Wondering if it's just me..?

Kellys Heroes

Kellys Heroes

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As I'm sat here at this time of night with my glass of wine (when I should probably be in bed as I've got beasts to feed early am! :P), I'm wondering if this is me being over sensitive or if other people feel this way too?

I'm just wondering why there are so many good horses being wasted - sound ponies shut away all day or left in the field for days at a time without anybody checking them?
Maybe because Kelly has been unrideable for 5 months and counting but I really feel for these horses :( they could be having so much more done...

P.S I am NOT poking at people who sometimes don't have time to ride their ponies on the odd day they work late etc or because of personal situations, just the people who can't be bothered getting out of bed or going out in the cold to see their horses. Makes me sad :(
 
Unfortunately there are lots of horses like this, there are a few at my yard who are lucky if their owners visit once per month.
One is so grossly fat I worry for his health.

I dont see the point in having horses if you never go to see them or look after them.

There is many a day I'd love to say bugger it, I need a day off but with 4 I've no chance, I dont get holidays either because of having them - but they are worth it and I wouldn't want it any other way x
 
Not just you at all. There's 5 that I don't think have seen a saddle all year :eek:

There are 9 in total and I ride two of them (one is mine the other I feel sorry for), another I think has gone out once this summer with me, another is ancient and is ridden everyday.

There always seems to be an excuse too... tendons, naughty, too old (at 20?) etc. I always feel like saying 'get a different one then!' but I think they just don't want to ride.

Some people will always be happy with just knowing they have one I guess.
 
ditto. i know of three owners who have three to eight horses between them and because it hasnt worked out they dont even handle them and no one else does neither !Quite ferral what a shame
 
Surely better to have a sound horses 'wasted' in a field, than when you see unlevel/lame horses trotting along roads... If their basic care needs are being met - food, water, shelter, company, worming etc they are probably quite happy standing in a field?!
 
It's not just you - I struggle to ride H during the week and I hate it - he might be 18 but is full of life and I hate him doing nothing - credit he is out 24/7 and is really happy - but his face tells me sometimes 'come on i need a change of scenary' it breaks my heart. I see him twice a day so know he is ok.
 
Not just you!! There are some cracking horses at our yard that just do nothing (and one poor beast that has the same dressage lesson with its rider day after day - she just can't seem to progress past one point!)...

The horse I feel saddest about is a cracking little cob owned by mum and daughter (so you'd think it was double the fitness). No... mum rides it in the morning in the indoor school, irrespective of the weather, looking terrified and it seldom progresses past trot. Daughter takes it for a 20 minute hack occasionally in the evenings, usually under sufferance. The horse is massively obese, bad tempered and obviously bored out of its skull. What a waste!!
 
I agree there are lots of horses/ponies who are neglected, but in my mind as long as their needs are met feed, water, company regular vet visits I am not one of the types who moan about horses not being ridden.
I love riding my mare but love just spending time with her also just watching her graze is nice and relaxing, at the moment she is in foal so no riding for a long time.
 
Some people make all the excuses under the sun not to ride but basically it usually boils down to them, not the horse. Or they think "groundwork" is an alternative to riding. Or lunging.

The worst case I came across was when I was at uni and horseless and I befriended an older woman who owned a fantastic warmblood gelding. Unfortunatley it was 6 years old and unbroken though well handled. I offered to ride it for her and pay for shoeing but she just wasn't keen - I guess she thought I wasn't competent enough. Years later the horse was still in the same field doing nothing. I then heard that she had passed away and the horses disappeared from the field. I always wondered what happened to that horse.

I also saw an unbroken 9 year old 16.2 gelding advertised for sale recently.
 
I think its a shame sometimes but as long as they are looked after properly then Im sure the horses are fine with that. A lady at my yard has 2 that she doesnt ride but they are very well looked after and seen to everyday.
Personally I wouldnt pay out all that money not to ride but thats just me! It does annoy me thou if its because poeple cant be bothered with them.
 
No it is not just you.

When I moved to my yard I posted here about a clause in my contract that said " owner must do something with their horse at least 3 times a week" i.e. something more than pat its nose muck out and run.

All hell broke out on the forum with people saying "big brother yard" "like to see them insisting I worked with my Laminitic" .....(What!) and various other "how dare they" comments.

But I can say hand on heart we have 20 horses at our yard and all of them are worked in some way if not ridden every time walked in hand, lunged, etc, (even the 32 year old shettie gets to wander round the yard and a walk in had along the cycle paths) at least 4 times a week, and to be honest I have never seen happier horses.

The one person on the yard who since they have been out 24/7 has left their horse doing nothing has just been asked to leave as they do not fit in with the yard ethos.
 
Tbh as long as the horse is looked after, I can't see too many hankering after more work. I am of the 'prefer to ride' group, but as long as the horse is well looked after with food/socialising/health care etc catered for then it doesn't bother me. As another poster said, what winds me up far more is the ridden horses that don't look up to it because of not being fit enough for what they are being asked or their basic needs not being met so they are lame, very poor etc.
 
I'd like to issue a grave warning to owners who think that summer is a time to chuck the horse out in a field and rarely go to see it. A horse has recently arrived at my yard for months of box rest after an appalling injury that may yet cost him his life. He hadn't been checked in a week or more, just a passing glance to confirm he was in the field and the right way up. Thank god, he was visited just in time - hind leg split open from hock to floor, bone and tendons staring at you, maggots. Enough. You get the idea. How he isn't dead I don't know. The bone was chipped in 3 places and though granulation tissue is now forming and almost covering the bone, if a bone infection has set in he's buggered. And god knows whether he'll ever be able to walk properly again. Poor, poor lad. I know of another incident when a walker reported a small pony almost dead on the side of a hill. The elderly pony had got out through the fencing and had lost her footing on the steep slope. She had been unable to get up and was stuck for about 3 or 4 days, head down on the hill. She was just alive when the yard got to her but dead by the end of the attempted rescue. She hadn't even been missed for god's sake. What sort of death did she die?

I mean these stories to be shocking. Please everyone - check your horse carefully every day. It needn't take more than 10 mins if the horse gets used to you appearing with a carrot. Don't you owe him that much????????
 
Does it not depend on the horse and it's lifestyle? I've seen plenty of horses left alone in a field and they are all very happy, as long as not going without food, water, shelter, company, care etc i don't think they mind.

But one of mine gets grumpy if not ridden, he's out of action at the moment with a kick and you can tell he just wants to be brought in and ridden poor man, normally he runs off in the field and makes me work to catch him, at the moment he running to me as if to say please, is it my turn now?? lol
 
gosh, that sounds awful. Even if you choose not to ride, def doesn't get you off needing to care for your horse!!
 
Oh no if horses are happy and are looked after, I think that's totally fair enough I understand not 100% of rideable horses are ridden and thats their life and they're happy and content with that :)
Just one case that comes to mind - a superb little pony at a friend's yard - he is left out Fri night - Mon morning and not checked, and is grossly overweight and I mean, terrifyingly to me. You can see the fat wobble as he's moving and his crest is solid. He's often not seen to until 12 noon (which again, would be fine should they have at least water!) and until then he kicks his door, through boredom.
However, the little girl has decided she wants to go to a show this week and jump him (he is no way fit enough) and I know she'll fall out with him should he not do well :( He's such a fab pony I KNOW that if they just asked someone to exercise him, nobody would have a problem doing so!
Its not just youngsters either, I know of plenty of adults - in fact whilst exercising a friends mare this morning we were told "I've got nothing to ride and I'm bored...well I'm paid up with (loan pony) till August, but I can't be bothered riding him"
I'm just not understanding of people like this???! :confused:
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
I'd like to issue a grave warning to owners who think that summer is a time to chuck the horse out in a field and rarely go to see it. A horse has recently arrived at my yard for months of box rest after an appalling injury that may yet cost him his life. He hadn't been checked in a week or more, just a passing glance to confirm he was in the field and the right way up. Thank god, he was visited just in time - hind leg split open from hock to floor, bone and tendons staring at you, maggots. Enough. You get the idea. How he isn't dead I don't know. The bone was chipped in 3 places and though granulation tissue is now forming and almost covering the bone, if a bone infection has set in he's buggered. And god knows whether he'll ever be able to walk properly again. Poor, poor lad. I know of another incident when a walker reported a small pony almost dead on the side of a hill. The elderly pony had got out through the fencing and had lost her footing on the steep slope. She had been unable to get up and was stuck for about 3 or 4 days, head down on the hill. She was just alive when the yard got to her but dead by the end of the attempted rescue. She hadn't even been missed for god's sake. What sort of death did she die?

I mean these stories to be shocking. Please everyone - check your horse carefully every day. It needn't take more than 10 mins if the horse gets used to you appearing with a carrot. Don't you owe him that much????????
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And I can't tell you how much I agree with this, Box_Of_Frogs! I despair when people throw out their horses on the first day of turn out and leave them until the last day of turn out! What should happen if they sustained a kick, or bite? And if they're overweight and they develop lami? Untreated, it doesn't bear thinking about! As you said it doesn't take 10 minutes to check the horse out.
On the other hand, I know people who give their horses the summer off in the field - however, they come to the farm at least once a day to check their horses, and the horses come in for the occasional hard feed and night in the stable.
 
no does my head in too. people who just buy rideable horses and dont ride them and imo completely waste them too.

Im yet to buy again, so these people really get to me. buy a cat or somthing :D lol
 
A quote from someone I know:

Her "Oh, now she is down at the new yard I see her at least twice..."
Me "A day?"
Her "Noooo... hahaha... a week! I ride her once, and check she still has 4 legs the other time"
Me "What about the other days?"
Her "I ask ******'s sharer to look over the fence at her"
Me "But ***** is only here 3x a week...?"
Her "Exactly, she is looked at 4x a week"

(one of the days overlapped it seems)

Later on in the conversation

Me "Wow! You have some gorgeous riding here, I wish I had tracks like this that I could trot and canter on regularly!"
Her "I don't go out of walk with her"
Me "Why?"
Her "It teaches her bad habits!"

This is someone I despair of... pretty much constantly!
 
Oh god...
I'm of the belief that horses = full time therefore;
7 days a week = 7 x checks (even if you don't ride etc!) on your horse, at least!!!

Someone I know has their ponies living out in summer, but one pony came down with lami about 4 weeks ago - so she recovered, is fine now and got put straight back out, same as before and they only go down at weekends. I'd be a little more cautious I think!
 
jack9 said:
no does my head in too. people who just buy rideable horses and dont ride them and imo completely waste them too.

Im yet to buy again, so these people really get to me. buy a cat or somthing :D lol
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But if the horse is looked after, fed, feet trimmed, groomed.... If all his needs are being met and he is happy out 24/7 with company (and is not overweight by the way) then I don't see how they are being 'wasted'. I really doubt my horse stays awake worrying about not competing - he's happy enough being a horse.

BTW he has had about 9 months off due to my postgrad course at Uni. I did try and find a suitable sharer without success. I have been up each and every day to check on him (was stabled overnight in the winter). Most likely I will start riding him again now I have the time but certainly don't feel he has been wasted in any way!
 
If they are looked after, fair enough :)
The horses I was thinking of are more of the unchecked, unridden types and the owners most commonly used phrases are "I'll do it tomorrow" or "I can't be bothered"!! Even though they have good sound horses who would turn out to be really nice horses :(
And then there are plenty of us who have unsound horses, who we're trying to fix - whom we'd otherwise be riding every day! :(
 
I agree with you there, funnily enough when he was in full work and then had an injury I hated not being able to ride!!

I just don't get the 'wasting' horses comment from the previous poster.
 
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