what to do with this horse? sell? loan? ride? broodmare?

Bowen4Horses

Bowen4Horses

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right, so, some advice please...

... my friend has a little TB mare and she's not sure what to do with her.

here's the story, and some options...

Mia is a 16hh chestnut mare. I say chestnut, i mean tango orange.
She's 8yrs old and not ever raced (although was trained to race, just never got round to it)
She's well bred (has Cigar, Shergar, Northern Dancer and Nijinsky on her pedigree, and maybe more, i know nothing about TBs, it's just those names stood out as famous ones)

However, recently, she's started to nap. Quite badly. She runs backwards and spins. She doesn't really unseat the rider, but does get very worked up. My friend has spent a lot of money on saddle fitter, teeth checks, back people, vets, etc to find the problem. also, during one napping session she fell over and chipped her knee. she also bit through her lip etc... so more vet's bills.

my friend has another horse (the tango horse is the second horse and therefore not ridden as much) and doesn't have enough time for both. She also is worried about throwing more money after bad.

The horse has gone to a schooling yard, where in ONE week has come on leaps and bounds. she's no longer bolshy and long reins beautifully. she's had a rider on, and tried to nap a bit, but on the whole has been very good. she's a quick learner, and is learning that running backwards isn't an option etc etc. the trainer on the yard thinks she's fixable and will make a fabby event horse... but that it'll take some consistency from the rider or more time at the yard. my friend can't commit the money or time... so... should she:

1) try to find someone to loan her (long term/permanent?) to put in the time for a few weeks and get a cracking little event horse at the end. is there a market for that?
2) try to sell her in current crappy market
3) try to sell/loan her as a broodmare (i hasten to add, her bad behaviour is a recent 'learned' behaviour from having an unconfident/novice rider)

does anyone have any brainwaves? my friend adores this horse and wants to do what's best for her. she's a lovely little mare (i used to ride her myself... and we all know how petrified i am of riding!) and it wouldn't be hard to get her going well again. but, at the same time, her breeding is very good, so would breeding be a better option?

i think in an ideal world there'll be someone local looking for a horse to bring on... but in reality, when i know two people unable to loan out their bombproof horses... is anyone going to want to loan a not-100%-yet TB mare?

cookies and baileys for getting to the end of my mega essay...

xxx
 
Sell.
The owner is going to the expense of having her professionally schooled. As your friend has learnt, a nervous and unconfident rider could undo all the hard work that has been achieved so far.
If she is good enough to potentially event, someone will see that and snap her up if the price is reasonable.
 
joeanne said:
Sell.
The owner is going to the expense of having her professionally schooled. As your friend has learnt, a nervous and unconfident rider could undo all the hard work that has been achieved so far.
If she is good enough to potentially event, someone will see that and snap her up if the price is reasonable.
Click to expand...

i presume she'd have to sell her at a v reasonable price... naughty TB chestnut mares aren't exactly flying off the shelves for big bucks at the mo!

she does really need to find a new home, she's dented my friend's confidence so she's not going to be the best person to ride her (even if she did have the time). ho hum, horses are expensive/stressful eh?
 
How about trying to find a good rider who would put some work into the mare, get her out to a couple of events and then take a percentage of the sale? as an eg I can't remember which member is Ellie Robins eventing?
 
I was in a similar situation, except i had a nasty accident with mine when she reared, leaped and spun on the road, dropping me onto the tarmac :p It wasn't a one off, but she was getting worse as time went on, and we had checked everything, and i think it was my fault for not being a good enough source of bravery for her.

I lost my nerve and knew i wouldn't ride her again, but i wasn't willing to sell her because i could imagine what might happen to her.

She is now at Twemlows stud as a surrogate mare - this is where Headley Britannia went to have her foals by surrogacy. She will be there for 3 years, until her foal is weaned, then she can either come home, or do another round of surrogacy.

Maybe this is something to consider?
 
frostie652 said:
....me too :)

pop her in the post please, ill pm you my address ;)
Click to expand...


If you were a nice home i'm sure she'd pop her in the lorry and bring her....

I'll tell my friend to look into getting a rider/yard selling her/surrogacy. Thank you all. If anyone knows of any competent, gentle riders looking for a ginger horse to loan long term, let me know.

Xxx
 
She sounds fine- typical tb but yes, orange tb mares are not exactly like hot cakes at the moment (hmm...cake...) I'd personally try to steer clear of breeding, we don't really need any more tbs and her breeding isn't that great anyway- most horses are related to northern dancer I'm afraid and nobody is that far removed from Shergar and Cigar unfortunately.. I think with recipient mares, it is preferred that they have already had a foal although I could be wrong and most seem to be of the "larger lady" variety.

If the schooling yard think she's fixable I'd chat to them about selling her for commission or very quickly and cheaply to a decent home.
 
Try the 'Project Horses' website if you want to sell (or loan actually.) She sounds an angel compared to some of the 'projects' on there!

I've pm'd you too.
 
iv got one like that but shes 16.3 hunter i was pregnant and had to put her on loan she was 120% bombproof in everyway she came bk to me after 3 months the girl had ruined her.she didnt tell me the reason for bringing her bk so soon just said shed lost interest in horses.i later found out that she bolted across very busy main roads then later that ride trying to calm her down found out that she now rears aswell.she reared up and over on the road on top of me not very nice at all.i have since worked on her nearly everday getting her confidence in ppl bk up and getting her fit again but i still struggle to stop her if she gets in a fluster and panics it was just lucky i didnt put anyone else on her as i had done in the past and was lucky i was off on maternity leave for 9 so i had the time to sort her out,but the only backlash i have now is that im 7 and a half stone and she is a big hunter type so the fitter iv got her and the more show condition iv got on her the less i can hold her catch 22.i would suggest to cut your losses and sell the mare now and dont even consider putting her on loan as it mite come back ten times worse and then your stuck either way.someone will be b better suited to the horse and put it into good use,breeding is a big expence you end up with a horse you cant ride and a foal you cant ride for 3-4 years.
 
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