Buying a horse from a disreputable source....

[MizElz]

has anybody ever bought a horse from a place you've been told you shouldnt? and were you right to do so, or have you regretted it?

we bought ellie from a rather 'unrespectable' dealer, who, together with the local horse meat dealer

, ships horses to and from the continent. the ones that are any good go through her yard, and the rest go for meat. mention her name around these parts and people will tell you to run a mile, and my mum pretty much did that when we heard about ellie...however, my trainer persuaded us to keep 'an open mind', and the next day, she was ours. its been the biggest success story of my life! tho i know many other people who have had dealings with the same woman, and have ended up with a cripple (and rather light pockets as a result!)

just wondered what other peeps' take on this was.....would you purposefully avoid such places, or would you be prepared to look?

 

[Tinkerbee]

Depends for what purpose...

we have bought a few ponios from one local bloke, not known for his quality...but when they were completly unsuitable for the kiddo he took them back, so hes not all bad

even though we did waste time and some money, the horsies were cheap as chips so...

 

[catembi]

I bought Cat from a dealer & he turned out to be my dream horse. After I lost him to Crohn's disease 4 1/2 years later & was looking again, I tried that dealer first... Out of 5 horses, 4 of them napped/reared, & I only fancied getting on one of them. The 6th was just clueless, & they were all £8 to £9k. Turns out he has an ad in H&H asking for people's prob horses!!!!!!

So I think I got very, very lucky with Cat. I hate to think of how many people I've recommended the dealer to over the time I had Cat...

 

[Honeypots]

I have bought all mine off the same guy. He's an old school dealer who went to Southall Market every Wednesday for 70yrs till it shut. Has a mixed reputation in Surrey but he became a dear friend of mine and I've never had any problems with any of my purchases...

 

[virtual]

Some of you must know the guy who was on watchdog?

About 10-15 years ago we had several cobs from him over a period of time. Some were fantastic, others were average. The final one we got came with strangles, infected the yard and when back to full health was very opinionated (he'd sit down on the driveway when he didn't want to hack!). He came with the name "cheerful" and was nicknamed "bl**dy miserable". So for half a dozen good'uns we got one bad'un.

 

[brightmount]

I think that's the same one my first pony came from, though I got her through a secondary dealer. She turned out to be the sweetest horse you can possibly imagine. The other pony that came with her though was so traumatised he was shot (by the secondary dealer) rather than sent back to the original dealer, which shows what that place was like as they lost money on having the horse PTS rather than returning it.

 

[dieseldog]

I bought mine from a reccomended dealer and it turned out that he is an absolute crook. I unfortunalty spoke to 1 person who got some nice horses off him and didn't speak to the 10 or so people I've found since whose horses on average only lasted about a month once they bought them.

 

[measles]

[ QUOTE ]
I bought mine from a reccomended dealer and it turned out that he is an absolute crook. I unfortunalty spoke to 1 person who got some nice horses off him and didn't speak to the 10 or so people I've found since whose horses on average only lasted about a month once they bought them.

[/ QUOTE ]

We had that experience with a well known pony dealer. People either end up lucky or are in the masses who have totally misdescribed ones. And for children, too - you can just imagine my thoughts on the subject.

 

[_jetset_]

I bought Hannah privately, but the lady had bought her 6 months previously from a dealer in Preston... I later discovered an awful lot about this dealer, and why my horse was terrified of travelling, wouldn't allow anyone behind her when she was near the ramp and had a real issue of nerves. I would like to use a blue pipe on said dealer the way he did on my horse!!!

But, I absolutely adore Hannah and would never have known if I hadn't looked into it...

 

[lizzieuk1]

i would say don;t trust anyone when buying a horse, if you don;t know them from adam then always be careful, do a smuch investigation as you can and have someone else give an opinion that you trust. cover all bases and then it shouldn;t matter who you buy from

 

[Grumpy Herbert]

I bought one of mine at horse sales and still have her 12 years on, and the other from a dealer. Neither is perfect (what horse is), but I can do what I want to do with them and neither cost the earth. I think it's purely luck that gets you a good one if you don't know their history. I've heard and witnessed so many awful cases that it really puts me off buying again unless I know the horse in question. And it's not just the cheapo horses that are basket cases either. Frightening.

 

[amzy]

Yep, should have avoided like the plague. I've had her for 4 years now and she's only been able to be ridden a handful of times due to health problems (and having twins shortly after we bought her)! Life's very bleak for her at the moment and may have to be pts shortly.

 

[the watcher]

i would never knowingly buy from somebody disreputable, I don't care how good the horse seems, or how cheap it might be. You are almost certainly buying in to somebody else's misery AND keeping a dodgy dealer in business.

 

[Tinypony]

I've got mixed feelings about this. Yes, you can get a decent horse from a "dodgy" dealer. You could also be giving a deserving horse another chance at life, when it would have ended up as meat.
The thing is, these people deal in horses as a bulk commodity. The one I am thinking of has a large number in every week, including injured, ill and pregnant - but no vet will attend them when they are with him. During the following week he sells what he can, including if necessary selling suckling foals and weaning them straight into waiting lorries. The horses have a pretty tough time with him, but you could argue that at least he's giving some of them the chance of a good life. On the other hand, the ones that are left are shipped off again to goodness knows where at the end of the week, most likely for the meat trade. So he's taking horses from traumatic situations, keeping them for a week in very less than ideal circumstances, and then the leftovers go on again into the great unknown. No rest for these poor beasts. So if you buy from him, you fuel his trade.
I can see some similarities to the arguments raging about the "French rescues".

 

[Grumpy Herbert]

The sad fact is that as long as there are horses, there will be people who treat them badly and deal unscrupulously. And equally sad is the fact that someone will always buy from them, even if it's another dealer or the meat man, and keep them in business. I don't know what can be done to stop it - you just can't save them all.

 

[Donkeymad]

I did, but I didn't know the dealers reputation until afterwards. I then heard and met so many people who had been sold terrible horses, ripped off etc. My mare was absolutely fantastic, an absolute gem, but I never get her papers. the dealer has subsequently spent some years in prison.

 

[JM07]

is this the same pony you have had "issues" with ...the same issues you've posted about on here?

 

[MizElz]

[ QUOTE ]
is this the same pony you have had "issues" with ...the same issues you've posted about on here?

[/ QUOTE ]

bit confused as to what you mean by that

i've only got the one horse, and yes, i did get her from the 'dodgy dealer' i described. but as far as i'm aware, i've had seven wonderful years with her, and no real 'issues' to speak of! she's a bit of a mare, and certainly no novice ride, but then to be fair the said dealer never led me to believe she was - she was sold as a just-broken five year old who didnt jump fillers! needless to say, she took me up to Newcomers level BSJA (bearing in mind i have the worst nerves ever, and a lack of self confidence to go with it), and, to my knowledge, as NEVER stopped at a filler!

 

[Tia]

I expect JM is talking about your mare weaving, nipping, falling over whilst being lunged and the impression that she is generally a naughty horse when out riding?


Anyway getting back to the conversation; no I don't buy from disreputable sources. I generally buy direct from breeders or for older horses, usually private sellers. I've been happy with all of mine.

 

[MizElz]

[ QUOTE ]
I expect JM is talking about your mare weaving, nipping, falling over whilst being lunged and the impression that she is generally a naughty horse when out riding?


[/ QUOTE ]

LOL

its funny, I've never actually had her down as a 'naughty horse' but when i think about it, maybe she is! i think i've always just used the excuse that she's a woman...we're entitled to be tricky

and i think, in the context of my OP (ie. whether the horse has turned out a success or not) the fact that she isnt lame/ill/weak winded/disobedient/lacking scope/schizophrenic means that she is not, in my eyes, a 'problem horse'.

PS. i have just recalled an incident whereby purchasing a horse from a reputable dealer has gone wrong - a friend of mine - against better judgement - bought a 17.3hh 9 year old by Dutch Gold from a woman near Clevedon. the horse jumped nicely when she went to try him, and, when she went to watch him at an SJ comp, did a decent BN double clear. but once they'd bought him, it became pretty clear he just wasnt the same horse, and we highly suspect they'd been running him on something when she tried him. He truly was mentally deranged; his episodes of madness culminated in him refusing to be left alone on the lorry, breaking free and catapulting himself over the partition, falling onto the concrete below. how he didnt break his back, god only knows. They bought him for £6000 - four months later, he was sold to a dealer for £800.