehomes. One had had the life of riley before coming to us and was adored, yet she never looked back, actually ignoring her previous owner at a party we took her to! The other had had four homes in his first year - you would think he would have been traumatised, yet he swanned in here like he had been here all his life with no worries at all!

Our two horses are probably with us for life, unless life throws a curveball. We have sold two ponies, but they went to lovely homes and are loved to bits. I think ponies have less chance of a home for life really as they're always outgrown.:(

Re the horses settling into livery yards without issue, yes they do, a lot of them just adapt very easily and get on with things. My mare is like that. Yet when she went away to stud for a summer, it seemed like that, she settled, made new friends, ignored me when I visited. Four months later we went to pick her up, and had her stablemate in the trailer as a companion. She spotted him across a huge yard, and neighed her head off. On arriving home, she walked every bit of our land, not eating, just gazing up and down the valley as though she was drinking it all in. So her "happily moving on" wasn't as easy as I thought.

I'm not knocking anyone for selling or moving yards. Its life and it has to happen, but agree that it probably does take more out of them than we think. So you can understand the rescue hoping for a forever home, although its unrealistic!
 
Honey their post on the FB page was quite critical of people who sell horses on, implying you shouldn't buy a horse if you're not offering a home for life.

Horses can live a very long time. If through financial or health concerns you can no longer take good care of your horse surely (assuming the horse is sound and not too ancient) selling the horse to someone better able to care for it is kinder?
 
I agree with you - thats why I said that its unrealistic.

ps. Don't most rescues insist that you return them to the rescue nowadays if you need to rehome? I was on Preloved the other day and was really miffed to see a dog for sale that they'd got the previous year from the dogs home. I left them a message telling them to send it back!
 
Re-homing my dog, to even the best home would drive her insane!! We left her with a friend (who was actually her owner for a year) for the day and when we got back, Annie was sitting on the door step. She had broken out and found her way home! Thankfully it's not far, but it still meant she had to cross a road :O
Very upset with the friend, who was meant to be taking care of her :\

I think Ned would be ok, so long as they knew exactly what they were doing. It took him a LONG time to settle. He wouldn't even go out in the 'big field' for years, because it was too far away from his field and pen (and it was only the next field along, silly beast!). He would need lots of friends, he could NOT be in individual turn out, or stabled for even an hour of the day.
 
Honey08 said:
I agree with you - thats why I said that its unrealistic.

ps. Don't most rescues insist that you return them to the rescue nowadays if you need to rehome? I was on Preloved the other day and was really miffed to see a dog for sale that they'd got the previous year from the dogs home. I left them a message telling them to send it back!
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When I've adopted dogs from rescues, they've always made me sign an agreement that I can't sell on. I suppose they can't keep tabs on people though.

I actually thought the horse rescue place might alienate horsey supporters with their attitude.
 
It really is a matter of it depends. My OH who is not that fond of animals actually believes it is immoral to buy and sell animals like possessions, and in a way I think he is right.

Dogs can be rehomed successfully, but yes it takes time, and no doubt that they find it traumatic or at least unsettling, and the extent probably depends on the dog and the home.

Horses are not immune to suffering from stress on relocation, I would say most of my horses it would not bother, (we have 7), but 1 of them was extremely stressed on being at a new place, with new people when we acquired her, and certainly the other horses took time to settle in and for us to learn their quirks but there was nothing to indicate that they were any way stressed, whereas this mare was.

Any new people and she starts getting quite reactive, head shy, rearing, napping, and the same with new places, but once she is more familar they become less of an issue.
 
I think that the rescue stance is somewhat unrealistic. We wouldn't have had any of our horses if people didn't sell them on! Of the current lot, the old lady came as an 8 year old, ride and drive (actually in foal, which we subsequently lost a month after his birth :( ) as the people we bought her from bred coloureds and were overstocked. The Current Appy came from a girl who had bought her in good faith and then discovered that she was somewhat overhorsed, was good for the mare and the girl to part company. The Big Girl came from a family who did not get on with her, nor she them, both parties and us are much happier with the current arrangement :)
I do think that moving horses on their own is stressful for them and that we don't always make sufficient allowance for that.
 
Horses are generally very adaptable beasts and as long as their basic needs are met - i.e. kept warm, fed, have turn-out and are consistently handled in respect of their own temperement are fine. Dogs are very different, and form very strong bonds that horses do not. If they do, it is rare, and they are probably forming attachments to routine, rather than people.
Horses (from my experience) thrive on routine. Some may take longer than others to adjust to a change in circumstances, and the new owners have to appreciate that, and adapt. For example, some horses like company, some are less bothered. Some like being in, some don't.
We cannot assume though, that all horses are the same - and whilst some will take mutiple changes in their striide, some will not - and that is more down to individual temperements. However, horse people should have some intuition to how their charges are feeling, and make adapations to help them feel at home in new environments.
To say that you have to keep a horse for life, as you would a dog, is not corrrect - they are very different animals.
 
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