Aquila Sports Horses

Yes, he is rather nice, isn't he? The website is very smart and they seem to have some nice horses, but just wondered if anyone had any dealings with them before I make any further enquiries!
 
Dredging up an old thread. If anyone has further info on Aquila please could you pm me (asking on behalf of a very good friend who is horse searching).
 
My friend has a lovely big coloured mare she purchased from them last year. She is everything they said she was, a super well behaved all rounder.
 
I know a lady who bought her mare from them earlier this year and she is a lovely little thing. Sold as described I believe and she adores her. She always has nice things to say about them.
 
Don't touch them with a barge-pole - I bought a little supposedly quiet horse there last year which was rising 7 so I believed had enough riding experience under saddle - WRONG! When I delved into his history and found his breeder/owner it turns out he was difficult to break in and was therefore left in a field for 6 years - he only had about 4 months riding experience when I bought him. I was hospitalised by him in the first month, and still have complete memory loss of that day. He has since bronked an experienced rider off 3 times in quick succession. Aquila are very clever at removing any mention of them on the internet, although one clever girl did manage to create a page on Facebook which in the month of January 2015 alone had 13 people raise their hands to say they had all had bad experiences with Aquila with dangerous horses they would not take back and would not refund. I believe the girl was made to take the FB page down by their solicitors but she was interestingly offered a partial refund on the unsuitable horse she was sold and had to sell on.
 
Long time lurker but had to comment on this. Agree with above poster. Bought a bombproof cob who turned out to be unbroken. Have persevered with her but loads of problems. Yes the fb page did have to be taken down as part of the court case but Aquila are now on Dodgy Horse Dealers UK. My story is there. Be very careful, have it vetted by your own vet and buy in the knowledge that you'll NEVER get all your money back even if you do manage to get her to take the horse back.
 
To clarify. She was unbroken or badly started when she arrived at Aquila. They rushed her. Several current and former members of staff have come forward to help with court cases and give information and I have been in touch with three who knew the mare when she was there. I tried her in their arena and she seemed fine but I rather foolishly didn't ask to hack her and took them at their word that she was fine. Had done my homework, so I thought, and hadn't been able to find a bad word anywhere. Caveat Emptor and all that.
 
I am under no illusion that by tomorrow this thread will have been deleted but its important that people know who the unscrupulous dealers are. What worries me is that a lot of these dodgy horses that people end up buying will be sold on as there is nothing else they can do with them and accidents will happen.
 
ApacheWarrior1 said:
Don't touch them with a barge-pole - I bought a little supposedly quiet horse there last year which was rising 7 so I believed had enough riding experience under saddle - WRONG! When I delved into his history and found his breeder/owner it turns out he was difficult to break in and was therefore left in a field for 6 years - he only had about 4 months riding experience when I bought him. I was hospitalised by him in the first month, and still have complete memory loss of that day. He has since bronked an experienced rider off 3 times in quick succession. Aquila are very clever at removing any mention of them on the internet, although one clever girl did manage to create a page on Facebook which in the month of January 2015 alone had 13 people raise their hands to say they had all had bad experiences with Aquila with dangerous horses they would not take back and would not refund. I believe the girl was made to take the FB page down by their solicitors but she was interestingly offered a partial refund on the unsuitable horse she was sold and had to sell on.
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Apologies that should read January 2016 when the Facebook page was created.
 
My pony is from aquila and he is my horse of a lifetime lifetime. Can't fault them I tried him in lots of situations before I bought him and had him vetted. I part exed and my gelding went to a lovely home. I also recommend Them to a lady on my yard and she bought a homebred youngster from them who she adores and was as described. I wouldn't hesitate to have another from them but I've only ever heard good things so I guess I'm biased.
 
Left numerous emails phone calls etc as I was interested in a number of their advertised horses. If they don't answer queries from potential buyers I dread to think how hard it is to contact them if there are any isses. I have noticed the website is currently down. Think I shall avoid after reading these comments though.
 
I contacted them regarding a horse for sale last year, I was messed about a lot, and have seen said horse for sale again by someone else, think I had a lucky escape too.
 
ApacheWarrior1 said:
Don't touch them with a barge-pole - I bought a little supposedly quiet horse there last year which was rising 7 so I believed had enough riding experience under saddle - WRONG! When I delved into his history and found his breeder/owner it turns out he was difficult to break in and was therefore left in a field for 6 years - he only had about 4 months riding experience when I bought him. I was hospitalised by him in the first month, and still have complete memory loss of that day. He has since bronked an experienced rider off 3 times in quick succession. Aquila are very clever at removing any mention of them on the internet, although one clever girl did manage to create a page on Facebook which in the month of January 2015 alone had 13 people raise their hands to say they had all had bad experiences with Aquila with dangerous horses they would not take back and would not refund. I believe the girl was made to take the FB page down by their solicitors but she was interestingly offered a partial refund on the unsuitable horse she was sold and had to sell on.
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OP needs to go on FB site Dodgy Dealers The Truth and DD UK and read up!!
 
ApacheWarrior1 said:
I am under no illusion that by tomorrow this thread will have been deleted but its important that people know who the unscrupulous dealers are. What worries me is that a lot of these dodgy horses that people end up buying will be sold on as there is nothing else they can do with them and accidents will happen.
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Yes, this is true, they usually get chucked in the sales for some poor unsuspecting person to come along and buy!
 
Two people on my yard had dealing with them.

First girl's issues:

1. Apparently a well loved and talented mare with no issues, arrived at he yard and couldn't settle (not to be unexpected and not the concern) but horse suffered severe seperation anxiety and would rear in the stable if left alone at all. The issues themselves were not the problem it was just that this horse had apparently been out and about and Aquila did not mention that she would do this. So horse goes back and the swap for another.

2. A 6 yr old gelding, very lovely and very cuddly with no handling issues even when he moved yard. When she first tries to sit on the horse he bucks her off, then does this on a number of occasions. saddle is checked and is fine and so they have the vet and Physio out and it turns out he had onset of kissing spines. Horse was vetted before purchase and somehow passed! Now the horse showed no issues under saddle when ridden so foul play suspected with use of drugs so they are getting the bloods done. Also, when vetted he was not vetted under saddle... I can't remember why but something to do with tack not being available, the vet did not mention this post vetting (they were unable to attend after having taken time off work to attend vetting of first horse).

The entire time they were having problems Aquila were rude to them and unhelpful and the story is as yet unresolved.

Lady number 2 bought a little mare from the and had her vetted by the vet they said was already coming to the yard and so would be less expensive. Horse passed the 5 stage vet.

The horse has problems with her hocks and onset of kissing spines and cushings and is not fit for purpose... None of this was mentioned in the vet.

I realise a lot of these issues are due to horses passing vettings when the shouldn't. So the fault may not lie with Aquila but if it doesn't then there are at least some dodgy vets in Yorkshire!
 
wench said:
How do you expect a vet to diagnose kissing spines without xraying?
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No one expects him to diagnose however had the horse been ridden under saddle at the vetting it would have been obvious that something was wrong as he was clearly very sore and the subsequent vet and Physio that looked at him knew there was something wrong immediately.

They might not get the diagnosis but if he was that obviously sore why was it not picked up? Unless the horse was on pain relief or it was due to the fact that he apparently couldn't be ridden at the vetting. It should have at least been noted.

ETA - as far as the other horse goes the KS is not the issue, there is another medical problem (oh which the ins and outs I am not sure of) should have been picked up at a vetting.
 
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