I hope that you mean “a better place” in an absolute sense, and not euphemistically.
A better place means not at my farm
The huntsman will use him as a guest horse if the hot wire works and he doesn’t tear the barn down.
If not, he’ll be hound food.
It’s really a shame, otherwise, he couldn’t be a nicer horse.
You know OP, I’m actually quite horrified with your attitude. I have two people who are VERY interested. But yet, if he doesn’t work out, he’s hound food?
I hope no one sells you another horse! Then your fences and barn will remain pristine. Let’s hope you don’t become incontinent or drool when you get old…off to the knackers.
For those of you doubting//
The people I got him from admitted that he is a confirmed wood chewer and has done so for over a decade. He will not keep a muzzle on, he will injure himself in order to remove it. It is not nerves, a calmer horse I’ve never seen. He got along instantly with the other horse. He just simply, apparently, enjoys a habit he’s had for years, at the expense of my woodwork.
He will either respect the hot wire and leave the side of the barn alone, or he’ll benefit the hunt/hounds in some other fashion.
I didn’t “give up”, I cut my losses. I’m not sure how much it would cost to replace a SUPPORT beam in the barn that is chewed, in ten days, not in half, but a third of a 6"x6" beam looks like someone tried to file it in half.
It’s set in cement, as are the other four upright posts and some cross beams that he would have had to stretch his head up to an uncomfortable level to chew.
He pissed on a half bale of green, fragrant hay and destroyed a stall with 50 year old oak beams.
I won’t even appologize for giving him away. He will either have a useful purpose under saddle or he’ll meet a merciful end.
I would not have purchased a horse willingly with this habit.
So, now he’s going to pay the ultimate price for chewing your precious fence and barn. Nice. Even with others saying they are interested. I hope you don’t have children.
So, the sellers lied and didn’t tell you about his wood chewing before the sale? Did you see any evidence when you tried him? Did you do the necessary due diligence before you purchased him? Did you purchase him knowing about the wood chewing? I don’t quite understand.
The phrase, “well, too bad, he’ll be hound food” sounds a bit cavalier.
That’s an understatement.
So the previous owner confirmed he was a wood chewer? I thought they weren’t returning your calls or emails.
I’m trying to figure out how peeing on hay can be a death sentence for a horse. What do you do if they poop in the trailer? Put them to the rack?
Guess her next horse better toe the line.
Or else.
I stopped having horses peeing on the hay when I realized that I had to let them pick which part of the stall they were going to eliminate in. My mare kept messing up her hay until I moved it to a diffent corner, which was less ideal for me. It worked the same way with the boys.
My gelding started eating wood 6 years into my owning him. I was buying my farm, and when he moved to my new farm he stopped chewing wood. He had a lot of great pasture and 24/7 turnout with a run-in, and the urge to chew went away.
This is about as far as I got, because the old guy is half beaver. He lives behind electrobraid and in a nice corral panel pen. The one wooden thing he had access to, well he ate it down to the screws holding it together and then nibbled around the screws.
If you are honestly still thinking about doing this guy in I’d be happy to take him, and I don’t live too far away.
Ah, I see your huntsman took him. Good for him.
Harsh
A senior hunt member of our hunt emailed me an ad for two horses, both staff horses with a recognized hunt that was folding. After extensive calls and emails, I purchased the horse, from photos taken in the hunt field last season. He was inexpensive and sold as a 14 yr old made hunt horse, proven, with NO vices, who would hunt quietly in the field. At the price I paid, even, if he had only turned out to be a pasture pet, I probably still would have kept him.
He’s done nearly $2000 of damage to my fences and stable. No, peeing on hay is not a capital offense, just annoying as hell when the same horse chews 3 inches off a 18 inch section of six by six in ten days.
I’ll add that while the horse’s new Coggins says he’s 14, the vet must never have opened his mouth. I doubt that a 14 year old that chews like he does would be that “long in the tooth”.
I have children, I do not expect them to be destructive to my property or anyone elses.
I suppose I could have sent him along to the next “oh I’ll love him more and he’ll stop” Pollyanna, but he’d have just been returned with an “I had NO IDEA it could be that bad”.
Why isn’t anyone angered at the people who just cared about getting rid of him before May 1st?
He needed to be in a concrete barn with metal fencing, posts and all (I have to replace 4 in the field). I do not have either of those.
There is nothing wrong with humanely disposing of a horse with abborant behavior issues. What happens to the body after shouldn’t be an issue.
I hope he lives a long and productive life as a guest horse. I hope he’s hunted and loved forever.
I’ll get back with you.
[QUOTE=LauraKY;6295776]
So, now he’s going to pay the ultimate price for chewing your precious fence and barn. Nice. Even with others saying they are interested. I hope you don’t have children.[/QUOTE]
OP shouldn’t have animals either with her zero tolerance for anything not perfectly up to her expectations.
Except ReSomething, if he doesn’t work out for the huntsman, he’s going to be fed to the hounds. I guess no one better ever piss off the OP. This one just really ticks. me. off!
I don’t have a problem with feeding a horse to the hounds. I’ve taken an old, unsound horse to the kennel.
What I have a problem with is your attitude. You didn’t even give this horse a chance.
That’s poor horsemanship.
[QUOTE=LauraKY;6295742]
You know OP, I’m actually quite horrified with your attitude. I have two people who are VERY interested. But yet, if he doesn’t work out, he’s hound food?
I hope no one sells you another horse! Then your fences and barn will remain pristine. Let’s hope you don’t become incontinent or drool when you get old…off to the knackers.[/QUOTE]
I agree with this. I feel the ‘better place’ post was trolling. :no:
Exactly. I grew up in a very tolerant household. When my father’s llewellyn setter tore up everyone of my 100 something stuffed animals (all except the stuffed rabbit I slept with, whew), my father just said oh well, we’ll get you more.
I don’t expect anyone to be as tolerant as my family has always been about animals, but if someone is soooooooooooooo anal that she cannot rehome a horse, and doesn’t care if he is put down if he chews wood, well, she doesn’t need a horse. What if OP’s puppy chews an antique table leg, or takes down all the curtains as my father’s dog did? (He did not like to be left at home when we went out to dinner.)
OP, let someone on coth have the horse. You said you got him cheaply. Let him go and don’t be so Ok with having him put down. Why was he allowed to chew for so long before you intervened? I got Quitt as soon as my 2 started chewing when we moved to a new barn.
And next time, as I’m sure there will be, be observant. If the horse has “always chewed wood,” there will be evidence at the barn and on trees in pastues, etc.
I’m appalled. Jeebus. I was watching this last night and the interest in the horse from multiple parties. Didn’t expect this outcome.
gets out list and adds a name.
I would take this horse in a heartbeat. I even have a completely electrified field he could live in.
This whole chain of events seems very callous.
[QUOTE=spacehorse;6295928]
I would take this horse in a heartbeat. I even have a completely electrified field he could live in.
This whole chain of events seems very callous.[/QUOTE]
Disgusting is more like it.
If the situations were reversed, I’d be taken out back and shot for chewing gum or gasp smoking.
Boy, our collective horses are tolerant of our collective bad riding, confused signals, yanks, cracks on their backs, slipping sliding, bad trailer rides, shots, accidental gouges with spurs, backwards bits, cold shower hosing, and misread colic, moldy feedings etc. On the whole horses are a very tolerant and forgiving species.
I too, am appalled and horrified. I would be very hard put to take another horse, but I was getting ready to discuss just that possibility with my husband. But it appears that the OP has made a decision, not just for herself but for anyone else willing to take this horse, that he should not have another chance.
I hope that the huntsman has more sense.
When the OP was looking for this horse, she received many suggestions from folks here who knew of good horses that were available. I’m sure those folks are all glad that she didn’t choose those horses.
And I’m sure that when the OP posts, yet again, about her search for her next horse, that she will be greeted with a resounding…silence
