Domestic Animals

Registered Pinto mare for sale

2007-11-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

This young horse is a four year old registered pinto mare. She is a flashy overo roan with a wide white blaze on her forehead and two white socks. She has been broken to ride at the walk, trot and canter, and has had some professional training. She ties, loads, bathes and leads nicely. We have ridden her extensively on trails and my daughter showed her in 4H classes and took her to horse camp. She is ready to be finished and I think would do well in any discipline, and would make an excellent contest horse, as she is quick and handy. She stands 14.3. She is offered at $2500.00

Adopting a race horse

2007-11-04T13:58:00.001-08:00

So, after practicing your horseback riding on your gentle, old pony for several years, you finally decide that you are ready to take the plunge and bring home an ex-race horse. Answer some ads. The important thing to do is to ask and to be a good listener. Find out as much as you can about the horses' background. How did he do in his races? How many years did he race? What ended his career? What happened to him since he came off the track and so on.

If the horse can be ridden, see if the trainer, or rescue person will saddle him up and ride him for you. It may not be a good idea for you to get on right away, unless the trainer knows your abilities, or unless the trainer can vouch for the horses' gentle character.

Race horses, like other horses and people, come in all dispositions. Some are difficult and contentious; others are sweet and mild. Don't assume that sleepy looking creature standing in the stall is a milk-toast kid's horse, or the 17 hand monster shaking his head and whinnying is a thunderbolt. Looks can be deceiving. I went to visit a small, delicately built mare that had recently retired. She had a lovely, sculpted face with a wide forehead with a white star, large, intelligent eyes and small, exquisitely shaped ears. I thought her adorably perfect for my ten year old daughter until the trainer put the mare in the crossties. She went ballistic. I tossed my daughter up onto the haystack as high as possible for safety, faster than you can hit a birdie with a badmitten racket. The mare was finally put to rights after ending up on her back, legs flailing wildly in the air, but she was in such a snorting frenzy that she had to go back to the paddock to chill out for the rest of the day. Luckily, she wasn't hurt, nor were we, but we learned that prettiness isn't the key feature to look for in a thoroughbred.

Race horse rescue

2007-11-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

If you have ever been horse hunting, you've probably found ads for ex-race horses, or for groups or individuals who do race horse rescues--meaning that they find out about and acquire horses that have been retired from the track, either due to injury,illness,age, or another reason, for example, the horse might simply be too slow. The rescuers take the horses and try to find good homes for them. This may involve retraining them first, or months or even years of physical rehabilitation or special care. Some of the horses can never be ridden again. The rescuers' concern is that if they do not take these horses, the poor animals will end up on a meat wagon, and actually, that might be exactly what happens. It is not necessarily because the racing stables are cruel or have no concern for the horses--on the contrary, many of them go to great lengths to find comfortable and caring homes for the retired horses. The problem is simply that there are some horses that are hard to place. And if a stable tries to keep every single horse that cannot be placed, soon all would suffer. For as you know, there is a limit to how many animals one can manage efficiently.

Like most of us, you probably gave some thought to taking on an ex-race horse, perhaps being attracted by the low price (some are even offered for free, or for a small adoption fee). But then, prudence tells you that the initial cost of almost any horse is actually nothing in comparison to what you will spend over time to maintain the horse. Also, you know that a thoroughbred that has been a racer can be quite large, powerful, and might be easily excited and anxious to bolt and run. After all, isn't that what they've been trained to do?

So, you settle for a small, elderly pony.