What do I do with a horse I can't ride?

nativeponies said:
oh good grief....

**bangs head on wall**

havent you read the thread started by thatsmygirl?

have a quick read..and reconsider your ill-thought out advice
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Err.. !! not ill thought at all, there are many places that would take on a companion if you have the time and patience to find, that would be better than having the horse PTS just coz you can't be bothered with it..

oh and keep banging your head, not gonna hurt me lol
 
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KS1 said:
Err.. !! not ill thought at all, there are many places that would take on a companion if you have the time and patiuence to find, that would be better than having the horse PTS just coz you can't be bothered with it..

oh and keep banging your head, not gonna hurt me lol
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i work with and along side 2 well known horse charities and i can assure you, they DO NOT want anymore horses that owners just "no longer want" and well meaning advisers tell them to contact charities etc.

thatsmygirl gave her pony away..it has disapeared..probably sold on..so yes, ill thought out advice

as for "not gonna hurt me"..mmm, very mature comment

So, are you going to offer it a home then?
 
nativeponies said:
i work with and along side 2 well known horse charities and i can assure you, they DO NOT want anymore horses that owners just "no longer want" and well meaning advisers tell them to contact charities etc. Who said anything about giving it to a charity, I certainly never

thatsmygirl gave her pony away..it has disapeared..probably sold on..so yes, ill thought out advice
oh so every person that takes on a horse now is a thief.. how interesting
as for "not gonna hurt me"..mmm, very mature comment Wasn't it just lol

So, are you going to offer it a home then? you've already asked that der...!![/QUOTE]
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O.P, given you cannot afford the cost of retiring your mare, PTS is the most sensible thing you could do.
God forbid the next one though, if you balk at even the cost of a bullet.
Sad sad state of affairs....
 
very sad poor mare. I'd have her PTS if you cannot even have the decentcy to keep her til the end of her days. IMO what I would do is find a cheap field or grass livery, rug her up well and turn her away..she deserves a good retirement.
 
mollylolly said:
p.s if you cant afford them even when they need you the most and they cant give you anything back then dont have them. I have had horses for well over 24 years now and i will only take them on if i can afford it and thank god i can.

im getting quite fed up with people saying im quite naive - no i am not. I thought that by joining this forum i would be able to have proper converstaions with like minded people - obviously this is not the case. I am only naive because you dont agree with my comments and my feelings for the animals.

I think joining this place was the wrong thing to do as my afternoon has been spent shocked at the approaches and opinions some of you have.

so not im not naive just a kind hearted caring person who has and will look after the horses for as long as i can, because i love them for them and the love they give me not what i cna get out of them.

thank you and good night.
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mollylolly, when i first joined this forum, i was shocked at the ease at which people say 'put to sleep'... i remember sitting with my husband one evening, feeling upset because i thought my horse had a SI problem, and not dare write it on here, for fear of everyone telling me to put him to sleep. but, actually, not only will you sort of get used to it, you'll also start to see in what situations people seem to say it.

because actually, only a minority throw it around willy-nilly... mostly people only say it when it is genuinely an option.

when raff broke his leg, my whole world literally crumbled. i could have had him pts that night, to save months of crosstying... but i didn't, i chose to have him cross tied for weeks and weeks... in real life, people told me to put him to sleep... but, in defence of this forum, i had nothing but support from people. no one told me to pts... and that's because whilst it was an option, i was in the position where i would have done EVERYTHING in my power to keep him alive. whereas, i have to say, in this case, the OP isn't coming across like she would and so, people have to answer accordingly. if the OP had said 'i'd remortgage my house and sell the clothes off my back to keep her alive' (which i'm sure most people would about their horse) then i'm quite sure people would give different advice.

i really hope there are other options for this horse, but if the OP can't keep the horse... who can? and a difficult, older horse is going to be hard to rehome. it runs the risk of ending up in the wrong hands.

please don't give up on HHO, it can be a fab place x
 
I am lucky, I have my own land so have 3 retirees, however if circumstances changed they would be pts. They have either health or behaviour problems and I would be terrified they would end up in the wrong home. If the OP feels unable to retire her horse there are far worse things than being pts. A tb is not everyones first choice as a companion.
 
Absolutely.
And at the risk of upsetting you further (though thats certainly not my intention), I would rather see a horse in a tin of pedigree chum, than passed from pillar to post with its outlook getting bleaker with each changing of hands.
Once its dead, its suffering is over. Harsh, but true.
I have friends that have taken horses from the sales, called the knackerman on the way home, and had the horse/pony shot the following morning after a good feed and a decent nights rest in a clean stable. They gained nothing out of it, but could not see the poor creature's in question suffer a minute more than they had to. Its called Doing The Right Thing....
 
^^^What Clippy said.

It's not something to be done lightly, but in the end, there are far worse fates for a horse than a swift, humane death.
 
Well it has just taken me about 20 minutes to read through the whole post..

The different views on this situation are overwhelming. I do agree that if sold on or if the mare got into the wrong hands she will be a danger to herself or another party when ridden so loaning her or trying to sell her isn't an option. I don't think many people would take a tb mare of that age on as a companion either sorry. Plus it would be a big risk.

If it was me i would retire her but like said before do some ground work with her from time to time. But if the money is a big deal and your in no way able to keep her and maintain her health etc then maybe putting her to sleep isn't such a bad idea.

Before anyone criticizes me for my post for being unloving or cruel, don't you think it would be cruel for her to go to another home where she will not be looked after or neglected, where whoever has brought her with the idea she can be ridden also gives up on her? Or worse she ends up with the meat man? I think putting her to sleep would be the more sensible solution UNLESS you can retire her.
 
OMG when did this forum get so sentimental? Look. healthy young cows, pigs sheep are humanely destroyed every day, are horses really that different? It isn't such a terrible thing that the OP doesn't want a pet that costs £350 a month!

OP, you might be able to find grass/retirement livery for less money if you feel you owe this mare a retirement. If you don't want to retire her, you are not enjoying her and she doesn't have enough going for her to be saleable, just have her pts. Lots more finished racers head for the meat man long before they get to 21, this mare hasn't done too badly.

Whatever you do OP, don't give her away as a companion, there is so much mis-guided advice on this thread it's frightening. Also, if and when you do come to look for a replacement, give a lot of thought to the type of horse that will suit you and avoid buying horses aged late teens upwards if you want to avoid the same predicament.
 
Definately PTS. There are lots of ponies looking for loan homes that are easy and cheap to keep. I can't imagine anyone choosing a TB as a companion.

There are cheaper options as retirement homes but it is still a lot to pay for a pet. Retirement is a luxuary that not everyone can afford and no one should make you feel guilty if you choose to PTS.
 
Flame_ said:
OMG when did this forum get so sentimental? Look. healthy young cows, pigs sheep are humanely destroyed every day, are horses really that different? It isn't such a terrible thing that the OP doesn't want a pet that costs £350 a month!

OP, you might be able to find grass/retirement livery for less money if you feel you owe this mare a retirement. If you don't want to retire her, you are not enjoying her and she doesn't have enough going for her to be saleable, just have her pts. Lots more finished racers head for the meat man long before they get to 21, this mare hasn't done too badly.

Whatever you do OP, don't give her away as a companion, there is so much mis-guided advice on this thread it's frightening. Also, if and when you do come to look for a replacement, give a lot of thought to the type of horse that will suit you and avoid buying horses aged late teens upwards if you want to avoid the same predicament.
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I think this is a very good post. You don't have a hope in hell of selling this girl. 21 is a good age. If you can't afford retirement livery, try some of the racehorse care organisations who may have such a thing first though.
 
I retired my old one 4 years ago because i felt he was getting to dangerous,for me and him

He is still with me,if i couldn't afford to keep him,i would have him PTS.

I would not put his problems on anyone else.He has issues and for how long i have had him,i think i owe it to him not to be passed from one place to the next.

You have been given some very good advise on here by some very very experienced people.
 
I am no fluffy, I have had 2 PTS. One was a TB mare that I had to PTS as an emergency on vets advice. The other a stunning Welsh Sec D I had retired with arthritis but he took a turn for the worse and when treatment and painkillers were of no use I made the brave choice to PTS as he was lame even out in the paddock.

I am just soooo frustrated at people who think they do good and then it all goes wrong. I have dealt over the years also, I can let them go if I bought them to deal. I just get mad over people making irresponsible choices in the first place then when it all goes wrong want others to say 'yeaaa PTS is the best option' to make them feel better about doing it. I wonder where this mare would have been if taken on by a experienced rider 4 years ago?

Don't loan the horse out, in my experience the companion route for an ageing TB is not the safest of routes. It leaves just one option really and that is why I get so sad and frustrated.
 
I am going to be totally honest & some people may not like it but if I were in your position I would either find a cheaper livery so you can have 1 retired and another to ride or PTS.. I have seen 1 too many equine charitys take money and starve the horses
 
M_G said:
I am going to be totally honest & some people may not like it but if I were in your position I would either find a cheaper livery so you can have 1 retired and another to ride or PTS.. I have seen 1 too many equine charitys take money and starve the horses
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Ditto this.
 
M_G said:
I am going to be totally honest & some people may not like it but if I were in your position I would either find a cheaper livery so you can have 1 retired and another to ride or PTS.. I have seen 1 too many equine charitys take money and starve the horses
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Please don't tar all charities with the same brush there.
 
I think M_G is refering to the "backyard" charities Spudlet.....not the likes of say, BHS, EMW, WHW, Horseworld etc. Its these charities that pick up the pieces when the backyard variety goes horribly wrong.
 
tullystud said:
Definately PTS. There are lots of ponies looking for loan homes that are easy and cheap to keep. I can't imagine anyone choosing a TB as a companion.

There are cheaper options as retirement homes but it is still a lot to pay for a pet. Retirement is a luxuary that not everyone can afford and no one should make you feel guilty if you choose to PTS.
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I agree, if you can't afford to retire her and pay for livery too, rather than pass on a potentially dangerous horse, pts.
 
Probably the best thing for the horse at this point is to be PTS rather than passed on or neglected.

It just goes to show though that there is little kindness in "rescuing" an animal if you're not experienced or competent enough to deal with it. A more experienced person could no doubt have reschooled the horse years ago and it would still be living a useful life instead of consigned to the scrap heap.

But what's done is done, and probably for the best - and I am sure the OP has learned a valuable lesson.
 
Berkeley said:
You're right. She's not right for me. I have just given the ok for the hunt to shoot her. Luckily the bullet was free so at least she hasn't cost me anything else.
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Your mare looks so well in the pics you have posted since moving yards. What's gone wrong? Pm me if you want somebody to talk to
 
flamehead said:
Mollylolly. Take my mare.

If she doesnt come back to ridden work after ks surgery, we will probably have her put to sleep.

She is a horrid mare to be around, bites and kicks. She is a fairly good doer but needs hay in the winter. She costs us a fortune in rugs. She ruins our fields because if we take her friends out she churns them up like something else. She costs us a small fortune, all in all. So, our options would be:

Sell her. We couldnt really afford to keep her, particularly not with another horse. She's a pretty face and a nice age and height. Could we guarantee that someone would NEVER ride her? Well, no. So, she could go to a home thats downright horrid, they make her work and god forbid she rears up and over again and, this time, kills someone. So, in my view, selling her isnt an option.

Loan her. Same problem as above with riding. And, even if someone wouldnt try to ride her - shes not a companion. She has such bad separation anxiety that you would need a companion for her! So nobody would take her as a companion. She's not a project because she wouldnt be able to be ridden again.

We COULD leave her in our field, but we cannot afford her. So, what would we cut back on? Her feed? So she starves. Her shoeing? So she can't walk.

Cant you see that actually, being PTS is the BEST option for her?

This is hypothetical because hopefully she'll come back fine, but we'll see. For what its worth, YOUR comments upset ME because they're extremely naive.
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You have a horse that you can't afford?! :confused: Or would you just not be able to afford her is she couldn't be ridden anymore?! :confused:
 
Sorry, Puppy, should have explained. We can only afford one horse each - so if she were to be out of work and we got another horse then we couldnt afford her. Does that make sense?

Its hypothetical as she will hopefully be fine (and technically we dont pay for her but thats a whole other story...). Point I'm trying to make is that there are many, many situations where PTS isnt the worst option.
 
Berkeley said:
You're right. She's not right for me. I have just given the ok for the hunt to shoot her. Luckily the bullet was free so at least she hasn't cost me anything else.
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You've just gone from:

Being interested in playing games with her;

You said there was someone at your yard that might be interested in loaning her;

You've been advised of grass livery, which is way cheaper than the livery you are currently paying,

yet you have ordered the Hunt and you are pleased the bullet was free.

No point to this post, other than to say that, for the first time since I've been on here, someone's words made me feel sick.

It's not that you are having the mare put to sleep, no doubt it is the best thing for her given the alternative, it's the attitude. I hope that you do not bother to get another horse.

Really, really surprised at how you've turned out. I used to look for your posts. I was wrong.
 
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