Tracing Horses - A grumble

[Courbette]

Just a general observation. I recently joined a group on Facebook dedicated to helping trace old horses / owners. I have had to unfollow it as the sheer volume of people responding to adverts with pictures of horses with completely different markings or even in some cases colour!! Why can people not recognise that a horse with 4 socks and a star is unlikely to loose the socks and grow a blaze?? Is so irritating and must be upsetting to the old owners to have to sift through complexly pointless responses.

There also seems to be a mob mentality to handing peoples personal details out to complete strangers. I’d be happy for somebody to want information on a horse they had once owned but less to have somebody pointed my way hellbent on buying back a horse I didn’t want to sell.

Has anybody on here experienced an old owner turn up out of the blue and how did it go?

 

[southerncomfort]

I agree. As someone who was harassed by the previous owners of my daughter's pony (the police issued them with a warning), I feel very uncomfortable about some of the posts.

I've seen a couple from people who weren't even the owner of the horse they are trying to trace, just someone who used to ride it occasionally or were on the same yard!

 

[Talism4n]

Once had a girl who thought she used to own my late horse hound me for a couple of months on face ache. It wasn't long after we lost him, which made it particularly painful, and she was very angry that he had been PTS. Based on a passing comment she made re timeline, I ended up having to get a detailed history from her and sending a redacted copy of the bill of sale to show I'd bought him a year before she even met the horse she was actually looking for. No apology. I often think these things do more harm than good - nice for those who actually find a much loved old friend or a glimpse at a horse's history, but so many horror stories and so much disappointment.

 

[shortstuff99]

I made a thread on this before as I think the way a lot of them go on about tracing horses is very over the top! I wouldn't want to be constantly hounded about buying back the horse or visiting etc. I would tell then the horse was fine and loved etc but that's about it.

 

[PapaverFollis]

This made me laugh slightly because I've often commented on this when someone is posting about a lost dog.... perfectly clear picture provided of said dog... say a border collie... then 10 posts going "Is this him?" Linking to pictures of COMPLETELY DIFFERENT border collies. It's like, do people just not see details at all???

I call it the "is this your dog?" blindness .

But it must be really distressing for the owners of the missing dog!

 

[Courbette]

This made me laugh slightly because I've often commented on this when someone is posting about a lost dog.... perfectly clear picture provided of said dog... say a border collie... then 10 posts going "Is this him?" Linking to pictures of COMPLETELY DIFFERENT border collies. It's like, do people just not see details at all???

I call it the "is this your dog?" blindness .

But it must be really distressing for the owners of the missing dog!

I know! I’ve seen horses of different colours / breeds let alone markings but each time you get a response it must get your hopes up. Didn’t realise it extended beyond horses.

Or the person that posts tracing, for example, a welsh d saying last know location of horse in Scotland and somebody else posts saying ask Mrs Smith in Devon she breeds welshies! Absolutely no other connection to the horse at all except Mrs Smith owns the same breed. Beyond unlikely and I f it was a genuine link how are you supposed to know who Mrs Smith is! Although that feeds back into handing peoples contact details out.

Many of the horses have been through so many homes too in such a short space of time 😢

 

[CMcC]

I was going to start a thread on this last week, but didn’t as I thought I might come over as mean and grumpy (probably because I am).

I can’t understand why people seem to think they have a right to know whereabouts and what is going on with a horse they have sold. Obviously if a horse is stolen or goes missing while on loan owner has a right to trace. But I have seen posts where people have said they would like to be able to ride the horse again, never mind buy it back!

 

[Courbette]

I was going to start a thread on this last week, but didn’t as I thought I might come over as mean and grumpy (probably because I am).

I can’t understand why people seem to think they have a right to know whereabouts and what is going on with a horse they have sold. Obviously if a horse is stolen or goes missing while on loan owner has a right to trace. But I have seen posts where people have said they would like to be able to ride the horse again, never mind buy it back!

I think it is the manner in which the whole thing is being conducted. I thought I had unfollowed the posts and a fresh batch came up tonight so I had to leave and have my grumble 😁 I’m sure there are some lovely stories too that come out of these posts.

 

[w1bbler]

But it can work well. Few years ago I bought a horse & as you do searched his name on Facebook etc. Found a post an old owner had put up a few years previously & got in touch. She came & visited (I offered she didn't demand) &was overjoyed to see him.
Anyway said horse it turned out wasn't right for me & a few months later she bought him back.
Just a post to show there are also normal uncomplicated communications on there.

 

[ester]

Yes the ability to actually look at photos seems to come up as an issue in a few places, I'm not on that group but definitely seen it with dogs and thing ermmm how?!

 

[mini_b]

Re the “is this your dog” blindness
My (absolutely looney) ex mother in-law phoned some poor soul about their lost African grey parrot and held the phone up to the tall conifer trees in the back garden.
it was a pigeon...
very very obviously a pigeon.
Hooting, like a pigeon.

He thought it was a wind up understandably and wasn’t impressed.
I didn’t let that one drop 😂

 

[BBP]

I always thought technology would make it easier to trace a horse but maybe not! I remember years ago sending a photo of my old palomino welsh b pony in to one of the horsey magazines placing an advert in the classifieds asking if anyone knew her. The effort of having to post a reply meant I only got one response, from a young girl. She and her dad used to give my pony water and hay when she was a neglected hat rack living in a church yard. They sent me photos and you could count all her ribs and see her pelvis. We then traced her even further back and apparently she used to be a top show pony who then fell into bad hands when her elderly owner passed away. The young girl came to see her and was so thrilled to see her in a good home. Sounds like nowadays I’d be inundated with photos of connemaras and shetlands!

 

[ester]

Re the “is this your dog” blindness
My (absolutely looney) ex mother in-law phoned some poor soul about their lost African grey parrot and held the phone up to the tall conifer trees in the back garden.
it was a pigeon...
very very obviously a pigeon.
Hooting, like a pigeon.

He thought it was a wind up understandably and wasn’t impressed.
I didn’t let that one drop 😂

which reminds me, there's been a chameleon loose in the village for a good while now...

 

[Fransurrey]

I had an old owner contact me not long after I bought my cob through a dealer. She'd seen my posts on the dealer's updates page and messaged me. I got lots of pics of him as a baby as a result, plus she got updates and saw him in a settled home as a much loved horse. I did say we'd keep in touch, but we haven't contacted each other since. I think she needed that reassurance, as she'd had a change in circumstance and hadn't planned to sell him.

I did see a post on Faceache trying to trace a horse a girl had ridden at a riding school. She'd gotten very attached to him and apparently thought of him a lot since he'd disappeared. I recognised him instantly as my friend's horse, so passed on the girl's number to my friend. That also was a success, as she visited the horse and they swapped stories about him (friend had ridden him at the school, too, so bought him when they put him up for sale). Again, there's been no hassling.

As for the 'is this your dog' blindness, it happens with cats, too. Mine escaped from a cat carrier and I went on so many heart breaking wild goose chases to poor cats trapped in houses by well meaning members of the public who just couldn't match up markings on a real cat to a photo!

 

[Tonto_]

There are a few horses I worked with that I did really connect with and have often wondered how they're doing! But I've never tried to track any down. They'd all be heading into their mid twenties now though!