Offered a Horse

That is very sad, colic is so sudden and without reason.
yes it's utterly horrible when it happens, feel for her, she has mental health issues so this will really be hard for her, and I know that she offered him to be in good faith, i.e. he was a bit of a problem horse in the past but he was happy now, and no health issues. She's so glad i have Buddy, as he had lived longer than might have been expected given how much work he has done and she wanted Cruise to do the same.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessey
Oh how sad. My old boss bought a horse. Within 12hrs he was pts with colic (he hadn’t even moved yards yet).
 
I am so sorry about that lovely horse. Gosh, so sad.

Will Fleur's visitors be returning in a while? They did sound promising....
I believe they will. I have been able to contact some folks who know them i.e. horse dentist and someone who has comtois and they say they are nice and reasonable people. I did some work with Fleur today, just handling, moving, walking over plastic bags, being rubbed all over with a plastic feed sack, did it perfectly. Did the same with Suze, eyes out on stalks, she did it but was worried whereas Fleur was whatever who cares. Tidied up her mane and tail and made her look a bit more presentable, left the mud on though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Huggy
Funny weekend, we got a call yesterday to ask if they could come and see Fleur today so said yes. then we lost our power which only came on at 3pm today. Showed Suze and Fleur working, both very good, did everything asked. We took Fleur up the garden and walked her through Suze's gate in the wall where she has to go under an arch through a very narrow gap. Got into the other side of the garden heading for the field and rope halter came off, so ideal to show that even when loose in the garden Fleur is easy to catch.....Took her in the field showed her working on lunge and let the girl work with her. Fleur was spot on did nothing wrong. Height wise, she would be ok on Fleur, but she is a bit heavy, would say heavier than me. She says she intends to lose weight but I would want to see her ride to see how lightly she sits as she is big on bottom and thighs where it is hard to shift weight. Managed Fleur fine on the ground but not sure if Fleur is a bit too fine.
 
Not good to be too heavy for a horse but I would comment that I have a big fleshy bottom and it is ideal for riding. It serves like a seat saver for both horse and rider. My father thought my big bottom was a problem, but those of my children and grand children who inherited it are the ones who like riding.
As I am having trouble with my weight gain since my fall, I would doubt anyone who said they would lose weight. I would want to see them actually slimmed down.
 
Not good to be too heavy for a horse but I would comment that I have a big fleshy bottom and it is ideal for riding. It serves like a seat saver for both horse and rider. My father thought my big bottom was a problem, but those of my children and grand children who inherited it are the ones who like riding.
As I am having trouble with my weight gain since my fall, I would doubt anyone who said they would lose weight. I would want to see them actually slimmed down.
more concerned that a saddle fit will be difficult as Fleur is only 15hh and not very long backed, so fitting a 17.5 or 18 inch saddle on her would be difficult
 
A good saddler can often work around that as long as the client isn't on a very tight budget. You can get a 17.5" seat on a 17" panel, go for a straighter cut saddle so the leg naturally hangs longer and keeps the seat more central (saddle size for the rider is more to do with leg length), a flatter seat so more of the saddle can be sat on, less blocking to allow the rider more space, some saddles now even have panels that extend to the side to increase bearing surface - and these are just the things I know of and I'm no saddler. The downside is most of these options aren't found on the cheaper saddles.
 
RS riders dont live with such sophistication. The horse has a saddle and we ride in it. My favourite saddle (my old share) now costs a staggering £1795 whereas Ella has the cheapest plastic gp. Shamefully I havent noted down the maker.
 
But we aren't talking about a riding school horse and rider, we're talking about privately owned where some thought and money can do a lot to help. My saddle cost a lot more than second hand Skib, new it would be cheaper to buy a new horse! It's annoying because technically the saddle I had - a similar price to your favourite one and I'd bought it new only a year earlier - fitted him very well, but for some reason he wasn't happy in it which in turn caused me problems. This one isn't what you'd look at for his type but he's happy in it, it stays in place, he moves well in it (and he has a lot of movement, I think that's what the other saddle couldn't accommodate) and I can ride comfortably in it so it's worth the money.
 
Given she is not backed, the last thing i want is for her to be started in a badly fitting saddle, tried Buddy's 17.5 on her it was far too big. also a heavy rider, i reckon she could be 14 stone as she is much much bigger than me at 12 1/2 stone which Buddy and Suze carry easily but I reckoned I could be a bit heavy for Fleur. Have sent pictures to our saddler of Fleur to get her view ie. Suze's saddle just is short enough and as she said it is absolutely great for the sort of work yu would do but you wouldn't want to do endurance with it.

My friend who does training with her mule and is brilliant knows someone who might be interested, I would be very happy for her to go there as she would be trained NH style and barefoot if possible plus if she thinks the home is good then I would trust her judgement totally. I have a feeling the girl who came to look will say no. Fleur had a tiny bit of heat in her fronts on Sunday, not her hinds, she was trimmed on Friday and overnight got into the other field where there is good grass as the fence was a bit weak due to the storm i.e. no power! I kept them on the yard all day saturday so they pigged themselves on hay and let them out overnight when the worst of the storm was over. This morning she was in the big summer field again, as the electric fence was off as we had no power when i did evenign stables. So while i have a perfectly reasonable explanation for her, Aimee and Buddy having slightly warm feet, of course people can draw whatever conclusions they want from it. They have quite good grass where they are so it would be harder to manage her. I had hoped they might have more of a moorland type farm as that is ideal for her.
 
Got a message today to say that she would rather buy a horse which saves me the embarassment of saying no. Actually if the loan had worked and I was happy I would have sold her but good get out I guess.
 
I think it is a good outcome. If she had any concerns about being too big, then it probably wouldn't have worked out in the long term. I hope someone else suitable comes along soon.
 
I think it is a good outcome. If she had any concerns about being too big, then it probably wouldn't have worked out in the long term. I hope someone else suitable comes along soon.
I think i was the one with concerns rather than her as she knew what height fleur was and not a pure comtois. I hadn't see any pictures of her, if i had done i would probably have asked about the weight issue before she came.
 
newrider.com