Buying a horse - pulling out at last minute?

Angelbones

Angelbones

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Have been very interested in a horse and (ref post about hating using the phone!) spoke to owner once (actually a reputable lady who has him on her yard to sell and who I've googled and also got very good vibes from on the phone) then tried to get a friend to go to see it - this actually didn't materialise as there was another potential buyer who was going the next day and then wanted to go back again the day after for a 2nd go. Anyway, owner rang me last night to say that he was sold subject to vetting but would get in touch if this changed.

This morning she rang to say that the potential buyer had changed her mind before the vetting (which was scheduled for tomorrow pm). I asked why and was told that she had wanted him for hunting but as she couldn't try him out hunting she was apprehensive and has decided to wait until the start of the season before looking again. I repeated my criteria for a new hunter and she confirmed that he was the guy for the job.

Now I understand this 'wobble' on behalf of the buyer, but just wondered if any of you have ever pulled out at the 11th hour for such reasons or should I be highly suspicious (of the seller perhaps).

My friend is now going to see the horse tomorrow and I have made it clear that if we get that far then he'll be subject to a 5 stage vetting (my friend wondered if the seller had in fact pulled out of the sale as she herself was worried about the horse failing a vetting).

What do you guys think? I've only ever pulled out due to a failed vetting. Views from sellers who've been let down, and buyers who pulled out are most welcome!

...churning in stomach...
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I doubt very much if the seller pulled out.

I expect she's either telling the truth or they had him vetted sooner than she claimed and the horse failed.
 
If you really like the horse then go for it. You will never know if she's telling the truth until you try her out. It happens though because it happened selling my mare - noone vetted her, but plenty of people put deposits down (allbeit small) then I never heard from them again!!
 
What does it matter ? If you like the horse and it passes the vet, then buy it. No point worrying about a situation where you will never find out exactly what happened.
 
I recently had a buyer pull of of a sale, she had the horse vetted and paid a deposit and the night before she was due to collect him called and pulled out. Very infuriating, but she did send me the certificate and said she was happy to confirm genuine reason for pulling out to any future buyers if they wanted to phone her.
 
I've thought this scenario of timescales etc and although I am highly suspicious I think it would have taken remarkable preplanning in that I rang her out of the blue on Sunday night, my friend spoke to her Monday pm and was told that he was being viewed by two others on Tues. Friend rang Tues eve to see if was sold and was told 2nd viewing on Weds. I rang her Wed eve to see how it went and she said he was sold subj to vetting. She rang me today at noon to say buyer had pulled out.

So initally I would have said that the buyer wouldn't have had time to get the horse vetted this morning by 12 if she only 2nd tried him yesterday so it must be true, BUT THEN...

If the buyer tried him Monday, had him vetted Tues/Weds and he failed, and then the buyer took a while to pull out, I suppose she could have been biding time with the excuses of 2nd trial etc, but wouldn't it have just been easier for her to tell me she was unavailable to meet us until after she knew the outcome of the first buyer/vetting? She didn't actually have to throw the 'buyer pulling out' scenario into the mix at all along with queries that may raise. You'd think the last thing you'd do is tell a keen potential buyer that the horse is sold unless you really thought he was? OR could that work the other way in that if she thought I was really keen then I'd be so relieved that he wasn't sold afterall that I'd jump at the chance of viewing him and perhaps have rose tinted spec on? Now that's reverse psychology for you eh?!

God I could go over and over this in my mind for days and still be coming up with alternative theories...Cobden is right really but it's only that I've put my trust in people's explanations before and then really come a cropper when it's too late that now I over think it all until I can't tell its ar*s from its elbow...I am my own worst enemy really!

Thanks for the input, I shall see how it goes tomorrow - at least the one person I can 100% trust is my friend is who going to try him.

Fingers Crossed...
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perhaps the original buyer had her eye on another horse too and made a choice between the 2
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could have pulled out for 101 different reasons!! if the horse is what you are looking for then take it as fate working your way for once and go for it.
 
I think you are worrying alot about something that may or may not have happened
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Go & look at the horse, try him out, if you like the look, like the ride, if he fits what you want then put on a deposit & have him vetted. If he passes then great, if he doesn't & it's for something major then walk away.

I can understand the seller not allowing the previous buyer to try it out hunting. If something had happened the buyer would have walked away leaving the seller with a broken horse. Just go along & view & form your own opinions. At the moment you're too involved in the Sherlock Holmes bit.
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I went to see a horse once and I loved him on the spot. They said he had a vetting certificate from two weeks before from a previous buyer. He had passed the vetting, the previous buyer gave me all the paperwork and I spoke to her vet, but on the day of the vetting it was windy and the horse was wound up so she decided he would be too much for her. The owners were extremely honest about all this, I still loved the horse, I bought him, he was sharp, three years on he is less sharp, I still love him. Just because someone else changed her mind does not necessarily mean you should change yours.
 
Booboos- I have been the seller in this situation and its incredidbly annoying, esp as the vet took at least 2 hours of my time vetting said horse and then they pulled out, and never even gave me the cert to say horse had passed! Fuming is not the word!
 
People change their minds. I have seen horses that i like but i always go away and have a think about it before i make an offer! I would suspect there are some people who are the other way round. They make an offer and then think about it. Go and have a look as what have you got to lose.
 
I pulled out of a sale prior to vetting, we had agreed a price etc subject to vetting, but I came away with a funny feeling - more oh my god what have I done, rather than yippee, I've bought a new pony.

I mulled it over and over and had a sleepless night worrying, I just had a gut feeling there was something very very wrong with the pony. I phoned her up at 9.00 to say I'm really sorry but... and told her straight, I had this gut feeling something was very wrong with him. Obviously she was quite disappointed to say the least and there was a bit of a slanging match on another internet forum, me being accused of being a timewaster and so on.

That pony dropped dead 2 months later, massive worm damage it turned out. So in a funny way I did the right thing, and that seller who I see quite often on the show circuit now accepts that my hunch was correct, and bears me no ill will. That's not my normal way of doing things, I usually agree something and see it through.

Like someone above says, perhaps they had two possible horses and decided on the other one. It'll all be a bit clearer once your friend has gone to look at him. Good luck, I hope he's everything you want.
 
I think you are trying to read too deeply. One of my rides was bought on seeing him lunged when he had previously been sold over the phone with a deposit paid.

Go with gut instinct when you see the horse, ride the horse and if its right, organise the vetting and go for it.
 
I always have second thoughts after agreeing a price, I even have second thoughts after buying!

It sounds perfectly reasonable that she wanted to try it out hunting, maybe she's had a bad experience in the past and has just had time to think?

If you like it go and see it...
 
You are worrying unnecessarily. People change their minds all the time when buying horses. Maybe the original buyer couldn't raise the money/find a suitable livery/looked at another horse/made a stupidly low offer/etc. etc. Look upon it the other way - maybe you were meant to have this horse.
 
I was inteested in a horse a few months back. I was then told that it had been sold subject to vetting. I wasn't overly bothered as had seen a nice horse anyway.

A couple of days later I got an email from the deale saying that the people who ha wanted the horse were messing about and had not got in touch re the vetting so she was offering him to me but said no.

Unfortuantely, for her, the buyer was a HHO user and posted to say that the horse had failed the vetting!!!!!!
 
I actually think the purchaser ( if the story of why she pulled out was true) is a time waster, if she was wanting a hunter fair enough, but she new before she even arranged to view that she wouldt be able to try him out hunting because autum hunting doesnt even start till end of August begining of September.But if I was buying a hunter the only way to try one is a hour or so on the hunt field because they react so differently. Just go and look, if it did fail the vet then it will proberbley fail your vetting too. The vendor could well be telling the truth, i do sympathise with her, about 4 years ago we advertised our horse box in horse and hound, the first people who rang on the thursday as the magazine came out,
arrived, liked it tried it etc said they would have it left a £500 cash deposit and said they would come to fetch it on the following Monday, so i told all of the other prospective viewers it was sold. Monday came they never came to fetch it, so I rang them, phone number unobtainable. We left it another week they never came. By this time I started to call back all the other people who had rung, but no one believed my story, and no one else came to view, just couldnt make anyone understand a truthfull story! So we were stuck with a deposit and the lorry and couldnt reach them on the phone, finally a month later the people arrived to collect the lorry with a dodgy story. All iam trying to say is all the people I had originally told it was sold would not believe my story they thought it had failed a mechanics inspection. So not everyone tells lies! Just go and look you might not like it anyway! Keep us posted.
 
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