Help! Due in 7 weeks and still not found a home for my horse!

[Cydonia]

As the title says really...been trying to rehome my horse for about 3 months to no avail. He's an 18 yr old Arabian gelding, I've had him since he was 6 months old but now I'm pregnant with first DC I'm trying to find a home for him cos I know I'm not going to have the time or m

[Cydonia]

Stupid phone! I'll continue.... Time or money to look after him properly. Problem is he's a bit high maintenance as has bone spavin in both hocks and has had laminitis the last 2 autumns. I started off advertising him as a permanent loan/free to a good home but now I'll consider anything, even a share situation! I registered him with the veteran horse society and he's on their website, plus local websites and tack shops etc. There's no point trying the charities is there? I know they're all full to bursting. Does anyone know anything I can try? Getting a bit panicky now, a few people have suggested having him put down as possibly the kindest option but I just can't do that to him, let alone put myself through the stress of that when I'm almost 8 months pregnant. Any thoughts greatly appreciated!!

[sasamunde]

What about working livery at a good riding school? And persevere with the share - where have you advertised it?

[tazzle]

can he be ridden with the bone spavin ( how bad is it)

have to say with the market the way it is it is hard atm to sell / loan completey healthy young horses .... sorry to be so blunt. Having said that its not impossible but you just have to be in the right place at the right time. I struggled to get a loaner /sharer for my daughters horse when she lost interest and she had no physical problems, it took a year but she has a lovely loaner now.

have you tried horse and hound site ?

[Cydonia]

Ah, no hadn't thought of horse and hound, good idea. He can be ridden, but don't think he'd be sound enough for a riding school as he can't really do school work ie circles etc. more just light hacking really. He's not been ridden since last August either cos he got laminitis and an abscess so was lame for months, by the time he was sound again I was too pregnant to start riding him again! So I don't really know how he is, looks fine in the field but it's not quite the same. Nightmare!

[cazboldy]

i would try the charities - you have nothing to lose!

but to be honest, much as I know you don't want to do it, I think you must give some proper thought to putting him down. Passing him on will likely end in him suffering

It is part of the responsibility you have to him, poor old boy.

realistically, if he wasn't yours, would you want him?

[Treblesallround]

Could you retire him to a fairly sparse field to keep the lami at bay, get someone to look after him while you have the baby then have a little bit of time out each day to look after him?

To be honest, I don't think you'll find him a new home, I don't think many people would want to take on his care and expenses as his ridden career sounds very limited, so effectively you're looking for someone to care for a horse through retirement when they haven't got the history with him to make caring for a non-ridden horse the labour of love that end of life care is for a horse you do have all that history with.

I agree with cazboldy, try the charities if you can't retire him and look after him. Ultimately though, hard as it is, you may have to consider putting him down

[Booboostoo]

I would be very wary of free to good home as someone may take advantage and sell him on for a profit.

Realistically the chances of finding a loan home for him are very slim and you would still need to visit regularly and make sure he was properly taken care of.

Is grass livery not an option at a yard where they appreciated the lami risks? Some retirement liveries are decent and you could find one through word of mouth.

[horseylady]

I agree with the above sadly part of owning a horse. In all fairness the three months you've had him advertised are not good months and there's so many sob stories around it's hard to know what to do for the best. I'd grass livery him over the summer even on a starvation paddock keep him advetised for sale while you have the baby and see what happens. A charity space may come up. If by sept he's still with you look at the pts option. It's hard, I wouldn't want to do that but better than falling into the wrong hands x

[marge2]

God poor you. I am sort of in a similar situation, having to find the money for part livery for a 20 year old, metabolic syndrome and navilcular sufferer who is a very serious laminitis risk. No takers for loan, share or anything. She goes lame regularly, so understandably, nobody wants her - even though she is a lovely ride when she's sound. I can only ride once a week now, thankfully the yard exercises her for me for free when she's sound cos they love her too.

Word of warning, if you do go the grass livery risk be VERY careful about his weight as my girl had never had metabolic syndrome before I was forced to put her on grass livery. She developed it due to her age ( 18 at the time) and the weight she put on at grass, and she had to be box rested for MONTHS and MONTHS.