[Why?]

My dad bought me my first horse. She was not a good horse at all. Very buddy sour. She was in the pasture with her 2 babies for the past 2 years. Then they sold them seperate. Not good. My second horse my aunt and uncle came with and we bought my current horse. He is fairly good.

[Mare]

Isnt this when the trainer should step in and talk to the parents. The parents are thinking it must be a good horse their using it for a school horse.

[jeda_horse]

Originally Posted by 3WishesDun

And I just re-read your first post again..... sigh.... that horse does sound like a trainwreck.... hopefully, somehow, it won't be.... but... yeah...

But we dont know exactly what this girl wants in a horse. If it her first she may not know either.

There is a chance that this horse may just need one little girl to love him and give him special attention and his attitude will change.

There is also a chance this girl will love the horse even if he has to be retired soon.

Lets hope the girl can make the best out of a bad situation if the train leaves the track

[Lou3]

I'm having a situation at the moment which is kind of the reverse. Some friends of the family just bought their 13 year old daughter a horse, and the parents are now afriad to let her ride it. Yet the horse is lovely, she's a real sweetie and absolutely perfect for the child. She's taking a while to settle in and has had a few spooks which has unnerved the non-horsey parents. However the spooks are considerably less than the pony she is stabled with and they just cant understand that she isnt being mean she's just a bit unsettled with the move - they've only had her 3 weeks, its not suprising she hasnt fully settled in yet.
And because they wont let the kid ride the horse the horse is getting bored and is acting up because she's got nothing to do. A couple of days of good riding and she settles right back down again. And it doesnt have to mean that *I* ride her, the kid is quite capable of getting her worked and interested but the parents wont let her do more than walk round the paddock.

Its very frustrating because the horse could be a real gem.
I took her for a ride to let some steam off her the other day and we were cantering through a field when a hare jumped up right under her feet - literally she almost stood on it. Had that been most horses they would have spooked and I would have been on the floor with horse back at the stables. Buttons never flinched! She just kept going in a straight line, ears forwards, totally relaxed until I pulled her up. I took her on the main road with cars flying ast at 6omph so close I could have reached out and touched them and she didnt bat an eyelid, just kept walking steady and nice. Now if that isnt the sort of horse you want for your child for their first horse what is?

[BluEyedCowgurl]

I've seen this happen so many times...sometimes it ends up working out, sometimes not. Never good when it doesn't work out....I've seen some bad horses just get worse with girls who bought them that shouldn't have. We used to have a girl at my barn that her grandparents bought her a horse from a rescue that was a wreck....she never cleaned its hooves, never did anythign with it. The barn owner finally kicked her out because he was terrified the horse was going to drop dead and he'd be liable. We tried everything from just talking to the girl, trying to get her more involved and interested, to trying to approach the grandparents. No one cared. Sad stuff....
On the bright side, my first horse was a train wreck, and it ended up working out for me lol, sometimes I think God was keeping an eye on me. But that's not always the case as we all know.
Maybe the little girl will end up working it out with the horse, lameness and all. You never know...the bright side is better than the dark side, isn't it?

[ImaHorseAngel]

I will say that I have been similiarly in your friends position before. I had taken lessons from this one farm at the time for 7 years. It was the only place that I had ever ridden at. My parents would take me to my weekly lesson. They had no horse sense what so ever. Because I had ridden at this facility for so long my parents felt as though they could trust the owner's of the farm. I felt the same way, as though I could completely trust those people's guidance and opinion. My parents ended up buying me a green broke 3 year old (Jack) from them for like $10,000 for my 15th birthday. He turned out to be a decent horse. While still being at that facility I thought that I could take him to Nationals and win, etc etc. After some time we decided to move the horse. The new trainer asked my parents how much they paid for the horse. When they told the new trainer, her jaw dropped to the ground. Then she told us that his true worth is $3000. Needless to say my parents got ripped off big time because they didnt have any knowledge about horses prior to buying and let themselves get taken advantage of. I remember at that point I was crushed because of all the big plans I wanted to go after with my horse, and the reality was he wasn't the right caliber of horse.

I did learn a huge lesson through Jack. Having an underdog type of horse taught me to be grateful for what I have, make the best of it, and to work even harder for what I want to accomplish. And futhermore, to always make sure you have the right knowledge, resources, and tools when it comes to purchasing horses, etc. Sometimes a person's "word" isn't good enough.

My suggestion is to try and educate your friend as much as possible. Maybe take her and her parents along to some horse sales, offer books, encourage her to ride other horses. Just because the lesson horse is cheap to her parents, doesn't mean that its the right horse for her. Your friend needs to consider what her goals are with owning a horse... for fun or showing (and what level of showing)? What about the trainer at the farm.... does she want the best for her riders or just looking for a buck? A good trainer will try and pair up the right rider with the right horse.....

Just some suggestions and thoughts.

[ottbluver]

I'm not going to buy my kids a horse (if I'm a parent someday, that is...). I'll make them work for it like I have to. That way, they'll think twice about how much they really want the horse instead of saying they have to have a lame horse just because they want it and don't have to pay for it....

[horsedolls]

Ive tried talk to her before and she would be like "No... Me and chewy BELONG together. We have a BOND. Only III can ride him and that makes him the perfect horse for me."

I remember I was at her house looking at horses for sale on the computer and she showed her mom one of them and all her mom said was "Do you want that one instead??"


The trainer and BM are no help. The BM just wanted the horse sold and so did the trainer.

I hope she can 'fix up' chewy. But she really doesnt know that much about horses besides the basics. Maybe Ill email her a few sites and hopefully she wont get offended.

[nickernnod]

We have very non-horsey parents with a very horsey 8 year old daughter right next door. They come over quite a bit and she begs for one every time. Dad finally told her she could have one, but I actually talked him out of it. They wanted to buy her a yearling, so she could "grow" up with it. She's already broken an arm after falling off of a pony. I told them she can come over any time she likes to ride our bomb-proof shetland(she fell off a mini) not ours. She's very timid around them and I don't want her getting hurt from one of ours. I'd never be able to live with myself if she did. I hope they wait a few years and buy one that's been there, done that. I may have offended the dad too, but they really need to see the big picture, before they go out and give the kid what they want, just because they want it.... and are probably getting tired of hearing about it. I know that's one of the reason's he gave in.

[Crazy4Apps]

M first horse was a yearling.I spent a year just leading her around with the saddle and bridle,and got more enjoyment out of that then I did riding the nieghbors horse.I've had her for 6 years now.Didnt ride her for two years cuase I was too scared to ride her,just started riding her again,this past two minths and I'm finding out how great she really is.I learned more about horses growing up with Chicky then I ever have.My riding teacher is my mare Cobra.Shes tuat me alot in that department.I would wait and see how this works out.I know your worried about your friend,but if she rode him in lessons,and she knew him for a while before they got him,you never know.She might do ok with this guy.Maybe theres some real life changing lessons to be learned from this horse.It's hard telling.Just give her as much help as you can.I hope things work out and that everyone stays safe.