When buying your horse

Did you give it full consideration with what ifs.
If bought for competition did you think about what you would do if your horse could not compete?
Did you think about it getting old, what were yours plans?
What if you had a change of circumstances? etc?
 
AmyMay

AmyMay

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Did you give it full consideration with what ifs.

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No - life's not based on 'what if's'.
 
Yes, my horse is 15 and i only brought him as i have lost my confidence, im hoping that in a year or so i can get something else, so he will be 'passed down' for my OH and kids to ride.
 
Not at all - but I usually only buy youngsters which does tend to give you other options if they aren't suitable for what you want to use them for. I also seem to be very good at collecting horses
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Sort of, although it was more that I bought a horse that would fit in with my life plans for the following five years.
I deliberately bought a young horse so I'd have a project to work on.
I also set out to find a sensible horse (non-TB!) that I hoped would be able to cope with time off/reduced work once I decided to have a family.
I wanted a decent all-rounder horse, as I don't want to compete at more than RC level, so it wouldn't have bothered me if she couldn't compete.
 
I ask from a work point of view, just wondering, am not judgemental.
I bought my 26 year old mare as yearling, showjumping prospect.
Did not turn out to be a Showjumper but a fab show horse, i took a different route with her. When i bought her i thought ''Home of Rest for horses was for retired horses. I thought i would retire her their.
I learned different - i was young! She will remain with me for life - retired her at 13 as she was poisoned but she had given me 12 wonderful years and i wanted to give something back to her. She now works for us with behavioural in new intakes.
Over the years i got known as a soft touch hence we are now a registered horse welfare charity.
Please do not let that put people off, i am human and just interested.
 
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Did you think about it getting old, what were yours plans?


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Don't be silly, horses don't get old
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I don't know. I am thinking about it all right now, as in, what I want out of a horse, what it's likely to cost me and whether I can really afford it, whether I have the right level of competence and all that.

Yes I am considering as much as I possibly can, but really you need to cross that bridge if and when you get to it.
 
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I bought my 26 year old mare as yearling, showjumping prospect.


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I have a good friend who has her 30 year old mare still, until the day she dies she will be with her. A true member of the family. Actually she lives in Lincolnshire, I wonder if she's heard of your charity?
 
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I bought my 26 year old mare as yearling, showjumping prospect.


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I have a good friend who has her 30 year old mare still, until the day she dies she will be with her. A true member of the family. Actually she lives in Lincolnshire, I wonder if she's heard of your charity?

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She may have done, we are based in Washingborough, we hold lectures that we invite the world to. We are not widely known as people expect us to take their horse when we do not have the funds or grazeing when full. We try to be in the back ground but then it does not help with funds - we don't get any!
People do find us when they need us. We are not a rest home [realy?]If you Google Silver Florin Equine Welfare our home page will come up where you can find out about us.
Normal person that needed to become a charity as i could not say no!
 
Yes, I really did. I learnt the hard way with my last horse - my parents bought her with a loan when I was 15 to be my all-round and competition horse (notwithstanding the fact I had no transport to compete!). When I was 16 my dad last his job, we lost our house and Cass was put out on loan. That didn't work out (not sure why, if I'm honest - we did all the right things) so we got her back 3 months later with a shoeing problem and she was never sound again for one reason and another, so my beloved horse that I had loved riding was kept for 6 years as a family pet, a massive drain on my parent's resources until I went to uni, then a massive drain on my student finances. Sadly just when I got to the stage where I should have been able to afford her, she had to be put down from injury.

Having been through that once I'm afraid I was extremely over-cautious in buying Ronnie. Everything is paid for cash, no loans/credit cards will be involved (barring disaster, obviously). I constantly fret about what I'll do when/if he can't be ridden any more. I must admit and it's terribly selfish, but I so want a horse I can actually ride and instead of retiring them early.

Having said that he's with me for life.

For me, life's not "too short to worry about the if's", life's too short to NOT worry about/consider the if's. I don't want to be left regretting a decision that I hadn't considered fully.
 
Yes. If I spend money on a horse to do a job (and not break records, lol, I've only got low expectations) it has to vaguly do it. If it can't but can do another job it will get sold. If it can't and its health prevents it going on to do another job it will be PTS. Done the retirement thing with a couple of low maintenance ponies but there comes to a point when you draw a line on collecting horses, especially if riding and competing is what you love and you don't have your own place.
 
Yes - I bought Ella (huge black mare) as a happy hacker, with the thought that she will probably be my last horse, as she was 7 when I bought her and I was late 40s
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. My last horse I had for 19 years until the end of his days. My two older geldings both suffer from health problems, but are enjoying their retirements. If my circumstances changed and I could no longer keep them I would have them PTS at home. I would hope that the two little ponies would be easy to find homes for. All my lot have been bought with the view that they will be here for life, barring unforeseen circumstances.
 
Ditto

Glad I'm not the only one!
TBH I think that retirement is a very human concept, done for our own sake (out of sentiment, fear of pts) rather than for the horses, who live so much more in the now.
 
I have two Mac who is retired he was supposed to last a lot longer than he did but injuries got him.
He's happil retired and thanks to a lovely YO I can just about afford to keep him and my new boy. If Mac get anythoing major then I'm afraid to say it will time for him to go.

If I run out of money, now thats a toughie, do I have Mac PTS and save a little or sell Atty and save a lot.

Hopefully not a decision I will have to make and no point worrying about it until it happens as I'll never be able to guess the exact cicumstances around it.
 
I got my old mare on loan 20 years ago, when I was 11, so no I didn't think long term, but then she was on loan so I guess,I thought at some point she would be taken back? She is now 33 & im 31, I still have her, she is retired.

I then got my boy a friend bred him for me, he's now 13 & as of last year reduced to a "Happy Hack" he's my horse of a life time, so when the time comes he will also be retired fully.

I have recently got a yearling who I hope will be with me again for life. I'm lucky in the fact that I have my own Land now so I can afford to a point to keep them.

If how ever the worst was to happen, I would have both the big horses PTS, My old girl is 33 so I think that would be only fare she's not had a day sick so would hate for her to suffer at the end, & My Boy depending on what went wrong I would have to consider, due to his other issues i.e. putting him through a colic opp or any thing that involved box rest just would not be fare to him - If I could not afford to keep them I too would have them both PTS. Because of her age & his health issues
 
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