Are 'good' horses that suit you brought or produced?

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Dukey

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Hi,
In a few months we will be in the market for a safe reliable all rounder. Mainly for my mum but will hopefully be competed a RC level by my sister. We have always brought horses at 4/5 and produced them ourselves. We have done this a couple of times now and we have ended up with a brilliant allrounders. I have a BE/BSJA comp horse who we have also produced from a 4 year old.
Now my mum is wanting something she can pick up and go with but when I'm looking about nothing is right and when I do see something I worry that despite paying £££ you cant buy a horse that is the right fit for you. Don't get me wrong with young horses it can go wrong but I think you're more likeily to produce a horse that you want?
What are other peoples opinions on this? Is there such a thing as a ready made horse that you can buy? Or is it better to produce your own?
 
Bit of both really. Think of priorities, get a horse with them, everything else can be improved. Even an older horse can improve. For example, I have a 16 yo sj mare that I got 4 years ago (I wanted a sj that could do everything else at a low level) she hadn't done a dressage test before and we cam third in our first ODE, she learned all about XC too, all at the age of 12. You have to put work in to get your perfect horse with whatever horse you get, at whatever age. Just be careful that you don't habe to undo someone elses mistakes :) on phone so appologise for spellings and punctuation! Haha
 
We have just brought two new ones straight from
Breeder. They back them then hack them and we will teach to jump do schooling etc but hacking out they are fab which is what we wanted.

It seems you can't find a good hacker these days so the schooling was something we said we would work on our selves.

To be honest I would get more like this in the future as the. You have a nearly clean slate to work with.
 
I think the nub of it is who has done the producing and have they produced it for what you want. There is production and production IMO and if you get the right horse produced by the right person for the discipline / activity you choose then it has to be a good thing. However you will pay for this horse.

If you have the capabilities to produce a nice youngster slowly and correctly you can choose a cheaper horse and spend your time developing it rather than undoing any bad habits / traits that its learnt from before. However as you've said it takes time so your mum won't be able to go off and compete straight away.

My personal preference would be to buy a good youngster that has basic good manners, just been sat on and is ready to learn an education.

Swings and roundabouts so good luck for whichever way you go.
 
I buy them and produce them myself. I would love to buy a horse ready to jump 1.20s with scope to go on but sadly cant afford one just yet. I produce then sell them when I get an offer. (Least thats my plan but the last one I got on offer for I kept then lost him!) So starting again ;)
 
For me, I need a been-there done-that type as I am very nervous. I need a horse who understands its 'job' well, is willing to interpret wildly inaccurate aids and who will take a joke well. It's not fair to ask that of a baby horse who doesn't know what's going! I end up on the older (as in veteran) generation and we suit each other.

My sister produces them herself, as we can't afford to buy a horse that is actually worth much initially. It works well for her, and has been a real learning curve.
 
I think it's harder and more expensive to buy ready made.
I'm really fussy and have 'made' my horse. I have taken time to make him absolutely perfect and how I like him down to simple things like standing and backing up perfectly for gates. Stands for me to get on and off out hacking, knows to stand square and with his head down when I halt. Plus the jumping, schooling, competing ect ect.
Before I got him I tried a few 'ready made horses and couldn't find one thatstood up to my picky standards! They were either too heavey in my hand or would try and rush jumps. Wouldn't stand for me to get on out hacking just little things that bugged me.
Not to say I couldn't of found it but prob would have taken a lot longer and cost lots of money lol.
 
I've come to the conclusion that the kind of horse that is already schooled to my standards is far too expensive for me to buy.

So generally I'd say produced, unless you have deep pockets.

However with any horse, there is an element of tweaking them to suit your style of riding and ownership.

Personally I'm really enjoying having a young horse though - it's nice being able to teach him good habits from the start, rather than having to undo years of ingrained bad habits.
 
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