Buying a horse from the field..yay or nay?

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QueenDee_

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Just seen a gorgeous horse advertised for sale..buy its being sold from the field.. Apparently hes been out of work for 3months or so due to lack of rider, and was bought for £5000 in January and is now being sold for £2500 a 'giveaway price' my thoughts are that if he is genuine then I should jump at the chance.. but I was wondering other peoples thoughts on this? What should you look for when buying a horse from the field etc?

High fives for any replies :D....wait, that rhymes..hehehe.
 
Sounds suspect to me. No one in their right mind would sell a £5000 horse a couple of months later from the field without something being wrong with it. Or it could be just me being overly suspicious!
 
Hmmm, I'd be a tad cautious TBH. Depends on your ability though, whether you could handle any problems if they arose, plus time needed to get the horse up to what you need.

Personally I wouldn't have the confidence to do it, coz need a nice sedate horse, but OK I guess if you're prepared to take a risk.

You don't say anything about the horse, but methinks you might challenge the £2500?? Yes it might have cost £5000 at some stage, BUT as it hasn't done anything its gonna be YOU who has to put the work in to get it up to standard, and especially at this time of the year you might find that the owner is a bit desperate to get rid as they don't want the expense of keeping it through the winter.

But whatever, don't let your heart rule your head & get a second opinion IMO, plus vetting, naturally. There's gonna be a lot of horses come up soon with autumn approaching anyway, so don't think you'll have any problem getting fixed up.
 
Orionstar said:
Sounds suspect to me. No one in their right mind would sell a £5000 horse a couple of months later from the field without something being wrong with it. Or it could be just me being overly suspicious!
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Yes that was what I was thinking...but then i'd be kicking myself if I let it pass for being overly suspicious :rolleyes:
 
I would go in with my eyes wide open an really question the seller. There is also no way I would pay £2500 for it.
 
My thoughts - there's nothing wrong with buying 'out of the field' (say a mare that's been off work having foals) BUT 3 months isn't a long time for a horse to be out of work. I wonder if there's a reason they don't want any-one to ride it?
If they are happy for you to see it ridden and ride yourself, then fine go ahead but I don't understand why they have dropped the price so much - if it really was worth £5000 a few months ago.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
My thoughts - there's nothing wrong with buying 'out of the field' (say a mare that's been off work having foals) BUT 3 months isn't a long time for a horse to be out of work. I wonder if there's a reason they don't want any-one to ride it?
If they are happy for you to see it ridden and ride yourself, then fine go ahead but I don't understand why they have dropped the price so much - if it really was worth £5000 a few months ago.
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^^^^
This
 
Maybe I am out of touch but £2500 is a lot of money for a horse sold from the field, I would proceed with caution.
 
I thought it did seem slightly odd they had dropped the price so much & I asked if there would be a chance to see ridden/to ride but they said it was literally being sold from the field, I might try and go see it anyway as it is faiiirly local, unfortunately i've gone and fallen in love with the pictures..I really should know better by now! :o
 
Will they let you ride it? I would want to get on if something had only been out of work for three months. I don't really think a horse off work that little time needs to be sold from the field so it makes me a bit suspicious. Eyes wide open if you go and look

I've had a couple out of the field but one had been off being a broody and one wasn't even two.
 
steer clear! either they didnt pay £5k for it and they are trying to get a quick buck. or, there is something very wrong!!!
i agree nothing wrong with buying off the field if its a youngster or a broodmare being bought back into work, but there is no way it is worth £2500 unless it makes poohs of gold!
 
when I asked they said its only vice is that it can be slightly cold backed and jumpy when you first get on, but nothing major, the big thing is that I wouldn't be able to ride it before buying..I also asked if they'd do a 1 week trial but they just want a straight sale...
 
Ditto pearlslinger and jesstickle etc - 3 months is a short enough space of time to expect to be able to lunge it and get on to at least have a feel of it. The only reasons for refusing that in this case that I can see are that the horse actually needs bringing back into work slowly because of an injury, in which case why haven't they said, or as everybody has hinted, that when you do get on it it's going to do something stupid.

HOWEVER, there is also the way of reading the situation where you're faced with people who had the money to spend £5k on a horse who has then frightened them merely by being a horse, rather than actually being naughty, and they're too petrified to do anything else with it, and can afford to lose that money and just want it gone. But as others have said, careful questioning should reveal how likely this is.

If you do decide to take a chance on it, I'd offer a lot less than what they're asking and get it vetted so you can at least have a vague idea that it's still got the 4 legs it had when it was worth £5k.

Eta - reading your latest reply, if they won't give a reason why they are not prepared to let you sit on it before purchasing it, then walk away.
 
Have they said why you can't ride it? Surely if it's a little cold backed then you just lunge for 10 minutes before hopping on? Sounds like it's going to be a headcase when you get on it, if so I'd give them £400 for it.
 
It's so hard to judge if the seller is genuine or not. A high percentage of horses ''sold from the field due to lack of time'' have scared the bejasus out of the seller, they obviously won't ride the horse first so are you prepared to risk getting on a potentially dangerous horse?
 
skint1 said:
Maybe I am out of touch but £2500 is a lot of money for a horse sold from the field, I would proceed with caution.
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I agree that in this climate that does sound a lot, unless it's a spectacular horse. I just bought BH for 3K and he's nicely bred, safe, sound and sane and apart from being a bit of a knobber on the ground occasionally you can't fault him. I probably got him for a little less than he's worth on the basis that I rebroke him 18 months ago and have done all the work that has gone into him myself but I would no way have paid more than 3.5K
 
Ellky said:
when I asked they said its only vice is that it can be slightly cold backed and jumpy when you first get on, but nothing major, the big thing is that I wouldn't be able to ride it before buying..I also asked if they'd do a 1 week trial but they just want a straight sale...
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Big alarm bells ringing here!
 
I'm sorry but I can see no reason why a horse which has been out of work 6 months needs selling from the field.

There is no reason on this earth why a decent horse couldn't have saddle put on it and potter around. OK you wouldn't want to ride it hard or jump, but not even sit on it?????????

The only reasons I can come up with are; its unridable and the owners are scared to death of it or they dont want it vetting and not being able to ride it would stop this.

I wouldn't get on it, even if they offer. Ask them to get on it first and if they survive then have a go. Otherwise walk away.
 
Hmmm, I probably will end up giving it a pass.. I know that there will be others for me to drool over :D Its a shame though.. I think I may have fallen in love with his super pretty face :rolleyes:
 
rockysmum said:
I'm sorry but I can see no reason why a horse which has been out of work 6 months needs selling from the field.

There is no reason on this earth why a decent horse couldn't have saddle put on it and potter around. OK you wouldn't want to ride it hard or jump, but not even sit on it?????????

The only reasons I can come up with are; its unridable and the owners are scared to death of it or they dont want it vetting and not being able to ride it would stop this.

I wouldn't get on it, even if they offer. Ask them to get on it first and if they survive then have a go. Otherwise walk away.
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Totally agree, if paying more than a meat price I would want to see photos/videos/results from when the horse was in work and try and contact previous owner.
 
It totally depends on your ability

What's probably happened is that its chucked owners off, they are now petrified and dont want the responsibility of allowing you to ride it. This could be a steal for you as if you don't mind the cold backed bit (and I do) I reckon you could get it for far less. This I know as I've been in their position before - as has a friend and trust me you get to the point where you can't stand looking at them in the field and would almost give it away (friend did so).
 
Absolutely nothing wrong with field or stable............? Ignore the price and just go and see and ask all the questions. It could be worth its weight in gold off the field or an absolute nightmare.

It shouldnt make any difference where it lives as long as it does it for you.

Good luck. Dont believe anything you get told its find out for yourself unfortunately!
 
Ellky said:
Hmmm, I probably will end up giving it a pass.. I know that there will be others for me to drool over :D Its a shame though.. I think I may have fallen in love with his super pretty face :rolleyes:
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probably wise lol, he may have a pretty face but you won't get to see it much if you spend half your time on your arse looking at his rear end!!!!!:eek:
 
Ellky said:
when I asked they said its only vice is that it can be slightly cold backed and jumpy when you first get on, but nothing major, the big thing is that I wouldn't be able to ride it before buying..I also asked if they'd do a 1 week trial but they just want a straight sale...
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If you're in Scotland and the horse in question is a 16.2-ish dapple grey mare, name starting with a V, which they bought from a dealer, steer clear at all costs - this sounds very like the horse my neighbours had and sent back because 'slightly cold backed and jumpy' translated to unless she was ridden for at least an hour 6 days out of 7 she was a nightmare.
 
Ibblebibble said:
probably wise lol, he may have a pretty face but you won't get to see it much if you spend half your time on your arse looking at his rear end!!!!!:eek:
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Hehehe, love this!:D

I emailed the owner and asked why there was no chance of riding before buying, and she said something about trying to sell it before at £5000 (before it was out of work) and having nothing but idiots try it and she didn't want to repeat....hmmmm, also that he was in a field full of youngsters and it was easier to sell from the field..

CarolineJ said:
If you're in Scotland and the horse in question is a 16.2-ish dapple grey mare, name starting with a V, which they bought from a dealer, steer clear at all costs - this sounds very like the horse my neighbours had and sent back because 'slightly cold backed and jumpy' translated to unless she was ridden for at least an hour 6 days out of 7 she was a nightmare.
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Nope, Shropshire here, 16.2hh dapple grey Gelding :p
 
The seller sounds like a right chancer, no way would I drop £2.5k on a horse when the seller wouldn't let my daughter try it out. I wonder if it's open to vet... if they don't want you try it at their place they could at least consider a lwvtb
 
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