Western Equine Appraisers

I'll try to keep a long story very short.

I'm trying to find an equine appraiser that specializes in western horses. My daughter was thrown last Tuesday from her quarter horse and will not be allowed back on him. So with the advice of her trainer we will get him appraised and donate him to a good school 501(c)(3) program. I thought this might be a good place to start looking for an appraiser. I mostly participate in the "Farm Life" forum but have been lurking here for a while.

I should back up a little and give a little background. We moved from Florida to Vermont about 18 months ago. About 9 months prior to moving my daughter then 9 yrs. started barrel racing/pole bending. The horse she was taking lessons on became available and we purchased him. He was 4yrs. old at the time and they seemed like a great team. He listened, never tried to buck, seemed "bomb proof". He also had a great pattern in both barrels and poles and was a 2D horse with plenty of room to grow.

Unfortunately, we moved unexpectedly and there isn't much barrel racing up north and trainers are few and far between. The only barns we liked all did English style riding. My daughter now loves English and can't imagine going back to Western. We decided that her horse would just have to learn something new with her. But soon after we took his western tack off and set him up with English tack he started acting up and became very unpredictable. It took him a long time to get use to being in the ring with other horses. We overcame that with lots of training. Then he decided to test my daughter constantly and bucking and throwing her off became a new game. We made all kinds of excuses...weather, new enviroment, etc. We poured money into vet bills seeking a possible medical reason for this new behavior.

We moved barns and trainers. At his new barn he was able to be pastured with other horses for long periods of time. He seemed to really like this new move and was very good for almost 5 months. Now just last Tuesday he crow-hopped his way across the arena until he was able to throw my daughter off his back. She ended up in the ER with a major concussion...and this is with a helmet on. My husband and trainer agree that this horse is just too much for her right now. The trainer says that with intensive training that she can get him to behave but that because he is a western style horse it would be just throwing money away. If my daughter wanted to do western and could find a trainer that would be another matter.

It's not that he's a "bad" horse. He's just young and wants to do something different. He's also very smart. He knows that when the trainers ride him he can't get away with anything and is sweet and gentle...and 90% of the time he's like that for my daughter. But we can't afford for her to get hurt that tiny 10%. The trainer thinks that he was just worked up because it was the first truly warm day this spring and he wanted to "just go". Apparently, many accidents happen during the early spring. Also, my daughter had her guard down a little because he had been so good lately. But there is still no excuse and my hubby will not let his little girl back on that horse.

So rock meet hard place.

The trainer says that he just needs an experience rider that's older and has more strength. I can't just sell him or give him away. My daughter would be crushed. She wants someone that would love him and take care of him. The trainer recommend donating him.

So I wonder if any of you out there have any experience in donation or appraisers.

It's sad to let him go. I have his pedigree. I was able to look it up further online and have learned through research that he has just about every foundation bloodline in his background including Poco Bueno, King, Wimpy, TB, to name a few. The history behind him is fascinating. If the barns I had were usable and I had pasture fenced in I'd just put him here. But, I also think it'd be better if he could do what he was bred to do. This boy lives for poles. When he does a pole pattern it's a thing of beauty. So I think donating him to a place where he could do what he loves and does best would be wonderful for him and it would assure my daughter that he's in a good place.

Thanks for reading and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,

Lin