Monday, June 21, 2010

A 'LITTLE" Underweight?

Welcome to Monday everyone. Hope your weekend went well. We woke up to an air conditioner unit that decided that it only wants to blow warm air, and only about half of the time at that. Repair people are on their way, but as its a unit that has not only seen better days, but is close to 10 years old, I don't have much hope. Since this is my fathers house and he is our landlord of sorts, he is mostly responsible for getting the main unit fixed - however we are looking at smaller room sized ones that are at Home Depot for a couple of hundred. 


What a fun way to wake up to a new week - nearly 90 degrees inside a dark house at 7 am, huh?


This blog was highly active over the weekend, look into the past few posts and catch up if you will, but today I'd like to move on to our normal scheduled programing.


So, over the weekend, Nick sent me todays ad. 


Rehoming my beautiful gelding -$1 

I have a 3 year old Saddlebred Gelding, that I'm hoping to rehome for a fee due to moving. He's very flashy, tobiano, has great disposition and is gentle. He has not had any formal training thus far, but leads and trailers well and is very willing to learn. I think he has a potential to be a great show horse, but I would just like to see him happy in a good home. He's currently a little underweight, but healthy otherwise. He is sound and has great confirmation. To meet him, please call me and we can discuss this further. Wendy 720 --38.

She says he's 'currently a little underweight'. 


HMMMMMM. Ok. 


Lady, I think you need your eyes checked, like yesterday. 

This is not a horse that is 'a little underweight'. 

Now, there is the very good possibility that she got this horse in an even worse condition and she has gotten the horse to this point. 

I'd like to think thats the case, yes? 

However, she doesn't MENTION any of that in the ad itself. 

A very good friend of mine who lives in Illinois, just took in an older gelding from the HGS boards in somewhat worse condition than this guy above because the person that had been rehabbing him no longer could. She posted pictures of him on another message board that I admin, and honestly, this saddlebred is in better condition than Happy is in. 

BUT - the biggest difference here is Happy was advertised specifically as what he was. An older horse that had come from a horrible, horrible home, and the guy that had saved him out of that situation was forthcoming with all of that information up front. Anyone that took Happy in KNEW exactly where he had come from, and the history. (And, he is now eating nearly 4 pounds of soaked mixed feed a day!)

This ad.... is NOT that. Even if this is the same situation, she's not coming across that way. She's trying to act as if the bones sticking out of his hips, spine, and neck are not that big of a deal. 

This horse may very well be show quality - but the problem is in his condition now, your average person isn't going to be able to see past the skin and bones to visualize that diamond he could be. 



What I don't understand is you can see there's a pile of hay in the background. Its either been eaten down, or she's way underfeeding him. She's feeding on the ground, so throw into the mix the potential for sand colic, nor does she mention anything about vaccines or a worming program.


Here's the ad link. He's in or around Denver, Co, for anyone looking for a great summer rescue project. 


If you do not have serious plans to upgrade him, I will not condone you sending hate mail to her. I am posting the live link only to UPGRADE him. Traffic to this blog has increased substantially the last few weeks, and I will not support any reader that sends hate mail, calls only to scream at her about her horse keeping practices, harasses the owner, or anything of the like.  


I will repeat that there is the possibility that she inherited this gelding the way he is or worse and she is trying to find someone that can rehab him. So when contacting, please keep that in mind. 


Hate to have to go there, but sometimes it must be said. 

8 comments:

  1. Wow, I find something to send you finally, and someone beats me to the punch! Dang. I emailed this one to you too... quick trigger finger on Nick there ;)

    I'm in Denver and lord do I ever wish I knew someone who was "into Saddlebreds." I used to, but I don't have any contact information for her anymore. heck, I'm not a Saddlebred person and I'd take the skinny little spotty-butt and fatten him up to sell on if I didn't have a hyper OTTB who demands all my time and money that's earmarked for horses.

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  2. I'm sorry Lisa.

    I just went back into my email and looked - I didn't see one from you for this one - but I'll give you credit as well hehe.

    Oh, and the repair guys got the A/c going again, thank gods! It was nearly cooler outside at 105+ than it was INSIDE!

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  3. bummer, live link is down. I hope it's because he found a good home, not because she got nervous about the photos and pulled it and is hiding him.

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  4. I keep copies of all the ads posted in both unedited and edited form, so contact me if interested until we confirm that the horse is no longer available.

    Someone might have flagged it for all we know.

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  5. It says it was deleted by the poster. I did find the name of the Saddlebred-loving rescuer--it's "Horses Forever" in Colorado. admin at horsesforever dot org is the contact email listed if you want to send them the phone number and photos to see if someone from the rescue is interested in trying to sweet talk the owner into placing him either with them if they have room or maybe with a SB enthusiast they know.

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  6. He looks like he MIGHT be a nice prospect for saddleseat or even some dressage... I THINK....

    Maybe he's got dental issues or something. I hope he gets what he needs - he looks very cute and sweet.

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  7. Sweet looking horse, but sometimes when they are that underweight, they lack the energy to misbehave. Always a concerning factor with underweight rescues. What will they be like, when back to their 'old self' again?

    I hope he finds a new home soon. As in, soon enough to gain the weight back before winter. Or at least land with an owner who has blankets and a barn.

    Liking the new format! Now if you could just lose the word verification...

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  8. Please keep us updated on this guy, he looks sweet. I loved a few months ago when that girl rescued that poor little starving arabian. Can we get an update on him?

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