What's your biggest equine mistake???

This post seems very relevant to me right now as I'm having to consider having my 7yo PTS having invested a lot of time, money and emotion into breaking and training a tricky horse only for it to go lame. Thousands of vet bills later and many a rehab attempt and it turns out it has an old injury that wasn't picked up on the vetting. I do feel that the old owner knowingly sold me a problem - doesn't give you much faith in humanity! My mistake = not attending the vetting.

I now have another youngster and I am older and wiser but I do feel frustrated at having to start all over again - and I have come out of the whole experience completely neurotic that things will just go wrong again.
 
Bob notacob said:
None of my regrets have been about my horses (apart from my lack of ability) .They rest on those People I may have trusted .
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I'm with you on that one. My mistakes have never (so far) been the horses but the people I trusted.

6 years ago I lost my stallion to a kick in the shoulder. I naively trusted a lady who owned a couple of geldings that her horses were mellow and respected fencing. 2 weeks after moving him I was forced to PTS 6 weeks before he was due to compete at Olympia. Forgiveness doesn't come easily with that one I'm afraid.
 
Yes very relevant to me - I knew from day 1 bought the wrong horse but gave him time only 3 months in to be faced with ulcers.
After 1 years treatment, 2 years turned away, now 8 weeks into restarting - every box has been ticked & he's all ready to find a new home.
Its been blood, sweat, & tears, mixed in with thousands of pounds too!
 
I don't want to call her a mistake as without her I would never have ended up with my current ridden boy, and honestly despite the heartache I'd do it all again as she was such a sweet thing.

But financially my biggest mistake was my 5yo. It was the most money I'd ever spent on a horse and a month later she suffered a career-ending injury that we tried to rehab. Sadly we subsequently lost her shortly before her 6th birthday. A lot of you were a huge support at the time in getting through what is still my darkest time as an owner, something I'll always be grateful for.
 
FestiveFuzz said:
I don't want to call her a mistake as without her I would never have ended up with my current ridden boy, and honestly despite the heartache I'd do it all again as she was such a sweet thing.

But financially my biggest mistake was my 5yo. It was the most money I'd ever spent on a horse and a month later she suffered a career-ending injury that we tried to rehab. Sadly we subsequently lost her shortly before her 6th birthday. A lot of you were a huge support at the time in getting through what is still my darkest time as an owner, something I'll always be grateful for.
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Aw,that is sad. :(
 
My biggest mistake is not buying the horse my riding school had for sale at the time. She was my dream horse..17hh ID totally calm as they come but also capable..5yo at the time so had lots of learning but i was happy to gallop her on a beach so thats how steady she was! She was only £1500. A week or two after i said no i can't afford her i changed roel in job and could have easily afforded her and its my biggest regret. I can't find her now and it still haunts me.
 
The most expensive horse I bought for myself was a dressage schoolmaster who turned out to be school sour and after five years of believing I was at fault I had a trainer who instead of taking my money, told me to get a different horse. I'm still with that trainer. I sold him to a hacking home where he had a lovely life for four years until he broke a leg in the field. I lost a lot of money on him but he did teach me quite a lot and tbh once I've spent money on a horse, it's gone! So my biggest regret was not selling him sooner as we'd both have been happier.
 
equi said:
My biggest mistake is not buying the horse my riding school had for sale at the time. She was my dream horse..17hh ID totally calm as they come but also capable..5yo at the time so had lots of learning but i was happy to gallop her on a beach so thats how steady she was! She was only £1500. A week or two after i said no i can't afford her i changed roel in job and could have easily afforded her and its my biggest regret. I can't find her now and it still haunts me.
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Ah wow thats really sad :( hope your paths cross again sometime. I bought my first horse from my riding school - best decision I ever made, we had 12 amazing years together. They said he was '15' when I bought him but he was more like 20 now looking back, which makes everything he did all the more amazing. I only lost him to old age back in November and I still miss his face every day. Worse decision I ever made - changing farriers with him when I moved yards without trusting my gut, it effectively ended his ridden career and probably many years of plodding along hacks which he loved. I found a lovely new horse who I adore and feel very lucky to have but I didnt make that mistake twice I can tell you :confused:
 
This thread seems very relevant to me now! And really reinforced what other have said that only spend what you can afford to lose.

My current mare cost £2000 but has cost thousands in vet fees and is pretty much a field ornament who I need to make a decision about and possibly PTS as I can't keep investigating lameness issues.
 
This is such a good question!!!!!

Very hard to answer though... hmmmm, I reckon my answer would be.. “making a decision that I regretted for quite a long time.” But then aren’t mistakes a way for us to learn??! If we aren’t making mistakes we will never learn!!
 
Jayzee said:
This thread seems very relevant to me now! And really reinforced what other have said that only spend what you can afford to lose.

My current mare cost £2000 but has cost thousands in vet fees and is pretty much a field ornament who I need to make a decision about and possibly PTS as I can't keep investigating lameness issues.
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I know how this feels :( Fair play to you for keeping the horse as a field ornament. Difficult and SELFLESS decision, I applaud you x
 
I don't have any tales of financial woe as I've only bought 3, never paid more than £2K and never sold one.

My biggest equine mistake was with my first pony when I let my then YO persuade me not to get the vet out for a deep cut on her fetlock and it got infected. She did come right, but arthritis in that fetlock stopped her ridden career 4 years later at age 12 and she was PTS not long afterwards when she went non weight bearing on it. She had no arthritis anywhere else so I'm sure it was linked.
 
Biggest mistake was Tom. I got so fed up trying to find a horse and went for him as ideal on paper. The first day I rode him I knew I had made a mistake. He was greener than I had realised, although that was not the actual issue, but he really really didn’t want to learn, would tolerate hacking but only if it was a plod. I spent 5 months with miserable me and miserable horse wondering when I could sell on again. He didn’t cost much and I got back what I paid for him and sold him to a lovely lady who still has him with a much more suitable home.
 
JDChaser said:
Breeding my mare. Sadly both her and the foal died. It's taken me a few years to stop thinking about it without feeling sick and faint, I think I actually had a bit of PTSD if that doesn't sounds too dramatic.
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Omg this is awful - you poor thing x
 
My biggest mistake was believing that a horse i was buying was extremely over reactive because the owner was really odd. Then not walking away when he wouldn't load to be delivered. And believing the driver when he finally got to me, when he said 'it's not the horse, it's the owner! '.

If the owner had not been so peculiar I would have realised that the horse had something seriously wrong with him and never bought him. He went blind before his 4th birthday.
.
 
I know this is an old thread that's been rejuvenated but I'll jump in anyway.

The horse I regret cost $25,000 (probably still around 20k pounds at the time) and it was 1996 I was living in Middleburg and the O'Connor's (David and Karen) were in their heyday as we were fresh off the Atlanta Olympics. I needed a new eventer as I sold mine and I heard they had one for sale. Now, with 24 years of hindsight here's the truth. He was a nice enough mover but a total head case, but he would jump anything. They let me come and ride him for a week at their barn. I did and I liked him and vetted him and bought him. Handed over the certified check and loaded him up.

We meshed over time and actually did well that fall. Then we went to a move up event and had a bad fall on course. Wasn't the horse's fault. Bad ride but moreover a really bad fence design.

As we worked on getting him back next spring he was much better but when we did our three day he really was truly difficult on course. Completely different than 1 days and at home.

When I decided to move to California I sold him to a school friend for 7500, over payments for a year. He prospered with her and she got him a great home. So happy ending. My favorite part of this is after I got hurt the rumor mill got going and I heard that David O'Connor had taken to telling people that he he told me not to but the horse. Never happened. That was fun.

Em
 
Letting my then boyfriend make me move away from the yard where i had a fab horse of my own and other to ride 7 days a week; and had finally really learned to really ride. Horse came with me and I hung onto some of the skills for a couple of years then lost it. Took me a few more years to lose the boyfriend :) Never got it back for 20+ years since. Got a glimpse of it this week, fingers crossed ? I still have time and money to get it back.
 
Countrychic said:
Biggest mistake was putting my pony out on loan, he has never been found and I still feel sick as to where he could have ended up. I failed him and for that I will never forgive myself.

Money wise we paid 8k for a mare that never stayed sound but has just bred me a lovely foal and been a fab mum. I don't really want another foal from her but part of me feels otherwise she is just doing nothing.
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have you put him on the trace my horse group on fb? they find loads of horses on there
 
Not getting vet fee insurance... Not worth it now, as so much would be excluded, but if I ever get another, I'll be insuring for at least the first year.
 
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