I don't know how some of these people buy and sell their horses like they're toys to be traded...
"I'm tired of this one, let's sell it to someone who will buy it for the most money I can get and then I'll get a new, SHINY one!"
I understand that sometimes someone will take on a horse as a project with the intent of training and rehoming it, but there are people I'm acquainted with who talk about horses they've had in the past like they were a pair of shoes they outgrew.
Why isn't there longevity in their relationship? I've had my mare for eight plus years now, and she will likely die with me and be buried in my pasture some day. Sure she has pissed me off in the past, sure she's not great at dressage, SO WHAT?
I can't imagine rehoming my kids... I understand there is the possibility that it could maybe be required some day, if I were to fall on hard times, if I had to make the hard decision to part with them in order to ensure that they still receive the quality of care they needed... but it would be when the waters were about to swallow me up before that happened.
I think of Ivan when I hear people talking of swapping and trading and selling and buying... and I think of what lengths I'd go to in order to have him back. I miss my horse. I hope he's ok... wherever he is. I still have a hard time thinking of him. Moving forward after a death has so many starts and stops.
Anyway, I just don't know how someone can say "Oh that horse was my HEART horse", but yet they sold them. CLEARLY they don't really know what the term really means.
I completely agree! Animals are my forever. There is someone at my barn that is going to sell my horses pasturemate because he "can't do anything else with him". He is a well trained horse. He's naughty as hell but great and curious mind. Younger. I don't understand why he wont keep him and just enjoy having his well trained buddy, you know. So I completely understand.
ReplyDeleteIt's just a shame. They're a huge commitment, and when you just let them go after building a bond and trust with them, it feels like a betrayal to me. I suppose that is semi-unrealistic in the real world, but I am way more committed and loyal than most, maybe. It's one thing if this was always the plan. I know that a trainer who takes on a horse, puts lots of training in them, and then turns them for a profit is actually doing the horse a good service by improving their chances of finding a home. All these potential buyers out there who are not equipped or savvy enough or young enough or healthy enough [insert reason here] to be able to train their own green bean but can still ride and want good behavior are exactly the target market for a trainer who is putting a well trained horse on the sale list. But all the rest, the ones who try horses on like they're shoes and then discard them when they don't put in the minimum amount of effort to keep the horse disciplined and secure in his place in the herd hierarchy, these are the ones that irk me. The people who do their horses a disservice by letting their horses walk all over them and develop bad habits, the ones that turn around and look for a new horse to ruin, these piss me off. Oh, and let's not forget the owner who keeps a horse for a few years until it is older, and then sells it off during its senior years just because. It's a damn disservice.
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