Buying a horse from the field

[Equine_Blossom]

So I saw an advert for a 16hh 6 year old Spanish x sports horse. He was perfect and everything I wanted. The only problem is he’s being sold the field as he had been kicked in the field. I plan on going to see him tomorrow is there any tips I should be looking at and any questions I should be asking the owner. He is currently in walk work coming back into trot work. I really love the way he moves and the way he jumps. He’s only stunning. Any tips with helpful.

 

[SOS]

Buy from the field if you’re experienced enough to deal with riding any type of horse, rich enough to pour your money down the drain if it turns out not to be suitable or lame and not too emotional that you can get rid if it’s not right or potentially PTS if very broken.

 

[AmyMay]

Fantastic advice.

 

[irishdraft]

Personally I wouldn't buy from the field unless I knew the people / horse very well . I got caught many years ago problem didn't show up until the horse was fit and in work .

 

[Sail_away]

If it's only a minor injury that he's recovering from it seems very odd to sell from the field now. He'd sell for far, far more if he was in full work; the vast majority of people just won't take that risk. To be honest I wouldn't even go and see him, you'd be buying a lame horse with only the seller's assurance that it's a field kick.

 

[ihatework]

If he’s walking and trotting then he isn’t quite the same as a normal ‘sold from the field’ which is usually a case of its out of work and no you can’t ride it. But if it’s walking and trotting surely you can get on it to try, even if you can’t put it through full trial ride?

I’d pull vet history and be sure the horse has been in their ownership for a while. In addition to the advice above.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

The first reply sums it up really - I would only consider this if the horse is stupidly cheap and you can speak to the vet directly regarding the injury with no input from the owner (eg: not the report through the owner, or forwarded info or anything like that as this could be open to manipulation).

I bought a horse from the field - he was the best and was everything the seller said he was (I was seriously lucky in this respect) . I literally whipped his rug off, gave him a pat and said I would take him- loaded him into the box on the road and off I went. I only had him for a couple of years when he was PTS with severe navicular age 7. This wouldn't have been picked up on the vetting if I had one, so in the end the method of purchase made no difference and I had a great horse.

 

[splashgirl45]

i would be very cautious , are they saying you cant ride him to try? usually sold from the field means not in ridden work and usually cheaper than one who is being ridden. personally i wouldnt even go and look as he could have all sorts of problems, maybe a bad back or similar

 

[paddi22]

Buy from the field if you’re experienced enough to deal with riding any type of horse, rich enough to pour your money down the drain if it turns out not to be suitable or lame and not too emotional that you can get rid if it’s not right or potentially PTS if very broken.

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.

 

[shortstuff99]

What is he crossed with? Part bred PREs can be extremely hot. Are you used to dealing with hot horses? I would be wary of buying from the field unless for a very good reason.

 

[charterline]

If I look at one sold from the field... always ask the owner can I see the horse tacked up and sat on. Doesn’t have to do a lot, just a least mount and have a little wander around.

if owner says no, I walk away. Most horse owners should at least have a saddle that fits enough to the extent of being able to get on the horse.

 

[Winters100]

I have done it twice in my quite a bit younger and much much braver years. Once it worked out really well and I got a super horse very cheaply, the second time I ended up selling as a happy hacker a couple of years later.

I would say however that in both cases I knew the horses and the reason for sale, and I was pretty much prepared to ride anything. One was sold from the field as she was too much for the owner who had broken a leg in a nasty fall. I had ridden the horse for them a few times and knew that she was not a nasty horse, just needed a lot of riding. As the owner never got the confidence to ride her again after her recovery they took the option of selling her to me cheaply rather than paying for training and advertising.

The second one was after a trauma to the eye that had left him partially sighted, and had also had a tendon problem prior to that. I took him mainly as a sympathy case for a pittance as I liked him and wanted to see if he could have a good life doing some kind of job. He had previously been eventing but settled really well into semi-retirement. After some time I lent him to a friend of my Mum's who used him to accompany her kids / ponies around their farm, and she ended up buying him from me.

I can say that for me it worked out OK, but I think that even back then I would not have been brave enough to gamble on buying something totally unknown from the field. I would not say never do it, but do it only if you can view it in the same way as Paddi22, as a total gamble.

 

[Jango]

If you know the people selling then it can work well, for example Winters case she had already ridden the horse. Otherwise avoid with a barge pole! If he was genuinely amazing then they would spend a month getting him back to fitness and just sell at a normal (much higher than sold from the field!) price. There's a reason they aren't doing that. In most cases it's either the horse too sharp for current owner to ride or it has lameness issues.

 

[doodle]

In that situation I wouldn’t. If he is walking and starting to trot then wouldn’t it be better to put a few more weeks in and get it back into work properly. To be selling from the field means it isn’t ridden at all. The cynical side of me is thinking they have started trotting and horse is lame so they would rather get rid of it now and say sold from field to avoid people riding and finding out it is lame.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I have done it once with a 9 year old brood mare that we were going to breed with she was a fraction of what she was worth, she had been backed and had a BSJA record as a young horse then was put in foal, I ended up not breeding from her and started riding her, she had a fabulous temperament and was an amazing horse to ride but I do believe she had an old injury which was aggravated hence why she was put in foal and not jumped anymore, I struggled to keep her sound so she was retired at 13 and I lost her to laminitis when she was 15, I am glad I had those years with her I have no regrets, would I do it again probably not I don't have the confidence now to deal with anything really difficult and I think most horses are sold from the field because they have ridden issues which I wouldn't be prepared to sort out now.

 

[paddi22]

you kind of have to go in with your antenna tuned to:
1. what is going on in the sellers life and is it genuine
2. why on earth is this horse in a field when someone could just sit on it and make more money if they waited a few weeks

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I came very close to having to sell my stunning big ISH 'from the field' earlier this year. Not a damn thing wrong with him. I had a bit of a yard accident (not on him!) that initially looked like just a few weeks to let my injured brain heal.

Unfortunately the accident has led to some quite severe ongoing physical problems that due to covid I cannot go into hospital to get sorted. And consequently no prognosis of being likely to ride again in the near future, if ever.

I am barely able to look after my retired mare and my donkeys, let alone a 17.3 lump of a horse that craves daily attention as he is very much an in your pocket sort of horse. You could leave off riding him for weeks and get on him tomorrow and he would still be a gentleman. So in desperation I briefly considered selling him as I really didn't think it was fair to keep a 10 year old that loves being ridden and everything that goes with human interaction when likely I would never ride him again.

Obviously he would have been sold from the field - and hadn't been ridden in several months by the time I made that decision. Someone would have got a stunning, well mannered, easy ride at a give away price purely because I would have had to sell him from the field. Luckily his ex owner stepped in and thankfully and so kindly has taken him back for a few months until we see where my future is heading, if I can not have him back she assures me he will stay with her for life - and I believe her, she reared him.

So I would be wary - but sometimes, quite a few times, the reason they are being sold from the field can be genuine and you might just find a real diamond among the dirt and hairy coat.

 

[Leandy]

There will be a reason they are "in the field" in the first place. You may or may not get full disclosure of it. Not a risk I would take personally unless I had cast iron evidence of full history (ie I've known it for a significant length of time). In your current situation, I would say I would be very interested in it when it is back in full work and would revisit at that stage. Don't let yourself be rushed.

 

[Equi]

Its hard to tell from your post if you are experienced or not but my gut says the horse is pretty and that is what has originally drawn you to them. I would not want to buy a riding horse that was at the moment in recovery, unless i 100% knew why they were in recovery and had a vet confirm that it would be useable afterwards and for this i would need to know the owner damn well. "kicked in the field" may very well be true, or it may be a load of toss and the horse has always been this way, but if its passed on then they won't care. I don't know how well i rate anyone who sells a horse who is still in recovery from the field if im honest..i can get why if a horse is out of action due to time or rider not able etc but the actual horse being out of action but still letting people view them would cause alarm bells to ring.

 

[oldie48]

If he's only in walk work with a bit of trot, I guess when you say you love how he moves, this is from a video from before he was injured so you actually have not seen him actually move. I'd be extremely wary, if he's a nice 6 year old it doesn't make sense to sell him from the field. My mare had been turned away for three years prior to me buying her but she had been brought back into work so she could be properly tried in all three paces and undergo a 5 stage vetting. I did some digging and discovered that the owner who had put her on sales livery was not being completely honest, I always work on the principle of believe what you see with your own eyes and find out the real reason something is being sold and then decide if you are prepared to take a chance.

 

[ihatework]

Ultimately I think anyone feeling the need to post on a forum about buying a horse from the field, probably isn’t experienced enough to be doing so.

 

[Wishfilly]

As others have said, I would be suspicious of someone selling a horse at that stage in recovery, when they could put in say 3-6 weeks more work, and sell for a lot more money (and potentially at a better time of year). Have you discussed the reason for them not doing this?

My suspicion would be that some kind of problem is showing itself in the trot work, and they are trying to sell on because either they can't afford more vet work, or they don't think he will ever come right.

His movement and jumping may have been great before he was injured, but it may not be the same again.

 

[Cowpony]

I would be wary of only being able to walk and trot, because after an injury the full picture often doesn't emerge until you start cantering, or put more pressure on.

 

[ycbm]

Owning a PRE I would be extremely wary of a cross with any lightweight sports horse which can't be properly tried out. They are very hot, in a kind way. If you cross with 'hot in a not so kind way', you could find yourself in a real pickle.

I wouldn't pay a penny more than I could afford to throw away. It makes no economic sense to sell at this stage of a recovery from a field kick.

 

[Afon_34]

Bought one of mine from the field- best horse I ever bought, however looking back mum and I were pretty inexperienced at the time so think we just got lucky!
Would I do it again.. no I don’t think I would.

 

[Chuffy99]

1st post, am I the only one thinking troll?

 

[DragonSlayer]

1st post, am I the only one thinking troll?

I'm not. Not every horse person in the world is on this forum, could be they googled 'where to find horse advice' and this popped up. They joined, and asked their question.

 

[SatansLittleHelper]

Buy from the field if you’re experienced enough to deal with riding any type of horse, rich enough to pour your money down the drain if it turns out not to be suitable or lame and not too emotional that you can get rid if it’s not right or potentially PTS if very broken.

This with bells and whistles on. It's still broken, they just aren't telling you how

 

[Flame_]

I did this with my horse. He ticked so many boxes on a very specific list that "no, he's not in work at the moment, no, you can't ride him", plus being the middle of winter were just regarded as unfortunate obstacles to overcome, lol. In a sort of, "I want that one, make it work" way - and he did come from a very reputable background. On paper it was a bit stupid but has turned out very well. Really, if you want a horse to do a job you should try it out doing that job. If you want to embark on a mysterious equine journey, it's perhaps more sensible to gamble on an unbacked youngster. I'd at least recommend looking for a sound one, but follow your heart!

 

[sport horse]

Run for the hills as fast as you can.