I hate horses: therapeutic rant. (Long)

[N80]

I just need to blow off some steam....so horse lovers please forgive me, but I just hate horses so much right now I can hardly stand it.

First, I get a call from my 30-something sister and she got thrown from her 'new' old horse earlier this week. Broke a rib and four vertebrae in her back. She'll do just fine but she's in for a lot of pain for the next few weeks.

Today my wife tells me that my daughter's "good" horse got kicked by another horse and its front leg is BROKEN! That's bad news of course but its really just a cherry on top of the history of this horse. First, my wife gets a job to replace my daughter's first 'cheap' horse that just was not a good show/jumper. This new horse is a 'real' jumper and after months of searching it was just the right one and at $10,000 it was selling at third its real value. OMG can you believe that! Have these two women never heard of the term "horse trading" for goodness sake?....well, as they say, there's one born every minute. In any case, this horse, which is truly a beautiful animal doesn't pan out as a jumper either. In my opinion, not entirely its fault, coach is too timid, too cautious etc etc blah blah blah. So, they take up dressage.... no offense intended but BORING! Anyway, that's working out okay even though lessons are expensive and room and board for this beast cost more than my first apartment.

So now, maybe two or three years after buying it, it has a broken front leg. Could go to a regional vet school for repairs but that would cost more than the horse was worth and still might not work. So the local horse vet is going to keep it in a stall and see what happens. It does not look good. And even this isn't going to be cheap. My wife never got any insurance on this $10,000 "investment" (I am never involved with these decisions). So first, they take this $10,000 jumper and ruin it in regard to jumping which cuts its value in half and now it is probably going to be glue. A total $10,000 loss! And in the current economy there will be no $10,000 replacement horse, or any replacement horse for that matter.

I don't think my daughter (she's 15) understands all this. I don't think she has come to grips that we're going to have to put this horse down, much less that there will not be another one. (She has a trail horse...the first one we bought for jumping) down near our property but it will never do jumping or dressage). And even if we don't end up having to put it down, it is unlikely that it will ever perform as a show horse again.

Horses are huge, expensive, belligerent and dangerous and despite that, they are also incredibly stupid, needful, fragile and high maintenance. I'll admit it. I just don't 'get' horses.

And I appreciate you guys listening this far. As you can imagine, with a heartbroken 15 year old girl and a bewildered wife here at home, I can't have this rant at home right now. I've got to be understanding and....quiet for a while.

But at some point she's just going to have to accept that when you deal with these big beautiful animals this is just all part of what real life with horses is like and if she plans on horses being a part of her life, she'll have to deal with it. Just like my sister will have to deal with her broken back, just like my niece had to deal with a ruptured spleen (kicked) and her dad (my B-I-L) has had to deal with a compound clavicle fracture and then years later, a severe concussion.

 

[TigerfaninAR]

Yea, I do hope you feel better. Horses can be very frustrating but a joy as well. I grew up with thoroughbreds all my life and in fact was told was almost killed by one when I was 3. I've seen $50,000 horses step wrong and then that was it, money down the drain. We've had horses we raised, spent all the money we had and then poof, kick a wall at night and it's over.

I don't have any now, my dad still trains, but I still am drawn to them for some reason. I wouldn't have a thoroughbred with my young kids but I'm looking forward to getting a few horses when we build our house on some land we have bought. I've heard once they get in your blood they stay there and I believe it.

I feel for you in having to deal with your daughter, but at 15 I bet she will understand. I remember having to see a horse be put down and I was probably a little younger than that. It was sad but you learn to understand thats the nature of these 4-legged creatures.

Glad you got that off your chest and hope your sister recovers quickly.

 

[YanmarFever]

Re: I horses: therapeutic rant. (Long)

They shoot horses don't they ?

 

[DieselPower]

Re: I horses: therapeutic rant. (Long)

Never understood the horse thing either. Personally I'm a cow person. I can either get milk or meat out of them.

Hope all works out ok for your sister.

 

[N80]

Re: I horses: therapeutic rant. (Long)

Thanks Tigerfan. It always helps to hear from folks who have been there.

I think the problem for my daughter is that she has let this horse get to be a pet. Its initial value was based on what it was supposed to be able to do. Now its value is based almost entirely on how much she loves it. Sadly, I don't have the money to 'do everything humanly possible' to save it. But you're right, she'll recover, but its going to be hard.

She also knows I don't share her love of horses. For that reason, and for the fact that I've had no say-so in any horse matters, I've told my wife that the decision to put it down will have to be hers. That might seem cold, but I don't think it is fair that I haven't been part of any of this and then have to come in and be the heavy. If I made the call, my daughter would think it was just me being tight and not loving horses. If my wife makes the call, she'll feel like its the right call.

Ernie, my B-I-L has shot several of his very old or very sick horses down on the farm, and there's nothing wrong with that. I suspect when the time comes, the vet will put this horse down.

Diesel, I don't like cows either. Bigger than a horse and 10 times dumber. Nothing dumber except sheep from what I've heard. I've spent a fair amount of time working my B-I-L's fairly tame cows and I can't imagine anything dumber or harder to deal with. But you're right, I do like cheese and steak!

 

[Ridgewalker]

My 70 year old dad has been a horseman his entire life. When he was 63 he broke a few colts and actually got bucked off once or twice. He has learned his lesson on breaking but is still very involved. Me, not so much, I am like you, in my opinion they are kind of like a boat, in other words a money pit.

Dad had a horse he had raised from a colt founder this past summer, he spent weeks and lots of cash trying to save it. He finally realized it was no use and had a vet put it down. It hurt him pretty good to have to do it, folks get way to attached and frankly I think horses are fairly brittle beasts.

 

[Sackett2]

A good rant helps, and sometimes us guys need a place to rant at!

My Sister-in-law is a Dressage trainer- lots of horses over there. they can stay there too.

I live on my in-laws property, 7 acres. When I moved here the neighbors would pasture there 7 cows on his land to keep the grass down. I thought why we giving away the grass? I proposed we get a couple of beef cows, and try to get a few head moving into the freezer every couple of years.
Father-in-law approved it with the disclaimer "No Horses!"
I got 2 cows; had a neighbor cut and bail the field for 1/2 the hay; Packed 65 bails of green hay up the stairs of the barn; no hay lift.
Next year we got access to a hay lift; and had a nice part of the barn full of hay.
Then the sister-in-law had a friend who needed to board 4 horses, two full grown and two 1/2 grown. She started out OK, but soon the alfalfa stopped and the horses ate. the field grass, the grass by the water. all the grass. When the horses got hungry the father-in-law ("No Horses!") fed them my hay. Over 2/3 of my hay was consumed by the horses. I did butcher one cow and the horses left after. By then the field taken quite a hit, the father-in-law passed away, the niece is using the field as a track for the Rhino- I got no hay this last year.
Hopefully, the field will give me some hay this year, were getting the lone cow ehm "serviced" and we want to get another cow.

Everybody in the wife's family wants the beef, but no one thinks about what it takes to get it to the freezer.

 

[RollingsFarms]

after reading all this, i think i'll stick with pine trees and crops.

 

[DieselPower]

Re: I horses: therapeutic rant. (Long)

Diesel, I don't like cows either. Bigger than a horse and 10 times dumber. Nothing dumber except sheep from what I've heard. I've spent a fair amount of time working my B-I-L's fairly tame cows and I can't imagine anything dumber or harder to deal with. But you're right, I do like cheese and steak!

Ahhh, but there's a secret to cows. You don't have to raise them to enjoy them. You can find them in every grocery store freezer. Can't say I have ever been attacked by a gallon of milk or steak.

 

[EddieWalker]

George,

Sorry to hear about your horse and your daughters anguish. I'm sure her pain at the potential loss of her horse is what's causing you the most pain and the true reason for your "rant."

We sometimes think about getting the kids a pet, but then read stories like this and realize it's just not something that we're willing to deal with. Too much sacrifice for a short term commitment.

After several failures, we've resigned ourselves to be pet visitors. We visit other peoples pets.

Eddie