My sob story.

This is a long story but to keep it short:

I bought this horse for $3500 and at the time I thought he was worth it. He was supposed to eight years old, broke for kids, and overall a good horse. He was purchased for an eight year old so he had to have patience and control.

We got him home and he was a beautiful paint. The previous owner got on him and he acted up a bit but we blamed that on the trailer ride since he came a long ways.

Then we got on him ourselves. He was awful he wouldn't let us do anything with him, so there he sat for four years. Finally when I had gotten through some personal problems I realized he couldn't just sit for four years, so we brought him to a trainer.

The trainer was excellent. He was a really great guy and we trusted him to do what he could to make the horse ride-able. He stayed there for about three days before we got a phone call. The horse had an injury. A bad one. We couldn't ride him, not because he was bad but because he hurt. If we had been paying more attention, we would've caught this because he was so good about everything until we asked him to work.

Besides that we had went four years without papers. We got his papers and it turned out he was four years older than we were told. So the seller lied about the age and ride-ability. And for what? Money.

More importantly than those lies is the fact that not only were we cheated but the little girl, who was to own her first horse, her heart was broken. Its hard for "adults" to put down their horses so how must it feel for a little girl who had her hopes up to ride him for the first time in four years to have to make the decision of life or death for her first horse who is so injured he can't even get up? How must the "seller" of the horse feel to smash her dreams for money?

That's my sob story. RIP, buddy, sorry we didn't know before hand.

Some lessons are difficult to learn and hard to swallow when we realize we've made them. Some people are simply greedy and do not know how to do what is "right". Some are simply naive. Unfortunately it is those who are innocent who take the brunt of it all. It sounds like you are carrying quite a burden though, knowing that it took so long for you to discover what was going on. I feel for you and the girl who lost her dear horse....

*hugs*

I'm so sorry this happened to you.

It wasn't your fault....

My last horse was slightly similar, where they told me they had done all this work with the horse and such. It wasn't nearly as bad as yours but it turned out that mine had an back/shoulder injury that may or may not be fixable. She was a mare, and I didn't have the money to work through it all so I ended up giving her to somebody who knew about the problem and was willing to take her on. But it turned out that because of the nature of the injury that the previous owner must have been aware of it, and I wish they would have told me.

I'm so sorry for your experience with that horse, and I hope nothing like that ever happens to you again.

Thanks.

But sometimes I find myself looking out the window in the morning waiting to hear him neighing, "Wake up its time to feed me." before I remember... he's not there anymore. We still have the other horses but he was such a sweetie...

I don't know. I guess I'm getting better... I like to imagine him in "horsey heaven" with my all of my other horses that have passed... I like to think "well at least now he can run and eat as much as he wants"

I am sorry for your loss and to your daughter. She has a big heart o know to not let him suffer and to that i commend her heart. One day you will find something that she will fall in love with. But there is nothing like the love of that first horse though. In time she will find one just as special as buddy.

He is in horsey heaven, and will always remember you. I'm sorry it turned out that way, must've been one of the most difficult decisions for you....