Horsey Dilemma
So I have this dilemma about finding a job/home for my former Grand Prix horse (jumper). My parents actually own him, they bought him about nine years ago when we had a farm together and he took me in my first Grand Prixs. He is now 16 and has some stifle issues that, although he is sound, prevent him from doing more than 3 foot jumps or dressage. With the demands of my business I really don't have time for him but he is not ready to retire yet.
We have owned Chad since he was 7 and as I said he took me in my first Grand Prixs but then my business grew and I found that I really didn't have the temperment to show at that level while also being able to service my clients at the shows. Entry fees get expensive fast when you start having several rails in the big classes. At first my mom thought she'd like to keep having him shown and just be an owner so she sent him off to another rider. He won about 30K in seven months but it still cost her over 10k above and beyond the prize money to keep him on the circuit so she decided to bring him home and sell him. This was hard to do when he was sitting at home and unfortunately she also decided to be sticky about his price so he didn't sell.
After a year or two out of the show ring she finally sent him out to be shown again and hopefully to get sold. When he started in the ring again he didn't seem to want to do more than about the 1.3 or 1.35 meter classes. He has always been rather picky about his riders so after checking him out thoroughly soundness wise, she moved him to another barn. Same problem, so they decided to try to make him into an equitation horse since he is very broke and had all the skills. He was very picky and unreliable with the juniors so this didn't work either. Finally we brought him home and leased him to one of my students. She could ride him fine but we found that if we prepped him enough for the eq. and rode him in such a way to keep him quiet enough to win in the eq. he tended to stop off and on. If you didn't prep and rode him like a jumper he was fine in the lower classes. If you moved up in height you had to ride pretty perfectly, he didn't tolerate more than an occasional mistake. At the time this was fine for the kid so she kept using him and he taught her a lot.
Then the kid got another horse and started doing the junior jumpers so she couldn't do the littler stuff with him anymore. Also he seemed to be getting more and more unreliable about jumping in the show ring. We had always kept up on medical maintenance but I knew something was wrong so we had another look at him and finally found that his stifles were bothering him (understand that he was never off throughout this time and this was why the answer was hard to find). We injected and tried again with the kid, one great show and then back to the same problems. We finally had his stifles x-rayed and decided that there were just too many changes for him to continue jumping at more than 3 foot any more.
So that is where we are at now. He has no job so I am riding him but he is bored to death. Also my time is limited and he likes to work. He needs to find a home. He could easily do mid level dressage (he is schooled to about 3rd level) since he is broke to death and knows all the moves. He won't suit a real novice because although he is basically quiet we are talking about a former Grand Prix horse here and he can get his blood up now and again. A jumping home is more problematic since he can't do more than 3 foot or so but he is really a pro's ride over jumps so anyone interested in him probably would have trouble riding him. We don't want to just give him away because free horses can often get treated just like what they are, free horses. When someones life gets in the way or the horse can't do what the rider wants anymore they just get given to the next lesser home down the road. I do not want that to happen to him but I myself am not in a position to guarantee that I can take him back at some point in the future and my parents are older and trying to downsize so they can't either. I have talked to every dressage person I know with no luck. Advertising is scary since with his price (we are asking about 10K for what was a six figure horse) we are liable to get a lot of inappropriate inquiries and of course would have little chance of knowing much about potential buyers. It's just such a dilemma.
Any input would be appreciated but mostly i am just venting.
We have owned Chad since he was 7 and as I said he took me in my first Grand Prixs but then my business grew and I found that I really didn't have the temperment to show at that level while also being able to service my clients at the shows. Entry fees get expensive fast when you start having several rails in the big classes. At first my mom thought she'd like to keep having him shown and just be an owner so she sent him off to another rider. He won about 30K in seven months but it still cost her over 10k above and beyond the prize money to keep him on the circuit so she decided to bring him home and sell him. This was hard to do when he was sitting at home and unfortunately she also decided to be sticky about his price so he didn't sell.
After a year or two out of the show ring she finally sent him out to be shown again and hopefully to get sold. When he started in the ring again he didn't seem to want to do more than about the 1.3 or 1.35 meter classes. He has always been rather picky about his riders so after checking him out thoroughly soundness wise, she moved him to another barn. Same problem, so they decided to try to make him into an equitation horse since he is very broke and had all the skills. He was very picky and unreliable with the juniors so this didn't work either. Finally we brought him home and leased him to one of my students. She could ride him fine but we found that if we prepped him enough for the eq. and rode him in such a way to keep him quiet enough to win in the eq. he tended to stop off and on. If you didn't prep and rode him like a jumper he was fine in the lower classes. If you moved up in height you had to ride pretty perfectly, he didn't tolerate more than an occasional mistake. At the time this was fine for the kid so she kept using him and he taught her a lot.
Then the kid got another horse and started doing the junior jumpers so she couldn't do the littler stuff with him anymore. Also he seemed to be getting more and more unreliable about jumping in the show ring. We had always kept up on medical maintenance but I knew something was wrong so we had another look at him and finally found that his stifles were bothering him (understand that he was never off throughout this time and this was why the answer was hard to find). We injected and tried again with the kid, one great show and then back to the same problems. We finally had his stifles x-rayed and decided that there were just too many changes for him to continue jumping at more than 3 foot any more.
So that is where we are at now. He has no job so I am riding him but he is bored to death. Also my time is limited and he likes to work. He needs to find a home. He could easily do mid level dressage (he is schooled to about 3rd level) since he is broke to death and knows all the moves. He won't suit a real novice because although he is basically quiet we are talking about a former Grand Prix horse here and he can get his blood up now and again. A jumping home is more problematic since he can't do more than 3 foot or so but he is really a pro's ride over jumps so anyone interested in him probably would have trouble riding him. We don't want to just give him away because free horses can often get treated just like what they are, free horses. When someones life gets in the way or the horse can't do what the rider wants anymore they just get given to the next lesser home down the road. I do not want that to happen to him but I myself am not in a position to guarantee that I can take him back at some point in the future and my parents are older and trying to downsize so they can't either. I have talked to every dressage person I know with no luck. Advertising is scary since with his price (we are asking about 10K for what was a six figure horse) we are liable to get a lot of inappropriate inquiries and of course would have little chance of knowing much about potential buyers. It's just such a dilemma.
Any input would be appreciated but mostly i am just venting.