So good to hear that he is finding himself a girlfriend. Hopefully she will realize just how special he is.
Can we please have more handsome man photos? How about one of him drooling over his new girlfriend?
[QUOTE=trubandloki;3822672]
So good to hear that he is finding himself a girlfriend. Hopefully she will realize just how special he is.
Can we please have more handsome man photos? How about one of him drooling over his new girlfriend?[/QUOTE]
I’ll see what I can do 
Hey, we cranky old grey mare’s have alot to offer ;)! I am happy to hear he has found a friend, even if it is unrequited love at the moment. I am sure eventually he will melt her heart. Tazer…so nice speaking to you yesterday!
Tazer - It’s so great to hear that he is making friends and enjoying life. He knows you respect and care and you know what, that means a lot!
As for those who say this and that about the lease fee and showing expenses. This is my take. Not that I ever DO sell my horses but if I were to, here’s my philosophy. I enjoy riding and showing, much like people enjoy cars, traveling, going to the opera or out to dinner, basically you spend money for entertainment… SO, why on earth would the horse EVER, EVER, EVER be responsible for paying you back that… I hate it when people are like - well I bought him for 20,000 and then I paid 40,000 in showing so I should get 60,000… NO WAY. YOU WANTED TO SHOW, for YOUR ENTERTAINMENT, self worth, gratification - whatever. The horse doesn’t owe you that… Sorry, it’s true. I mean I will always have a horse, I will always shell out board whether it be for the ones I have now or the ones in the future, that is my choice of expense. How in any way, shape or form does that increase the animals worth or guarantee me more in sale price - NO WAY. That thinking alone is what gets these poor animals in bad situations. THEY ARE ANIMALS, find them a good home, check references, follow up or put them down. Torture is just cruel!
She’s just playing hard to get—I know her type!!!
Leased not sold?
A barn mate of mine leased November Rain for the Junior Jumpers one year and had a fabulous time with him. He was extremely well taken care of. My barn is a show barn on the east coast and they take amazing care of all the horses owned or leased. i believe it is possible that he was owned by one entity for the past many years and just leased each show season, which is very common, and then the owner couldn’t lease him for medical reasons any more? I actually own the old jumper of the girl who leased NR. I will never sell my horse and HOPE I can always take care of him, but in this economy it is pretty scary. I pay at least 1500.00 per month to keep my horse happy and I have never had a lot of money. If any thing has to give to not loose my house or health insurance it will have to be my horse. I will cross that bridge when the time comes. For now I am just enjoying the hell out of him! He is actually a year younger than NR and still competes and wins in the Adult Jumpers. He is no way ready for retirement so a retirement home would be my last resort. Lets hope we see a turn around in the economy so none of us has to worry!
Amen!
[QUOTE=Jacqui;3822801]
Lets hope we see a turn around in the economy so none of us has to worry![/QUOTE]
Amen to that!
And, BTW… do you think you could talk her out of any photos, or even a ribbon? I’m putting together an album for Dux, and the more, the merrier
Im sure they have photos and ribbons, Ill call tonight and ask her.
Actually, back then finances did indicate a lifetime retirement for this horse. Not that it is anyone’s business, but the funds bought daughter’s first car, which she still has, leased a former world cup jumper (aged 20 and on his way down - reminds me of Dux) for a season to learn jumpers, bought a prospect with a season at WEF (later sold at a loss - you know how that goes), etc etc. Some has even gone to pay the IRS (yes a lease fee is taxable income). The past two years have gone to pay for board and care on the youngster and on rescuing daughter’s former hunter. And yes, we are in the midwest where you don’t quite get that kind of money. Some years were much less because we were picky about what riders in what barns this horse went to. Twice he went to Harrisburg at no charge to the rider. Like I said, back then finances were not an issue. Now, post divorce, post market crash, they are.
Daughter cannot afford to pay, and I can only afford one. I have three. How do you chose?
Thank you all for the nice comments and suggestions. I am hoping the new lease takes the option. It does sound like a forever home for him, but I worry it would not be at some point and they sell him on without letting me know. Buy back contracts are worthless unless you are right there.
I knew I would be judged or questioned by some here, but I put this up only as example to everyone that you cannot always make assumptions about peoples’ circumstances. These things change. You can’t really count on anything these days, can you?
How do you make a small fortune in horses? Start with a large one . . . for the poster who asked
AF, I believe you asked a viable question. As I pointed out earlier, COTH is a hotbed of perspectives, all of which must be considered to address the problem. She came on her and admitted she was not knowledgeable, and asked for you people, that were more experienced with the A game, to explain it to her. So she could see it from YOUR side. Why do you jump down her throat? Would you like to make sure we don’t find a solution?
Simply remove dcm post as the jumpoff for AF, and let’s instead rename dcm as Person X of a hypothetical situation. Can we then think about this a bit?
I have long believed leasing out your quality, proven horse is an excellent way to recoup costs spent proving the horse because yes, those costs are astronomical and you rarely, if ever see that money again. That price tag you see on most nice horses? Doesn’t even come close to reflecting what has been spent on an animal. Leasing a proven horse out for 2-3 years, and even selling it on top of that, puts the money back into the horse fund . . . which enables you to buy another horse and put the training and show miles on it, the tools that give him a job and a purpose, and thus the best chance at finding that forever home.
There are too many horses and not enough land. That is the base of the problem.
Horses only exist in this world if they have a purpose: With disappearing land they cost too much to keep as “pets”, they require too much time and knowledge to be “pets”. We all know that some of the worst situations we find are those where horses are the family “pet”.
The show circuits give these horses a purpose, a reason to be in our world. The professionals put the time and money into giving that horse a purpose, and along the way the horse learns how to be useful to people, which maybe means he will find his way down the lower jumps, to a well-cared for schoolie, to a trail companion, a pleasure horse . . . to people who ride pleasure horses, and still have use for a 28 yo equine.
If there are not too many horses, then there is a person for each phase of a horse’s life . . . it’s a cycle, a system, and it would work beautifully if there weren’t so many damn horses. The cycle used to include the show circuit picking up the TBs after racing careers, all that fluff bred that never runs . . . but now, on top of the masses of TBs born each year in the US, we’re importing them by the planeload.
Our disposable society certainly contributes! Just try and sell a 12 or 14 yo proven packer that will keep your child safe safe safe. Everyone wants the 8 yo. I’m sorry, how old was Judgement two months ago when he won the Sporthorse Cup? 18 years??? Why must your 3’ Childrens Hunter be a spring chicken?
But the disposable society is not a horse world problem, it’s everybody’s problem and we ARE going to finally face in the near future. The horse retirement problem is entirely real and entirely ours. We can work together to address it, inspired by the story right here for us to learn from, or we can get snitty and defensive. I, personally, can think of no better thread title than “Olympic Horse” to capture the gravity of the situation.
HHG-N, as I said, I’m well aware of what it costs to purchase and maintain a show horse. Those instances where one actually MAKES money are few and far between. However, it does happen… professional trainers (generally) make money off of buying, training and selling horses or they wouldn’t be doing it, right?
dcm - you seem like a caring horse owner who is facing some difficult decisions. I don’t profess to know you or your situation well enough to make any sort of judgement.
I do think that we as horse owners owe it to our animals to think about and plan for their retirement/old age. Does the “plan” have to change sometimes? Sure.
But we should all strive to do the “right” thing for our animals - and not treat them like a piece of used up sports equipment.
Angela - a straightforward answer to your question is yes, some very top level eq horses get leased for a good sum of money. However these are the top top horses that command this price and they are actively competing and in top eq trainer’s barns. All of those things cost huge sums of money - sure BNEqT will lease your horse for a nice sum for a few key classes per year if their is a good rider fit, but he also expects tha tyou pay him his monthly board and training and all the maintenance that goes along with keeping an old campaigner campaigning. It would be a fiscally imprudent move IMO to lay out that money in hopes of a return that the odds don’t favor.
Awesome …
Can’t wait to see Dux in the Springtime after Tazer has done her magic with love, groceries and the spa treatment.
He couldn’t have found a better mommy. Thank you Tazer and everyone else involved for what you’ve done. Awesome …
Seeing that he was just showing summer of 2008, I want to see pictures of Tazer riding him too… Also Tazer, I am curious, is he sound? Just wondering, I am still trying to figure out how in a couple of months he went from a packer at 3’6" to garbage. Even injuries in older horses heal and if he is sound now it just means that he was given up on. Just curious. I don’t want to point the finger and quite honestly, who cares as long as he ended up with you but it would be nice to know his physical state, aside from being on the thin side and hairy.
I might have missed this earlier in the thread but I was just wondering, the farm that put up the ad, how did they come to acquire Dux?
[QUOTE=DMK;3823137]
Angela - a straightforward answer to your question is yes, some very top level eq horses get leased for a good sum of money. However these are the top top horses that command this price and they are actively competing and in top eq trainer’s barns. All of those things cost huge sums of money - sure BNEqT will lease your horse for a nice sum for a few key classes per year if their is a good rider fit, but he also expects tha tyou pay him his monthly board and training and all the maintenance that goes along with keeping an old campaigner campaigning. It would be a fiscally imprudent move IMO to lay out that money in hopes of a return that the odds don’t favor.[/QUOTE]
Wouldn’t the person leasing the horse be responsible for the bills? Why would you lease out your horse and then pay board on it, not the way it works. And if you mean it is only leased at the finals, those horses don’t stay in a program all year long, they get pulled out of the field in early August to get prepped. We have one here at my barn and he doesn’t do much until the end of the summer, no huge expenses until the kid leasing starts picking up the bills.
Aren’t these from Keswick in 2008? This is from the Jr/AO jumper class. This horse does not look like he is ready to be retired. So what happened?
http://www.peggyjsmith.com/14K08FJrAOalbum/slides/K08-F3095.html
http://www.peggyjsmith.com/14K08FJrAOalbum/slides/K08-F3097.html
http://www.peggyjsmith.com/14K08FJrAOalbum/slides/K08-F3098.html
[QUOTE=2bayboys;3823219]
Aren’t these from Keswick in 2008? This is from the Jr/AO jumper class. This horse does not look like he is ready to be retired. So what happened?
http://www.peggyjsmith.com/14K08FJrAOalbum/slides/K08-F3095.html
http://www.peggyjsmith.com/14K08FJrAOalbum/slides/K08-F3097.html
http://www.peggyjsmith.com/14K08FJrAOalbum/slides/K08-F3098.html[/QUOTE]
sorry then, in my post I thought he was a child/adult horse, not junior horse… so yeah from 4’6" to bust, did he pull something, blow something or just did not fit the program anymore? If he is sound, Tazer, you just found yourself a diamond!
Oh boy. Not all big eq horses sit in a field until the end of summer. The majority are in a program with a trainer…
[QUOTE=HHG-N;3823243]
Oh boy. Not all big eq horses sit in a field until the end of summer. The majority are in a program with a trainer…[/QUOTE]
If they are in a program then the kids using them are paying. I have known a few gems and they are either leased or only used at the finals and no, they aren’t on full board. They are old and generally hacked by the owner or some other non-paid rider until the lease kicks in. They know their job. Sure, I guess some are different but none that I have ever encountered and I have been around show barns since I showed in the equitation. Still, if you know situations that differ than they are out there… I would say those people aren’t managing their asset properly.
