01/08/2026
The other day I saw an advert for a pony for sale. The pony's rider, a child, had lost interest in them, and so the pony was in need of a new home as they were no longer wanted. The owner of the pony in the same breath said the sale was going to be heartbreaking for both themselves and the child, but that they had to do what was best for the pony as it would be wasted just sitting in a field.
This is something I see A LOT, and it is something that unsettles me as a behaviourist and committed horse lover and carer.
As the age old saying goes, they're for life not just for Christmas. Call me controversial, but I just don't think horses and ponies should be bought for children until they've proven that they're fully committed for caring and loving the animal for the long haul. What these people don't think about is the upheaval for the horse involved, as usual the humans think more about themselves.
Moving homes is an awful lot of stress for a horse- they lose all sense of familiarity, as well as the companions they have bonded with, and are dropped into the unknown. This is a lot for a naturally more anxious type of animal to go through, and a distressing life event for them which sadly so many horses experience over and over and over in their lives without hardly a second thought from the humans involved. Sadly ponies are often even more susceptible to this scenario, being passed from one child to another as they are outgrown or their humans lose interest.
The other thing about this that makes me raise an eyebrow is our belief that horses are wasted in a field. Horses didn't evolve to love and serve humans- they evolved to live out their days in fields grazing with their herd being happy just being horses; exactly the thing we claim is a waste of their existence.
For the sake of our horses, it's important that we think about these situations from their perspective, and always have their best welfare (and understanding of who they really are as horses, and what they really need to be happy) at the forefront of our minds guiding our decisions for them.
