How to get rid of horses?

[hosspuller]

Eddie... I've got the same Tee shirt. Worn it for 22 years. Wife has the horse passion. But, we've managed to keep the herd to 2. Sometimes 3 when we're in transition.
It's hard to GIVE a horse to a therapeutic riding org. They want steady and unflappable horses. Their riders have enough trouble, a fractious horse is too much. Been there too.

The two trouble makers are hard to place. Training is the difference. But, you've been training them. Likely without meaning to. People always have to be the boss with horses. Otherwise, they will start to be the boss. Nipping people to get their way. Just like the boss horse nips lower ranking horses to get the best food, water, or shade.

Without solid training, they're meat. Your wife knows this, so your solution is to find someone willing to train them. Pay or trade ... She will support sending them to a trainer, even if they never come back to you.

3 years old is a good time to start them under saddle.

 

[300UGUY]

I am sorry to hear about your wife. We had a horse that wasn't being ridden, it was a pasture pet for several years. My wife found a place called Horse Haven, it takes in horses here, and rehomes them to someone who wants them. I have neighbors that have had horses for 20 years, and I never have seen them ridden. Nice Morton barn, they get coats in cold weather, premium feed, nice gig if you can get it!

 

[Ken]

Eddie It is good your wife is responding to treatment.

As for the horses being in Texas surly there is a Quarter horse group that practice calf roping and just horse riding on week ends. Even a Rodeo practice. area.
Best way to locate one is go to a local rodeo event. talk to the week end " cowboys " there all hard working a weekly job and ride the horses for enjoyment.

best wishes for quick solution .
ken

 

[FMA931]

the first thing we need to do is to understand why the horses are here

 

[Big Blue Florida]

Glad to learn your wife is on the mend.

Check out the folks & their place first to get a better picture of what the horses may be in for.

ON another note headed in the right direction:
There is an outfit that works w/ children & adults w/ special needs.
Seems horses have a special gift of their own. Horses don't alway have to be ridden to work their magic.

I use to live in Idaho over 50 years back. We had about a dozen . Can tell you if you don't give a horse something to do you do them no good.

You may offer up that, as a suggestion for your wife to think over.

I miss my time w/ our horses. Now I settle on our tractor. But I still never put it up wet.

 

[Sigarms]

So I met my wife, we fell in love and got married. I had started on a pasture to have a couple of longhorns and she mentioned that one of her dreams was to have horses. I didn't see an issue over having a couple of horses instead of a couple of longhorns. Both are grass eaters and something to look at. After we got married, one of her friends at the Hospital where she worked was in an accident. A girl was texting and ran a red light, hitting his car and breaking his legs and hip. He was never supposed to walk again, but eventually did with a lot of pain. They had a dozen horses, which was their passion. After the accident, he wasn't able to take care of them anymore and they began to become neglected. My wife, Karen, was offered two, which we both agreed to. We got to work on finishing off the pasture and building a small barn for them.

Somehow two horses became five horses and we where overwhelmed. I take full responsibility in this mistake. My ignorance and pie in the sky attitude left me totally unprepared for how much grass five hungry horses could eat, and how they could eat non stop for two weeks straight!!!! My 5 acre pasture wasn't enough after a couple of days and I added another 7 acres real fast. That wasn't enough either, and then we started buying round bales. They are all fat and healthy now, but after 3 years of having them, my wife has not done anything with them.

Her goal has always to be able to ride them, but she works full time, she is finishing off her PhD and now we have two show dogs that also cost us a fortune every month. Her true passion is the dogs. She can always find time for them, all her best friends are part of the show dog world, she talks about the dogs every day. The horses are just something that we have, and do nothing with but feed and take pictures of every now and then.

In February we learned that she has colon cancer. At 53, with zero family history, she finally learned why she would have cramps so bad she couldn't get out of bed all day. Fortunately, it was caught early and it has not spread. Chemo and Radiation are working and the cancer is dying. She is mostly bed ridden and unable to do much of anything during treatment. It's extremely painful and uncomfortable.

I've come to not like the horses. I feed them every day, and of the five, two are very pushy. One of them has bitten me twice. I'm not a horse person, they where to make my wife happy. She says she loves them, but never did anything with them before she got sick, and now that she is sick, probably never will. I've brought up getting rid of the two trouble makers and she breaks down crying, or gets angry and comes back at me that we should just get rid of all the animals. I like the chickens, goats and our pig, and I'm fine with the other three horses, but not the two trouble makers.



My first question is advice on how to get her to agree to get rid of those two horses?
]

Sorry to hear about the wife, been down that road as well and I know it's not fun.

Since I've never owned a horse, apologies, no clue on how to find a home for them, but I'm certain you should be able to find some avenue of either selling or give them away to someone who would like them. Looking at the pictures your provided, at least to the "untrained horse eye", they look like beautiful horses and I can't help but think that someone in Texas would want them.

As far as advice on how to get her to agree to let some horses go? I'm sorry, I don't think you should have to get her to agree, she should realize it. I understand that may not do you any good, but my point is that is burden you should not have to wear.

You got the horses for her, she did nothing with the horses, and then she got into dogs. You have supported her in her hobbies, and now one hobby (that she did nothing with) is becoming unberable on your end, and rightfully so.

Don't get me wrong, if it were ONLY the horses, I could perhaps see your wifes point of view, but if her love is for the dogs and that world of dog showing and she does NOTHING with the horses, why are the horses your sole responsibility when you guys got them because she wanted them?

The impression I'm getting is she never did anything with the horses before her illness. If I'm incorrect on that, apologies for the assumption.

You seem like a good man put in one tough spot, and I'm wishing you the best in this outcome.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I can't help you with convincing your wife to get rid of the horses. It may be best to just do it, and not make a big deal about it. Untrained horses are worthless. I don't think there's a horse slaughterhouse left in America, and you would be real lucky to have a rendering plant in the area. You can auction them and buyers will truck them to Mexico where they still have horse slaughterhouses. Fifty years ago the butcher shops all had horse meat available. It's lean and sweet tasting. Ground with pork fat it made good sausage. I suppose it would freak your wife out entirely if you butchered one yourself. Since Americans have taken horse meat off the menu, there isn't much to do with them. Lots of horses just end up being shot in the head and buried. Your best choice is probably a livestock auction. You might clear a couple hundred bucks, but chances are they would go for $50 a head.

 

[mcfarmall]

Horses are an expensive pet and expensive yard art. Get rid of the grass vultures and enjoy your new-found freedom and extra walkaround money.

You have to choose your hobbies carefully. You can't be a great fisherman, a great hunter, a great camper, a great golfer, a great farmer, a great gardener, a great woodworker, a great drone pilot, a great gamer, a great Harley Rider all at the same time. Pick one or two at the most and be done with it. If you want to change, so be it, drop one and add the other.

 

[Bird]

I've often wondered about the huge number of horses I see in my area; supposedly the horse capital of Texas. I didn't think about them just being pasture ornaments and never ridden or worked. I haven't had anything to do with a horse in 50 years, but when I was a kid, I had 3; one at a time. I've been kicked once, bucked off once, and bit so many times I lost count.:laughing: I was probably 11 years old when I went in a grocery store one day and found a large bag of sugar had been dropped and broken leaving a mess in the floor. I asked, and the store owner told me I could have it if I cleaned it up. Now I'd heard that horses like sugar, so I had myself a big bag of sugar. Sure enough, that little mare liked it, licking it out of my hand. And she would come running anytime she saw me, and if I didn't have sugar in my hand, she'd bite me. Dad thought it was funny, and told me why she was biting. I quit giving her that sugar.:laughing:

 

[s219]

Eddie, sorry to hear about your wife but glad it was caught early and hope she does well with treatment.

I have a friend that had a bunch of horses and loved them, but he slowly came to the realization that caring for the horses was a burden on his health (he had some heart issues). It took him a while to come to that realization, but once he did and once he got rid of the horses, it was a tremendous load off him, mentally and physically. They are beautiful animals but take a lot of care, and if something else more important in life comes along, it's hard to manage it all. I have seen it happen to other folks.

As far as how to convince your wife, that is a harder one that maybe only you can figure out. I know that if my wife had cancer, I'd absolutely need to unburden myself from anything else that wasn't really important, or anything else that would take a big load off. It's just the reality of the situation. Sometimes you need to drop chores/responsibilities to focus on what's important. Neither of you may like doing that (and knowing what I do about you, I suspect you carry a big load and don't complain). But it sounds like you have come to that realization about the horses, and it's a matter of helping Karen come to that realization too. As I have seen with other folks, I think once you both get over the burden of the horses, you'll realize it was a good idea and it will take a load off your shoulders and mind.