Dilemma 1: I have been thinking about buying the orange horse. I have talked to his owner and she wants more money than I have for him, but is willing to come to an agreement about payment. But it's an awful lot of money, mote than I have ever spent before.
He is a lovely horse, I am really enjoying riding him, I feel very comfortable on him, like I have had him a long time. Obviously we still need to spend a lot of time together but if I take him slowly he could potentially go a long way. I have seen him free jump a 1.40 oxer from a trot and it cleared it easily. He has previously jumped up to 1.25m with placings so he is a good horse.
Connie is a super horse but I don't know how much further she will go, though I'd love for her to do 1.30m classes. It's hard to know how scopey she is, and if (heaven forbid) she should get injured I'm suddenly without a horse that is competing at NZEF level.
Still I don't know whats going to happen in the next couple of years, where I will be, what work I will have etc, but I do want to keep advancing in SJing. At the same time I don't want to financially cripple myself, but then I could always on sell him if I get into trouble. Tough one eh?
Dilemma 2: What do I do with Kate. I can't keep her really. I don't need foals as much as I'd like from her, the uncertainty of the next few years means I really shouldn't be breeding. It's one thing to sell competition horses, quite another to sell young stock. I don't feel like it's fair for her or me for her to be wandering around a field for the next 10 years. I wont have time to look after her. So I can sell her or put her down.
Now selling her appeals because then I don't put her down. She is a lovely breeding quality mare but I feel some people don't look after their broodmares well and I don't want Kate to end up in a bad position where she isn't looked after properly. She is a lovely mare and she deserves better than that. If I was staying her working on the farm I would keep her, but the time has come to move on and so things have to change.
If I do put her down I know that she will never suffer and that she will never end up in a bad position. There aren't many options for an unsound horse, and I have always been an advocate of euthanasia. I feel you never hear people say I wish I had waited to put him down, but you often here people say I should have done it much earlier. She is fat and happy at the moment so she would go out on a good note. So yea I'm torn about what to do in both situations really. Boo.
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Wow! Big stuff to deal with.
ReplyDeleteI would vote for buying the Ginga so you have 2 horses. But that's easy for me to say!
And as for Kate... that is hard. I totally empathise with your feeling about selling her into a bad situation. With my old mare I was lucky to find a foster family for her, but when she comes back I dunno. Can you at least give her the summer to try to find a great home, and then make the final decision before winter?
Probably not much help really, but my 2c worth.
Nothing wrong with Euth'ing in my opinion. It's the responsible thing to do if you can't find the perfect broody home for her, even if it would be sad for you.
ReplyDeleteAnd I vote for buying that gelding too. We only truly regret the things we did not do.