been offered a horse.

I'm sorry? Are you saying that this woman offered you (via your mum) this dangerous rearing horse that she is too scared to ride? "I'm too scred to ride it, so I'll palm it off on someone else's kid"??!!!:eek::eek::mad: I hope your mum told her where to stick her kind offer!

There could be any one of a zillion reasons why the horse reared. If its been pworking hard when it hadnt been worked much before, it might well have changed shape enough to make the saddle pinch, it might have ulcers, it might have been stung by a wasp, it could have been absolutely anything.

I wouldn't assume that the RS instructors will run around telling liveries that their tack doesn't fit. You know how touchy some people here get on hearing that their tack doesn't fit - if its a person paying you lots of money as a livery client, you're even less likely to antagonise them by telling them that their tack doesn't fit.

I hope you're not even considering having this horse.
 
Having followed a lot of your posts since you started riding when I've been lurking on here & this being the first post I've noticed when I just came on here a few minutes ago... i'm going to jump in with an honest opinion. It sounds like this horse has quite a few issues which probably need sorting out properly, and not just its tack. Rearing is a very dangerous habit & It would be horrible if something happened to you if you took the horse on... Imho you could do much better than that in the nicest possible way, If you did take her on it could cost you a lot of money in getting the horse right if you could not do it yourself (which I assume you cant), possibly vets fees if theres a hidden problem causing the rearing... the list would potentially go on. Can you manage those costs? I wouldnt touch a rearer with a bargepole as a first horse, but that is just me... the horse most likely needs a very experienced rider with years of experience dealing with horses that have issues behind them. Your first horse needs to be something thats totally suitable for you, and to me this doesnt sound it. You say yourself it could be potentially fatal for them, please dont put yourself in that situation by taking her on. Any number of things could have caused the rear, but I just wouldnt buy a horse with a history of issues like this myself as a first horse. Could have been perfectly innocent, it may have been stung or something, but it still reared. So I would leave well alone, there are plenty of other horses out there, I am not being mean to you or the horse, I am just being honest, because it could potentially be, like you say, an accident waiting to happen. Thats my take on things, ignore if you like because I dont know a whole lot about buying horses, but I do know that wouldnt be a horse I'd look at if i was in a position to buy myself. I have absolutely nothing against this horse, and I know you have had experience with lots of different types of horses, but, I think there is a more suitable horse out there for you, you just need to keep looking :)
Hope all that makes sense :p :)
 
Sorry

Sorry but i really have to agree...yes that horse may never rear up again but do you really want to be the one to find out??
 
I said I wasn't going to have her in my post :)
She is on working livery at the RS (but only used by the owner and son) so I would have thought they may have said something, but TBH they have a 'that'll do' attitude rather than 'it has to be right'.
I don't know how to tell her without making it sound like she is a bad owner
 
From the post it does not look loke the OP has been offered the horse, only that since she rode it a few weeks ago it has reared. I hope that the owner would be responsible and NOT offer a rearer to someone in this fashion..
 
she asked if we wanted to buy it at a cheaper price so i'd say yes she offered it to me :)
and no i'm not having her, just wanted thoughts about why she may have reared
 
She may just be very misunderstood, it is a very different lifestyle for her. Saddle, back, bad behaviour, brain tumour... it could be an endless list of things. :(
 
I said I wasn't going to have her in my post :)
She is on working livery at the RS (but only used by the owner and son) so I would have thought they may have said something, but TBH they have a 'that'll do' attitude rather than 'it has to be right'.
I don't know how to tell her without making it sound like she is a bad owner

Its not your burden to bear MNM, The RS should say something as it is them who have the horse on working livery (which also worries me as RS riders are obviously getting on her :eek: ). Im amazed YO hasnt had a tactful word with her before someone gets seriously hurt...
 
TBH, it all sounds a bit of a hash-up if the horse is on "working livery" but isn't working! I am pretty sure my RS wouldn't be interested in taking something on working livery that needed serious re-schooling!

Since the title of the post was "Been Offered A Horse", it was safe to assume that MM had indeed been offered the horse! I think you are very wise to refuse it. Maybe you could suggest to the lady in a roundabout sort of way that she gets the saddle checked, something like "Oh God, my friend's horse reared up on her when he came back into work, turns out he'd changed shape so much since his last saddle fit that the saddle was totally the wrong shape for him".
 
If I hadn't of been offered her I wouldn't have said so lol :)
Thanks, I don't know when I'll next see her but I should be able to contact her soon, her husband doesn't want to sell her though
 
horses rear for all different reasons, I had a horse on loan that reared because she didnt want to do something, I perserved untill she went over backwards with me. Its such a dangerous thing for them to do...stay well away lovie xxx
 
Your description, nappy, ex racehorse, rears, working livery and novice rider fills me with horror.

I have met several people who would happily give these away.

Despite what people think because a horse has raced it does not mean it is ready to be ridden in a conventional saddle. Young flatrace horse's sole education may be having a very lightweight rider put on to go to the races and possibly follow others to the gallops in a string. These are intellegent horses but they need to be taught to go forwards on their own, to know what riders mean by leg and hand aids.

Walk away from both the horse and any RS that thinks this is a suitable horse to have as a working livery. Very old saying 'green on green equals black and blue'
 
Your description, nappy, ex racehorse, rears, working livery and novice rider fills me with horror.

I have met several people who would happily give these away.

Despite what people think because a horse has raced it does not mean it is ready to be ridden in a conventional saddle. Young flatrace horse's sole education may be having a very lightweight rider put on to go to the races and possibly follow others to the gallops in a string. These are intellegent horses but they need to be taught to go forwards on their own, to know what riders mean by leg and hand aids.

Walk away from both the horse and any RS that thinks this is a suitable horse to have as a working livery. Very old saying 'green on green equals black and blue'

Couldn't agree more.

If Y has worked with racehorses in the past and therefore is presumed to have 'SOME' knowledge about ex racers and their foibles why on earth did he buy an ex racehorse for his novice wife and son? :eek:
 
A very wise decision not to take her on.


Horses rear for many reasons and it could be that this is the horses way of getting what it wants or it could be in pain. My daughters NF used to rear when she was in stand, she would wind herself up to the point of rearing, she was a four year old and just a baby so we perseved but if she had been older I would have probably had to turn her away.
 
like already said, if the husband used to work with ex-racers why hasnt he got abit more involved with the horse.

I would get everything checked out and then maybe start from scratch again. because selling her on to someone else isnt going to solve the problem but just pass it on to someone else.

I mean did the horse rear before with previous people etc...
 
I would give it a miss to be honest, for my own personal safety. However, I would be happy to assist in groundwork training with it etc but not to be the guinea pig who gets on it.

:)
 
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