01/12/2025
Horse sales, expectations, an epidemic in problems getting along with animals, and why I’ll never sell the horses I have
All this has been on my mind more than usual recently as I’ve helped a few students navigate the process of finding and purchasing a suitable horse for them.
I’ve been on about every side of a horse sale there is, and find every angle distasteful personally. I used to sell a few horses here and there and found the expectations of those looking to purchase unreasonable, and the horse quickly reduced to an object sold for a price- one that should come with buttons and a manual and not change no matter what the handling or environment was like.
As I helped my students find horses, I found the sale and presentation dishonest, and uncomfortable as well. These horses carry high price tags and are presented as these types of robots that fulfill the desires of a purchaser : ten minutes of video of all the things the horse will tolerate- tarps blowing, people standing on their backs, but very little into WHO this horse is and what they need.
For clarity, it’s not that I’m opposed to purchasing or selling horses. I just have very few personal experiences of it being any fun
The focus on horses in the industry often is very much on what the person needs or wants to get out of an experience with horses. Because of this, we struggle to get along with horses. Over the years, I’ve found my heart broken time and time again to hear some of the gentlest and easiest horses I loved moved along because their owners simply could not get along with them - often because they took too much, expected too much, and gave to the horse too little of what a horse actually needs.
What a horse actually needs - that is such a nebulous concept anymore. Of course it’s fine to purchase a horse that suits your needs, and we aren’t required to get along with horses who’s temperaments don’t suit us - but any horse can quickly unravel when we don’t commit to husbandry, to rising to the occasion, to being the kind of person and having the kind of life a horse needs. They didn’t ask to come into our lives - it is not their responsibility to bend to unrealistic requirements, and it isn’t even possible for them to do so most of the time.
I’ve had reports of my horses, the most gentle ones who I can’t imagine being difficult for someone to handle, becoming unruly and unmanageable for folks - won’t stand for trims, won’t lead, aggressive or spooky. These are the horses my children ride , the quietest ones I have - what does it take for a horse to unravel? A persons lack of awareness, poor support to the horse; and unreasonable expectations.
So long as we societally don’t focus on GIVING to our animals but instead taking, we will continue to have problems getting along, and horses will continue to bounce through homes, with their stressed behavior becoming increasingly described as their personality
