Views and opinions please....?

[landf]

Appologies to those who have already read this on another forum (FMM

) I will be emigrating to Australia next year and I really can't decide whether to take my young horse with me or not

. I have had her since she was 5mths so am pretty attached but it's gonna cost in the region of £8k to get her out there and I could buy a seriously nice horse for that out there. She has just been backed a couple of months ago and has so far been really straight forward. My head says sell her but my heart says take her! I guess I just want to get as many opinions as possible from other folks as to what they would do or recommend.

 

[the watcher]

I would sell, and then see how you feel when you get there - you might want a quite different kind of horse

 

[carthorse]

Long way to travel a horse .I would find a good home here

 

[Triskelly]

I would sell, it will be hard for you but think of the horse traveling all that way.

 

[Skhosu]

If I wanted to take her and could afford it, I would.

 

[aimeerose]

Personally i would say sell, find her a good home with peeps you like in the UK.

That what I will do anyway, either loaned or sold to the right person.

 

[jhoward]

sell, you also have to think about how she would adapt to the heat, dryness ect, heartbreaking i agree, hard when leaving all yr friends behind, but what if the horse couldnt adjust??? your money is worth double over there you may get a horse that you never thought you could afford.

 

[_Libby_]

I agree

 

[rabatsa]

sorry but sell.

 

[xilovemyponyx]

aww hard decision , i would sell however i could never leave my pony behind , think about the pros and cons and then make a decision

 

[saskia295]

I'd sell too. It's a long way to go and you don't know how she would react once you got her there (climate change etc). Also, it would take a long time with the quarantine etc so you have to think about whether you want to put her through all that.

 

[RichardRider]

I would tend to agree with jhoward on this. I was in Australia for work briefly some years back and converse with a rider in Australia on another rider's forum. You would not believe the numbers of poisonous spiders, frogs, snakes and alligators that a horse from Europe would have to get keen to!

Sometimes I think of this when thinking of America and my 2 horses. What would they do if confronted by a rattlesnake?

Would be a pity to put an animal through all that goes into the move, and the cost, and then have it killed by some little spider that in England or Normandy the horse wouldn't normally fear...

Does this make sense? (I am NO expert) but possible something to check into?

rr

 

[seabiscuit]

Having worked in Austrialia for one summer, I would not be keen on taking a british/european horse over there. Life is just much harsher with regards to everything-
they jump on hard ground EVERYWHERE ( but the Oz horses can cope with this)
Odd hay ( poor quality)
odd food ( just not as good as the brits )
not such high standards of farriery.
Difficult to get a vet out/lack of vet practises.

The weather- extreme cold and heat
Insects/snakes etc
dont think there are anythings like physiotherapy, alternative therapies, proper saddle fitters etc!
Real risk of horse not been well looked after if sold on.