There's a horse dealer right down the road from us - been here for ages, very well known around here and used to run an auction. He's loud and can be
a bit rough, and doesn't have a problem shipping a horse, so a lot of people just assume he's just a stereotypical dishonest
lie-about-anything-for-a-buck dealer.
Not totally true - we've bought many, many horses from him over the years and he's always been great to us. Don't like something - bring it back. Want to try something out - sure, it's in x field, or in the barn, go try it out. I've ridden horses through the sale for him a few times, and my mom is close with the women who ride/train for him, so she'll occasionally work horses over there.
Because there's always horses going in and out of his place, there's been times where he's woken up to horses dumped on him. Most of the time time these horses are so ancient and emaciated they're on their last leg, and he ends up putting them down. He's told the girls before that he hates doing the dirty work for people who don't have the decency to commit to their old horses, and how he's always interpreted as the bad guy for it.
Anyways, we were over the other day and went in the feedlot. Not really technically a feedlot, but it's just a dry lot out back where the horses intended for meat usually are put (depending on space, projects and personal horses also go out here). ANYWAYS, there's a few new horses out there, one of which is this ancient palomino mare. She's got a big winter blanket on, but I could just imagine how emaciated she was, from the back she looked like a rescue case, absolutely no muscle left. I went out there and spent some time with her, and she was a total sweetheart. I left wanting to take her and her buddy, another older horse whose side she just never left home so, so bad - I love old horses (:
Anyways, I asked my mom about her yesterday. She'd been put down since I was there, and for her last few days she was given free roam of the property with her companion. She got lots of love, got to wander and eat all the grass and good quality hay she could with her best buddy, didn't have to fight for anything, and got to stay toasty warm under her new blanket before she was put down humanely. She probably felt the best she had in a long time. It's enough to make you cry, and just goes to show most dealers aren't the monsters people make them out to be.
Not totally true - we've bought many, many horses from him over the years and he's always been great to us. Don't like something - bring it back. Want to try something out - sure, it's in x field, or in the barn, go try it out. I've ridden horses through the sale for him a few times, and my mom is close with the women who ride/train for him, so she'll occasionally work horses over there.
Because there's always horses going in and out of his place, there's been times where he's woken up to horses dumped on him. Most of the time time these horses are so ancient and emaciated they're on their last leg, and he ends up putting them down. He's told the girls before that he hates doing the dirty work for people who don't have the decency to commit to their old horses, and how he's always interpreted as the bad guy for it.
Anyways, we were over the other day and went in the feedlot. Not really technically a feedlot, but it's just a dry lot out back where the horses intended for meat usually are put (depending on space, projects and personal horses also go out here). ANYWAYS, there's a few new horses out there, one of which is this ancient palomino mare. She's got a big winter blanket on, but I could just imagine how emaciated she was, from the back she looked like a rescue case, absolutely no muscle left. I went out there and spent some time with her, and she was a total sweetheart. I left wanting to take her and her buddy, another older horse whose side she just never left home so, so bad - I love old horses (:
Anyways, I asked my mom about her yesterday. She'd been put down since I was there, and for her last few days she was given free roam of the property with her companion. She got lots of love, got to wander and eat all the grass and good quality hay she could with her best buddy, didn't have to fight for anything, and got to stay toasty warm under her new blanket before she was put down humanely. She probably felt the best she had in a long time. It's enough to make you cry, and just goes to show most dealers aren't the monsters people make them out to be.
