Too many horses

[horsesfornow]

Is it me or something but I am seeing a lot of horses being offered free to a good home or going for a £1!

What is happening?

A friend of mine in Ireland is saying that the horses market out there is so bad that people can't give the horses away and the slaughterhouses have got signs outside saying "no more horses please to be left outside the front door"!!!

How very sad this is.....

 

[Irishlife]

At the ordinary horse sales there are lots of ponies and horses that are not microchipped and without passports that are left standing tied up outside the marts on sale day.

The horse sales people then put them all on a horse box and take them to be sold at the next mart. Its crazy. I bought a TB mare with Weatherbys passport in foal (apalling condition) she has a good bit of hindleg damage from racing but is sound enough to light hack, gave us a beautiful coloured filly and she is is exquisite with nice conformation. We paid 140 euro for her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is 5 yrs old.

Not too far from us there are at least 30 horses and ponies that have just been let off in forestry land. Too many people bought horses because it was the thing to do during the celtic tiger and now there is a recession they cannot keep them. Lads doing well in the building trade were buying 3 or 4 sport horse mares, throwing them in a field and breeding foals which were fetching quite good money at the time and it was a bit of a hobby for them.

I am being offered horses all the time. I have even had people pull up with a trailer asking did I want to buy the horses in them. I am overstocked as it is and I would take them all if I could. It is very sad.

So saying although the prices have been a bit depressed at the major sales, there is still good money for the right quality and breeding horses.

AS the horse is an agricultural animal and farmers get paid headage on connemaras and irish draughts in particular its very easy to have one or two mares. Unfortunately at grassroots there is a lot of uneducated breeding and a lot of horses bred that possibly shouldn't be. Sad times

 

[1life]

Tough and sad times. We have had 2 cases of dumped horses around our supposedly affluent area and it keeps me awake at night if I think too much about it

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Unfortunately I don't think it's going to improve quickly and I don't think uneducated breeding is getting any less either.

 

[PucciNPoni]

Where are they then? Cos I've been absolutely scouring all the internet sites advertising horses looking at loans or under £1000 and I'm finding it really frustrating to find something other than an ex-racehorse...or youngstock. Agree, decent money seems to be had for horses with miles and quality. I would prefer to take a decent horse on loan...but in my neck of the woods they are thin on the ground!

 

[brucea]

Same here - looking for a nice cob for my daughtewr - everythign is £3000 plus - but there are all these horses out there apparently!