Should I send her away?

[lkpink]

Is a cruel to keep an anxious horse that I rescued as a pet for now?. She only seems to behave for me. I've tried to loan her out but she gets nervy and I even ended up going to put the heAdcollar as she wouldn't let anybody else. Only thing is I'm too nervous to ride her. The girl that loaned her thinks I'm being cruel not wanting to send her 100 miles away to her friend to have who is a more experienced owner/rider who can work with her. I'm just so fond of her and don't feel comfortable sending her away. I plan to keep her for a bit, do ground work, lunge her and see where I go. Is this cruel, am I not thinking of what's best for her? Xx

I have a rescue pony as a companion who is nervous and wary. He's been with me six months and we are progressing but very slowly. When I mentioned to the rescue place that I might show him, to give him something to do rather than hang around doing nothing at home she said that as long as he was well cared for re food/environment and handling that there was no specific need for him to have a "job". Love, care and attention were what he needed most. So, as long as she's happy with you then keep her home.

not it is not 'cruel' wtf?
If you keep her by you doing lots of groundwork, and she is happy, why make her unhappy by sending her to a stranger you know nothing about?

No of course not, assuming she gets access to grazing, ideally some social contact with other horses, and a bit of exercise with lunging etc she'll be grand - TLC is more important

Thank u, i feel a lot better now. I really stated to question myself. I know she is happy with me and I enjoy keeping her xx

Horses enjoy being ridden but mostly because they enjoy doing something different, change of scenery and time interacting with the human they trust. You can achieve all of those things without riding! It's beyond me why people can only see horses as happy when they are being useful to a human in some way! Enjoy your horse, build up trust, spend time, long rein, in hand hacking, invent games, teach tricks! A horse can have a wonderfully fulfilled life without ever being ridden

If you look up the five freedoms for horses they are:

Freedom from hunger and thirst
Freedom from pain, injury and disease
Freedom from discomfort
Freedom to express normal behaviour
Freedom from fear and distress

It's sounds as if by sending her away you would cause her fear and distress, although possibly just temporarily whilst she adapted. Either way, there's no "freedom to be ridden". Horses don't wake up in the morning and think "I must have a productive day" or "I want to win Badminton". They're far more worried about having companionship, food, water and the ability to roam. True, many of them enjoy working and doing things but if your girl is happy doing what she's doing, then ignore people saying she should be doing more. Why? For whose benefit?

She trusts you, she is happy with you, she is safe with you, you love her. Keep her with you.

As others have said, horses do not need to be ridden. There are loads of happy horses all over the country, that are never ridden, retired horses, wild horses etc. It sounds like she has had a tough time of it, and she needs to be somewhere where she is relaxed and not made to do things that distress her. If you are happy with her as a pet, and she is happy, who gives a damn what other people think.

If you want to keep her as a big pet and play some games with her from time to time, then that's entirely up to you. She seems to trust you and not others. No you're not being cruel at all, so ignore the silly girl who thinks/says you are.