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Originally posted by kysheeplady

Hi Janis,
That is a hard one, I don't think anybody can tell another person what is right for them. I always think a pro and con approach works best. And then there are times that our heads are left far behind by our heart.
Hubby and I did something like that for an Amish fellow. He needed some cash and came to us for help, he wanted to sell his Haflinger team, but did not want them going to someone who would not take care of them. We gave him the cash and still allowed him to use them as his own. We fed and pastured them. When he needed them to work he came over and took them (we lived across the road)
He moved away a few years later and we had the girls two beautiful sisters. And we kept them for another 2 years after he moved away, and then one day as I was watching the girls in the pasture I thought what a lonley life for them this must be ... to never be worked again, to never be around other horses and so on.
It was clear what we had to do. We found someone who was wanting a matched pair of Haflingers and rehomed them to him. The person we rehomed them with was a man of about 60 years young and wanted to work them on his small farm.
Sometimes I think we are put in the spot and on the spot ... for the right reasons.
I wish you much luck!



Teri

"There are black sheep in every flock"

White Sheep Farm
www.whitesheepfarm.com

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Originally posted by crittergranny

Jan that is such a sweet story. As a breeder and trainer I would share this advice with you. The first thing is to make sure you are able to handle the horse at home by yourself. One has to be firm with even the sweetest horses or else they will get pushy. The thing is that a horse that can't be ridden is not marketable at all, and if you take him you will be stuck with him for life. No One wants a horse that can't be ridden unless it is a high dollar broodmare. Now as far as travelling you have to determine how much you want to travel. You will have to be there every day to feed him or else have someone else do it. Maybe the rescue folks would but then will the rescue folks still do it for you 10 yrs from now. That is a pretty young horse with a lot of years ahead of him. As for the friends 20 miles away well, I'm 120 miles away from everywhere, literally, and I manage to go to town and leave 19 horses for the day. If he is in a secure pasture or pen then he is ok alone for the day. Also in the summer if you have a large pasture then he would be ok for weeks just grazing as long as he has water. But probably not in the winter, unless you have very mild winters, I didn't notice your location. In the winter water freezes up and they have to be fed hay every day. Now as far as if he can travel, yes if you have a horse trailer, minimal price 1500 to 3000, and a large enough vehicle to pull it with. But then there is the issue of where would he stay when you get to your destination. Do the folks you are visiting have somewhere for him to stay, and is it safe from boards with nails, too much grass that he isn't used to is there shelter from rain etc...Which are also things you have to consider about your place before you bring him home too. Also if he is used to other horses then you will need to consider how he might react to being alone. Some horses pace when they are alone which makes it difficult to keep weight on them. I would say that if you were to decide to take him then you would want to do it on a 3 month trial basis, put in writing, because it WOULD take that long to really see what you have gotten yourself into. But even then they may tell you they will take him back but they will have to put him down because there is no room for him any more. Just please consider that he DOES have a place right now and he is very lucky to have that and if you take him out of that situation and can't keep him then you will have taken away what he has now and there probably will not be anywhere else for him to go thus you will probably have to face putting him down. Even though you don't ride you probably do want to have a broke sound horse that you can find a home for if you need to. Just take into account the rescue is set up to keep rescue horses and you are not. And if he is fat and happy there then it doesn't get any better for him than that. There are gobs of rescue horses that have far more potential, thus making it easier on you if you have to pass it on sometime. Does the rescue have any other horses that you would like and that can be ridden? Just because you don't ride doesn't mean you don't need something that can be ridden. Horses with health and soundness problems can also be a money pit and a drain on your psyche. If the horse is in pain you will be spending what you can to help him whether you ride him or not. Just keep in mind that most horse rescues get funds from donors so they have the funds to do that and you may not. And to be honest with you I would be a tad bit suspicious about them wanting to match you up with him instead of a better horse. However if they are sincere then you may talk to them about doing a foster care situation, or what is called a feed lease, just be sure of their character because again they may someday tell you they will only take him back to put him down, thus holding you as an emotional hostage and forcing you to keep him. Unfortunately there are some ruthless people in this world. Basically once you have a horse for a while it can feel like selling your firstborn. A rescue horse even moreso because there arent very many people that are good to horses that don't want something better. And another thing to think about is even though you don't ride , if you were to rescue a broke horse then maybe you have a grandchild or someone that could take riding lessons and ride it, thus you have provided a many fold blessing by fostering a love for horses in a child.
Laura

Horse poor in the boonies.

www.nmbarrelhorses.com

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Originally posted by crittergranny

Janis that is such a sweet story. As a breeder and trainer I would share this advice with you. The first thing is to make sure you are able to handle the horse at home by yourself. One has to be firm with even the sweetest horses or else they will get pushy. The thing is that a horse that can't be ridden is not marketable at all, and if you take her you will be stuck with her for life. No One wants a horse that can't be ridden unless it is a high dollar broodmare. Now as far as travelling you have to determine how much you want to travel. You will have to be there every day to feed her or else have someone else do it. Maybe the rescue folks would but then will the rescue folks still do it for you 10 yrs from now. That is a pretty young horse with a lot of years ahead of her. As for the friends 20 miles away well, I'm 120 miles away from everywhere, literally, and I manage to go to town and leave 19 horses for the day. If she is in a secure pasture or pen then she is ok alone for the day. Also in the summer if you have a large pasture then she would be ok for weeks just grazing as long as she has water. But probably not in the winter, unless you have very mild winters, I didn't notice your location. In the winter water freezes up and they have to be fed hay every day. Now as far as if she can travel, yes if you have a horse trailer, minimal price 1500 to 3000, and a large enough vehicle to pull it with. But then there is the issue of where would she stay when you get to your destination. Do the folks you are visiting have somewhere for her to stay, and is it safe from boards with nails, too much grass that she isn't used to is there shelter from rain etc...Which are also things you have to consider about your place before you bring him home too. Also if she is used to other horses then you will need to consider how she might react to being alone. Some horses pace when they are alone which makes it difficult to keep weight on them. I would say that if you were to decide to take her then you would want to do it on a 3 month trial basis, put in writing, because it WOULD take that long to really see what you have gotten yourself into. But even then they may tell you they will take her back but they will have to put her down because there is no room for her any more. Just please consider that she DOES have a place right now and she is very lucky to have that and if you take her out of that situation and can't keep her then you will have taken away what she has now and there probably will not be anywhere else for her to go thus you will probably have to face putting her down. Even though you don't ride you probably do want to have a broke sound horse that you can find a home for if you need to. Just take into account the rescue is set up to keep rescue horses and you are not. And if she is fat and happy there then it doesn't get any better for her than that. There are gobs of rescue horses that have far more potential, thus making it easier on you if you have to pass it on sometime. Does the rescue have any other horses that you would like and that can be ridden? Just because you don't ride doesn't mean you don't need something that can be ridden. Horses with health and soundness problems can also be a money pit and a drain on your psyche. If the horse is in pain you will be spending what you can to help her whether you ride him or not. Just keep in mind that most horse rescues get funds from donors so they have the funds to do that and you may not. And to be honest with you I would be a tad bit suspicious about them wanting to match you up with her instead of a better horse. However if they are sincere then you may talk to them about doing a foster care situation, or what is called a feed lease, just be sure of their character because again they may someday tell you they will only take her back to put him down, thus holding you as an emotional hostage and forcing you to keep him. Unfortunately there are some ruthless people in this world. Basically once you have a horse for a while it can feel like selling your firstborn. A rescue horse even moreso because there arent very many people that are good to horses that don't want something more useful. And another thing to think about is even though you don't ride, if you were to rescue a broke horse then maybe you have a grandchild or someone that could take riding lessons and ride it, thus you have provided a many fold blessing by fostering a love for horses in a child.
Laura

Horse poor in the boonies.

www.nmbarrelhorses.com

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Originally posted by Alee

I just want to throw an idea out there- you could always put a flyer up at the local feed store saying something to the effect of "would like to make contact with someone who could help with horse feeding or horse sitting" I find it good to make contacts before you need them for the weekend trip- but you might be surprised how many people would be willing to horse sit! Maybe have them out a few times once your rescue settles in so they learn the routine and you can make sure they are trustworthy.

Also horses can also get companionship from other animals such as dogs and goats too. My arabian used to play tag with my old dog when I would kick my dog's jolly ball for her. They form a "herd" with what they have- including you!

Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
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