Bargain basement horses

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ruthb

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Hello,

I'm wondering if anybody has bought a really cheap horse that turned out to be fantastic (mine cost £400, found by the roadside in the "care" of travellers, bought on the spot in fit of pity for her plight, is now best horse in Britain and worth about £4 million in my opinion...).

I am a journalist and am writing a piece for a horsey magazine. Looking for people who paid pittance for their horse and maybe are doing well competing ... Not really writing about people who've been given horses by friends/adopted via charities, but people who have just bought something really, really cheap ...

Would love to hear from anyone want to boast about their horses' brilliance in print.

Thank you ... Ruth.
 
I suppose the obvious one is a horse called Wesley I think, again a gypsy cob bought for £50 and did / doing well at dressage. There have been a lot of stories about him though.
 
Not me, but a friend loaned a horse from a lady who like you paid £400 for him. Apparently when she got him, he was useless couldnt do anything, had no spacial awareness, would trample you etc. She took him on and in 2 years went from nothing to competing internationally at Dressage, think she went up to advanced medium. He turned into a stunning horse who moved beautifully even though it was a big movement. Unfortunatley though she grew to tall for him so he went back to the owner, last i heard though he got sold for £20/25k.
 
my 16.2 tb gelding i paid £1 for him and he turned out to be a superstar and was used by my yard own to teach novices. unfortuantly he had lameness issues which he is just getting over, and i hope by the end of the year to be competing at local level dressage
 
Not quite so exciting as the rest of them but I paid £500 for my mare and shes excellent, an absolute sweethart on the ground and we compete locally in all disiplines and county level WH
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Been oferd lots more for her since
 
yes, paid peanuts for a horse that failed the vet. Went on to do absolutely everything with great gusto and sound as a bell. Only age has slowed him down (now 34) and even now he is still one step ahead of me
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I brought my well bred PBA for £1,200 he was a mess and I felt sorry for him. He was so skinny and couldn't hardly walk in a straight line let alone anything else. He was my horse of a lifetime though and I'm sure I will never find anything like him again. He went up to medium level DR and I showed him at county level as a PBA. I sold him which I really regret doing but he went on to do BYDRS and represent the pony club with a young rider.
 
Yup, paid £500 for a little horse with no steering and no brakes, wouldn't load and was terrified of coloured poles. He became a Grade A show jumper (and would stand happily on the lorry all day) and has beaten some of the best in the smaller classes. He's just retired now and is babysitting the youngsters, teaching them how to load and be happy on the lorry.
 
I went to look at 2 horses who were out of racing and due to be put down. One was a 3 year old chestnut. I wasn't interested in him in the slightest as I thought for him to be shot at that age he had to have been dangerous
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He was also not the best looking thing only 15.2hh, very weak looking with a plain head that was far too large for his body.
The other was 7 and I was interested in him but as it turned out he had a chronic and very severe pelvis problem and did need to be put down.

I was stood outside the stables a bit dejected. The 3 year old got hold of my collar and gave it a tug as if to say "oi, oi what about me!"
I decided to give him a try and haggled the princely sum of £100 for him. I took him home and for the first week he didn't even have a name
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we just called him 'the one thats on his last Chance' which we finally shortened to Chance
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After the first week it became very obvious he was an absolute sweetie, very kind and laid back and eager to please. I decided to keep him 6 months, break him in and sell him on. At the end of that 6 months I was having such a good time with him I thought I'd keep him another 6 months.........that was 11 years ago
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Chance has BE evented to Novice level and would have gone further but I stopped to have a family, he does dressage, show jumping, he loves hacking and has turned his hoof to endurance and le trec
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Last weekend we did a pairs hunter trial and I'm just sorting out his BE membership as I'm bringing him back out of 'eventing retirement' at 14

I rode him until I was 30 weeks pregnant and he was as careful as could be with me on him, I could 'feel' him looking after me
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He is as gentle as a lamb with my 4 year old son, and my son rides him off the leadrein. Chance will even work in an outline for him
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Since my son has been a baby chance has been incredibly protective of him. There was one incident when he was a baby and he was on the outside of the gate and Chance stood on the inside 'guarding' him from his field mates and stopping then from getting near him.

He may have only cost £100 but there isn't enough money in the world that would make me part with him
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my old boy was the bees knees and was free to a good home but I felt the need to pay a pound for him.

He had raced, evented, hunted in a previous life and with me taught me such a lot about horse ownership. We did everything we could, sidesaddle, county showing, le trec ( he hated it) military skill at arms ( he liked that) and we hacked, dressaged and did anything that took our fancy. He had soundness issues and that did limit us but bar shoes and special pads sorted that. He was PTS christmas just gone with colic. He was a horse in a million and my current horse ( Who only cost £500 and is another exracer) has large shoes to fill, and to say that she is doing her best to fill them is an over statement)
 
QR- I bought a coloured mare from a market in a terrible state for £500, turned out to be in foal. Ended up selling mare for £5000 and later the foal for £3000. Both now in excellent local permanent homes. Have lots of pictures of both, and the birth!

I also have a mare I paid £1 for as a "whisperer" said she wanted me to ride her!

I'm in a hurry at the min, so not much detail, but you can see the basics!!
 
Ruth- please email me at natalia_thorpe@yahoo.co.uk

I bought a pony from some travellers at the sales for very little money, he was very very thin, looked like a llama and was virtually bald, 1 year later he's nearly JA and much loved with a brilliant junior rider we sold him for £10000. I'll tell you his whole story if you mail me! He was the horse of a lifetime and the most rewarding little chap i have ever met, I would never have sold him had he been a hand bigger, but I was riding him senior BSJA and he was struggling with the combinations and way to talented to keep and not have a job to do.

I also bought a fab 13.2hh for £300 unbroken, who turned out to be a PC superstar.
 
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