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Thread III: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1311311/posts |
Posted on 09/18/2004 6:56:23 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
The horse needs to be put down. IMO.
Becky
Good Morning.
If he is no longer welcome to stay there, I agree.
I could 'unload' Bay tomorrow too. Free horse, 23 years old, please watch him as closely as I would for signs of pain and don't work him too hard, just take care of him as well as I would without me having to do it or pay for it.
Who would do that?
Heh.... I am surprised they would admit to just "overlooking" it! Yeah - I bet it will come today.
Thanks for adding me to your morning ping list!
Oh, I mostly did pleasure riding toward the 'end'.. I have shown modestly (and mostly locally) and with a couple breed clubs (Apps and Palomino). I've ridden English and Western and done some games too.
I had back surgery when I was 17 so now at 40-something, it became increasingly harder to ride for any great length, let alone do the necessary chores that go along with owning horses.
I've often thought that if I got horses again, maybe I should consider a gaited horse (Paso or something) because of my back, but dad-gummit .. I'm just a walk-trat-canter sorta person .. ha ha
I like big butts and stocky horses ..
I did follow the Arab circuit with a friend of mine in the 80's and even went to Nationals in '84. What fun was THAT?!?!?
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww... I got the 666 post!
You'd be surprised how many people would do that. I just can't understand it myself. I've retired my 16yr old gelding, Tennessee. He's not that old, but he's got contracted heels and seems to have really tender feet, so I just pulled his shoes and turned him out to pasture to supervise Blade and Bob. I'm hoping that by going barefoot with regular trimming, his heels will spread back out. I wouldn't dream of selling him to anyone else. He gave me the best years of his life and he deserves better.
Gaited horses are the way to go for people with back problems. I don't have back problems, I just don't like the bouncing around. And the older you get, the less you like being bounced around. As for walk, trot, canter...well, you can walk, rack, canter. You're just skipping the rough part. :O)
Oh I know a lot of people do it, it's common. The guy who sold Bay to me did it when Bay was 19. People unload horses that they know are about to become someone else's hard decision, and then feel absolved of guilt. But not all horses have some do-gooder that remembers them from their youth and want to give them that home.
It'd be easy to say "well, at least they didn't send him to slaughter", so they are better than those people... but I think that's just a cop out. They didn't send him to slaughter but they gave away the responsibility to someone else that they hope won't, or if they do, at least it's out of sight.
If they care to know for sure that all the future decisions made will be the best for the horse, they should either put him down or provide for him themselves. No one else owes the horse more than the ones he worked all those years for.
That's the position I'm in with Rusty, and he's not even old. I really wouldn't feel right selling him without knowing that he is over his problems, and won't know that till next summer. To sell him now to someone I'd feel obligated to disclose his past health issues. And even if next summer he is OK, I don't know if I could sell him without telling his past. IMO, his problem is one that could re occur easily without good sensible care. So in all likely hood I'm stuck with him:)
Becky
Ok, I've gotten a few horses that way also, but I'm going to defend some of those people who place older horses.
It's not always about dumping the horse. Some of these older horses make excellent horses for kids and inexperienced adults. It's an excellent way for them to acquire a horse to take care of and learn on.
I've acquired horses that way for myself and my kids.. AND I've given a horse or two to someone that I knew would have them for the rest of their lives.
My last mare is living out her days on a friends pasture now. I gave her to them so that their granddaughter has a horse to call her own and she gets brushed, pampered, fed and ridden. She's still in excellent shape.
Sometimes its the best for everyone.
Yeah, it might just have to be that way ... I'll just have to get used to the gaited thing .. hehe
Girl, you say "get used to the gaited thing" like it's a bad thing. When you "get used to it" you'll wonder what you were thinking before and why you waited so long! JMHO. ;o)
lol ... no, not a "bad" thing .. just something i was never really comfortable with. i've ridden TWH, missouri fox trotters, and something else, a Paso Fino maybe? It's just ... well, different.
Please don't take offense.. I don't mean it that way.. lol
Oh, I didn't take offence, a gate maybe, but not a fence. ;o)
I'm just a huge fan of gaited horses of any sort. I love to hear Pasos on the fino boards. It's absolute music to my ears. And the little Icelandics are just such a blast to watch at the Tolt. All that hair blowing back, it's really a hoot. I know they're not for everyone, but I sure do love 'em.
Any kinda horse is better than no horse at all
If I was in a situation where a horse was hard to keep here any more, was older but could still offer perhaps years of enjoyment teaching children to ride, I can conceive that I may lease to a child to learn on, but I personally would retain power over his care, when enough is enough, and control over his disposal. I just think that is what I would do. I am not so presumptuous as to say there aren't good people who would just let go.
But this old horse we are discussing, the one that Cindy got the email about, is beyond that. They say he can't be ridden, 'perhaps lead line'. He's perhaps a couple years beyond the time when he might have had value for a child's horse. He now can't even do that. Who's responsibility is he now? Some stranger, or the people that know what he's given and what he deserves? Maybe, just maybe, because we don't know, he could work for one of those therapy programs. But those places are scraping to get by themselves, they can't take on expensive care programs, they need healthy animals, they aren't a rescue mission for geriatric horses.
I'm ruined for ever being in the horse trading business. I can't sell a horse because I don't fear the first buyer, I fear the next sale after the place I approved of wears him out.
Rusty's a tough one because of his age, he's really young, and with attention to his issues, he's got 15-20 years in front of him. People do buy and sell horses with issues... a horse that has an old bowed tendon, or has recovered from some other ailment or injury, and people will buy those horses even knowing that, especially if there is a well defined treatment or regimen to avoid recurrence.
That said.... If I had him, I probably wouldn't sell him because I'd worry. Not about the people I sell him to, but about whether they'd take care to do right if they gave up. Heck, I can't sell this pony because I don't trust people. So you know how I'd advise :~D
I don't know.... it seems like changing religion, getting a horse that don't trot ;~D
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