Lou ~ you are breaking my heart!

We have had Lou, a Tobiano Paint gelding, for 7 years.   He lives at our friends' ranch 15 minutes out of town with 5 other horses and he loves it there.  He developed bone spurs in one of his knees so we decided he was "retired" because it would be too painful for him to be ridden.  The vet told us that in order to ride Lou we would have to butte him (inject him with a pain killer which makes them kind of dopey).  No thanks. 

At first we thought we should donate him to a place in western Alberta that uses horses for therapy for children as they don't work the horses.  My understanding is that a child sits in the saddle and the horse is led around an arena.  Unfortunately they want shorter horses than Lou.  

Never in a million years did we think that our friends would sell their ranch and move into the city.  But that is exactly what has happened.  They bought an acreage just outside of town and have listed their ranch for sale. 

We thought that Lou would be able to live out his years in the pasture with his friends.  Now we need to find a new home for him.     We can hardly sell a horse that can't be ridden and I'm terrified that in trying to find Lou a home where he can live out his life in peace that we will be conned by a "meat buyer". 

I'm praying for a wonderful solution to our dilemma.