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You have been offered a horse for free. Whether you should take it or not all depends on your circumstances as well as those of the horse concerned. Just because a horse is free does not mean it is not worth having, similarly people have paid a lot for horses to have endless trouble with issues that were unidentified when buying. If taking on any animal there are various considerations and checks you should make.

It is often more likely that someone giving a horse to a good home free is more genuine and has the horse's interests at heart than a dealer whose number one concern may be financial gain.

Problems with horses, paid for or free, occur through lack of preparation, inexperienced owners, lack of veterinary checks and inadequate observation of the animal, rather than the money that changes hands. All these checks and preparations should be carried out on any animal paid for or free.

When acquiring any animal, spend time observing their behaviour, in field and stable as well as when handled, check gait and appearance, take several visits if possible not just one. Have full vet checks as drugs such as 'bute' can be given to make a lame horse appear sound. Handle them yourself, do not just watch the present owner handling them, they may react a lot differently to a new owner. You should then have a good idea if the horse is suitable or not, exchange of money is irrelevant as, of course this will not affect the behaviour or health of the horse.

There are many reasons why a horse would be given away free of charge. An owner of a well loved family pet that can no longer be kept for financial or health reasons may prefer to give the horse to a known horse owner free rather than risk their horse being mistreated or passed onto a dealer where it could be sold to an inexperienced owner or worse. If you know the background of why the horse is being given away and feel the reasons are genuine, combined with vet checks and your own observations there should be no unforeseen problems that could not occur with a purchased horse.

Both of my horses were 'rescue' horses and although not entirely free were inexpensive compared to other sources. They both required time and patience but I have been rewarded with well behaved healthy horses. One had been all but abandoned, her mother sold on suddenly at five months. The other was skin and bones and obviously terrified of humans, he's now the most loving, trusting horse you could own.

On the other hand, I know people who have paid a lot of money for horses from 'reputable' sources and they have had health or behavioural problems that were unknown. It is therefore unimportant if money is involved or not, what are important are background checks, vet checks, and careful observation of the horse's behaviour and health.

The reasons why someone should not take on a horse, paid for or free, would be signs of aggression, or health problems identified by vetting, or their own inexperience, if they have no or little experience with horses. There are horse owner courses available through the British Horse Society. Ask if help is required at a stables or help with a friend's horses to gain experience, although it is better to learn yourself as you may receive conflicting and potentially harmful advice from well meaning but in experienced people. Horses take a lot of care and knowledge and should not be kept solely by someone inexperienced, if these things are sound there should be no issue about cost of the horse.

As the saying goes,' Never look a gift horse in the mouth' that said; please do have vet checks anyway!

Good luck with your choice of horse whether paid for or not, have many years of happy horse owning.

Learn more about this author, Angel Quinton.
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