No Obligation? (a.k.a. "Free" Horses)

It's twenty 'til two and the thermometer says 106'.  Too hot to be outside, although the horses seem happy enough to be out where there's a breeze, eating.  I'm sitting here going through pictures....

I had an interesting phone call from an old friend yesterday: the lady who bred Sunny, Amyra and Thunder.  We stay in touch - I send her pictures periodically, and we exchange cards and phone calls.  She had some news and a question.  Back in 2010 she'd decided she was done breeding, but she still had 6 mares and Thunder.  She ended up selling three of the mares to a gentleman up north who liked their breeding.  Sadly, word through the grapevine was that he passed away early last year.

Recently, she received a call from a women who inherited two of the mares: Sahara and Foxy.  Sahara had never been ridden.  Foxy had been started as a three-year-old, but based on how she reacted when I saddled her and rode her, she'd not gotten much beyond 30 days.  Very gentle, no buck, but basically clueless....

So, this lady has been boarding them, but now she's wondering if my friend would possibly like the mares back.  It seems that she hadn't realized that horses would cost so much money ($250/month board) and she doesn't feel comfortable riding Foxy without her getting a refresher from a trainer (another $250-300/month) and having Sahara started would be an additional expense (!!!!). 

I wasn't in any position to take on any of the mares when they were sold, but I've always said I'd like to know what happened to them, and if they were ever for sale I'd take them if I could, so my friend called me.  "I want to stress that you're under no obligation to take them," she said. "I just didn't want you to find out they were available later and have you say you would have wanted them."  My heart sank.  While I'd love to take them, with the drought here, four horses is stretching our available pasture as it is.  Honestly, four is probably more than we need.  Because as the lady with the mares now knows, there is no such thing as a free horse. 

It's no consolation that my friend isn't taking them back either.  (Thunder was her last one, and he came with me.)  She's passing on some names of folks that might be interested, but that's all she's able to do at this point.  If wishes were... enough money, more rain, and the ground to feed them all on....

These are two nice, handle-able mares, at least last I was around them.  They're both past the young-horse sillies, but neither of them is elderly.  They're both papered, sound, have good manners, they're easy to catch, worm, give shots to and trim.  They load.  They tie.  They both love to be brushed and fussed over.  But...

If you aren't intending to breed them or just let them stand around in a pasture to look at, they're going to be a very tough sell because they don't ride.  Makes me sad...