Can it sometimes work out well...

[MerryMaker]

There's a lot of stuff about buying and selling, and lies told on adverts or told by potential buyers.

When I brought my girly, I knew she was the one as soon as I saw her. I was told she was bombproof, didn't buck or rear or do anything silly, hacked alone and in company, and loaded like a dream.

We came to pick her up about 10am in November, and didn't leave til it was getting dark, it took literally 5 hours to load her. The way the grooms treated her was disgusting, so me and (abbey_tilly) ended up telling them to b*gger off, and eventually got her on in our own, kinder, way. When we got home she was genuinely terrified. I couldn't get her to the field without getting trampled, and riding her, she was so sharp and spooky and I was told by everyone, send her back! But could tell she was terrified, and I couldn't bear to think where she could end up if she went back.

Anyway to cut a long story short, luckily I could cope with her and persevered, and though she is very sharp, and can occaisionally stand up and has a sharp buck, she is my dream horse, and now canters up the ramp and loves going out.

But, when I got her back, I rang her previous owner (I never actually met the owner, she was sold on the owners behalf as she couldn't bear to part with her) and she was furious we had been lied to by the seller, saying that she can be very sharp!!

I was very lucky, she worked out amazingly well and I wouldn't swap her for the world, but I wondered if this has happened to everyone else?

Sorry this is so long!

 

[zoeshiloh]

Yes, this happened to me also, but the horse I had was on loan!

When I first went to try him, I was told that he was a 6yo, had done lots of ODEs, hacking, etc etc and was very safe and sensible. We were very honest with his owner, said I was a novice, although had been having lessons for over ten years, and had done stable management courses etc at a riding school. My parents were totally un horsey so didn't know what they were looking at, so we trusted what we were told.

Anyway, she offered him to me on loan, and dropped him off a few days later. To begin with everything was ok, then he started taking off with me out on rides. He became very nappy if I took him out on his own. In the school he would suddenly spook, drop his shoulder and spin, cantering off in the opposite direction. He had me off on the road, I shattered my shoulder socket, and ended up with a hairline fracture of my vertebrae (two seperate incidents). Several times I tried to get hold of his owner to pick him up, and I even stopped riding him, but I could not get in contact with her (she kept moving).

In the end I was introduced to a fantastic instructor, and together he helped me sort out all our kinks. My nightmare horse became my horse of a lifetime, who I would not trade for the earth. Eventually the owner got back in touch, and we arranged to buy him off her. She was more than happy to sell, and admitted as we handed over the money, that he had actually only been a 4yo when we took him on, and had been backed for less than a week.

We went on to win at the national championships, and someone even offered me a lot of money for him, but there is no way I would ever part with him. I have had to put him out on loan whilst I finished uni, but tomorrow he is coming home, and this time he will never leave my yard again. He will always be my horse of a lifetime, and we have been through a lot together.

 

[MerryMaker]

Wow it sounds like we were both so lucky! Poor boy must have been like, what the hell do you want me to do! Is he the chestnut in your pcitures?

 

[zoeshiloh]

Yup, he's the chestnut - I'm sure I'll be posting lots of pics of him from tomorrow onwards. He means the world to me now (Have owned him for ten years). It all seemed strange to me why his jump was so babyish, when apparently he had been doing 3'6" courses etc, but it all worked out in the end, lol!

He also had a big loading problem, which I avoided confronting for the first couple of years that I had him. Eventually though, I tackled it, using books and videos, and now (8 years later) I sort out other peoples loading problems, lol.