This is horrible. Sorry for your loss!
Who in their right mind turns out a horse on trial with another unknown animal (with hind shoes nonetheless) 
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Super-surprised that anyone, especially a BNT would turn out a horse on trial with another one. I assume this horse was insured for both major medical and mortality and/or they sent you a check for the very-broken horse they just definitively bought from you?
Hope so.
Like you, it would not have occurred to me to have to tell someone knowledgable not to do this. But I’ll learn from your experience and specify the obvious in any future agreement I’d write.
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The horse was on lease, but same principle for trials too. He was leased to a friend with a contract, but friend didn’t violate the contract – the BM did. I never got an apology from the BM and there was no offering to cover the vet bill[s] much less his death/burial/value. This was not a backyard barn - it’s one of the most well established eventing facilities in my area.
For those who do not live in the north, boriums are permanent studs that are welded onto the shoe. They are necessary for any horse who has shoes that sees turnout in the winter here because shoes are slippery in snow and ice. However, it’s common practice that horses with hind boriums see solo turnout for the winter because if they kick another horse they can kill it.
For anyone taking care of other people’s horses:
- Horses with hind boriums get SOLO TURN OUT ONLY.
- Do not turn out other people’s horses together without running it by the owner.
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Thanks for the explanation on boriums.
That’s INSANE that a barn manager at a well known ‘professional’ eventing barn turned out a horse with hind shoes like that out with others… period. NEGLIGENT.
FWIW - I think you are being more than fair in terms of not naming the barn or BM involved, but sharing the story as a cautionary tale for others.
So sorry though… what an awful, NEGLIGENT way to lose a horse. I’d be so angry in your position.
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I’m back on FB for the first time in a long time thanks to unloading all my horse gear, and I’m just curious: has the leasing of 3-6 year old horses for 6 months to a year been a thing for a while now or is this a crazy market thing?!? “Not for a beginner.” “Would like an advanced rider who can further education.” You don’t say! You’re trying to get someone to pay you a fee to put miles and training on your horse! Is it working? I don’t know. I’m just cruising by trying to find ISO ads, but I’ve now seen enough to assume this is an actual trend and not a weirdo or two…
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I was actually wondering about this as well. I can only imagine the lease contract has to have a purchase option at the end of the period… Otherwise it definitely sounds counterintuitive.
After the advertisement of a teenaged horse needing a retirement home for up to $50,000 price; all bets are off and anything goes.
The 3 ring (hunter, jumper, equitation) show horse that’s been advertised for sale since 2018; did send red flags up for me though. 
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In general I know it’s kind of absurd, but I’m one of those people who love that type of ride. Granted, I don’t show very often so being able to win in each ring isn’t a high priority for me atm, but knowing what my eventual horse budget will probably be (i.e. not very many zeros 
) I view it as an opportunity for me to keep preparing for the type of horse I’ll likely end up bringing home down the road, and the alternative for me is to only lesson 1-2x/week on schoolmasters who top out at 2’. I can also see it being appealing to college kids, who don’t permanently live in the area, or even some advanced highschoolers whose parent’s don’t want to buy a horse right before they head off to college.
That said, it does also depend on how expensive the lease is. I would certainly expect it to be on the very low end, cost-wise.
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Nope - not lease to owns. Short term leases. Mentions of wanting horses to progress in training, mentions of being busy right now so don’t have time but will get back to it, etc., etc.
If I owned a young horse, I wouldn’t want anyone but me or a trusted trainer to get a chance to mess it up. I was once that person that put mileage on young horses - for free or with the promise of pay when it sold. In one case I was promised pay when the horse sold, but I legged the horse up so well that suddenly it was desirable again and the owner didn’t want to sell anymore - yanked the horse out from under me just as he was getting to be a nice horse to ride after she’d overridden him into a bundle of nerves whose face you couldn’t touch. I did learn a lot, like don’t take someone’s word for it when they tell you you’ll be fairly reimbursed eventually.
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Last year I had a very respectable breeder offer this option. I politely declined 
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I’ve been noticing a lot of those leases, too. “Hey, why don’t you put mileage on my barely-broke four year old that I don’t have time for/can’t ride/can’t afford while you also pay for everything!” <— um, no?
It seems to me that things are settling down a bit now in the sales market, though. The high end riding horses are always going to be $$$$$$, and the well-bred, talented babies are, too, but I’ve noticed that the used-to-be under $10k ones appear to be going back under $10k in the last month or so. Maybe I’m wrong; I’m not in the market but a friend wants to be and has been putting it off while hoping that it will get less nutty as people go back to work.
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The Belgian pair I bought from a seller in Massachusetts had Drill Tek on their shoes even in warm weather. They’d been pulling mostly on paved roads. For horses their size it also served to keep shoes from being worn through on the pavement. Never realized it was used on riding horses’ shoes, too. Sorry to hear about your horse!
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Borium on shoes is very, very common on foxhunting horses in the winter, particularly for staff horses who go out whenever hounds do and can’t choose their footing. I greatly prefer having borium on, especially when the weather means we have to hack on the roads.
I have only ever known one foxhunter to opt for studs rather than borium (there may be more), but I don’t know why - maybe the extra fussiness of stud kits and wrenches and the likelhood that stud holes will be fouled in bad footing?
ETA: Contrariwise; eventers DO NOT like borium because it changes the horse’s way of going slightly - produces a little more knee action; not desirable for dressage.
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Sure seems to be lots of different kinds of ‘Warmbloods’, I have never heard of, advertised. Always nice to learn about lesser known, more obscure and or regional registries.
Like Amish Warmbloods. Anyone know about what bloodlines constitute Amish Warmbloods?
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I don’t. But I feel a Weird Al Yankovick music video coming on. 
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Any! Any bloodlines at all! An “Amish Warmblood” is known as a draft cross to his friends. Usually, but not always, the draft part is a Belgian, or at least, the Amish in my neck of the woods are partial to Belgians.
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Apparently, Weird Al is one of the most famous graduates of Cal Poly, SLO. Now you know…
🥸
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Awww. Draft crosses. That makes sense. Thank you! Not many Amish in my area rather Mennonites.
Haven’t seen any “Amish Warmbloods” (bet they have fancy trots!), but it’s taking a lot of effort to not respond to all the “Canadian Warmblood” and “Canadian WB/draft crosses” with “so, PMU baby?”
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@Horse_Rider there actually is a Canadian Warmblood registry, and there are folks breeding draft crosses on purposes for sport horses. The CW registry tends to be TB/WB crosses that don’t make the grade for the European affiliated registries. If CW wont accept your horse there is Canadian Sport Horse.
I have not seen mention of current PMU babies since I have returned to riding, 15 years ago. I think the industry moved to China and may much smaller now.
I’m in Western Canada and follow rescue groups and the low end of nice horses. If there were PMU babies I would hear about it.
The F1 purpose bred draft crosses are very hit and miss. They can range from looking like a coarse fox hunter to looking like a plow horse. The F2 or 1/4 draft often don’t look draft at all.
But they don’t look like a quality warmblood.
I have seen some registered, even an imported, WB that looked like a draft cross standing still at least. But I havent seen a draft cross that looks or moves like a nice WB, even when they come out lighter build.
People don’t tend to cross WB x Draft. If they score a WB they are more likely to breed to a TB if they can’t get a WB match. The Draft x tends to be TB for eventing, QH for ranch work, and random for backyard breeding.
I’m not really a fan of draft or harness horses for riding.
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