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 The Brave One
Posts: 20550
  
Location: snowbelt, WA | How do you bring yourself to sell a horse you bought young and raised?
We don't click, and she may even be better at something else, but for sure with someone else.
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
 
Location: Texas | you just bite the bullet and do it. This week I've seen four horses I've sold over the past year with their new owners and it's made me really happy. Two of them are with kids and one is going to the breeding shed, and my yearling filly is going to a barrel home.. Seeing them in a place where they are meant to be is awesome. I've had the sad stories too, but these make it worth it. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 902
Location: Qld Australia | Imagine what you could do with the money. Pretty new buckskin . . . bay . . . chestnut . . . whatever takes your fancy.
Try selling one you bred, showed both sire and dam and had high hopes for the foal only to have flood and then droughts four years in a row. That's what we are facing now and I have sold 10 head in the last 6 months for dirt money just so I can buy feed for the mares and stallions. Sentiment as hard as it is is a thing of the past right now.
Go looking for a new one that you enjoy. |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | I have been through this in my mind for the past year with my mare! She is my first "prospect" even though she was older than your average prospect when I got her, but I'm pretty much the person who has ridden and trained her the most. So, I'm currently investing more money into her training in the hopes we can get together.
And if that doesn't work...I'm hoping I can either be brave enough to let go of her or let go of barrel racing for the time being until I can let go of her or have an opportunity to afford and keep two horses. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | In my younger days I could sell if needed, but there has been a few that I have regrett selling and wish I could have do overs. But now as I have gotton older I dont sell, they have all become part of my family. |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| I battled this for a very long time but it came down to when I stopped having fun. I tried to run a horse I just didnt click with and eventually I lost so much confidence and stopped having fun. Dont allow that to happen to you.
Be very confident in who you sell to and that also helps ease. Remember this horse may click with someone else and could have a really bright future. In a way, its like you're doing the horse a favor. |
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The Brave One
Posts: 20550
Location: snowbelt, WA | I have been blessed with a friend selling me a VERY broke horse. I really like her, and it has eased the pain quite a bit.
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The Brave One
Posts: 20550
Location: snowbelt, WA | stayceem - 2014-03-16 11:59 PM I battled this for a very long time but it came down to when I stopped having fun. I tried to run a horse I just didnt click with and eventually I lost so much confidence and stopped having fun. Dont allow that to happen to you. Be very confident in who you sell to and that also helps ease. Remember this horse may click with someone else and could have a really bright future. In a way, its like you're doing the horse a favor.
I have stopped having fun with her. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| We had 2 large ponies. The first one came out of an accidental, unknown until very late, cross between a shetland mare we bought and a thoroghbred stud. That baby had the worst of both of those breeds. Skittish and ornery and flighty, but she had height and was built nice.
The second one came from the first pony who we bred to a nice POA stud. We were hoping for color, but got a solid. She was quiet and nice, but an injury as a baby caused her to have a swayback.
We ended up giving them away to a family who raised and sold big ponies. They had some very nice foals from those two, but we never had much luck with them. Sometimes, when you don't have much luck, you do what you need to do to move on. |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | It's tough if you never planned to sell one. I have a 7yr old that I had going nicely on barrels and he was going to be my keeper. I had my heart set on him since the day he was born. He had an injury and will now never make a barrel horse, but will be able to do most anything else that doesn't require tight turns or hard stops. I don't need a ranch horse, I have too many younger geldings that will need that riding so I will sell him if I ever find the right home. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 784
Location: USA | If it's not fun move on..... I had to do that with my gelding last year. He needed a different type rider than I was. He took all my confidence AWAY trying to get him to work for me. Never thought in a million years I would sell him. Started riding my colt and realized what I had in him... he has given me my confidence back and I am having a blast!! The right horse makes a BIG difference..... |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | simple for me, i dont..lol
m |
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 Butter my Biscuits
Posts: 2948
Location: MI | I am doing the exact opposite of TricksterJ. I am dispersing all of our mares as IMO the horse economy isnt ever going to come back. This has been really tough for me as I hand picked and dearly loved each of these mares. Each of these mares blessed us with some excellent young stock that we could never afford to buy otherwise. They will keep us very well mounted for the rest of our riding careers. It was tough seeing these gals go, but I feel very confident that each of them got great homes where they will be appreciated. |
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 Can You Hear Me Now?
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | I sold one I was very attached too last fall. I figured I had 2 of her foals I could let her go.... I was wrong I miss her dearly and am waiting impatiently for the time I can buy her back.
Eta: sorry that doesn't help you much. I learned my lesson.
Edited by ndiehl 2014-03-17 9:48 AM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 386
| If it's not working and you've given it a lot of time, you should sell. If you don't enjoy riding the horse, things will only get worse. I have only sold 2 horses in my lifetime. One because even though she would run barrels, you could tell she hated it & I hated riding her. She was a handful. My husband would rope off of her and she loved chasing calves & was good at it. She was a whole different horse. Sold her for a calf horse and new owner loved her and she loved her job. The other I dearly loved. He was my daughters barrel horse and she quit running. Couldn't stand to see him go to waste. Sold him to another young girl & she dearly loved him and he is spoiled beyond belief. The rest have stayed here for retirement. They range from 26 to 32. They have all been good horses and could not bear to see them go to a killer pen. Its not cheap to feed them all, but it's the least I can do for all the joyful years they have given my family. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 551
Location: NE WY | Here is how I look at it. If I have a horse that I don't click with, I find them a new home with someone they will click with. I love my horses, I love to barrel race. I can not afford to keep the ones that I don't click with and buy ones that I do click with. Of course, this is after a good honest effort to get used to each other. But, if it is getting to the point you know you don't click, pretty soon it isnt going to be any fun either.
Second, I have had a few horses that I did click with, that I won more than I ever dreamed I could, got to compete and do well at places that I only dreamed about entering. When the chance came to sell the first one for BIG money, I bawled my eyes out and finally backed out of the deal. I still have her, she is 22, she has earned her retirement with me. She has given me 4 beautiful colts (oddly enough I just put the oldest one on the market, so I know what it is like to feel like you are selling your dream) BUT, if I could do it over again, I would have kissed her below the eye like I always have, whispered I loved her and loaded her on the trailer and then cried myself to sleep for the next week. Bottom line, she is a horse, she has a limited amount of runs in her no matter how well I take care of her. She got hurt 2 year later and was retired at age 14. I have made sacrafices to keep her with me, done odd ball jobs to come up with extra feed money, etc, etc. The price tag on her would have made a substantial difference to my family and I know that now that I have kids of my own. But the money is just a distant second to the fact that the day is approaching when I will have to watch her get old, watch age take its effect on her and be the one to make the decision to say good bye to her forever, it will be me that has to be there to bury her, kiss her one last time and know without a doubt she is not off making someone else's dreams come true. I think that is waaaaayyy harder than loading her on a trailer would have been.
So needless to say, when the second pretty dang nice horse I had came around and someone asked me to put a price on him, I did, I loaded him on their trailer and I cried, but I don't regret that. Maybe some will think this makes me hard, I really am not, it was just a powerful learning experience for me. So for me at least, selling one I don't click with is not nearly as personal for me as it might be for others. Good ones are hard to come by, I don't let them go easily, but horses are expensive and most of us could probably be pretty dang rich if we didn't have a herd of them....they should at least be complete and total fun!!! Good luck!! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1062
Location: Probably On the Road to the Next Barrel Race! | no fun? sell her and move on... |
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The Brave One
Posts: 20550
Location: snowbelt, WA | Thanks everyone. It really does help to read the responses. |
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 Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | I sold a mare recently that was very hard, but I know I did what was best for her and that really helps when I start missing her. That, and I stay in contact with people that buy from me. They kind of buy me too when they buy one from me...willingly or not lol. |
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 Chasin my Dream
Posts: 13651
Location: Alberta | mruggles - 2014-03-17 8:07 AM simple for me, i dont..lol
m
hoarder 
So to the OP, you just do it, you already have the why's, just have to go with how and who (making sure horse makes it to a home that fits them) |
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