Has anyone had a horse they had to sell or give away because there was never a connection, or do you keep the horse and it becomes the one stubborn one that you just leave it be?

I haven't reached the point of owning a horse, and the horse that I am just renting to learn to ride has bonded with me quite well.

I have heard plenty of stories about horse whisperers dealing with problems such as not bonding. I think that really it just takes extra work.

The reason I asked is I see so many people adopt a cat or dog, young or old for that matter, then they realize how much work you put in to training and taking care of the animal, I wondered if it was the same with horses.

Oh, I am sure that it happens all the time. What is worse, there are many cases each year of horses being abandoned on scrub land, or being abused because their owner didn't bond, didn't realise how much they would cost or how much work they would be.

It's very sad.

There is a show on TV something on the Animal channel or something, and they go rescue in TX all types of animals. Its really sad, once I watched as someone had a horse tied to a tree, living in a trailer park. Are people just not thinking?

No, I am sure that many of them are thinking. They are thinking that they didn't realise what a big job horse care was. That they didn't realise how expensive it was, and how they don't really care to continue.

The only thing they are not thinking about is the welfare of the horse.

People definitely can lack the responsibility and accountability to follow through things such as purchasing an animal or adopting one. With horses is it sometimes easy to sell them on if you don't connect or realize they are too much for you to handle financially. Too often though people simply let them suffer hunger because hay is expensive, long hooves because farriers cost money, worms because they don't want to bother, etc. I've very seldom seen a horse that didn't bond to some degree with the person who bought it, as most people are intelligent enough to try the horse in person before buying.

Selling it on would be by far the kinder thing to do than some of the things that happen to these poor animals. Let's just hope that the person that it is sold onto has a bit more awareness of what it will be like that the first owner.

In the first place, people who do buy horses have thought about it first. Just by the cost of a horse is expensive enough and they are willing to do everything to continue taking care of the horse.

But it happens and those horses that get stubborn are often sold to another owner.