Thank you for all your replies. They are helpful, although some are painfully brutal about my selfishness. I don’t have delusions that he wants a job. That’s partially to appease my mind that I’m not just doing it to have one less mouth to feed and care for. I will be casually looking for the right match for him, but expect it is not likely to come along and I prepared myself for that a year ago when he started pasture rest. You have given me a few more things to think about. I am thankful that I’m not forced to make a decision at this time.
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I own, and have previously owned some companion only horses to keep company with my riding horse and mini. There are homes out there that may want a companion only horse. It doesn’t hurt to try to find one.
But, you will need to be very careful, and of course you will know that it may not last forever.
Ask for references and check them. I took a companion only pony and gave references - and they never even checked them. Then when he had a metabolic crash and I told the previous owner that if he didn’t recover I might euthanize, she asked if I would trailer him back to her (mid-founder episode) because he “was part of their family.” Um…no. You gave him away to a stranger.
The pony still alive and kicking five years later, as a companion to my mini, who hates him anyway. And he considered her like a goat - a different species, so he hangs out with the big horses. Sigh. 
Good luck.
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I took on an older, not very sound quarter horse as a companion about 5-6 years ago. I know her previous owner and wanted to give her a great place to live out the rest of her life.
People like me exist, but few and far between. Your best bet is to find someone you know.
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There’s nothing selfish about not wanting to provide a lame horse with tens of thousands of dollars worth of retirement care over 2-3 decades. Keeping a horse is a luxury to begin with–horses are expensive and even retired horses often require some specialized care. Keeping and retiring a horse that is no longer useful (or never has been) is a luxury that not everyone can provide.
Go ahead and add up the costs: Let’s say $300 per month for basic board, maybe $1000 average per year for vet, farrier, wormers, blankets, and other incidentals. That’s about $4-5,000 per year, assuming the horse lives 20 more years that’s $80-100K. Obviously the exact numbers may vary widely, but there’s no doubt it’s significant. It’s unfair for anyone to assume that should be something that any owner should “automatically” do.
But, just please don’t fool yourself into thinking that someone else wants to put that kind of investment into your lame / retired horse either. I have little sympathy for owners who have given away unusable horses only to have them disappear because it is entirely predictable. If the original owner, the person who cares about the horse the most, doesn’t want to keep it, it’s largely a fantasy that someone else will. Many people have made a cottage industry off of this fantasy. They collect unwanted horse using a great story about how they need a companion horse or want a pet or whatever, then make a few hundred bucks off of a quick resale at auction, typically through another person so they don’t get their own hands dirty.
There are very few legitimate jobs for unsound / retired horses. The only success I have had in rehoming horses of this nature were horses that were beautiful, reliable, well trained packers who could still be ridden by timid adults and beginner children.
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I have three stories to tell you. Remember that the plural of anecdote is not data, but it shows three separate outcomes.
Horse #1 was a 3 year old TB that I got for free from the track. He had a history of patella trouble but I spoke to both his trainer and his vet and they both thought he’d grow out of it. He didn’t. He was fine with light riding, but would come up lame with more work. After a year, (including significant vet workups, I decided to rehome him. Working through my trainer, we found him a home where the woman was fine with light trail riding. I asked her for vet and farrier references, and she paid me $300, which at the time was slightly more than a kill buyer would pay.
Horse #2 was an 18 year old QH that I sold to a family who had leased him for 6 months. They swore they loved him and didn’t do a PPE. A few months later he came up lame from sore hocks. Injections didn’t help. I took him back from them and put him into a training program with my trainer since I was living in a different state. He was sound again within a week or two. Not sure whether his hocks had fused or whether the girl was just jumping the crap out of him. Through a friend, I found a permanent free lease home for him with a man who had just lost his 35 year old horse. He’d owned that horse for 32 years! Man came and loved the horse. My trainer “vetted” him. Horse went to live in a 14 acre pasture with post and beam barn. I told man I’d take the horse back if he ever became a problem.
Horse #3 belonged to a friend. She had a rear suspensory issue on LH. After being rehabbed, she developed problems with diagonal front coffin bone from compensating. Didn’t respond well to injections. Friend advertised her as a free lease since she was suitable for light riding. Found a home for her in a neighboring state. Woman signed contracts, etc. Sent updates on horse for 3 months and then went radio silent and wouldn’t return calls. Friend drove to woman’s property and discovered horse was gone. Woman said the horse had died. More digging around revealed this woman had a history of taking free horses and selling them to kill buyers. This was before there was extensive information about woman on the internet but my friend should have done a better job of checking out her background. Friend still feels terrible about what happened to her mare.
So, there are homes out there. But in my limited experience, you have to be very, very careful. Once the horse leaves your possession, you don’t know what will happen. I do still wonder about the young TB that I rehomed but periodic check ins through mutual friends seemed to indicate he was doing fine and was still owned by the same woman.
I would not hesitate to euthanize a horse if I thought his future would end badly, but that’s just me. Good luck to you!
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Excepting, only, my two, minor quibbles this is an excellent answer.
G.
A long term lease can work well, if you find the right person. This means that YOU still OWN him, and are RESPONSIBLE for him, and CHECK on him regularly, but someone else may have a use for him, for a while, and cover his expenses. You get him back when the situation is no longer workable for the person leasing him from you, whatever the reason. You need a written and signed contract with this person. And it can work well for everyone, horse included. Good luck!
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There is nothing wrong, or selfish, about euthanizing a lame horse. Even if it is sound “enough” to be used lightly.
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Therapeutic riding is a much, much harder job for a horse, both physically and mentally, than being a lightly ridden horse in a single-owner or family situation. It is unfair to expect a horse with hip and spine issues to do the hard physical work of carrying a variety riders who may be unbalanced or tight or extremely active in the saddle. Not to mention that the difficult mental work of listening carefully to handlers, taking good care of riders whose behavior may be unpredictable, and working surrounded by support personnel is something that most therapy horses eventually need a break/retirement from. It’s naive to think of a therapeutic riding center as a forever home for unsound horses.
Even if you think the horse is up to the task, programs that accept lame horses for ground activities or walk-only riding with light riders are extremely rare. Most programs rely heavily on funds that are cobbled together from fundraisers, small grants, and contributions from the community. Most can’t afford to take on a horse with extremely limited ability to work, when they could instead put those funds toward supporting a horse who is good natured and appropriately sized and most importantly sound for both regular ridden work and activities on the ground. Reputable programs that have lots of easy equine work and sufficient funds/space/etc. to support specialist horses for those jobs are unicorns.
If you don’t want this guy to end up in an unhappy situation your real options are to take responsibility for his ongoing care or give him a peaceful exit.
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OP - I would not recommend offering him as suitable for light riding. You cannot be sure that will be followed or even that the horse will hold up with just trail walks. Next thing you know he will be back with possibly more problems. It is also worth pointing out that you will not likely have peace of mind in this type of setting…
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I have to agree with the majority here.
No one wants an unsound horse, they cost just as much to keep as a sound one. That makes me particularily suspicious of people that claim they do want an unsound one, typically one of 2 things happen.
1 - they sell as sound, or to a kill auction
2 - they like unsound cos they are free and have no money, therefore things like worming, feeding and basica farrier care are beyond them.
Companion horses are sometimes looked for, but generally hardy little ponies that need little feed, I only know of full sized companions as nanny horses for racehorse breeding operations and the likes.
It reminds me of when people with fuggin nutter horses say a better rider would be able to get the nutter going to his ‘potential’
Better riders dont want to ride fuggin nutter horses!!
If you cant retire him, euth him. He isnt sound, he never will be. Hundreds of sound ones are PTS every day for failing to run fast enough.
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So many educational posts in this thread.
One thought to go on with: A short good life is a good life.
If you make a final decision for your horse, please do not feel guilty, or that you are letting him down in any way. You are doing the opposite - making absolutely sure that he has had the best life experience he could. It isn’t easy, but it’s right. IMO
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How much work are you willing to do in order to enforce the terms of your lease? Don’t ask for unrealistic terms from either side.
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One other option for OP, if they can stomach it, is to donate horse to equine veterinary hospital if they have room. They will care for horse, use it as a blood donor, then eventually use horse as a “skate” horse for semi-experimental surgical procedures and euthanize it on the table after the surgery has been done.
These blood donor types can live for years at the horse hospital. Granted, you have to count on the rotating staff to ensure regular grooming/ t/o etc. But if you’re just making sure it received regular meals, clean water and some sort of attention daily, then it may be an option.
If I had a quiet type who wasn’t made nervous by the change in surroundings, I’d consider donating it to my local horse clinic.
I would never ever rehome a permanently lame horse. I would retire and keep him forever or I would euthanize. There are too many liars and bad people out there. I would not take a chance he would end up in a bad situation.
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First right refusal contract isn’t going to ensure you’re horse’s well being. Once he leaves your property you officially, lose control over what happens to him.
Do right by him and put him down better that then an uncertain future. Even with a contract you wont keep dealers away. Not sure what makes you think someone else wants you’re lame horse. When you’re not even willing to keep him.
Sorry but I’d never give away a lame horse, I’d do right by horse and give it a dignified death. Give away lame horse ,it will endup at slaughter or very miss treated.
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Two words…rehoming the lame horse? You. Don’t.
I would never want to send a dear friend who had given me all he had to an uncertain future. My rose colored glasses were broken years ago seeing all of the sad and horrible fates many of these horses met. If you, who already have an emotional attachment to the horse, are not going to be able to care for him for the rest of his life, there is no shame in giving him a dignified ending. Because many people without that attachment, will not.
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A few things that I ALWAYS think of when a thread like this comes up:
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Horses are not aspirational thinkers. OP says there are still useful things the horse can do. IMO, horses care about food, companionship from other horses/animals, and space to move around. If they have that, 99% of horses will adjust quite happily. You have the occasional horse that really wants to be fussed over or have something to do, but most are not like that. And NO horse is sitting around going, ‘man, I really could have been something if only my lazy owner got off her butt and took me to more shows!’ So stop using ‘the horse needs a job’ as a reason to rehome. It’s not true.
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There is no such thing as an airtight contract or right of first refusal. You can write whatever you want on a piece of paper and sign it, but do you know what that gets you? The ability to sue if the contract is breached. It does NOT get that horse back if the free leaser/“forever home”/whatever decides to dump the horse at auction or sell him without telling you. The horse is GONE. You can sue for breach of contract, but that doesn’t keep the horse safe or bring him back. People are so naïve thinking a contract is all you need in this situation.
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No, a therapy barn does NOT want your horse. I volunteered at a therapeutic riding place for a while, and as one of the horse savvy volunteers I got a lot of inside information since I was valuable to the program. Horses at (good) therapy programs are meticulously chosen. They do NOT want a horse with back problems (yeah, great, put an unstable person who often has trouble controlling their body movements on a horse with known back issues. GREAT idea). Therapy horses have to deal with a lot–it is a very particular kind of horse that can do that work, mentally and physically.
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There are always going to be those happy companion home stories. “Well I know someone who has a companion horse and they love on them and give them everything they need! So those homes exist!” Great. Wonderful. Yes those homes exist but they are literally a unicorn. Do NOT count on finding one. Most of these homes have their companion horses already. I consider myself a good home for a horse (as I imagine most of us on this board do), but I have an older mare who has given me many lovely years and SHE is the horse I will pay for retirement on, not a stranger’s horse that they don’t want.
I’m not saying don’t look for options. But go in with both eyes completely open and be prepared that something bad could happen. If you can financially and space-wise keep the horse safe with you, do it. There is no guarantee of safety other than your pasture. If you let the horse go on a lease or “free to a good home” be prepared to take responsibility if something goes wrong. Check up frequently–like weekly. Ask for copies of vet records (if the horse is leased) to make sure they are actually doing basic care. And be ready to take the horse back at any time. A horse you sell or transfer ownership on–that horse is out of your control forever. Be realistic about that and don’t rely on “first refusal” or “they said they would keep him forever”.
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I “free leased” Owen, an OTTB. After 2 years, Owen “disappeared.” I still feel guilty. I offered a reward of $1000 to anyone who could fill me in on what had happened. Never did find out. I involved the police AND contacted the local meat guys. Never again.
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This is such a tough situation. I had a 6 year old who I battled with many different issues with from the time he was 6 weeks under saddle as a three year old. Just wasn’t meant to be a riding horse.
He was also an extremely hard keeper, needed a lot of supplements/extra feed to keep good weight on.
I ended up putting him to sleep, and I feel guilty about it often and have not owned another horse since as I don’t want to go through that emotional pain again. I have leased and enjoyed the benefits of riding without ownership. That all being said, I knew nobody out there would have a heart to care for my young, hard to keep gelding for another possible 20+ years of his life. It’s such a difficult thing to ask another person to do who has no emotional attachment to your horse. Like another poster said, some people will happily take a companion pony who lives on air and is an easy keeper and can pony around the grandkids/husband once a week. This was not my guy.
Good luck OP.
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