Unwanted horses
Philip Armour — Thu, 2010-01-21 12:35
Are people having trouble holding on to their horses? There's an excellent article in the Denver Post about the falling prices of horse sales at the National Western Stock Show:
http://www.denverpost.com/stockshow/ci_14205386
The writer also delves into the annual costs of owning a horse ($5,000) and the struggles of what to do with abandoned animals (many are sent to Canada and Mexico for slaughter).
Are American Cowboy readers seeing a glut of unwanted horses in their communities? Or at least seeing prices fall dramatically?
My wife and I tried to adopt a malnourished, abandoned arabian in his 20s this summer, but after fattening him up (he did not stop eating for a month), the added weight aggravated his lame leg and made it nearly impossible for him to walk. We eventually had to put him down, which his original owner did not have the money or heart to do.
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I have not received an ad in
La_cowgirl21 — Thu, 2010-01-21 22:14I have not received an ad in the mail for a local horse auction for quite a while, but I hear that those that are bringing their horses to the auctions are getting little of nothing for them or just keeping them bc the price is not right. I also know of someone that recently gave his horses away bc of financial troubles because for now people are not building houses and that is what he does for a living.
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I don't know
pdfangus — Thu, 2010-01-21 13:17I do get horse for sale adds every day and a few free to a good home adds. but most of them come with some sort of problem that would make me not want them anyway.
got an ad yesterday on a horse of interest but they wanted 2 grand for him.
Problem generally in this part of the country is that too many folks got more horse than they got horseman.
In my younger days I used to get my pocket money by buying these horses and turning em around and then reselling them. Too Old and Fat and fragile now.
bigger problem is everyone that owns a mare thinks they ought to be a breeder. Too many studs in the world as well. My dear old Daddy use to say all the time that the world would be a lot nicer place if about half the studs were nice geldings and about half the bulls were nice steers.
Jim Tate
Pipe Dream Farm
pipedreamfarm.com
Jim "half the studs were
nighthawksh — Thu, 2010-01-21 13:43Jim
"half the studs were nice geldings and about half the bulls were nice steers."
I would agree, except I would probably say more than half, and I also agree about the number of folks who own a mare or two and that think foaling a couple of colts would be grate fun.
Too many horses and not enough horsemen (or horse women)