On The Other Hand...

I couldn't let you guys think I was going soft, in the head, belly or emotions.
Obviously Becky (Blog of) smelled weakness in the air like a shark on a blood trail, because she sent me this.
She got me good.
I cracked up.
My sarcasm started boiling and I had to admit...some things still absolutely, positively make me wonder how certain kinds of people can find their way out of a paper bag, much less into the land of horses.

Purebred Arabian Mare 

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Date: 2012-03-29, 12:46PM PDT
Reply to: 

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13 years old Chestnut. Purchased when she was three years old. However, a few weeks after purchasing her I had major spine surgery and a second spine surgery two years later. So I've never been able to ride her. She was green broke when we purchased her and has not been ridden in ten years. We lost her stable mate of ten years in July. Because of my spine surgeries I will not get another horse and I know she is lonely for another stable mate and will sell only to someone who has another horse/horses. Must go to a home where Natural Horsemanship is practiced. She needs Natural Horsemanship Training on the ground and in the saddle. Facilities must be approved by owner. I never got papers for her as I did not plan on breeding her nor showing her in Purebred competitions. She and our other Arabian were going to be used for trail riding. Well behaved in the stall, friendly, leads well. Please do not contact us if you do not use and practice Natural Horsemanship Training and Techniques. If interested, please call only between the hours of 9 am to 3:30 pm (CALLS WILL NOT BE EXCEPTED BEFORE OR AFTER THESE HOURS) or send E-mail address via this ad.

This ad is killing me. First off, I think this is a very cute mare.

Now lets get into it.

This is why I have a problem with people committing themselves to the concept of "forever horses."

Life doesn't always work that way.

You cannot tell me this woman didn't know,oh, let's say after her second surgery, she wasn't going to be toodling down the trail on a green broke horse any time soon. I'll bet her doctors shared that information. They do that, those dang doctors. They say stuff like, "You won't be able to ride."
It's part of the doctors code I do believe.

By doing a little bit of simple math (which believe me, is all I'm capable of) about the time the owner came out of her second surgery, this mare was five, at the very most, six-years-old.

She was still plenty young enough to be taken under a new owners wing and turned into a lovely companion.

Instead, she waited 10 frigging years to face the fact she had no business owning the horse.

Now she has a thirteen-year-old mare with some basic ground work and no time under saddle. The mare is living alone after spending most of her life with another horse and is probably not on her best behavior. My guess is her loneliness is making her a total pain in the ass.

Now she is ready to foist her problem onto somebody else.

She is going to cover her guilt for letting this horse down by putting all kinds of conditions on prospective buyers. She needs to prove how much she loves the horse you see.
She loves her so much she's going to insist the next owner behave as much like her as possible. Because that will justify her insistence that she LOVES her horse and NOBODY can possibly love her as much as she does. Which is why she didn't sell her when she had a chance of attracting a good home. Because her horses were her soul mates, her best friends, cuddly wuddly booger bears.

"I know she is lonely for another stable mate and will sell only to someone who has another horse/horses." 
Um, it didn't bother her to keep the horse alone for the past year.




"Must go to a home where Natural Horsemanship is practiced. She needs Natural Horsemanship Training on the ground and in the saddle."

Even though getting her started under saddle wasn't an issue for this woman until the horse was thirteen- years-old. And she's going to dictate how the horse is ridden and trained after she sells her? 

Good thinking, let's limit the buying pool even more than you already have.

"Facilities must be approved by owner."

No problem, just slap up some barb wire and you'll be good to go. I know I said I can live with barb wire. What I can't live with is somebody who uses it telling me she needs to approve my facilities. If I can let go of your barb wire, will I have to get a lecture on my stalls and turn out? You know that's how it will go. She'll need to prove she's not a total idiot by judging someone else's barn space.

" I never got papers for her as I did not plan on breeding her nor showing her in Purebred competitions."

... and never considered, for even a second, that having the horse's papers might help sell her in the future. She didn't need them, so nobody was going to get them.

So yeah. I have to admit, I'm not Miss Sweetness n' Light with every approach to horse ownership. I can't tolerate personal ego replacing a horses needs, or self-justification getting in the way of finding a decent new home for a horse that's between a rock and a hard place through no fault of her own.

I guess, what's really pissing me off is, according to this ad, I am not qualified to own this thirteen-year-old, hasn't been ridden in ten years, anxious, lonely mare. If I did, she would be broke and riding down the trails in a year.Then I, who doesn't think I should be the only owner this horse ever has, would be able to sell her to her next good home. Heck, I'd even sell her to a NHer.  

Keep it up Becky. You keep me on my toes.