anyone else hate horsey hunting?!

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ellieplatt

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Am finding it such a mission finding a horse, looking for a loan with veiw to buy, or just a long term loan.
Just feels like am never going to find the right horse! Hurmphhh .. sorry pointless post just feeling dead rubbish, like it'll be years before i get competing again!
Anyone else been through this?!
 
yes spent May to Oct last year looking, bought a lovely boy rising 5, struggled through that long hard winter schooling in dark after work, wet, cold etc only to have to return to dealer due to vetting issue in March and been looking for replacement ever since. Only seen 2 suitable, one sold before i'd even left the county and the other failed vetting, hope i find next one in time to enjoy the last part of summer!
 
Me too. I feel like it's been ages I have been looking. I, like you am looking for a loan or loan with view to buy. I've seen a few but have yet to take one home. It's very frustrating.
 
Personally i wouldnt loan out a horse before i sold it, i would say to the person you are welcome to ride here as often as you like, but the horse will remain on the market.
 
Try being the person selling - it is a horrid nightmare filled with timewasters, insecerity, novice riders classing themselves as experienced - I am pregnant and desperate to find the right home for my beautiful girl but almost at the point where I will take her off the market and keep her in the field until I am riding again.
 
I hate horse buying with a passion! You may as well be taking your life into your own hands on some occasions haha!
 
Yes! I have been looking since March and no luck at all :(
I have come to terms with having yet another horseless summer and am just riding others and helping my friends out at shows, instead of riding in them myself :(

I am hoping there will be more about soon when people start to go to uni/sell up as do not want to do another winter etc.
 
I love horsey hunting - why? because i know 3 reputable dealers, all have 3 month warrenties on decent priced horses. I ring say "I want XYZ" then they either a few options or will ring when the right thing come in. I brought a lovely WB mare 4yrs for £3k, with top SJ lines - unhandled/broken tho, but ideal mare and right price - so buying from a dealer doesnt have to be expensive.

This means I only visit three places, I dont need to vet untill the 3 months is up, ensuring the horse is exactly right before spending money on vetting. If it fails, or isnt ritgh i send it back - never had to do that yet tho.

The horses i buy are good quality decent horses that havent been lied about as Im protected by various dealership laws.

I have tied private, but all i come accross is liars, who think their horse IS sliced bread, when really they are unbalanced, unschooled, unable to do what i need and generaly are every badly handled - this is described as a "quirk" when in reality is just bad handling/riding or both! Not to mention over priced. Now cant be bothered to spend the money on fuel.

I also generaly sell my horses through these dealers as well, so i dont idiots that cant ride trying to buy £8K event/SJ horses!!!
 
I have been lucky the two times I have looked it didn't take me long to find them, both reasonable distance and price and just what I wanted! :)

I have been looking again since the horse I was sharing has now gone 'home' i.e. 100 miles away. I shouldn't really be looking as my OH keeps telling me I need to save all my money for starting a business next year. But I can't help looking! I saw a lovely horse that looks ideal 5yo, reasonable price, local but ad is at least a month old so possibly gone! Being in the SW I find that many horses are just too far away! :(
 
It took me 2 years to find one horse and 6 months to find the next one. I don't sell as I keep them for life but I can understand how anoying it could be to sell. So for me I am looking for something that I am going to keep for anything up to 20-30 years. A long time if you get it wrong.

I went to try one horse that was to be for a novice. Arrived they were standing in the school with a young girl on its back. All was going well and looked promising. Trial in the school went well. As we tried to leave the yard it went straight up on its back legs and nearly went over. This went on for about 10 minutes before I could calm it down. Was fine on the road etc got back asked it to leave the yard again to see if it was a "one off" straight up on its back legs again... took saddle off it was covered in saddle sores, while the owners back was turned put saddle on without the numnah and it didn't fit at all, found sores under the bridle etc. I soon found that this sort of this was not uncommon. Learnt the lesson there - tack up yourself and alway check everything. Don't get on if you have an incling its not right. Start the veiwing by catching the horse and do everything with it yourself.

Went to another yard where there were a few horses for sale. One was fantastic but we couldn't afford it and really it was too much for us. It woudl have been like Milton going to a pony clubber at the hight of his career. Owner was desperate for us to buy him so he would have a good home. This I understand to some extent but actually we were not the right home for the horse and it would have been wasted, ok it would have been fine for me but we wanted something that a novice could also ride. She kept ringing asking us to buy him for the next few days. Broke our hearts to keep saying no.

I went to try one horse, it did not ride as described at all and felt very "sluggish". They shouted at me because I said no and pitched in because I didn't "push" the horse to do more. Glad I didn't - it died of colic 2 days later following massive amounts of surgary for a twisted gut - it had been fed just before I arrived (they knew what time I was coming and I wasn't late).

I hate buying with a passion. You get people watching you all the time, you have to keep getting up on strange horses constantly not knowing what they are going to do. Some of them you are desperate to take home just simply because you can give them a better life and because you can't bear to see the sores. Some of them you just don't "click" with and trying to explain to someone that actually yes they have a very nice horse but you don't think that they are the one for you is so hard, you then get labeled a "time waster" or "day tripper". I have had people shouting this at me as I have left. Then there are all the phone calls that don't get returned, the dodgy directions to get to yards, the driving all over the place, the yard dogs that nip your ankles, the tears when you leave with the horse. Its an emotional roller coaster. Worse is that you are spending your time going all over the place when actually all you want to do is be back at the yard with your other horses looking after them. Now when I go I make it absolutely clear what I expect to do with the horse, the situations I want to see the horse in (ie not just in a school), what my standard of riding is, the sort of home that the horse would have if I purchase, I am as clear as I can possibly be. I always take someone else (who can drive in case of accident) with me. I also go in expecting nothing. I always hope that its "the one", but I never expect it and never get my hopes up anymore. I have been bitten, kicked, bucked, reared with, lied to, mislead, shouted at, sworn at... Every now and then you do also meet a sane person!

Time is coming up where I will have to seriously start looking again for another and I have to admit I am delaying for as long as possible and I am seriously looking into going to a dealer or Goresbridge/ similar just to take out the emotional side.
 
ME!
i'm off to college in september where i have to take a horse with me to do my BHSAI and i've been looking since march! I've seen in the 30's now and had 3 vetted and 3 have failed and it's really wearing me out! I've got a month to find a horse now GAHHHHHH :( But that being said, I'm not going to rush into anything that isn't right :)
 
I love horse hunting. I thought I'd found one a bit sooner than I expected to but then she failed the vet. Apart from the obvious disappointment and expense of a failed vetting, I'm actually kind of happy I get to keep traveling around viewing horses, I love it.

I hope it doesn't go on too long though or I'll have no money left to actually buy the horse with. :D
 
Coffee_Bean said:
Yep, been throught it once, bought the wrong one, soon to go through it all again. Hate it!
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Going through the exact same thing now!!! Its a PITA!!!

There is nothing sensible, that is sensibly priced out there at all and loans are very few and far between!
Fingers crossed that august/september brings lots more nice horses and loans due to people going to uni!
 
I used to love horsey hunting! But when I was looking for my current horse it took me 6 months and to say I had some frightening experiences is an understatement!

Just keep looking and the perfect one is out there for you trust me! I was begining to give up after 2 months but now I found the perfect horse.
 
I gave up hunting a couple of years ago, and bought to weanlings, sold one kept the other, and have sinced bought 2 which are now brazen yearlings. My 3 year old, i am now breaking, and because he has been handled (not overly so), is a dream to break, and i'm two weeks away from riding. gave up trying to fix other people's baggage and decided it was easrier to break myself, knowing that they dont have "baggage"!! I know it doesn't help if you need one in a hurry, but otherwise, it's the way to go, especially if you can break yourself,as you know they have no baggage! Other people have the best of intentions, but can ****** up your horse!! At least if my Spirit ever *******s up, i'll know it's me!! and can fix it from there!
 
fitzaud2 said:
I gave up hunting a couple of years ago, and bought to weanlings, sold one kept the other, and have sinced bought 2 which are now brazen yearlings. My 3 year old, i am now breaking, and because he has been handled (not overly so), is a dream to break, and i'm two weeks away from riding. gave up trying to fix other people's baggage and decided it was easrier to break myself, knowing that they dont have "baggage"!! I know it doesn't help if you need one in a hurry, but otherwise, it's the way to go, especially if you can break yourself,as you know they have no baggage! Other people have the best of intentions, but can ****** up your horse!! At least if my Spirit ever *******s up, i'll know it's me!! and can fix it from there!
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Same here, I got so fed up, I have bought young and for the future.
I have a yearling and a 2 year old, mine and my daughters future riding horses.
We have horses now also, but we have been through so many getting the right ones, I just dont want to go there again x
 
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