navaho
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Post by navaho on Dec 31, 2008 16:14:56 GMT 1
Not having had first hand experince of all this ive not really said a huge ammount about it, ive had my own doubts about it but kept it to myself. However in the last couple of days ive had the pleasure of meeeting one of these animals, a really lovely gent whom my OH has fallen in love with. However to say im unimpressed with the whole thing is an understatment! The girl who has "rescued" him hasnt got a clue! She didnt realise how big he was going to be (hes 17hh) & is terrified of him. The poor boy has very very bad mudfever, the worst ive even seen infact, to the point of the vet saying he doesnt know if the damage done is permanent & if he will ever be sound enough to ride Apparently his advert said he had "mild" mudfever! I know these horses are in need of good homes, but surely it would have been fairer to the girl (& any other potential new owners) that bought him to have done a more honest ad, after all not everyone can go & see these horses before they come over. For me it seems like out of the frying pan & into the fire for this boy, hes a 17hh elephant, who is going to cost a small fortune to feed, he may never be sound...& dont even get me started on the state of his feet, how he traveled like that ill never know, & thats all without taking into account hes still entire at the age of 7! Oh & some bright spark has suggested she keeps him entire as she will get £1000 a time for him to cover mares (which she is seriously considering ) So how long is she going to keep him, & the bigger question is when she does sell him who on earth is going to want him? I just cant help but feel sorry for him, but at the same time i do think her money would have been better spent rehoming one of the many horses in this country who are in dire need of a home & at least she could have seen it first. A rather pointless post sorry, but just wanted to vent a little!!
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Post by jackiedo on Dec 31, 2008 16:41:47 GMT 1
Here Here
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Post by stybba on Dec 31, 2008 17:51:06 GMT 1
In my opinion, a 'rescue' is not a horse that should be sold on, it should have a home for life (as far as possible) with the person who rescued it.
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Post by pinkpony on Dec 31, 2008 17:57:57 GMT 1
IMO I dont have a problem with rescue horses being rehomed. Horses can be re-habbed and settled with new families. I hope the owner OP is talking about will do the right thing for the horse involved.
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Post by donnalex on Dec 31, 2008 18:42:51 GMT 1
Not a pointless post at all navaho. You are entitled to your very valid opinion. What breed is the horse? Why does anyone think he will command £1000 stud fee? Surely if they were worth that much they wouldnt need 'rescuing'?
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Post by jackiedo on Dec 31, 2008 18:59:08 GMT 1
My husband wishes somebody would "rescue" him from his job in the NHS for a position like that....
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dizzy
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Post by dizzy on Dec 31, 2008 19:58:27 GMT 1
It makes scary reading Navaho, not only an inexperienced owner with a huge horse but an entire horse as well. I really hope noone would be stupid enough to breed from him, presumably she has no papers? What I don't understand is if she bought him from an advert how is that a rescue? Unless it was a description by one of the rescue sites. I personally don't agree however that rescue horses should stay with the rescuer for life. We brought ours over here and now both are rehomed in permanent homes and we have kept Maybelline's foal. Both now have a useful life and have been saved from being butchered...is that so wrong? At some stage we might consider rescuing again whether from the UK or France, I don't know. BTW, Maybelline is now on permanent loan to a very good friend and Libby belongs to someone on this DG. Hands up if you recognise Maybelline the schoolmistress, she is turning into a complete star and everyone that meets her is smitten by her The guy riding her hasn't ridden since childhood.
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Post by donnalex on Dec 31, 2008 22:52:25 GMT 1
My husband wishes somebody would "rescue" him from his job in the NHS for a position like that.... LOL! I could be tempted out to work too!
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Post by wally on Jan 1, 2009 11:48:10 GMT 1
Our little French rescue is only 3-4 maybe. He is not a sweet little pony for a novice, he was not advertised as such, but he was advertised as friendly........which he is, unless you want to handle his feet! Then it's like dealing with WW1 artillery! We have absolutely no idea of his background, he is nervous, but he cannot "dine out" on his past for the rest of his life. If a well meaning novice person had bought him for a child it would have ended in tears by now. I would not recommend anyone rescuing, unseen from these places unless you really can cope with the unusual and take it in your stride and accomodate it....and the horse for the rest of his life.
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Post by dillypony on Jan 1, 2009 13:35:35 GMT 1
The French rescue horses look like meat horses. What I do not understand is our horse rescue center's have large amounts of horses they cannot home, so why pay for French horses?
If people are just looking for cheap horses any horse auction in the UK has riding ponies from £200 and around £400 for horses. In December a reg Knapstruper , leopard spot colt,15.3hh, 2 years, full papers, full sister sold for £18,000, he sold for £560 he was to die for and if the dealer that bought him had not all ready sold him I would have bought him, the dealer was prepared to pay £1500 but his auction selling price was £560!
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Post by wally on Jan 1, 2009 14:13:54 GMT 1
Sadly it is the "meatman's" threat hanging over the French ones. If the same threat hung over the UK ones more folk would resuce them. It's a very good cynical marketing ploy.
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sixfootblonde
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www.western-saddler.co.uk
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Post by sixfootblonde on Jan 1, 2009 14:56:09 GMT 1
Maybelline looks great. Any photos of her foal?
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Post by emsxx on Jan 1, 2009 15:23:17 GMT 1
With ref to the 17hh gentle giant you met it sounds as though the owner did not think things and risks through properly. Any horse bought unseen could and do have many issues ranging from physical, emotional and spiritual. In fact, any horse you buy can have these issues but you would hopefully have more chance on picking up on this if you saw them in the flesh before purchasing (but as we know, sometimes we don't and sometimes we see and think we'll cope with resolving it).
To me, it sounds as though the owner really didn't think things through. Ignore the mud fever complaint he has for a sec - you describe him as "...a really lovely gent" and yet that the owner is terrified of him. Taking on a big horse, unseen and she is lucky that he is a lovely gent - he could have been horrible, aggressive and bargey and 17hh. If she is scared of a big horse, why choose a big horse. Hence my conclusion that she didn't think these things through and actually she's lucky he's nice.
Secondly, she needs to geld him ASAP before the flies make it a job the vets won't do and before the mares start to get flirty. To even think about keeping him entire when she is already terrified once again proves that she is frightfully inexperienced and not thinking straight.
The lure of £1000 per covering is nothing short of dream land with an unproven, unpapered, no competition history and who-knows-what conformation and frankly - the only reason she is considering it is greed. She needs to put the horse first and the greed should be somewhere else.
I have no problem with any rescue horse being rehabilitated and sold on, for a profit or not, to fund other rescues or not - doesn't matter in the slightest because the important thing is the horse. And, if a horse has been given a second chance to live a worthwhile life then I am happy. I do however, dislike people being greedy when they are already over-faced by a horse and looking to make a quick buck. Whether that is naively thinking of breeding (mare or stallion) or re-advertising with no work put in for a huge profit.
So, in conclusion, she has bought something wholly unsuitable for her and this can happen whether seen or not and whether in this country or any other. She needs to deal with what she has and in my humble opinion, that would be treating the mud fever as best as possible and follow the vet's advice as it sounds serious, getting him gelded ASAP and look to re-home him in the spring. There will be plenty of people out there who would like a large gentle weight carrier. She may not make any money on him, she may make a loss. She can view that with horror or she can view it as a charitable donation. Maybe that will make her think more carefully when she gets her next horse.
But, please do not think that this only happened as she rescued in the way she did - it could have happened just as easily here and just as easily if she'd seen him in an auction ring.
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melissa
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Post by melissa on Jan 1, 2009 21:30:18 GMT 1
Do you know how/where this girl rescued him from? Be interested to know as I was involved with the original French rescues as was Dizzy. I don't tell anyone anything about it anymore for fear of the wrong person getting one of these poor animals. I have heard that one of the regular lorry drivers has arrived to drop off a rescue horse (on more than one occasion) and the person has taken one look at the horse and then said to the driver "Oh I don't like the look of that" or "it wasn't what I expected" and refused to take him/her! "blinking" people There are thousands of people that buy/rescue horses that should not and it makes my blood boil because as always it is the horse that suffers. So anyone considering taking on a horse with unknown history, please expect the worse, expect *nothing* from the horse as some will not be any good for riding and if you are not experienced/knowledgeable and committed please don't do it...for the horses sake.
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navaho
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Post by navaho on Jan 1, 2009 21:37:30 GMT 1
Thanks for all the replies The horse in question has been bought through one of the sites that advertise these horses destined for the meat trade in France. He is a Boulannis (sorry not sure of spelling) & yes he is a lovely lad (my OH would love to have him) but i cant for life of me understand why someone with so little experience would buy him. In short, i do agree with Emsxx, she has summed things up slightly better than i could. I really do hope for his sake she does have the sense to geld him & im keeping my fingers crossed there is no long term damage to his leg (certainly opened my eyes up to mud fever, as i never realised the damage it could do if left untreated for so long, his leg is/was one big infected mass). I do think he has potential in the right hands, but for the life of me i cant think why this girl thought her hands were the right ones!
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