13/12/2025
❗️FREE HORSE❗️
That perked up your ears, didn't it? Everyone wants something for free, even horses. As a horse trainer, I have been offered, on several occasions, a free horse.
Thoughts raced through my mind:
"So much potential" or "just needs feed" or "just needs shoes" or "just needs training".....
Every single time, without fail, the quote comes to mind, "pay now, or pay later".
You'll pay with your time, your money, your sanity, and potentially your life if the horse is the right flavor of dangerous.
I see this happen time and time again, people giving away a senior horse, a crippled horse, a horse with severe behavioral issues, an unhandled horse, etc.
I have trained the horses that others have gotten for free and every time there was something lurking beneath the surface...
Laundry list of health issues, lamanitic and lame
Charge and kick at humans (one that would qualify as "trainer killer")
Terrified of humans - started to tremble when you touch it
These are examples that I have personally trained for others; there are many out there like this and many that are worse. These horses can be rehabilitated or trained, but it is not easy, fast, or for the faint of heart.
There's always a reason that horse is free.
I'm making this warning post because I have several students who are currently horse shopping, and this is the time of year when hay prices go up and horses get listed as "free". Its a good reminder for us all.
If you need a sign, this is it. DON'T GET THE FREE HORSE. It's never truly free.
