What would you do?? Advice please!

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allthatjazz

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Shall try and make this quick and straight to the point :p my friend has been offered, for free, an american quarter horse mare, 19 years old. She has only ever been broken for western riding and has done absolutely nothing for the last 6 years, not even had a saddle on her back. From what I've been told she has a nice enough nature. My friend seems to think she could be re-broken to english riding and that her age and lack of work poses no issue. If my friend takes her on she would have to live out 24/7 as we do not have stables (yet!) and the field only has natural shelter as the current field shelters are in an awful state and need pulling down. We both have stocky hairy cobs so they will be fine living out through the winter but not so sure about the quarter horse breed, are they capable of coping with living out (we are on a hill looking out to some much larger hills in the distance and get quite a cutting wind coming in off the hills). My friend is looking to take her on for her partner to ride, he is a novice rider, had less than 5 lessons at present and is about 12-13 stone. We only ride at weekends due to work commitments and even less through the winter. Is this a good idea?? Would really like to know other peoples thoughts on this as I am somewhat unconvinced as to how successful this will be and would hate for my friend to bite off more than she can chew so to speak. Thanks for reading :)
 
Do you think so? Wasn't convinced that her age and type wasnt going to pose an issue for living out on a hillside. She will have ad lib hay and a good heavyweight rug on though so maybe I am underestimating the breed, as I say it is a breed that I know nothing about really but they dont look particularly hardy! That could be because I am used to big hairy cobs though :D my boy does a very good impression of highland cattle through the winter :p
 
Does anyone think she'd still be able to be broken at 19 to english riding? Shes only ever been broken for western riding and has done nothing at all for 6 years! If that was my boy he'd definately think he was in retirement :P
 
I think that is potentially the issue, living out etc should be fine but whether being restarted as an English riding horse, she should not have a problem with it in theory, with such limited time each week will work or be fair on her.

It will depend on her condition, QHs tend to be naturally muscular, as to how she can cope without more regular work as she comes back after so long, I would want to spend 2 months doing little and often so that she gets a level of fitness and muscles up properly before only riding once or twice a week. Without the underlying fitness she will probably struggle unless the exercise is very gentle, a novice is not ideal as the rider he will be less balanced than someone experienced.

Several options if they get her, send her away to be carefully restarted, leave her unridden over winter but do as much ground work as you can to prepare her and ride and lead whenever you can or just give it a go and be prepared to stop if she struggles.

Dont be too negative, your friend will probably appreciate advice, just be careful how you put it and if you can help if they get her the mare will benefit from as much input as you can.
 
I would say as other posters - she would in my opinion live out rugged fine. My very fine WB did unrugged last winter with adlib hay. Does she have to go 'English' ridden? Western is a very relaxed and I would have thought been perfect for a novice hacking out?
 
Thanks for your replies :) I'm not sure if its an option to keep her as a western ridden horse, my friend doesnt know anything about western riding and nor do I so I think she wanted to have her broken for english riding so that she'd know what she was doing! I know she plans to have her restarted but I'm not sure where she will go from there as time is restricted during the week especially through the winter with less daylight hours. I also agree that really she'd need work regularly to build up a level of fitness as shes been out of work for so long and is an older horse. And I'm also wondering why the current owner is prepared to just give her away for free!! Is there a catch :/
 
At 19 and not in work or breeding she has little or no value, options for the current owner will be to keep her in the field, obviously some expenses involved, sell for whatever she can get, meat money and into possibly an uncertain future in the wrong hands, pts this costs money and the horse is healthy so may be harsh but fairer than selling to the wrong home, give her away to someone she knows that will care for her and take responsibility for her future.
Easy option for the owner to take the last one, if your friend takes her on she becomes responsible for her future and will hopefully do right by her.

There are plenty of free or very cheap horses around, some people would rather pass on their responsibility for an older horse.
 
Well, there can be many reasons why someone gives away a horse for free and there is always a possible catch with horses.

Our daughter did sometime Westerm riding on other horses, and many not all people who know about both Western and English riding say that a horse can do Western and English riding alternating. The horse would know from the tack that is used what's expected.

But we never bought a Western saddle so we didn't try out what people is saying. It might also depend on the level of English riding but with a 19 years old horse you probably won't go to affiliated competitions.

There is surely the possibility that the horse has been left without saddle for six years because there has been a problem. Maybe the owner had an accident that could have been the riders fault or the horse's or both.
But that's to try out. Could a more experienced person have a ride? Overall with horses it's to try out things. Guessing doesn't bring you further. From an unknown horse, it's in most cases impossible to find out the real history of a horse's life.

If the horse is OK you saved a lot of money.
 
This is what I have suggested to my friend, that someone should at least try and tack her up, see how she is and maybe sit on her back, just to see how she responds. But she will be coming to her/us unridden without any trial or even any handling which I just worry about. I know people give horses away for free for many reasons, my own horse was given to me for free but I really did get lucky with him as his owner had just lost interest to the point of neglecting him and not paying for his keep leaving it to her friends to deal with so he wasnt ever a problem horse or anything and really is the soppiest most affectionate horse I've ever known, fab to ride, laid back and confident, I cant actually believe she parted with him for free, people would pay alot of money for one like him but hey I'm not complaining ;-) what concerns me with this horse is that shes been unridden for 6 years and we're not entirely sure why, think the owner has said something along the lines of she had an accident that stopped her riding but whether that was on this horse or not I dont think my friend knows!
 
Unfortunately, you cannot derive anything from that. Even if the accident was with this particular horse and the owner assumed that it was the horse's fault then another rider can be absolutely fine with that horse.
That counts too for your friend. Another rider says the horse is absolutely fine but your lesser experienced friend can have problems.

I think that boils down to the question of how much you (or better your friend) want to take efforts to fight your way through all POSSIBLE problems (maybe there won't be any). You surely will learn and benefit from that but it has its risks, too.
From a distance, in a forum, advice is surely difficult.
 
Yes, I see what you mean. It could go either way I guess. The issue as you say is whether there is determination and effort to overcome any problems that may arise. I'm not sure my friend has the time to dedicate to that. And possibly with a horse of this age, unridden for 6 years and a question mark over its history the possibility of issues may be somewhat greater. Food for thought for sure. Thank you for your input it is very much appreciated.
 
Have found out today that the reason why this horse has not been ridden for the last 6 years is because she had a bronking fit in the field and got her rider off. It scared the rider enough to not get back on her and also scared her current owner enough to not attempt it either. She has been in the same home since she was a foal, pretty much all of her 19 years, but has also been with the same horse all that time so whether she will settle away from her companion and in a completely different environment is debatable. What do people think?
 
Hi there I had a very similar situation, I was given a TB mare who was 19 at the time and an ex event horse. I only took her on because they couldn't find anyone for her as she is difficult and they were going to put her down, I agreed to take her on little did I know the journey I would have with her!!!......
Maybe was eventing fit and put holes in her tendon, she went into a field for 4 years and so when I got on her after four years of her doing nothing this horse though it was going eventing again and she was a nightmare, she would gallop down roads etc etc.... I had to take her right back to basics, almost re breaking her and re schooling.. Lots of time on the lunge and lots of me lunging her before riding and lots of lunge lessons on her to calm her down and control her.
This happened for about 5 months before I was prepared to ride of the lunge, I started riding her off the lunge and gradually introduced canter work and eventually came jumping this was a good 9 months after starting to work her and working her nearly every day. Now after nearly two years she can still get me rearing and throwing the odd bucking fit, there was a lot now that I have learnt about my horse from other people that I was not told at the time and if I knew what I know now, when I first started riding her I probably wouldn't have taken her on.

In relevance to your question, you should be wondering why the horse threw such a bucking fit and if it was out of character could it suggest pain such as ill fitting saddle or worse kissing spines or something along those lines. Which could end up costing your friend A LOT of money and heartache, and possibly a horse that cannot be ridden. If the owner is reluctant to give you details I would approach with EXTREME caution I myself have found out with my horse, and it has been a long and difficult road, bringing a horse back into work takes a lot of time and if your friend hasn't got it maybe she should look at something else, generally when something sounds to good to be true it generally is unfortunately.
 
I would say that if this horse is for a complete novice then it would be safer to buy one with a known history of being safe for someone of that experience level.
 
Thank you for your input. Details are vague however I could not say for certain whether this is intentional or not or whether my friend just isnt asking the right questions! As far as I know she had not ever had a bronking fit before but if the rider at that time along with the owner were not prepared to ride her again it would suggest to me that this wasnt the first time it had happened. As you say it takes alot of time and commitment to get a troubled out of work horse sound again and I know for certain that this mare would go days without being lunged, worked or even handled very much and would only be used at the weekend for hacking by a complete novice. The novice is riding my friends cob to try and learn the basics and the intention with the quarter horse is to send her away for a couple of weeks to be re broken and schooled, probably next spring. This, in theory, would give her time to settle at our yard over the winter and time for the novice to have more lessons. I am seeing it turning into a disaster if I'm honest but what worries me more is someone getting seriously hurt! I just dont think horse and rider are matched well at all :(
 
Your welcome... Yes like you I would have certain concerns over this. It's something that will either go really well or will turn out to be a complete disaster.. It just seems strange that the owner will not get back on the horse, suggesting that this has happened before. I think it needs serious thought as to weather this is something that is worth doing, considering her age to 19 health problems will start to happen in the next few years.
 
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