Unsellable pony? What to do?

At the size she is then she'd likely make a nice project for a small, experienced and confident adult. (reading between the lines whoever originally broke / handled her before you didn't do the best of jobs and left some rather glaring gaps in her education and sounds like her default reaction to not understanding something is panic mode which isn't ideal in a child's pony as you say) This could either be via finding someone sympathetic with experience in reschooling horses with similar issues and then them selling on your behalf with full disclosure of history (but they would of course need paying for their services) or through selling her cheaply as a project again will buyer made fully aware of history. Option 1 would cost more but you may achieve a better price to offset that whereas option 2 you're not likely to get much for her but doesn't incur any more costs. Either way if you were to sell I'd ask for references to attempt to find someone who isn't going to just sell her on again. (& maybe put a note in passport saying you'd like to keep in touch?). Welsh ponies can be very silly and illogical things and are known for it (with some being worse that others!) so some of it could even be her breeding showing through, although on the flipside if you can find someone experienced with this breed then they'll probably understand some of the behaviour. My Welsh idiot informs me that the world is about to end several times a week and will occasionally become scared of his own shadow... he also manages to compete at TREC and hunt with bloodhounds despite his drama-queen tendencies (He's drawn some interesting comments over the years shall we say!)
 
We have had the pony for a year, it is absolutely not that I can't be arsed with her. I am not looking for an excuse to have her pts and I have spent huge amounts to try and get her right. My daughter is not a bad rider, but she has lost confidence on this pony. I have had back,teeth, saddle, bridle all done. She is on a very careful low sugar high oil/fibre diet and looks amazing on it. I fail to see how I am an irresponsible owner tbh, the pony gets consistently kind and calm treatment and is in a routine that suits her. I am actively retraining her for TREC. However, as I said, after a month being advertised not a single person has been to see her. Thank you for any positive comments, vet is looking more likely but as I say, I have had enough and my daughter needs a pony she can ride now not in six months when I may possibly have sold the pony.
 
callisto said:
We have had the pony for a year, it is absolutely not that I can't be arsed with her. I am not looking for an excuse to have her pts and I have spent huge amounts to try and get her right. My daughter is not a bad rider, but she has lost confidence on this pony. I have had back,teeth, saddle, bridle all done. She is on a very careful low sugar high oil/fibre diet and looks amazing on it. I fail to see how I am an irresponsible owner tbh, the pony gets consistently kind and calm treatment and is in a routine that suits her. I am actively retraining her for TREC. However, as I said, after a month being advertised not a single person has been to see her. Thank you for any positive comments, vet is looking more likely but as I say, I have had enough and my daughter needs a pony she can ride now not in six months when I may possibly have sold the pony.
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Vet would at least give you answers to if its physical or mental, my warmblood kept dumping my sister but it wasnt consistant. Before i sent her off to a pro for schooling i got thr vet go check her over and she had bad ks. He was retired as her personality wasnt rigjt for the surgery.

And despite training etc some horses just cant cope being ridden so a companion home might be worth looking at once the vet has done a work up.
 
callisto said:
We have had the pony for a year, it is absolutely not that I can't be arsed with her. I am not looking for an excuse to have her pts and I have spent huge amounts to try and get her right. My daughter is not a bad rider, but she has lost confidence on this pony. I have had back,teeth, saddle, bridle all done. She is on a very careful low sugar high oil/fibre diet and looks amazing on it. I fail to see how I am an irresponsible owner tbh, the pony gets consistently kind and calm treatment and is in a routine that suits her. I am actively retraining her for TREC. However, as I said, after a month being advertised not a single person has been to see her. Thank you for any positive comments, vet is looking more likely but as I say, I have had enough and my daughter needs a pony she can ride now not in six months when I may possibly have sold the pony.
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How much have you advertised her for and what does your advert say? A month isn't *that* long for trying to sell a complicated pony, and depending on how you've priced her/ worded the advert you may well be putting people off.
 
Might the lack of response to your advertisement also be due to the time of year? Its often difficult to sell going into winter and I would imagine its even more so for a child's pony.
 
callisto said:
I would love to sell her to a confident adult. Unfortunately, not many confident adults want a pony. And I don't want to 'kill' her fgs
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I only ever buy projects and I’m an adult. I also only buy ponies! I won’t pay much money for them but they get a home for life and have the best of everything! Get her checked out as others have suggested so you can confidently say that everything has been checked out! Good luck in finding her a perfect owner!
 
A month really isn't very long at all. I don't have huge experience selling but of the few I have sold it has taken quite a long time to get viewings especially for the trickier ones. But as mine are all honestly described and realistically priced they have almost all sold to that first viewer. Including both the projects. 1 sold to the 3rd viewer and the rest to the 2nd. But getting that viewer has taken 3-4 months of active advertising sometimes.
I'd be wary of loaning if you can't have 2 at the same time for a while because what would you do if the pony came back suddenly? Loaning would be ideal if your motivation is to secure the ponies future if you are worried about it bring passed from pillar to post. It is not a good way of just solving a problem because you still own and have responsibility for the pony. If anything perhaps offer lwvtb.
 
You come across as coming on here just to get validation for your pts option

I know many younger teenagers who would not be phased with the type of behaviour you are talking about.

Man up, get the pony vet checked, and advertise her as a project.
 
Send her to me. I'll turn her away for a the winter, de-stress her and reassess, with good quality ground handling (my herd will help!). If you then find a buyer you can pay me a commission percentage, which is going to leave you more than you will get for a "difficult" pony at this time of year.
And buy your daughter some of those stability straps which link stirrups to girth to stabilise her legs. Or send her to a trainer like Heather Moffatt who has a decent simulator and will show her how to develop a good seat
 
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It is very easy for owners to reach a position where they feel "stuck" - and it can feel overwhelming. It doesn't really matter what the factors are: the end result is the same and owners can feel a bit frozen. OP, I suspect that's why you're dismissing lots of options that are actually viable.

You just want to get rid of the pony (understandable) so:

1) Get it checked by a vet
2) assuming there aren't any physical issues, stick it on sales livery

Loaning will achieve nothing - you don't want to keep it and it can't do a job for you, so invest a bit of money (which you'd be spending anyway) getting it checked and ready for sale. Best for both you and the pony to find it a new home.
 
JillA said:
Send her to me. I'll turn her away for a the winter, de-stress her and reassess, with good quality ground handling (my herd will help!). If you then find a buyer you can pay me a commission percentage, which is going to leave you more than you will get for a "difficult" pony at this time of year.
And buy your daughter some of those stability straps which link stirrups to girth to stabilise her legs. Or send her to a trainer like Heather Moffatt who has a decent simulator and will show her how to develop a good seat
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This sounds like a great idea!
 
A month to sell a 'problem pony ' at the worse time of the year to sell a pony is nothing You need to realistic projects are hard to sell in winter . I often buy in winter because a fair percentage of the horses on the market belong to people who really need to get rid and I can get a great deal this is how I got my last project ID .
You need to be realistic about price and realise that what you describe would be no problem with some children and many adults do buy ponies .
I would get a problems in performance type workup but keep a careful watch on how much the vet spends but I think at least a set of flexions and a back check is called for .
However some Welshies can be a bit irrational they can be very feisty and opinionated .
I would consider parting her cheaply to a appropriate dealer but you may struggle at this time of year but if she's cheap enough you may find one who has space to chuck her out for the winter and sell in the spring .
If the pony is healthy and sound there's every chance she will suit her next home .
 
She’s too expensive that’s why she hasn’t sold. Quite simple really! I fail to understand why people prefer to shell out hundreds in livery on horses they cannot cope with and cannot ride rather than take the hit sell it for a realistic price and move on. At this time of year only bargain hunters are going to take on a difficult pony like this.

As I already said, price does not guarantee a good home.
 
shirl62 said:
My very humble take on this situation is that there is a real possibility that there is something physically wrong with this pony. Surely it makes sense and the horse owners responsibility to have the pony checked out to rule out ulcers etc..Say the OP deciced to pts, then vet would have to be paid to carry out the deed and all the other services that entails. In that scenario the op would have nothing. Surely selling the pony to someone who may indeed bring the best out in the pony would be preferable even though the profit margin may be low. Maybe the op is not the ''right '' person to manage this pony ( no offence intended)

This is my thoughts on the situation from a novice point of view.

Shirl
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You’re not wrong Shirl
 
My first suggestion would be, have the back, teeth and saddle all
been checked by the same people each time? If so, I’d get them done again by different professionals. I’ve had a horse really play up, and we didn’t really know why. Turns out her teeth needed doing again after only six months after having them done, they were very bad.

If that doesn’t reveal any answers, then I’d be looking at either a vet check, or trying to re-break her, depending on your finances. If money no issue, I’d be looking at vet work up, probably asking for a gastric scope, check for kissing spines, and scans of the ovaries first. All very easy and can be done under one lot of sedation.
 
I will be looking to buy project ponies in the coming months after I have sold my last few. I dont pay for than £500 a pony thoughm especially as you need to be realistic at how quickly you can turn them around.

Posters sayimg it the wrong time of year.... its really is. I had a fabukous pony that I advertised around now last yeae. Had 3 enquires... advertised same pony in July, had about 20 odd enquires, 2 viewings, sold to 2nd viewer. Ypu will honestly be better selling after chriatmas... silly I know but around Feb time people start looking.
 
Having found the advert there are several reasons she has not been viewed/ sold, firstly the ad is not as honest as it could be, it reads as if she is no problem other than not being suitable for a novice or nervous rider, when the potential buyers make contact and find out more they will be put off and not bother to get back to you which is why you have had interest but no one has taken it further.
She is too expensive for what she is but about right even a bit cheap if the ad was the whole story, she needs to be half the price to fit into the project/ take a gamble market or another £1k if she was a decent PC competition pony which she may well be with further work, she is hogged which for her type suggests sweet itch even if she doesn't have it that will be most experienced peoples first thought and will be off putting, you cannot make her mane grow but could give the reason for hogging in the ad, the photos are ok she does look sweet but the wording needs a complete reworking if you are going to attract the right person and not just get people phoning that think she will suit their fairly competent 12 year old.

She is the type I have had on sales livery in the past, what doesn't work in one home may be ideal in another and presenting them well, getting the advert right is key to finding the right home for any horse, she does have many good points and to the right person they will outweigh the negative ones, you just need to target those positives and not try to sell her as a childs pony so although I said the photos are ok I would actually get a few of her with an adult on and sell her as an adults fun hack as showing her jumping with a child on suggests she will go on and do that with another.
 
callisto said:
We have had the pony for a year, it is absolutely not that I can't be arsed with her. I am not looking for an excuse to have her pts and I have spent huge amounts to try and get her right. My daughter is not a bad rider, but she has lost confidence on this pony. I have had back,teeth, saddle, bridle all done. She is on a very careful low sugar high oil/fibre diet and looks amazing on it. I fail to see how I am an irresponsible owner tbh, the pony gets consistently kind and calm treatment and is in a routine that suits her. I am actively retraining her for TREC. However, as I said, after a month being advertised not a single person has been to see her. Thank you for any positive comments, vet is looking more likely but as I say, I have had enough and my daughter needs a pony she can ride now not in six months when I may possibly have sold the pony.
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FfionWinnie said:
She’s too expensive that’s why she hasn’t sold. Quite simple really! I fail to understand why people prefer to shell out hundreds in livery on horses they cannot cope with and cannot ride rather than take the hit sell it for a realistic price and move on. At this time of year only bargain hunters are going to take on a difficult pony like this.
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How much is she and where is everyone finding this ad??
 
be positive said:
Having found the advert there are several reasons she has not been viewed/ sold, firstly the ad is not as honest as it could be, it reads as if she is no problem other than not being suitable for a novice or nervous rider, when the potential buyers make contact and find out more they will be put off and not bother to get back to you which is why you have had interest but no one has taken it further.
She is too expensive for what she is but about right even a bit cheap if the ad was the whole story, she needs to be half the price to fit into the project/ take a gamble market or another £1k if she was a decent PC competition pony which she may well be with further work, she is hogged which for her type suggests sweet itch even if she doesn't have it that will be most experienced peoples first thought and will be off putting, you cannot make her mane grow but could give the reason for hogging in the ad, the photos are ok she does look sweet but the wording needs a complete reworking if you are going to attract the right person and not just get people phoning that think she will suit their fairly competent 12 year old.

She is the type I have had on sales livery in the past, what doesn't work in one home may be ideal in another and presenting them well, getting the advert right is key to finding the right home for any horse, she does have many good points and to the right person they will outweigh the negative ones, you just need to target those positives and not try to sell her as a childs pony so although I said the photos are ok I would actually get a few of her with an adult on and sell her as an adults fun hack as showing her jumping with a child on suggests she will go on and do that with another.
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If you do one thing OP, take this on board!

Leo Walker said:
How much is she and where is everyone finding this ad??
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I didn’t need to see it to know lol! Priced right anything will sell and this one doesn’t sound much of an issue to me. For instance if my daughter was a bit bigger I would have considered something like that for us but she’s over horsed on her 14.1 at the moment (also a quirky competition pony but not one who has been getting his own way for a year - makes all the difference).
 
Found it and you are having a laugh at that price! Look at what else you can get for that money and thats why shes not selling. I wouldnt describe the advert as particularly truthful either. You need to knock a zero off the price if you want her gone ASAP.

Just a quick glance at the not particularly great photos and she looks uncomfortable in her back, which is another red flag for a lot of people.
 
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Leo Walker said:
Found it and you are having a laugh at that price! Look at what else you can get for that money and thats why shes not selling. I wouldnt describe the advert as particularly truthful either. You need to knock a zero off the price if you want her gone ASAP.

Just a quick glance at the not particularly great photos and she looks uncomfortable in her back, which is another red flag for a lot of people.
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Where is the ad?

OP- I think moving the pony on is probably the best thing to do, as it obviously isn't the right pony for you. You may have to be realistic about price though (I'm saying this before I know what price it is), as it's the worst time of year for selling and the pony really is a project for someone so price must reflect this.

A vet check would probably be a good idea, then you have, hopefully, a clean bill of health to help you with the sale. It could take a while to sell though, so you might have to be patient and accept she is with you for a while. Are you riding her still?
 
Leo Walker said:
http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/s...Id=3365&advertType=forsale&orderBy=mostRecent
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Thank you.

OP you have been at best rather disingeneous with your advert, at worst its a ruddy parents nightmare!
Your opening post on here mentions 'unreliable' - that isnt what is wanted for a childs pony, and there is no mention of any issues at all in the advert.

From your opening post, I was expecting double 'meat money' so approx £400 - £500, not a whopping price like that.

Please, re-read bepositive's post earlier this morning, and take heed, please.
 
I would agree with everyone else. The price is too expensive, and the pony you describe on here is not the pony you are describing in the advert.
I love project ponies, but I would expect the price to reflect that the horse is difficult.
1 month is not that long in the grand scheme of selling horses, and it's the worst time of year too.

She looks like a sweet pony, and I am sure you will find a home for her, but I think you need to say a little bit more in your advert about her "quirks" and price her accordingly. You will probably find a home a lot quicker if you were more honest in the advert and aim her more towards a small adults project pony.
 
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Leo Walker said:
http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/s...Id=3365&advertType=forsale&orderBy=mostRecent
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What a sweet looking little mare. I'm not sure the ad really matches the horse you have talked about OP, perhaps why you've had enquiries but then not had anything further. I'd be a little more open about the situation and reduce the price. Even something such as 'she's proving a little too much for my 12 year old daughter, but would suit a competent older teen or small adult'.

The right person will be out there for her I'm sure.
 
For heavens sake Op get real .
Why on earth would any body take on a problem horse for that money .its an extremely disingenuous advert brutal honesty will find you a buyer quicker .... oh and a sensible price .
It may be the picture but I don't like the line of her back in the standing shot if she where mine that's where I would start looking for a reason for her behaviour .
 
Goldenstar said:
It may be the picture but I don't like the line of her back in the standing shot if she where mine that's where I would start looking for a reason for her behaviour .
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First thing I saw, so thats two of us noticed it and been put off. I wonder how many other people feel the same? Bearing in mind that this is a project pony so the people you want to buy it will have a good eye.
 
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