Post shared around Facebook re elderly horse.

[3bh]

Just seen this come up on my news feed:

URGENT can anyone help
My friends Boss recently died, they have sorted out homes all the horses apart from one, Rover. He has been a fantastic horse for the family, winning 13 times and was placing 25 times! He is now 28 yrs old he is very well and still has lots of life left in him. If he wasn’t full of life (my friends Bosses wife) would of put him to sleep, but she feels it would be unfair on him, she would be willing to pay for his feed, she was crying on the phone when she thought he would have to be put down but this will be the case if she can’t find anyone to offer him a forever home. If anyone ca offer this lovely old boy a home please send me a pm and I will pass on contact details. He is located in Derbyshire at the moment. Thank you

This sort of thing really does my blood pressure no good! Please, do the best thing by your (very) elderly horse if you can't keep it.

I appreciate she states she is willing to pay for feed and is recently bereaved, but surely her friends with common horse sense would sit her down and talk through the options, or offer to make arrangements for her, rather than posting this on facebook!

I understand it is a potentially sensitive post, but it does strike me as someone who would love someone else to absorb the inevitable £££ of euthanasia, in a couple of weeks/months/years.

 

[WelshD]

A hard situation for her to be in for sure. The person spreading the info isn't helping though - no mention of breed, size etc... Could turn out to be a section A pony or could be a huge horse with grass churning dinnerplate feet!

 

[Theocat]

I wouldn't be too quick to judge. We have no idea why the horse can't be kept, and the owner is willing to cover at least some costs. It's not the owner posting and sharing on Facebook, and it states quite clearly he'll be pts if they can't find another option.

I suspect it's her horsey friends encouraging her into trying to find another home, not an owner trying to get out of something.

 

[3bh]

A hard situation for her to be in for sure. The person spreading the info isn't helping though - no mention of breed, size etc... Could turn out to be a section A pony or could be a huge horse with grass churning dinnerplate feet!

I'm guessing by the face he has raced he's a TB!

 

[WelshD]

They don't say that, could be an Exmoor that won the lead rein class at a local gymkhana but yes I get your point - it probably does mean racing

Good luck to them.

 

[smellsofhorse]

I never believe any of these posts.

Its like a troll on here.
They do it to get a reaction!

 

[luckyoldme]

I would nt be too harsh here.
The way I see it is that this is a very recently bereaved wife looking to do her best by her late husbands horses.
Maybe the fact that she is willing to pay for feed for the horse means she is looking for a home where she can monitor his welfare. It s incredibly hard to look at a healthy horse and make a descision to have it pts, all she is doing is looking for alternatives.

 

[Nash2]

I can't see a lot wrong - there are ponies at our local riding school aged 35 who still do (quite happily) a few lessons etc - she's not selling him or even saying 'free to good home'. The poor woman has just lost her husband and probably doesn't want to see one of his favourite horses destroyed - they're just asking if anyone has the capacity to help her out with him and she's willing to pay. I should think this was a racing yard and she may very well not be horsey - it says that if he was unwell she would have pts. It could possibly have more info but tbh if he isn't a pain with other horses etc and I had the space and time I would be willing to help someone like this out.

The advert for a 22 year old in my local paper that said 'needs to make way for younger horse' now that made my blood boil.

 

[horsesatemymoney]

I've seen the ad and it mentions the wife will do the right thing if no home is found but the horse is bright etc so wants to give it a chance to find a home.

 

[mandwhy]

It implies the horse is still rideable, and healthy, so why shouldn't someone enjoy his last days until he's ready to depart? If the horse was crippled with arthritis and on its last legs, or had an actual age related illness I would understand pts, and I'd course it is the owners prerogative, but I think it would be very sad to pts just because she can't keep him.

I don't really understand the logic of saying 'if my horse can't stay with me then it won't find a suitable home so it should die'. Yes there are dodgy dealers and all sorts of horrible people, but sometimes you really can trust that someone

 

[mandwhy]

*trust that someone will look after it and it will be happy. Especially as the offer of contributing to feed does imply she will want to stay in contact, perhaps they could forego that offer and ask that she pays for pts when the time comes. Stranger things have happened!

 

[cindydog]

I hope someone can take horse on if everything is as said. I do believe that there is a market for older horses as there are people with good reason to sell them.
VET bills would always be a worry, I bought an oldie and apart from the usual vet care she took ill in the first year and bill was over £700, she was worth it, Her liver is very bad and bloods this year showed she was worse however not at stage to be PTS, I would of loved to have known this horse earlier but still glad I got her now.

 

[SaharaS]

Don't be too quick to judge..this is not like the masses of other ads we see on fb etc..what's to say the lady isn't wheelchair bound? That would be a very fair excuse! HOpe she finds him a genuine home for the rest of his days & gets to keep in touch

 

[stormox]

I think its a scam- like the one for horses in scotland needing homes- get u to phone a premium no and charge you a fortune........ why put on FB? why 'my boss'? why not say more about the horse that needs homing? S_C_A_M!