Irresponsible horse ownership

Well, I think I've seen and heard it all now. Lordy! So Trent's best bud calls and says they've picked up the horse that was left from his deceased dad. So he asks me the following questions:

1) Ms. Sheila, he's exactly 2 years and 4 months... I said, good GAWD, Caleb, I thought you said he'd been riding this STUD COLT for quite a while. He had been.. I said, oh, good Lord! I said, well, when are you getting him cut? I'm going to make the appointment tomorrow... can we stop by, so you and Trent can see him... sure.

2) Ms. Sheila, by the way, can we put him in with Mom's mare and the 3-year old filly (of which I'd given him a breeding stock filly)... NO!!!! Well, why not? I said, remember Scamp, who's just a year old? Yeah. Well, he was just about getting to the point of wanting to breed Jazz, and I had to separate him, and that was early in the year. Oh, I didn't know that, he says... I said, no/no on that!

3) Well, Ms. Sheila, can Trent ride him first, because it's been a while, and will you help me on some things? Sure, no problem.

So they get here, and this sucker is a dink... under fed, which didn't surprise me, from what I could tell, his back wasn't broke down... at least, from what I could tell with him in the trailer. He's out of my vet's paint stud, that stands at least 16 hands, and every bit of oh, 1,500 pounds. The mare this colt is out of, I've seen, she's a tank, and stood oh, about 15'3. Stuff like this just gets my goat... but wait, till you hear the rest of it.

So his mom says, well, you know, I have my homozygous mare, I'm thinking about breeding her to this colt before we cut him. I said right now? Well, yeah, what's wrong with that? So I explain that. I said, well, does he have papers? Well, he did at some point, but nobody knows where they are, etc. I told her that no, I didn't think it was a good idea... all this time we're walking to the barn - she wants to see the horses.

So she says... well, I sure would like a baby. I said, what the heck for? I said, you know what's entailed in that... she just got through telling me she couldn't afford to have the 3-year old broke out, couldn't afford anymore than just two months... so I'm explaining to her the cost of raising a baby, the feed, the breaking and training, etc... and I said, by the time you get through, you've still got an unpapered horse, that's worth what you put in them for training, maybe, not including what you've fed them to get them to their 2-year old year... okay, she sees the point.

So we walk down, first stall is Scamp. She hasn't ever seen Scamp. Is he out of Kid? Yes. And he's what, two years old? Nope, he's a yearling, was a yearling in April... she said, see, I just can't afford to feed a horse like that to look like that. So I try to explain what kind of feed to use, to get the most benefit, and proper worming, etc. Next stall is Jazz's... she says, oh, MY GAWD! I said, yep. She says how old is she? She's two. OH, MY gawd she says... I said, yep... Well, are you going to break her? Nope. Why not? Because I'll be showing her in halter, and then after we get through with that, she goes straight to the broodmare band. Well, why don't you go ahead and break her... cuz I don't want to... her use to me is broodmare and broodmare only.

Explained to her that every horse on this place has a job - just like all of us do. They do their job, or they're gone, period. I told her there was tons and tons of information with books, internet, videos, etc. that would explain how to properly feed, take care of a horse, etc. Course the last time they were here is when I still had all the paints... well, where's so and so... I said, every single paint is totally gone - every single one! Even Rocky (paint stud)... yep, he's been gone for over a year now...

Now, are you sitting down... so we're walking back up to the house... Caleb says, Ms. Sheila, did you know Dad used to ride this horse to the bar last year before he died.......as a freaking yearling... boy, I grabbed ahold of Caleb, and we had a serious heart-to-heart talk about him being responsible and man enough to do the right thing by this horse, that I would help him as much as possible, but I wasn't going to put up with no crap... yes, ma'am, I know, he says...

And people wonder why I never want to go trail riding with a bunch of yahoos anymore... good GAWD have mercy! Just makes me sick to my ever living stomach!

In the horse's defense, he must be bombproof to allow a grown, possibly drunk man to ride him to the bar as a yearling!!!
There is certainly no excuse for these people to have so little knowledge in our world today. I'm sure you would have given them all the guidance they needed if they had asked, and there is so much info out there if you look and pursue it.

LORD, please help our animals.. Poor baby..

Idgits we call them..

UGH!!!!!!

I do come from a different school on all of that though. We tend to break our babies in starting around Nov/Dec usually about 30 days up (MOST of those are spent in the round pen, but they do get ridden a bit, depending on maturity) then they get turned out until they are ready for full blown "training"...each one is different!

Back when I was riding cutting horses, we waited forever to start one...

People just flat out do not know and unfortunately they buy a horse FIRST and try to learn later...results are frightening.... Learn first, buy later...or HECK, lease a finished motor scooter to teach you something... I've had one bad experience in a lease and everyone here saw it...thank goodness I checked in on the munchkin... BUT all of the others are going great!!!

Inherently, people are dumb!

HUM Kidd, how old are these babies you start riding in Nov/Dec? I know race horses start early.. But, are you talking about under a year old or coming 2 yr olds

They are yearlings coming on two - not all of them get ridden...only the ones that have closed knees and can handle it. It helps too that they are getting ridden by someone who is barely 100lbs. They usually get 2-3 rides at a walk and trot and then get turned out. MOST of the time they are up is round pen work in a bitting rig, walker breaking, baths, etc...

Each horse is different...some absolutely can't be ridden until MUCH later......Each one gets a specialized plan...

Lots of trainers don't look at it like that and just start riding babies (yearlings) in October to get them ready for early march futurities. Lots of these horses run in Mexico or in the Valley. There are stories on both sides of it... There is a race in January for 2yos, AQHA does not sanction it, it is held in the Valley. The horses that come out of that race have gone on to win BIG later in their 2yo and 3yo years... There are also horses that never run again...

In horses everyone wants a fast turn-around on their investments...unfortunately it doesn't always pan out. Often it just falls flat. Each horse is different and has to be trained differently.

We have 2 current 2yos that haven't had ANYTHING done with them...everything is a fight and it is painful for all involved. In all honesty we've thought about telling their owner that it isn't worth it in some ways...they are going to be a LOT of work AND neither is a barn burner...they might make decent little horses, but nothing "GREAT"... It would have been a LOT easier if they had been taught what a round pen was last year when they got home from the sale...

By "starting" them early - you get a feel for what kind of horse you have, fast, slow, mediocre, etc...owners want to know NOW what they have...makes it tough...

There is a girl in our 4-H club that started riding her yearling in April or May. His birthday was June 20. Talk about irresponsible. And her mother, who's dumb as a bag of hammers, but think she knows it all, was bragging about how much more advanced her daughter's yealing was than the rest of the kids in the young horse group. Everybody just rolled their eyes at her and told her it was a great way to ruin her colt. Some people genuinely don't know enough not to start them then, and some are just stupid. I fel sorry forthe little sucker.

SHEESH!!!!!!!!

That is scary!!!!!!

Our kiddos have knee x-rays done, they get scoped if we think they might be having throat problems...they are checked out pretty thoroughly...

MOST of what we do when they are young is teach them how to use their bodies... There is some early riding...but not very much all told...

You should have seen this kids 4-H project book, full of pictures of her riding him. She had the nerve to ask Brennen if he was riding his yearling. Brennen's response was "are you stupid?". So much for being polite to adults, but it was well deserved. Seth is 3 months older than theirs, and Brennen is a lot smaller kid than her daughter, but no way am I letting him get on. Ground work is lots for now.