Buying a horse from the field

[Red-1]

I would say no, don't, unless you now the horse personally or are willing to lose the money and PTS or retire if the horse is not as seems.

I would wager that the horse has had an issue when brought back to work, hence not continuing his getting back to fitness before being sold.

That said, when I saw Rigsby advertised (my new horse) he was being sold from the field after 3 months of box rest for lami. The advert said he was 'now being bought back to work' but, on investigation, I found that this meant he had done one week at 1 hr in a field, 1 week as 2 hrs in a field and a few days at 3 hours, all muzzled. So, essentially he was not even fit enough to go in the field! Certainly he had not seen a saddle for a long time.

I did tell them that I would not buy without having a sit, as they were selling him as sensible. I called on the Monday night, they rode on Tuesday and I tried on Wednesday. I walked around a field and did about 20m of trot, just to make sure he was not a nodding dog.

The difference is that I was quite prepared for him not to be a ridden horse, as long as he is sound and happy. He was also not expensive. My only wish is that he can be a round-the-village hacking horse and a horse to love. If his lami rears up, then I am prepared to PTS.

I would not normally buy a horse from the field. Too risky.

 

[milliepops]

wisest words ever. I always buy from the field, but it's exactly as the poster above put it. I just put it down to a bet, like sometimes it works out well but a lot of the time it doesn't. so you have to have contingency plans for everything. if I was an owner that had one or two horses on livery, I would never risk buying from field. I only do it as I have land I can leave them out on and have other horses to ride.

Yeah I agree with this.
My "from the field " horses have ranged from brilliant to terminally broken. Its a big big gamble and if I was a one-horse owner, not one that I would take (not least because having ANY project can sap your morale so it's always more pleasant to run one alongside an established horse)

 

[laura_nash]

I have bought from the field, and I didn't tick any of the boxes (not the most confident rider, couldn't really afford to lose the money, buying my only horse to keep on livery and probably wouldn't have PTS if he was broken). I guess in retrospect I was pretty lucky as he's still going strong 12 years later.

I think in your case though, I would be very wary.

Mine was being sold from the field mainly as they'd let him get hugely fat and didn't want to take the time and money to have someone get him slim again. I could kind of understand this as he probably wouldn't have been worth enough extra in full work to justify the cost. They were also a bit scared of him on the ground (he'd been allowed to become a bit of a thug) which didn't bother me as I am confident in the handing side. I was able to ride him a bit, walk and trot him and take him down the road and back, and did a 3 stage vetting.

With a nice moving younger sporty type you have to wonder why they don't get it into full work and get possibly much more money for it.

 

[doodle]

I’m now also thinking troll. New poster, gets lots of replies and never returns. But annoying when people take time to reply and pass on their experiences.

 

[gemisastar]

I did this once, nice looking 6yo ish gelding, took a punt and he was very cheap - wouldn't do it again!!!!!