Bad Experience Selling Horses.... ????

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SinCity

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We all hear stories of people having a bad experience when buying horses and their legal rights as a buyer but what about when it's the other way around???/

Recently I had the heart felt sadness of having to sell one of my horses and I stress this was through no fault of his own! I have 2 geldings I have had one for 6 years and the other just under a year so it was a case of which one would be the easiest to part with????

Anyway a family came a long and wanted to buy him before I'd even advertised him. They all tried him and loved him put him through a 5 stage vetting which he duly passed and me being me said if he's not suitable then I would buy him back within a month because I was that confident he was what they were looking for and I want him to have the right home too... but by this I meant if he was to act out of character which is normally very placid and not spooky.

My only concern with them buying him was they are very novice but they were keeping him on full livery and people would keep them on the straight and narrow....

On the day the sale was completed one of the kids had been out on a lovely hack, came back to the yard and went into the school now the school is raised and one end is by the entrance to the yard which is up a small hill and it seems to be one of those corners that horses don't like "killer monsters hiding in the trees" type of place .... now the kid was heading to this very corner just as an old Bedford Lorry trundled up the hill with another horse banging and crashing around in the back to which he spooked and ran up the school and the kid fell of and of course I'm now facing the prospect of having to buy him back because of 1 spook which I think is totally unfair to question his suitability as a family horse as 99.9% of horses would have reacted in the same way???
 
Sorry to be blunt but if one spook is going to make them bail on him then I would question wether they should be owning a horse at all!
 
tbh I would expect a family horse not to have a problem with corners or lorries, particularly as kids will be riding it.
Totally depends though on what he was sold as.
 
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Sorry to be blunt but if one spook is going to make them bail on him then I would question wether they should be owning a horse at all!

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ditto
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But wouldn't a reasonably competent rider (one more suitable for your horse) have managed the situation better, prevented the spook, not fallen off?
 
I don't think 99.9% of horses would have reacted in the same way at all. I think you made the promise and you probably need to buy him back - you haven't spent the money yet have you?
 
How old was the child? Were they riding alone?

As someone who has been riding since a child and have children of my own, one of the risks of riding is that you may well fall off. Even the 'safest' horse may spook, if parents don't want to risk their children falling off then don't put them on in the first place!
 
I think a spook is one thing but a spook and a run away is something else. What if they had been out on the road? I can imagine they are wary if the horse they have just bought which has practically been guaranteed spook free has a big spook on day 1! And am I reading it right that this happened at the yard the horse is used to? Perhaps they can be persuaded to give the horse another chance but if not then I'm afraid you promised to buy the horse back so I think you are going to have to do that.
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None of you have taken into consideration that this horse has obviously been with them less than a month and as such is in completely alien surroundings and hasn't even had a chance to settle in, so considering the novice child had a lovely hack, the horse was obviously behaving.

Perhaps a donkified plod would have stood placidly, but horses are flight animals by instinct and the kid obviously wasn't experienced enough to prevent the running off after the spook.

The first wee while owning a first horse is daunting - i'm doing it myself - but when my new (sweetheart schoolmistress) horsie bucked me off a few days after her arrival, i knew it was just fear & definately didnt take her back to the dealer's

Speak to the family, and insist they keep the horse till the end of the 1 month trial and see if their opinion changes.
 
Well you show me a family horse that has never spooked in it's life and I'll show you a liar. Now if he had ran off fly-bucking around the arena then I'd be there in a flash with my cheque book!
The kid is 12 yrs old & yes I did say I would buy him back and should they insist then I will, but what makes me angry & frustrated is the fact I know I'm selling them a damn fine horse at very reasonable price which is more than capable of doing everything they asked for safely which was " Dressage, jumping, hunting & hacking and for them to have lessons on" horses are not machines, they have a brain and even the most lazy, laid back, half dead nag tends to use it from time to time wether it be for good or bad!

Character building.... I very nearly said that to them but I don't think that would have gone down too well
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but it is true! I know what I'm about to say will enrage a lot of people but they are city dwellers buying a slice of country life which in their happy little picture includes a horse. I mean get real when your kids are going to fall off when they are learning to ride no matter how good the horse is! Just wait till Princess starts learning to jump!!
 
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Character building.... I very nearly said that to them but I don't think that would have gone down too well
smile.gif
but it is true! I know what I'm about to say will enrage a lot of people but they are city dwellers buying a slice of country life which in their happy little picture includes a horse. I mean get real when your kids are going to fall off when they are learning to ride no matter how good the horse is! Just wait till Princess starts learning to jump!!

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and you sold your horse to people you have this opinion of???

says it all really, sorry but it does.
 
All you say here is VERY true, but just makes me stand by my original statement in the first place... they dont sound like they are ready for a horse if they are not able to deal with EVERYTHING that goes with it!!

I was always told as a kid you are not a proper rider until you have fallen off 10 times.....
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I have had lots of family horses and ponies who have not once run off. None of them would spook at a strange corner of the arena or a horse lorry. You may need to redefine family horse
 
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Well you show me a family horse that has never spooked in it's life and I'll show you a liar. Now if he had ran off fly-bucking around the arena then I'd be there in a flash with my cheque book!
The kid is 12 yrs old & yes I did say I would buy him back and should they insist then I will, but what makes me angry & frustrated is the fact I know I'm selling them a damn fine horse at very reasonable price which is more than capable of doing everything they asked for safely which was " Dressage, jumping, hunting & hacking and for them to have lessons on" horses are not machines, they have a brain and even the most lazy, laid back, half dead nag tends to use it from time to time wether it be for good or bad!

Character building.... I very nearly said that to them but I don't think that would have gone down too well
smile.gif
but it is true! I know what I'm about to say will enrage a lot of people but they are city dwellers buying a slice of country life which in their happy little picture includes a horse. I mean get real when your kids are going to fall off when they are learning to ride no matter how good the horse is! Just wait till Princess starts learning to jump!!

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I agree and I think most people also agree that horses are not machines and therefore must be expected to jump at things sometimes, I would jump if there was a load noise behind me BUT knowing this you shouldn't have given them the buy back offer or perhaps put the terms in writing.
 
I don't mind the buying him back & I was about to but the yard owner inisted I didn't as she witnessed the incident and said it was something and nothing and the only reason she fell was he turned sharply and she fell out the side door, and no she is not some Jak booted teenager with a stage 1 BHS qualification she is highly respected trainer that has competed quite sucessfully at top level dressage and the only reason I agreed to sell him to these people was the fact he is remaining where he is on full livery.
oh and by the way the kid is fine just daddy having a fit!

Now when you agree to sell someone a horse you have very little time to get to know them and you take them at face value and it's not until things go wrong that you see the real person - people tell you what you want to hear in order to get what they want...... You can never be really sure who you are selling your horse to we can only hope we make the right decisions .... I know someone where the owner quite rightly refused to sell her a horse and she was going to pay someone to go down and buy the horse on her behalf and pretend it was for themselves!!!
 
I would buy the horse back, especially as you promised. That way you can find it a more suitable home. If you refuse, they will only end up selling the horse if they dont get on with it.
Sounds like you will have no problem selling.
 
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I was always told as a kid you are not a proper rider until you have fallen off 10 times.....

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I think people only say this to make those who aren't very good riders feel better about falling off.

About the horse though - if you are selling as a family horse then it really shouldn't have reacted in this way. Plenty of horses would just have carried on - that's what family/spookproof/well behaved/beginner horses do; and no that does not mean they are plods, they are just well trained to deal with any and every situation.

Personally I would buy the horse back - I wouldn't want any of my horses to be where they are not wanted.
 
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I was always told as a kid you are not a proper rider until you have fallen off 10 times.....

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I think people only say this to make those who aren't very good riders feel better about falling off.

About the horse though - if you are selling as a family horse then it really shouldn't have reacted in this way. Plenty of horses would just have carried on - that's what family/spookproof/well behaved/beginner horses do; and no that does not mean they are plods, they are just well trained to deal with any and every situation.

Personally I would buy the horse back - I wouldn't want any of my horses to be where they are not wanted.

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if thats what you want to think, I was always under the impression it was so that you had been in numerous situations/gained experience and so pushed t yourself riding wise... and as such a fall was bound to happen eventually!!
 
i think he did what a lot of horses would have done, and i think i'd say that and see if they're willing to give him another week on trial. if not, he's better out of there, with people who can handle him, tbh.
if you said you'd have him back, i think you have to stick to your word. i'm sure you'll find him a better home very quickly.
 
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