PLEASE Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

I've heard these words so many times, and yet they never cease to make me physically ill when I hear them:

"I found a great deal on a horse--it's FREE!!"


By the way, every horse pictured in this post was advertised as free.

The people who I hear uttering these words typically live on an acre or two with droopy, barbed-wire fencing and have never owned a horse in their lives. They have absolutely no intentions of getting any lessons, gathering hay and farrier contacts, or even so much as mending their fences.

What these people fail to realize is that GETTING a horse is the least expensive part, whether it's free or you pay $10,000 for it.

Here are just the very basic costs a person is looking at, just to keep the horse alive and in fairly decent condition (on your own property):

Hay at $100 per ton, 1200 lbs per month = $720 per year

Farrier at $25 per trim, 7 trims per year = $175 per year (does not include shoes)

Wormer and vaccinations (if you administer them yourself) = $90 per year

Grain (if your hay is not sufficient) at $12 per 50 lb bag = $432 per year

BASIC price for owning a horse: $1,417.00 per year.

If you have that horse for 5 years, you'll be spending $7,085 for your "free" horse...

...and that's if you never do anything with it!

Now, as any experienced horse person knows, EVERY horse has a death wish. Right now I'm up to almost a grand in vet bills for my stallion, and his ordeal isn't even over yet. Horses will find anything to get cut on, and cut deeply. They'll strain muscles, tendons and ligaments. They'll founder or colic. They'll become navicular, choke, or contract strangles. They're a living, breathing, ridable minefield of all sorts of medical ailments.

Considering this, lets say you get very lucky and spend $1000 for emergency vet care for a horse in its lifetime. You will also need to get his teeth floated (once a year is preferable, but realistically let's say you do it every other year). So, now you're up to $1500 in additional vet expenses over those five years.

THEN, if you want to do anything with the horse at all, you'll have to purchase a saddle, saddle blanket, bridle, bit, reins, halter, leadrope, leg protection, fly spray, brushes, combs, and hoof pick. You'll need boots for yourself, some decent riding pants, possibly a helmet, a truck and a trailer so you can go somewhere, a roundpen so you can practice or some sort of safe fencing for riding around in. Let's see, that's all about $13,000 for all that.

THEN, if you really didn't know all this, you will most certainly need lessons. You will probably need horse training as well. Let's say you really commit to lessons/training with a great trainer and get it all done in 90 days: $1500+

I won't even get into participation and hauling expenses, if you actually want to go anywhere and do anything with your horse.

So, let's total up the amount of your "free" horse...

Basic care: $7085.00

Add'l vet: $1500.00

Tack/hauling: $13,000.00

Lessons/training: $1500.00

Total cost of owning one horse for five years (if kept on your own property): $23,085.00+

Knowing what you're getting yourself into and being properly prepared, so you can make the most of your relationship with your "free" horse? Priceless.

The Difficult Choice

Euthanasia is an unpleasant topic to discuss, but as horse owners we have to face the reality that there will be a time when you will lose a horse, either through natural or an assisted death.

There are people out there who will say they've never lost a horse. I know, as I was one of them. Please believe me when I say, though, that's it's not a matter of "if" but "when." The harsh truth of the matter is that if you are not prepared to face the unpleasant parts of horse ownership, then you probably need to just rent a horse at your local stable once in a while rather than commit to full-on ownership.

Horses are suprisingly fragile animals. They also seem to have a perpetual death wish. These two things are a combination for disaster and also the primary reasons we, as horse owners, need to make sure we have contingency plans in place for the worst-case-scenario.

There is an excellent article from UC Davis regarding the facts about equine euthanasia.

Please take the time to read the above article. As a horse owner, though, I want to discuss the emotional aspect of euthanasia, which people rarely cover. I've witnessed the euthanasia of five horses. Two were laying down, three standing up. Four by injection and one by bullet. Three adults and two foals.

Before going on, there are two very important items I want to stress:

(1) The very hardest part of euthanasia is coming to terms with the decision.

(2) Death is never pretty.

I'll go more into these in a second.

I personally think a lot of horse suffer needlessly because of two very strong emotions: fear and denial. It's difficult to decide to put a horse down when you don't know what is going to happen. It's a scary process, even for someone who is experienced, let alone someone having to go through it for the first time. Putting down a horse that isn't "down" is very intimidating--a thousand-pound creature falling down and dying is a terrifying thought. Denial is an equally strong emotional pull away from euthanasia: hope often overrides the rational part of our brains. We think, if we can just do this or do that, our horse will get better. We trade hope for our better judgement and the horse ends up suffering.

What we have to do is move away from our fear of the unknown and of death and look at the situation and ask ourselves the tough questions. Will the horse get better? What quality of life does the horse currently have? What quality of life will the horse have in the foreseable future? Will the pain the horse has to endure to "recover" be worth the quality of life it will have after treatment? What are the horse's chances of survival? What are its chances of returning to a good quality of life?

Although it sounds harsh, we also must force ourselves to look at the economics of the situation. While many of us love our horses dearly, there are very few of even the wealthiest people out there prepared to spend unlimited amounts on a horse that might never fully recover. Will the cost of treating the horse be worth the benefits (emotional, physical and financial) that will accrue from pursuing treatment versus euthanasia?

If we are unable to keep our horses, euthanasia must also be considered for the ones that are "unwanted." There are very few homes out there that are both willing and prepared enough to accomidate an elderly or other special-needs horse. Euthanasia is certainly a better choice than starvation or suffering other means of "disposal."

One of the things that I keep in mind, when I'm facing this kind of delimma, is something a very wise friend of mine once said to me:

"Sometimes life really isn't better than death."

That right there helps me put my emotions in check and try to think about what the best decision is for the horse. Most of us are ingrained with the idea that we are to preserve life no matter what, but rationally-speaking, we need to consider not only life itself but the quality of that life. If I decide to pursue treatment rather than euthanasia, I want to make sure it's the right thing for the horse, and not just the right thing for me.

Once you decide that euthanasia is the best course of action, you will have to make a few more decisions that will unfortunately test your resolve to pursue euthanasia. This is why I said above that coming to terms with your decision is the hardest part, because in planning for the unpleasant event you will have to revisit your decision several times, usually over the course of several days or even weeks.

First, you will have to decide how you are going to euthanize your horse. While the UC Davis article outlines three means, there are basically only two (blood-letting is to only be used in very extreme circumstances and only when the horse is already unconscious and there are no other means available):

(1) Vet-administered

(2) Bullet

Like many people, I prefer the first as it is safer and easier to deal with on an emotional level. Vets usually go about the process in a clinical manner, and it happens relatively swiftly (although be prepared that the horse often moves for several minutes after euthanasia is complete). The drawbacks are expense and timing. My last vet-administered euthanazia was $100 and I had to wait a week for the vet's appointment.

Euthanasia via bullet should only be performed by a person with the knowledge of how to properly administer the shot and is well-versed in firearms and firearms safety. If not done correctly, this method can lead to an injured and further-suffering horse and/or a injury to the people around the horse. The bullet has to be a large enough caliber to penetrate the skull but not go through it. The horse has to be shot in the correct place so as to result in a swift and painless death. The advantages of this method, though, are cost and it can be done anywhere at anytime, so long as the proper person and firearm is available.

When looking at the emotional aspect of either situation, neither one is any "messier" or harder to take than another. Death is never pretty. It's not peaceful. It's not pleasant. The horse doesn't lay down calmly and take its last breath like a sigh of relief as it passes on. Horses struggle--it's in their nature to grasp onto any remaining life whatsoever and it can be very difficult to watch. What we have to keep in mind, however, is that they don't realize that they'd never really live, had they gone on. They don't understand life and death as we do, so they don't know how to "let go"--they are programmed for survival, so that's what they do, sometimes even after they are clinically deceased. As human beings we know that a life full of pain is really no life at all, so we have to be able to cope with our emotions and realize when we euthanize a horse, that it might not be peaceful, but it is the right thing to do.

The second unpleasant matter of business that you'll have to see to is the disposal of the horse's body. Before considering what you would be most comfortable with, please check your legal options. Many states prohibit burial. Check the Humane Society's website to see the regulations for your state.

After considering your legal options you will have to decide the best means of disposal for you both financially and emotionally. The first horse I lost was to natural death and I thought I could not bear to dispose of her body via renderer, so I rented a backhoe and spent all day long burying her. In the end, I ended up spending more money and by the time I got her properly buried, I realized that it was just a body--her spirit was gone and the part of her I loved was gone and her body didn't mean as much to me as I thought it would have. In other words, I learned that the render is ok for me.

This is a decision, though, that has to be made on an individual basis. In other words, decide what you think will work best for you. It may change over time. It may be a financial or practical decision (for example, I don't mind buring a foal by hand where I live now because the sandy soil is relatively easy to dig a deep grave in, but when I lived in a rocky terrain and euthanized a full grown horse I had a renderer pick her up as it would have been extremely difficult to bury her there).

Once you've decided the method of euthanasia and the means of disposal, if you have time, you might want to spend some time with your horse and do something special to help you remember him or her. Many people save tail hair and there are talented artists out there who can create special momentos to help you remember your equine friend. I like to give my horse a special treat, and ones in pain I will go ahead and up their dosage of pain meds so they can enjoy their last days relatively pain free (and since the negatives of doing so, like increased stomach acid or ulcers aren't going to affect them immediately). I usually brush them a few hours before the vet arrives and let them out to graze, even if it's out in my yard if that's the best grass available (which is a very calming and happy experience for a horse).

It also helps to have a friend with you who is knowledgable about horses and experienced with equine euthanasia. Having someone to support you emotionally when the deed is carried out can be a huge help. Also be sure to prepare what you'll need after the horse has passed--a large tarp to cover the body until it can be disposed of is helpful. I also prefer to keep my dogs inside during the process so that they're not underfoot and potentially get in the way and be harmed, or distracting to the vet.

The greatest gift we can give an animal we dearly care for is a release from that pain, despite causing enormous pain for ourselves in our overwhelming grief. Because we benefit from the love and admiration of these great creatures, we must also bear the burden and responsibility of knowing when it is time to say goodbye and summon the courage to carry through what needs to be done.

Red Flags, Part I

Rather than try to tackle a huge subject like this all in one post, I'm going to start with some pretty obvious, but sometimes overlooked warning signs that you might encounter when trying to place your horse in a good home. These warning signs are meant to not neccessarily pinpoint any potentially bad home on their own, but combined with other red flags they may serve as a warning of a home that you may not want your horse in, or, you may want to request more references or do a little homework.

Red Flag #1: The person does business in a particular breed, but is suspended from that breed.

For example, you own an APHA mare that you want to lease to a person who breeds paint horses. They claim to show in APHA and stand an APHA stud. Don't be afraid to call APHA and check their membership status! They WILL tell you.

After leasing a pregnant mare and her filly, and only getting the filly back home alive (in very poor condition), I later found out that the lessee had been suspended from AQHA since November of 2007 and she was also suspended from APHA. A little later her daughter's name came up on the suspended list, so apparently they are registering horses under their childrens' names and getting them suspended as well. This person still stands an AQHA stud to the public, so I would suggest anytime you do business with someone, make the call and check their status! I have no idea how anyone breeding to that stud will get papers on their foal....

Red Flag #2: Their website features outdated and closely cropped photos only.

For example, take this picture below.

Looks like a cute, happy little horse, doesn't it?

Now take a look at the entire photo:

It's quite a different picture, isn't it? The mare is clearly emaciated, junk laying all over the place, and the other horse's feet are in terrible shape. When all you see on a person's business website is old photos that have been on there a year, photos that are so closely cropped that you cannot see the whole horse or anything around it, or plain and simple no photos at all, it should make you question what they're hiding.

In case you're wondering, the horse in this picture, Atari, was immediately returned home after this picture was taken by a sheriff's department. The culprit: the same lessee who I leased three horses to and only got one back alive, which brings up another point....

Red Flag #3: Follow up on any references and/or name dropping!

More often than not these are multiple-offenders. If you check, there WILL be signs. Ask around on the forums, check with anyone whose name they dropped (and see if they owe them money or are otherwise delinquent on any other obligations). Google their name and the name of their ranch. Here's a tip on how to best Google a name:

Go to http://www.google.com/ and type in their name in quotations: "Jim Bob Johnson" or "JBJ Acres"

If there's any sign at all follow up. For example, if someone says they are trying to get a hold of them and can't, follow up with that person and see if they ever found them. Don't be afraid to snoop. This is too important to be dismissive of details.

Red Flag #4: They change their phone number often or they move or move your horses without telling you.

This is a more of an after-the-fact red flag, but if they keep changing cell phone companies, there's probably a reason (they can't pay the bill, so then, can they afford to feed your horse?). Furthermore, there is almost always a clause in a lease agreement that states that they must inform you if they move the horse. ENFORCE IT. Know at all times where your horse is. If they don't respond, send the sheriff out immediately.

To be continued in Part II, but in the meantime, if you have any tips, don't be afraid to comment!

Hope You're Sitting Down

O-M-G, I have finally done a post on this poor, long-forgotten blog of mine. Time to get to work....

I've actually been thinking on this for quite a while now. Often times I feel like I'm definitely no expert, having had so many of my horses end up harmed or even dead at the hands of people I thought I could trust.

But, then I think of how much I've learned, how now in hindsight I've seen the warning signs and they stick out like huge red banners across the sky. I keep thinking, I should have known.

In today's economic climate, though, horse selling is getting harder than ever (probably EVER), so it's time to batten down the hatches and do our research if we find we can no longer keep a horse.

And so, it begins....