Selling beloved pony and how to do it!

[Ponyclubkick]

My daughter has outgrown her beloved pony who we have had for the last 5 years and it’s time to decide what to do next which is absolutely breaking my heart.

I wish I was in a financial position with the option of keeping him with us or putting into long term loan but unfortunately we are not and with two girls and two ponies we now need to decide what to do next.

He is absolutely great and PC all rounder with a great jump and no doubt we will find him another local PC home which of course be vetted to an inch of its life but just not really sure how to go about it and also what to ask for him.

For context He’s a 12.1 19 year old Irish sports pony lots of life, energy, cheek in him, he’s done everything from camp to area dressage to PC games, and has qualified for mini champs with both my girls.

Would you sell locally enough/into the same PC so that’d you bump into him weekly, is that fair on anyone, or would it be better to have home close by so girls would still get to see.

What do I ask for him? He is obviously an older pony (not that you’d know it) and I want to ensure he’s going somewhere fantastic. Home obviously comes ahead of the money but I’m wondering if asking for that bit more will give me a bit more reassurance that his well-being is priority...

We also need to find something else for daughter and will obviously need more that buttons!

I could really do with some advice as just can’t think about if objectively without the emotional attachment involved.

[Ponyclubkick]

I wish loaning him was an option, I really do but we don’t want to loan the next pony up due to bad experiences (Pony been taken back, etc) so financially need to money to buy the next.

Our options are to sell or loan and daughter doesn’t ride.

[Floralnomad]

I agree with @Piggy42 , he’s getting on and if he’s as good as you say it should be fairly easy to find him a decent loan home .

[CountryCob]

In terms of prices generally we are looking and have seen very young and older ponies - later mid teens. Both ends of the spectrum were asking about £4k, I would be happier at around 2/3 as the mid teen would soon be older and the other is green but maybe I am not being realistic. What sort of price were you thinking?

[Piggy42]

I think at 19 you should put him out on loan. He’s given you the last, best 5 years of his life you need to be responsible for him now.

[CountryCob]

I think it is really hard and feel for you. A ponies value is more than financial and I bought a pony in its mid 20s but not for very much at all/ virtually free. The pony was lovely but the responsibility of the pony most likely needing to be retired with us and having increased health issues was quite daunting. In the end we had 3 great years. Some ponies do go on forever and a good pony is very desirable but I would be worried about taking the responsibility for an older one on. Sorry if that sounds heartless

[Ponyclubkick]

Thank you, we are hopeful to keep to a PC home so hopefully sometime we will know.

[VeganVampire]

We asked more for our old pony (23 when we sold him, 25 now and still cantering in stubblefields) and sold him to someone that we knew, but wasn't very local. I wouldn't sell an old pony to someone I didn't know and trust. We sold another pony to someone in our own pony club and it was really nice to see her pootling around with a new smaller jockey.