What to do about DHorse once DD goes to Uni?

[frenchfancy]

We have 2 horses. 1 is the "family horse" ridden by DH and DD1 and 3 and the other is ridden only by DD2. She is a beautiful horse, regional level for dressage and jumping, but not an easy horse so the rest of the family don't ride her - I used to until a fall from her caused a back injury so I no longer ride.

DD2 is due to go to Uni in September. We are still not sure were she has been accepted (we are in France and the admissions aren't out for another couple of weeks) and there is a chance she might be able to get back at weekends. We don't want DHorse to loose condition as she is in great condition at the moment. There is also a financial concern as there are no student loans here, so we have to fund the living costs for uni (no fees for her thank goodnes - we are already paying for her sister). Both horses are in livery

We would consider a loan, but we live rurally and our club doesn't have many riders good enough to be able to ride her - and those that are either have their own horse or are also heading of to uni.

Selling her would break my DDs heart, she has put so much work into her in the past 3 years and they have both improved immensly. But it is the only solution that seems logical. She could still ride the family horse when she is at home, but would not be able to complete at the same level.

What do others do when the DCs leave for uni?

Tricky. Would you consider a loan to another yard? A horse that competes at regional dressage/jumping would attract a lot of interest as a loan here in the UK - even a quirky one - but I have no idea of the situation in France.

Alternatively could she go to a livery close to the Uni? I have known various students to take their horses with them to Uni, and bring them back home in the holidays (even at livery). You just need to have an understanding livery yard that is prepared to take them back for short periods of time without you paying for the absent place when they are with the Uni student.

Obviously if that were to happen she couldn't compete at the same level, but could still keep horse and do something with her.

Other option - if she can return at weekends that's 2 days out of 7 horse is being ridden - could you at least lunge a couple of times during week to keep up fitness? Is there no-one on your yard who would ride a couple of times per week as a favour?

If all else fails then either keep horse as a field ornament whilst DD at uni, and then bring back into work (definitely not the best option but do-able. I have known horses come back into meaningful work/competition after a very long time off). Or bite the bullet and sell, but be honest about her quirks so you get the right kind of potential buyers.

What does your DD want to do?

If she is a really nice individual with a good pedigree you could think of covering her and breeding a foal.

DD wants the perfect solution where we have all the money in the world, so that she can ride her when she is home. She was hoping that the yard owners son would take her on when she isn't here, but I have had confirmation today that that isn't going to happen (he has changed his direction so no longer wants to do dressage or jumping).

I didn't want the idea of potentially selling to be a deciding factor for her uni place, so we haven't really talked about it before today, but she over heard me talking this afternoon and we have had a long discussion. Many tears have been shed but she does see that selling may be the best solution. She understands that keeping her on a loan or part loan brings an obligation to her to come back at weekends and in the longer term.

Foaling her would be fab, but brings its own Financial implications.

DHorse is 14, so at her prime but won't be in 5 or 6 years time when DD finishes her studies.

This is what we did: DD put her horse out to loan the first two years, to different people. We found loans never lasted more than a year, so be aware of that. Third year she had him at a nearby yard, which worked ok. Final year, back on loan. She now has him back on livery & rides after work & on weekends. All loans were away from us, so loaners took complete responsibility, tho I kept him insured.
We were bound and determined to keep him, bought just backed as a three year old and brought him thru all his training.
This was all in the UK, and Dhorse, while not a novice ride is fairly straightforward & doesn’t buck, rear or bolt.
You might explore a loan as above as an option (BHS has a good standard contract) & sell as a fallback. I do not know the situation in France, but in UK there is a ready market for sound loan horses.

Please don’t breed the horse, there are thousands of unwanted horses out there. Even if the horse is talented does not mean the foal will be a good one - are we talking Elementary dressage or PSG or above in which case some young professional might be happy to loan her.

I think id sell. There's no guarantee after uni that your dd would be in a position or want to take the horse back on and a tricky but talented 14yo horse would be a lot easier to sell than a 17yo past its prime. It would be different if the rest of the family could ride her.