A buyer's view on this situation ?

[burtondog]

Just curious for your opinions really ........

A horse at our yard was advertised for sale. It's a nice enough horse, a good allrounder type for sale at a fair price. There's a genuine reason for sale. The second or third person to view it decided they liked it, brought their instructor up who also liked it. They asked the usual questions, good to box, clip, shoe etc and got positive answers. They had it vetted on Thursday, it passed.

The buyer turned up with her trailer this morning to collect the horse, and here's where it gets tricky.......the horse went straight onto the trailer but then spooked and backed off, did the same thing once more then wouldn't load at all. When I left the yard late this afternoon (at least 6 hours later) it STILL wasn't loading.

I don't know this particular horse very well but the yard manager says she's never know it to have any trouble loading before - but obviously the buyer only has the seller's word on this.

Last I heard the buyer's husband was telling her not to buy the horse as it was NOT good to load but the buyer was saying she still wanted it because she really liked it and they'd already gone to the trouble of having it vetted.

What would you do if you were the buyer in this instance ?

 

[libbyandblue]

If it was just a spook, im sure it can easily be sorted, and if it usually does load, then i wouldnt see the problem. It just takes practice! But 6 hours? Thats a rather long time...

 

[BobbyMondeo]

Id just buy the horse anyway to be honest, loading problems can be sorted so quickly and easilly

 

[Coffee_Bean]

Buy the horse anyway. It was obviously spooked and scared itself. I've had an unloadable horse, and with 3 months of persistent hard work, she will walk on the trailer no problem. I would take on another bad loader if I loved the horse, I've done it before and I'm confident I could sort it. (how cocky does that sound?!?!) It's probably one of the only horsey problems that I am almost certain that I could sort with time

 

[Fizzimyst]

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Id just buy the horse anyway to be honest, load problems can be sorted so quickly and easilly

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Ditto

 

[legend]

If I was being mean i'd start hacking it to its new home and offer it the trailer after the first 10 miles, lol!

Seriously tho, is it a new trailer that hasn't had horses in and thus it smells funny? Is it the new owner or the seller thats trying to load it? Is the trailer big enough for it? I'd also be asking someone else to help load it, as 6 hours is a huge amount of time to waste trying to load something!

Whether I'd still buy it or not depends on how much I liked it I guess, what its attitude was when refusing to load and how much I'd paid, as I think I'd be looking for some money off the purchase price!

 

[burtondog]

I was just thinking that when something like this happens it might call into question the credibility of the seller in the buyer's eyes ?

 

[Bens_Mum]

I think like burtondog I would be a little worried credibility wise.. I was in a very similar situation it took 45 mins to load a normally "excellent loader". Once home discovered this and one of several other little 'issues'. 6 hours seems crazy i've had an awful loader but worst was 2 hours. They must really want the horse...

 

[legend]

Maybe its just me, but I don't tend to believe anything I'm told by the seller anyway- if its something essential to me then I check it myself. That aside yes I probably would be suspicious, however anyone thats had horses will at some stage have been embarassed by their horse or had to say 'He's NEVER done that before' and have everyone look at them like they are mad or lying (or is that just me, lol).
I'd probably give them the benefit of the doubt providing nothing else had rung alarm bells for me.

 

[Vizslak]

a horse that wouldnt load whether declared so or not wouldnt put me off buying if i liked it enough, all of mine were terrible loaders when i got them but its not unsolvable, they are all good loaders now.

 

[competitiondiva]

I'd probably to cheeky and say this wasn't part of the sale and try to knock off a bit of money!! I'd probably still buy as like ginger_Nut says loading problems can usually be sorted fairly easily, but it also depends on the capability of the buyer, if they are fairly novice then they may not be able to deal with it.

 

[sallyellis]

its a tricky one, but speaking from my own experience my mare normally loads into anything but the laat time I tried to load her she wouldnt load. We tried 2 different boxes with and without another horse and partition then we tried a lorry, now I have owned her for nearly 3 years and never had a problem yet on that day we tried from 8.30 until 4pm as I didnt want her to win but we could not load her what soever so sometimes it happens.

 

[gothdolly]

i would still buy it, I like the idea of starting to ride it home LOL! My cob Dominion has always been fine to loan. Then one day my friend was taking us to a show - and the little horror just would not go in. I was SO embarrased. And the next time, he was fine. Anything can make a horse show you up!

 

[Rollin]

Did the vendor try and load it? I am very interested in horses changing yards and owners. I bought a horse who took a year to settle with me - but I would not give up on her.

I have two horses who really trust me but are wary of new people. For me difficult to load is not a long term problem.

I watched Kelly Marks, on Barking Mad, load 6 difficult to load horses in 45 mins and then get their owners to load them.

 

[LizzieJ]

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Id just buy the horse anyway to be honest, loading problems can be sorted so quickly and easilly

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Not necessarily true, I had one that would not box at all. He had Monty Roberts and Richard Maxwell fail to get him in a box too...

 

[BankEndRescue]

Buy it anyway...loading problems can be overcome.

PS BD...I LOVE the horse in your avatar and have been meaning to say that for ages

 

[SpruceRI]

I probably wouldn't buy the horse as if it wouldn't go in or travel happily it would make the reason for having it a bit pointless.

If the seller had told me the horse hadn't travelled for ages, or was nervous travelling then I would've decided at the outset whether I wanted to tackle taking on a horse like this.

As this horse is known to be fine to load/travel, I would request postponing buying the horse until I'd tried it in someone elses' trailer, as sometimes they just don't like certain makes of vehicle - and see what happens after that.

 

[kazs]

if it was me buying, id buy anyway as i wouldnt intend on doing any traveling so therefor wouldnt make any difference to me whether it was a good loader or not.

 

[Grey_Eventer]

loading issues can be sorted out preety easily so id buy anyway, but be careful they dont dope it or something when they go back to get the horse- if they havent already. my friend bought a horse, loading fine going to there house, they could not get it in, they wanted to take it back as the mum is very experienced and she could not get the pony in the lorry. they then couldnt get it back to the old owners so had to dope it to get it in!

 

[IWTO]

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Buy it anyway...loading problems can be overcome.

PS BD...I LOVE the horse in your avatar and have been meaning to say that for ages

[/ QUOTE ]

He is even scrummier in real life!

 

[millitiger]

wouldn't buy it.

yes, loading problems can be solved very easily but it would make me question what else the seller was lying about.

 

[burtondog]

Update - The seller finally managed to load the horse onto another girl's horsebox at around 6-7pm last night and transported it the buyer's yard. Hopefully this was just a blip and the buyer will very happy with her new boy.

It has made me think though, would it be too weird if when you veiwed a horse you liked you asked the seller to load it and hold clippers up by it rather than just take their word before going to the expense of having it vetted ?


[ QUOTE ]

PS BD...I LOVE the horse in your avatar and have been meaning to say that for ages

[/ QUOTE ] Thank you so much BankEndRescue. That's Tucker - he's fast becoming my horse of a lifetime, handsome by name, handsome by nature.

[ QUOTE ]
He is even scrummier in real life!

[/ QUOTE ] Hi BibttyBobttyBoo, at first I was wondering how you knew us but then I saw you're Equestrian Fairy. I read your recent posts, keep your chin up, you'll get though it all.

 

[IsabelleJ]

Well, I said wouldn't buy it for the simple fact of... how are you going to get it home? Imagine if you'd travelled halfway across the country to get it?!

Isabelle

 

[JoBo]

Been there, and I bought the horse anyway (and then sold it). After a bit of time and practice at home he was fine to load, never had a problem. So I would buy anyway.

 

[lauraandjack]

I think unfamiliar people and an unfamiliar box/trailer have a lot to do with it.

When I went to collect my horse he was not very keen to load (but I'm talking 5-10 mins and edible bribery, not an epic like the OP has seen). His ex owner said he had been in both trailers and lorries and even a single trailer.

He's never been a problem since, occasionally has a stubborn moment and stops briefly on the ramp, but soon goes in with a bit of persistence, I think the day we collected him he was just a bit overwhelmed by the new situation.

I think I would buy anyway, but this 6hr epic might make me wonder what else the seller had neglected to tell me!!

 

[Ranyhyn]

I'd still buy it.

Often high octane loadings like that cause problems, the one's where you are moving yard and are fraught anyway - or loading a new horse. Too much feelin running high etc.

If everyone else at the yard was happy to tell me it loaded well, I'd take it on trust - or come back the next day and try again.

 

[SpruceRI]

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It has made me think though, would it be too weird if when you veiwed a horse you liked you asked the seller to load it and hold clippers up by it rather than just take their word before going to the expense of having it vetted ?


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I once went to try a horse and asked all the 'loading / clipping / what's it like on the road?' questions.

Not only did the owner make me ride the horse down the highway outside her house ( I was terrified - the horse was great!), she also loaded it in her lorry and got the clippers out

 

[hairycob]

When we were looking we made sure there was an Ifor 505 that we could test loading with. We took our trailer with us once when there wasn't. Funnily enough the horse we bought we didn't try (handed over the money once he waad on!). Ease of loading wasa big issue for us as son had missed so many shows & PC rallies as previous horse had been a s*d to load.

 

[Kizi_Wizz]

It would all end up on price!

If i was giving 1 or 2 grand for it and it was a good buy then i may let it pass. Buy i would want it in writing that it was returnable if it really would not budge.

If i was paying over 5k for it then it would be a NO!

A horse that wont load is no use to me! hmf lol