Warning: this is a rant!! I'm just so angry with people! I know I can't change it but I thought I'd share with people who can appreciate why I'm angry!
A friend of mine tagged me in this ad for a cute little colt. He's 10 months old, cute little guy. That's about it. I got talking with the woman who owns him and I had to put my phone down.
He was weaned at two and a half month after because he was "eating grain", sold and has been housed by himself for the rest of the time. He's scrawny, has a huge potbelly, his knees stick out at awkward angles, his hips protrude. He strikes, bites and kicks at people. He's not halter broke. They're selling him because he attacked their dog and he needed surgery. He's maybe 12 hands high, parents were 16.2 and 15.3 hh.
She wants an incredible price for him. $2500 and mark my words, she sent me:
" the reason his price is so high is because I know that paint horses are very sought after right now. I could easily get 3500 for him and I think I'd be giving you a deal." She wanted him for her 7 year old daughter and obviously realized she jumped in the deep end. She says she bought him a pony to keep with him and had to sell the pony because he was beating the pony up.
He jumps her fence and has kicked the neighbours and chased their kids, she messaged me:
" what we do to get him back is take a feed bucket and run back into the pasture. It works really well so I think you should keep trying that." This was when I was interested in buying him(before I knew her price)
I just can't stress enough what proper socialization means to the well being of any young horse. Almost ALL of his problems would be fixed if he was turned out in a herd environment and weaned correctly. She says she tried to work with him but he would get nasty so she would quit because it stressed him out!! Ugh the poor guy I would take him in a heartbeat if he was cheaper. It should be illegal to do this to a young animal!
I wish people weren't allowed to breed without some sort of certification or something. I also don't think just anyone should ever be raising a foal. For that matter I think most people should have to pay a fee or a brain sample before being allowed to breed or raise or own any other living thing. Sadly I don't make the rules.
The thing that really sucks is that it is always the innocent animal that suffers.
Wow. Poor little horse. Sorry for the one who has to fix these problems as well, which is so not going to happen for $2500 - that's so ridiculous. I understand your frustration, like you said, so many things could have been different with proper socialisation and upbringing. Like @lightning said, not just anyone should be raising foals.
Be blunt, tell her the colt is obviously dangerous and regardless of how popular paint horses are dangerous colts are worth nothing especially of they are unregistered.
I agree with LoriF above. I would also look out horses advertised in a reasonable local area that are fetching $2,500 - $3,500 odds are that they are well broke and safe. Bombard her with these adverts.
I second Foxhunter, $100 is about all I'd drop for him. That is probably going to be a quite large, quite dangerous horse. Have you seen the Buck Brannaman documentary on Netflix? On there is a woman who owns a very aggresive stallion who will go after everybody and everything - that is how these situations are created. So sad
I actually offered her three hundred, because he's so young and I have a great herd he would be incorporated into. Our matriarch is great at teaching Colts the ways of the horse.
That's when she dropped the price on me.
I did watch the Buck movie, the bottle raised spoiled stallion who they had to put down was an absolutely stunning animal. It's a shame.
People really should stick to buying stuffed animals when they have absolutely no flying clue of what they're doing.
There is a young horse at the property where I keep mine. This guy was orphaned, pretty much stood in a stall or paddock for six years by himself. He was then sold to someone else who didn't know how to handle him and he was finally gelded. That owner who had him gelded beat him within an inch of his life and when the vet showed up to geld he found the horse hanging from a tree almost lifeless.
My friend has him now and he has been sent to a trainer for 60 days to start with. I just asked her a couple of days ago how it was going and her reply was "Well, the trainer hasn't told me to come get my horse yet" so she's hoping it is working out. She's going to see him being worked with sometime next week. I can tell that this is a horse that would have been a dream if he was handled properly from the beginning.
Her plan is to keep him at the trainers for sixty days and hopefully she will be able to ride him at that time and go once a week for extended training and lessons with him. I hope it works out for this guy, he really is a beautiful animal.
I agree. While I personally do not care for a lot of big government regulation, I think that in the case of the extreme pet overpopulation we have in the USA and with the problem of people breeding animals they have no idea how to handle or care for, a license SHOULD be required. Have it cost a bit of money and time, and a lot of these people are less likely to do it.
I'll never forget the story one of my training clients told me. She had a mare who was supposedly 'untrainable', according to the trainer she hired. As a form of refund they were offered a breeding to the trainer's QH stud. Since the mare is an OTTB of supposedly 'incredible' breeding, she accepted. Now she is stuck with FIVE horses that are not being used, one of them a colt who doesn't even have leading manners at almost 2. All the horses stand in stalls with 'runs' attached that are about the size of another stall. They do not get turnout.
I discussed with her all these problems and could not make her see the light. I did get two of her horses trail riding as she wanted me to do. She never rode either of them. @WhattaTroublemaker
This colt sounds exactly like the colt in the buck brannaman documentary. The owner said that she was going to put him down (after he attacked the apprentice guy working with him). No idea if that ever actually happened.
Hopefully a herd and matriarch could fix this colt. I don't hold out too much hope for that though. He sounds extremely dangerous and he's only going to get bigger. If he attacked neighbors and kids, I am shocked that the neighbors have not called animal control yet. A dog attacking somebody especially off the property would have been put down most places.
I fully believe the colt is young enough to be corrected and turn into a great citizen, with the right foundation. I'm still trying to work her down, but I believe it's a lost cause. He's pretty in colour, I'll give him that; but nothing else. I also believe with proper nutrition he would develop correctly as both parents are good solid looking animals. I even have a good mare to turn him out with who would take him in and teach him something. He's small enough that you can man handle him if need be.
It's such a sad world, this side of the horse world. Trouble was completely unhandled and abruptly weaned at nine months old when I bought him but he had the advantage of being brought up with a colt his age, two mares and a stud. It didn't take long for him to get accustomed to my leadership, because he already knew how the hierarchy worked.
He would be a fun project, IF he has no lasting damage from being deprived of nutrients. His knees and legs bother me something fierce. I believe in weaning at four months, but correctly and only if you can provide the nutrient and caloric requirements for a young, developing horse.
Trouble was given a yearling ration balancer, high quality forage and a mineral block, this colt is getting what looks to be less than stellar forage, no nutrients, no pasture and sweet feed as far as I can tell.
I think you should walk away Whatta. This woman is insane. I'd tell her that if she ever decides she just wants to get rid of him at a reasonable price (ie, your offer of 300$), to contact you. Otherwise, forget about this one. There are other horses out there you can start.
This! In fact I'd probably not even offer that much since you'd be putting a fortune into vet bills and a nutrition program. I feel extremely lucky that Cutter was able to come back from the brink of starvation but I've seen it go the other way too. My nephew tried rescuing a yearling from an auction that was malnourished and despite all the he and his vet tried to do for the colt they couldn't bring it back and ended up having to euthanize. It would eat but it couldn't thrive. There was also something about it's joints and what you say about this guys legs reminded of that. Can't tell you exactly what the vet decided it was because it's been years and years ago and I don't remember.
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