thehorsefunder

Here is the judgment of Solomon, given that as we know any sale is a betrayal of a long term family member however redundant and annoying they may objectively be. Indeed many Funded would contemplate extreme measures rather than risking an horrendous chain of onward sale in a downward spiral to the knackers yard. And you cannot blame them – in this even a hard hearted Funder must have some sympathy.

.

There are buyers and “buyers”. As soon as a horse is on the market there is a peculiar class of horse lover determined to check the horse out (to compare with their own) other horses at the yard and the yard itself. These are buyers” (aka time wasters). Most sound and are plausible, and probably even convince themselves that they really might buy the target if only they had the space/money/ talent.

But they are an occupational and relatively harmless occupational hazard; and ALL Funded’s regularly do the same(and love it) so shouldn’t be surprised when it happens to them.

The real buyer is a more complex beast (to follow), and variously –amateur/amateur with professional in tow/professional/mother with all the above/ really rich (in your dreams).

As children get older it is easy to forget the extraordinary blissful state of life without [Name that pony/young rider organisation]. A brief and passing re-acquaintance with the world through family friends however soon brings back the horror that finds the Funder in the bar and the Funded on the couch as the vortex of conformity, cash and confidence-sapping criticism drags you back into panic…until you wake up and remember you are actually out of their hands and your children are normal again at university. Not of course that that is how the Funded sees it; the addiction of the abused convinces them they would much rather their young remained in training. For them the Priory awaits.

Given the extraordinarily delicate constitution of all horses and the concomitant extraordinary attachment of riders to their horses it is hardly surprising that the industry of feed and feed supplements with quasi-magical properties has burgeoned to Hogwart-like proportions. The THF soon learns that no-one really knows what makes a horse healthy, and that an animal which for thousands of years has thrived on grass cannot possibly be expected to survive in modern times without a vast computer controlled menu of hot/cool feed with vitamin/oil/seaweed etc etc supplements. Without this menu the horse will naturally ( if that is the right word) fade way, become fat, be uncontrollable or lazy, probably get laminitis and certainly perish in a miserable manner. Hence the average Feed room looks like the bedside table of the Malade Imaginaire.

Without wanting to get too personal, the Wednesbury principle rarely seems to apply to the horse world (for non-lawyers this just means that decisions by publicly funded bodies need to be rational). Whether for judging, selection, horse, pony, international, local or anything. The key is to learn to suck it up and try and enjoy yourself; accepting that life just isn’t fair. The difficulty is that this usually just makes the blood boil with the opacity and subjectivity of it all.

Whatever the overall utopian objectives, the basically embedded conflicts of interest in most equine systems, personal prejudice and terror of non-conformity militate in an exaggerated way against the perception of a level playing field. Which is sad as most people start of with the best of intentions.