Advice on buying a 2 year old!

[QueenBella]

Hi everyone,

Something I have always wanted to do and I am finally pulling the plug is to buy a horse that I can bring on myself. My girl is pushing on a bit and I would love to have something coming up when its time to retire her.
I have years of experience with green horses and other peoples young horses but never actually purchased my own. I have my trainers helping me and they will be doing the breaking down the line - I'd rather spend the money on professionals as I have had so much grief over the years with horses that just haven't been started properly.

The horse is being sold by the same person who I bought my current horse off so at least I have a bit of a relationship with her, but I am just wondering would you vet a 2 year old? I want to obviously get it vetted but I am not sure how well the horse is to be handled so is it a waste of time? My trainer will be coming with me to view it so they would be able to spot any obvious problems.

Any other advice would be great!! I am so excited as this horse is ticking absolutely every box so I really hope everything goes well tomorrow!

 

[wren123]

I'd definitely have her vetted, at the very least to check her heart and eyes.

 

[QueenBella]

I'd definitely have her vetted, at the very least to check her heart and eyes.

Thank you, I definitely want her vetted as this will hopefully be my competition horse down the line but some people were saying there's no point. I'd rather be safe than sorry!

 

[wren123]

Absolutely, I know someone who had to sell a homebred youngster due to very sad unexpected personal circumstances, it failed the vet, complete surprise to owner/breeder and was put down.

 

[Kahlua]

Sounds exciting! Absolutely do a vet check, a friend has just had to basically retire her 4yo which she brought as a 2yo due to problems that could’ve been caught if she’d vetted initially.

 

[Littlebear]

How exciting its the best having them from early on. I would also check the heart and eyes and have the vet glance over for no obvious issues, i would also check the conformation of the mouth. Horse may not be well handled but should be used to leading etc so should be able to show the vet the absolute basics x

 

[QueenBella]

Sounds exciting! Absolutely do a vet check, a friend has just had to basically retire her 4yo which she brought as a 2yo due to problems that could’ve been caught if she’d vetted initially.

It is, hopefully if everything goes well! Yeah that is my biggest worry, I'd rather spend a few hundred on vetting instead of losing a couple thousand!

 

[Equi]

Exciting! And lovely that you already have a relationship with the owner. Definitely vet, you won’t get a 5* with her but a good 2* and general check over will not do any harm.

pics when you get her!

 

[Polos Mum]

Heart and eyes are well worth checking and hard for a non vet to check - your vet can do that as part of a (cheaper) MOT rather than full vetting - if you'd prefer.
Your trainer can look at how she moves / straightness. both of you can do a good check for lumps and bumps

 

[QueenBella]

Thanks everyone for your help, definitely getting a vet out to her now! I'll be sure to update ye if it all goes well, I am like a child before Christmas morning I am so excited!

 

[ihatework]

You can do a 2 stage on them at that age quite easily, it’s probably worth it for peace of mind. I sent a really good orthopaedic vet in to check one of the yearlings I just bought, she was a bit of an investment, so I wanted a very experienced eye on her to assess her movement, joints and limbs

 

[Northern]

Just been through this a few months ago. I opted to do a 5 stage vetting with extensive x-rays, which was much more helpful than trying to do flexion tests on an impatient and basically handled young horse. She is a WB so I was looking for any concerning OCD chips mainly. I think it is absolutely worth the investment for a baseline and peace of mind, especially if you want her as a competition horse down the track. At the very least get a vet to look her over (eyes, vitals, mouth) to make sure everything is how it should be.

Best of luck! Mine is just lovely with a fun and bright personality and I can't wait to break her and start teaching her about the world under saddle. Comes with its challenges but definitely worth it!

 

[QueenBella]

Thank you everyone for your help! Could not sleep at all last night but I am delighted to say she passed her vet check and will be bringing her home tomorrow! She has Plot Blue, VDL Arkansas, Nimmerdor and Clover Hill in her breeding so really excited to see what she will be like in the future! Wasn't able to take great photos unfortunately. Thanks again for all the help and advice, really appreciate it!

 

[Equi]

Best of luck with her

 

[LadyGascoyne]

She looks lovely! Lucky you.

I love having babies around. They are like little sponges and it’s so rewarding to watch them learn.

 

[Kahlua]

She looks lovely, congratulations!

 

[QueenBella]

Best of luck with her

Thank you very much!

 

[QueenBella]

She looks lovely! Lucky you.

I love having babies around. They are like little sponges and it’s so rewarding to watch them learn.

Thank you! I know I’m so excited, in the little while I spent with her yesterday she started to understand everything so quickly, can’t wait to start working with her!

 

[QueenBella]

She looks lovely, congratulations!

Thank you very much!

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Nothing more rewarding than sitting on your own made horse. I’m looking forwards to the future with my own youngster, bought him at 6months and he’s now 2.5 and a lovely person

Have fun ?

 

[Wishfilly]

How exciting! She looks lovely!

 

[J&S]

Very pretty!

 

[ycbm]

Thank you everyone for your help! Could not sleep at all last night but I am delighted to say she passed her vet check and will be bringing her home tomorrow! She has Plot Blue, VDL Arkansas, Nimmerdor and Clover Hill in her breeding so really excited to see what she will be like in the future! Wasn't able to take great photos unfortunately. Thanks again for all the help and advice, really appreciate it!View attachment 57592

Lovely mare. I hope you have a much fun bringing her on as I have for the last three years with the 2 year old I bought.

 

[Cob Life]

I'll hopefully be buying a youngster to bring on in a few years! Very excited to watch your journey with this gorgeous girl!

 

[QueenBella]

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words! She really is the sweetest thing and so much easier to handle than I imagined her to be! So excited for her future, although I do hate this waiting game!!

 

[Littlebear]

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words! She really is the sweetest thing and so much easier to handle than I imagined her to be! So excited for her future, although I do hate this waiting game!!

Oh no, its the absolute best when you get into it, mine is 3 now and we have started introducing tack, long reining, little walks out of the comfort zone, i absolutely love this part - the journey of them learning to trust what you are asking of them and watching the constant light bulb moments when they get something and accept it happily. Don't think of it as a wait!