What would you do?

xRobyn

xRobyn

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Very good do-er. 11 years in may, never really been schooled or worked but not a nasty horse. Lack of experience all my fault so not to blame for him.

Uni student, 7 weeks of teaching left but then exams etc. Probably not going home until June at the earliest.

Horse has been on three different yards with 4 different loaners since October 2008. Will give details in a pm if anyone wishes.

Would you try to loan again or find grass livery?
 
Also to say finding someone (my mum or oh's mum) to do him won't be easy and student budget. Can't afford to keep him where he is (£25-£30 a week). After June I hope to be back home and caring for my own horse. I hate having abandoned him for uni which I'm not even enjoying, but I'm doing this for him. Hopefully this means getting a decent job and being able to afford to keep him at a new yard. He's a sociable horse, never had any herd issues, has been turned out with all ages from foal to 40 and both genders.
 
It depends if you are only looking to loaning until the end of uni in June? or whether you're looking for a forever home? If looking until the end of june then I would say grass livery otherwise would look for perm loan. I would also be slightly picky over who you loan to as well. How come so many homes in 2 years, is just down to his greeness? (pm if prefer)

good luck in deciding what you want to do xx
 
Have Pm'd you :)

Plan with latest loaner was her to have him until I come home, then share him (3 days a week each and figure out the 4th). I'd still be happy to do that with any loaner, but feel as if putting an advert up, having people come and try him etc (all without me there because I can't take out time from uni) would mean by the time we find someone/get him moved I'd be near to finishing anyway (Break between May-June).
 
Also just adding reasons for his green-ness:
It's all my fault. He was my first horse, got him when I was 12, backed him myself. I hadn't ridden for ages so our first attempt at canter (he's naturally spooky) he spooked and I fell off which put me off for ages. Then in 2008 he got lami so that hindered things. His first loaner knew about the canter issues but got on him and cantered him no problem whatsoever, same with the second one. He's not had any issues since but has been kept on a yard with no facilities so I've never been able to school him properly. Then as things were getting better his saddle got too tight where he put on weight in spring 2010 so I spent the entire summer bareback (being a student I couldn't just buy a new saddle). I've owned him for 9 years in March. In that time he has bucked with me twice (once out of excitement) and reared twice (if you call it rearing, read lifting front feet off the floor a foot :p). He's no angel, not by a long shot, but he's not a nasty horse, just a little set in his ways.
 
FWIW I would put him on grass livery near me if he was mine. As soon as teaching finished you'll be on flexible hours so looking after will be easy, and if you don't already, you can even get a few hours work to help pay the bill. He won't mind if he's not doing much as long as looked after, and the weather and ground are only improving now.
 
I would do grass livery until you are free. Long term view though, if you have a year or more left in uni then I would be tempted to find a permanent home.
 
Sorry to hear things haven't worked out their Robyn! With it being such a short time I would probably find grass livery till you finish Uni or even if someone you know has room to take him under their wing till then. Good luck in whateveryou chose :)
 
Thank you HM, I'm really gutted and quite up the creek but not long left now then he'll be all mine again and I can enjoy him properly.
 
I think you have to think carefully about money - when you finish uni, you have to find a full-time job to replace that grant, and sometimes that can take a few months. If you can transfer your current job to a store nearer home, you'd have at least part-time hours, and living at home that would probably be enough to keep him ok, but I'm guessing you'll want your own place with your OH really, and that's not cheap.

Also think about WHY those loans didn't last. Was it the same reason each time? What could you do to limit the chances of that happening again? If you think it's unlikely anyone will stick with him, you're better off on grass livery and maybe advertising him for share, or ask any of those people who offered if they'd like to ride him while he's there between now and June to keep him in work?
 
If you can find a sharer who is prepared to have him full time for a few weeks and then say 3-4 days per week I'd say that could be a good option, especially as the summer is coming up and you can offer to cover their holidays etc to "make up for it" a bit. Can you not get back one weekend to meet potential sharers? Or have you a good expereienced friend who would be prepared to weed out anyone who is unsuitable or he doesn't seem to gel with and then you could just arrange one visit home to finalise it all? I should think arranging it remotely could be a bit difficult to be honest.
 
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