Advert of the Day

This poor hinny is almost screaming 'get me out of here!'

He appears to be living in a rubbish dump- lets hope that's a Parelli type rope closest to camera and not a random snake..! He also appears to be pretty thin under his fluffy coat- note the outline of his body in this shot:

They only want $15 for him. We have no idea how old he is but are told he is 'not tame'. Future looking bright there then!

Donkeys, mules and hinnies require the same care and attention as horses and ponies, shots, worming, feeding (FEEDING PLEASE!!), hoof care etc. This appears to be severely lacking in this case. Cross your fingers for the poor thing that a kind person picks him up and gives him an upgrade. Here's the rest of the craigslist ad.

With thanks to Horse Forum for turning this one up.

Can You Guess What I'm Thinking?

The readers of this blog seem on my level in terms of wanting to see horses well cared for, sold in a sensible, responsible manner etc. So let me ask a question, and I bet you guys jump to the same conclusion as I have. Why would you put up a sales photo of a horse wearing a rug that looks like this?:

Got your answer?




Here's mine- because what's under the rug looks even worse than the rug itself.

As soon as I saw this picture I thought- I bet that mare looks seriously poor under that. And the advert content seems to support this logic:

UNBROKEN BUT QUIET,OUT WINTERED AND NEEDS TLC AND GRASS.

Quiet- I'll bet, probably using all her energy just to stay alive! And for TLC and Grass read- NEEDS FOOD!!

As if further proof were needed: Exhibit A.

Yep, different horse but same place, same seller, another motheaten old rug (possibly a too tight headcollar as well for good measure) and another comment:

OUT WINTERED SO NEEDS A BIT OF TLC PRICED LIKEWISE

Look how thin her neck is. I can imagine we've got a bony spine, hip bones and ribs under that rug.

These are Irish ads, and yes, Ireland's had it tough, the economy's in the toilet and horse after horse has been slaughtered because people can't afford to keep them and can't find anyone to buy them. Some might say at least these mares are still alive, but to me, there's never any justification for neglect.

I suspect the owner decided to hang on and try and sell these two in spring as he'd have a better chance with the traditionally better horse buying weather coming in. Horses don't tend to sell as easily in winter. But horses don't sell when it's going to take a substantial amount of money in feed or vet attention to get them right either. A winter left to their own devices in a field probably hasn't helped these girls at all.

Still we can hope that they get a happy ending. If anyone is interested in them please click on those links!

Why Bother Looking After it if You're Only Going to Sell it?

So how old would you guess this horse is?

Would you believe she's only seven?!

She looks like a badly kept 20 year old- many well kept veterans would put her to shame. She's had foals, heaven knows how many- it doesn't say. That might explain the dropped belly, or she could be in foal again, or, looking at the overall picture, she could be in desperate need of worming. There's no shine at all in that coat, her scrawny neck and prominent spine, withers and hips indicate her lack of condition. Ad says she's very quiet... boy I'll bet. She could barely raise a canter in that state.

I know she'd probably look a lot better well cared for but working from these admittedly poor shots I would never consider her ideal breeding material. Her hindlegs appear weak, her hindfeet look to turn out significantly and I fear that upside down neck of hers might be a permanent and very unattractive feature which we can only hope her offspring did not inherit.

I can't believe anyone would be willing to stand and hold a horse in this condition for sale- maybe that's why the guy is hiding behind a pillar. Was it too much trouble to throw in extra feed and a good grooming for even a fortnight before you took these shots, cos really, that's all it should take to cause a difference in her, unless there are deeper health issues at work we don't know about.

Poor mare. Used up and unwanted. Lets hope her next ride was not directly to the slaughterhouse.

How Did This Happen?

I can't get my head around this ad from Craigslist, as picked up by the posters on Chronicle of the Horse forums.

How do you manage to get to the point that you buy a horse, THEN find out you're allergic to them?!

This said there are certain other things that suggest completely clueless owner here- firstly they don't seem to understand that the use of the word 'mare' means the addition of the word female is not really necessary, and secondly they don't seem to know much about feeding and care- horse looks pretty poor! If that's all she's got in the way of grazing it's no wonder...

Which is a shame because she looks kind of sweet and like she could be pretty nice with some decent care. Hopefully she gets an upgrade to someone knowledgable- actually someone with even half a clue would probably count as an upgrade to her present circumstances.

Finally to add insult in injury she is posted in the 'boats' for sale category. You just can't help some people!

Why is it so Skinny?!

When you put a horse up for sale, it's always a bonus that it doesn't look like a hatrack. These horses have both been breeding- but having a foal is no reason for them to be so thin. Yes it takes it out of them- that's why you UP THEIR FEED!!

The ad has gone for this mare, but here she is looking poor and bony with her foal at foot at Dragon Driving.

And then we have this poor soul. Her temperament is said to be very quiet. Not surprising, look at her prominent spine and hips- the shot disguises her flanks but I can pretty much guarantee if you could see those you could count her ribs. She probably wouldn't have the energy to argue with anything, she's using it all just hanging in there.

Fingers crossed both mares find a home where they actually get a decent meal once in a while.