Dodgy Dealer, in Kent! see H&H

Daisychain

Daisychain

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Just been reading in horse and hound about the horse trader from kent, and some of his dissatisfied customers, i bought a horse of Bonner a few years ago and i must say he only cost me £900.00 and was absolutely fantastic! Bombproof, hunted, evented him, really super coloured cob.. as i bought him to sell i more than doubled what i paid and his new owner loves him! You can only speak as you find
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We haven't got the whole story. Why weren't these horses vetted?

What the dealer usually says "I.ve got this horse that will suit you."
Without mentioning height, age, etc.
Well maybe a 20 year old WOULD suit them!

Still it sounds as though there were several disatisfied customers.
 
Well, he's still advertising in H+H in the under £1000 section.
His terms are that he will exchange any horse for another, until you are happy. But if you have the horse vetted that is void. No vets will go on the yard anyway.
There are two ways of looking at this. You could say that he is scraping up a lot of horses in need of a last chance and for the short amount of time they are with him the conditions are rough and ready, but it might save their lives. As for horses having physical, mental or age issues - buyer beware. And anyway... you can always get another.
Or you could say that he is preying on the unwary and inexperienced and the horses are just an income stream to him. A lot of people will feel sorry for the horses and ponies, and buy them to "rescue" them. They won't send them back for him to exchange because they don't want to send them back to that awful place.
I've been there once and, although I didn't like the way the horses were kept or handled at all, I could see both arguments.
Hmmm...
Oh, Orangehorse, what he says is "this is a lovely youngster, 4 years old, £995" or "lovely riding horse, 9 years old £995" - strangely enough they all tend to be 4 or 9 years old.
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He will offer you a mare and foal at foot for £1100 say, or will sell separately for slightly more. He has a huge throughput of horses, with the stocks being changed regularly. He might tell you this horse will suit you, but he won't have known it for very long.
I don't think it's a great place for inexperienced or softhearted people.
 
I've bought a couple of fantastic horses from him over the last 5yrs or so and would definitely go back. The best one was a 3yr old haflinger that we bought straight off the lorry when they were unloading. He has a fantastic nature and was the easiest horse ever to back. He's rising 5 now and he is just such a pleasure to own
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I have to say I wouldn't go there if I wanted an ready to go riding horse because all those horses are there for a reason. I felt much happier buying an unbacked 3yr old because he was barely handled and therefore had no negative history.
 
I forgot to add that he really does honour the 2 week exchange and he even bought back the only unsuitable pony after 6 months.
 
The one i bought off him was broken and 4yo, i did try him while i was there, but i think you do have to have a bit of experience buying from this sort of set up. Another friend of mine bought a really nice sports horse from him and it actually won its first two intros.
 
The first time I bought from Tommy, I bought two ponies; one was a beautiful pale blue and white 13.3hh 7yo mare (we named her Rosie) and the other was literally straight off a huge container from Ireland, a 13.2hh 4yo coloured gypsy cob gelding (we called him Alfie). We bought both to bring on and sell........it took us TWO WEEKS to catch Rosie after we turned her out!!! Now, I have a "pikey" friend who truly loves his horses and I called him in to help with Rosie. "That pony has been frit" (frightened!) he said, unable to use all his skills to catch her. But he fell in love with Alfie, the coloured cob. I could have sold Alfie twenty times over. What a star! Totally bombproof, safe little pony who'd do anything to please you! I actually refused to sell him to a couple of people because he was just so perfect, I thought he deserved an equally perfect home! Ended up selling him to a woman a couple of hundred yards from where I live who fell in love with him just seeing us out riding him! He has a home for life. Success story number 1...

Rosie, two and a half years on, remains a mystery as to why she is so nervous. Once you catch her, she is the kindest pony ever and has acted as "mum" to two newly yeaned foals, including our baby sports horse, Archie. Another star! We'd never part with her for fear that her only use would be as a meat pony, but recently, a young girl, Annabel, who has been helping us out, has decided to take Rosie under her wing! We hired a nearly arena two weeks ago as Annabel wanted to do a bit of "Monty Roberts" with her........"You'll never catch her again!" quipped my daughter as she let her loose into the arena, "Yes, I will!" replied Annabel......and she did! Without going into detail, within the hour, she was riding Rosie around the arena - even had a trot on her! Last weekend, Rosie went on her first hack, with my daughter leading Annabel from her own horse. She didn't put a foot wrong! We're now hoping Annabel's mum will let her take Rosie on loan as the pony is so beautiful that we feel sure she has a future!

Sadly, the next two ponies from Tommy were disasters.....we had to send one back as it stood bolt upright when my daughter rode it, and the replacement had an almightly buck in it. We tried to sort the second pony out but I ended up letting the breeder who sold us our sports horse foal take it for £200. It threw her off the second time she rode it. I Still keep in touch with her after eighteen months, informing her of the foal's (foal? He's 15.1hh now!) progress, but I'm too much of coward to ask her about the pony. Yes, I really think there is a lot of crap at Tommy's, but amongst that crap you get the likes of Alfie, and Rosie, who would surely have ended up at the meat market had we sent her back to Dartford. So glad we didn't!
 
Another one we bought from him was a just broken 4yr old coloured cob. We did absolutely everything on him and he never put a hoof wrong
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Unfortunately he grew both upwards and sideways and ended up far too big for my mum so we sold him to a lovely PC home. We see him out and about at PC competitions, he's in all the teams and the new owners love him to bits.
 
The horse I bought from him was a 6 year old TB type that was a bit skinny but passed a vetting.
He was lovely but had a problem with being mounted. I came off and broke my elbow and lost my confidence with him.
I already had Axel and decided he was my priority so I sold Kai.

However had I known then what I know now I would have sent him to Jason Webb to be re-backed and I probably would have a very nice horse now.
He was £600.
 
I know of a horse that came from him. It was supposedly 10, but has now been aged at nearer 20 and has liver problems. Nice kind horse, but not as described. Then again, he was not vetted.
 
Lets face it though i think for the money he sells at, little more than meat money, if you know what your doing can be worth a chance, but i suppose its all down to how there described, which sounds a little mis leading at times! Its almost like the saying, 'never look a gift horse in the mouth'
 
The thing is, he's being prosecuted by Trading Standards. It doesn't address the allegations of cruelty that are constantly made about him. I think the RSPCA are too scared to try to deal with that, and people are too scared to stand up and give evidence against him. Whatever the truth about this man, as long as people buy from him, his trade will go on. If he gets stopped then he has family to take over.
It's nice to know that some of the horses have gone on to have good lives though isn't it? A descent through goodness knows which dealers and markets, a week maximum at Bonner's, then a great home with you people - at least that's a positive.
 
Not defending him by any means, but when i went up there, yes some were rough but he seems to turn them over mega quick, my boy came straight off the lorry home with me, he was in very good condition actually, everything i could see there had access to hay and water, but again i have only been there once.
 
He did tidy the place up a lot a few years back. It used to be stables divided into tiny stalls, horses tied up around a post or if they were lucky some hay, ponies running around loose getting kicked when they tried to get hay. He has a big open barn now and ties them up around round bales. I didn't see free access to water when I was there, and was told that he takes them to water if he wants them to have a drink. It still looked a bit rough out in the fields, with horses out there dragging long ropes along the ground from headcollars (I guess they were hard to catch). I've always seen horses there that look poor and neglected, but of course they are like that when he buys them. I believe he gets them in once a week in bulk, sells what he can, then they go on for meat, leaving room for the next batch. But that's just what I was told by someone who works there. They also said he buys from Belgium - but why would he bother doing that?
It is very hard to separate fact from legend about this bloke, so I tend to keep an open mind.
If you're a bit novice about horse buying, or a soft touch, don't go though.
 
Thats interesting, when i went there he told me he bred them all in ireland! I did go there with a very open mind though. Also when i went there you could try the horses, but so i have been told he doesnt like to let people these days.
 
Ah! Trained as a driving pony then!
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One thing I'd be pretty sure of - no way has this man bred the horses in Ireland. He doesn't need to, he can make the money much more easily by buying cheap and selling quickly at a higher price.
I've found Jason Webb's website by the way, interesting.
 
I have seen this ad so often that I thought it might be the one being discussed.

Friend of a friend bought a huge chestnut off of them, with the most mahoosive feet that you have ever seen. I didnt know them very well but they paid about £900 for him and from what I remember he was a nice sort and they were pleased with him.

Sounds like he does them a bit of a favour by turning them over very quickly rather than letting them dwindle in the fields!!

Some very nice stories along with the obvious bad ones.
 
The thing is, he buys these horses from markets that nobody else wanted or bid for.

He knows nothing about them, but when you go to see them he'll tell you what he thinks you want to hear.

He has no idea about their background, age, health or whether most are rideable.

He has/had some lads who just vaulted on with the horse in a headcollar and/or rope in the mouth and thrash them up and down the track to prove rideable.

If you're knowledgeable about what you're buying or plain lucky, then all OK. But if nervous/novice/clueless then that's where you fall foul.
 
hiya all sorry had to post !!!!
tom bonner...well what can i say ! i bought 4 horses off of him a mare and foal and others...the mare with foal at foot was in a horrendous condition and was put down weeks after i got her the others werent in the best of health either and were aged at nearer 20(the mare even older) than 9/10yrs!!!
like someone posted there people like myself possibly buy out of pity etc etc...but i would never forgive myself if id of walked away!!
yes its trading standards prosecuting as he is the kinda guy that manages to slip through the rspca's hands and has done for years and again alot of them are too scared to go there!
he gets alot f horses from donegal in ireland and then theres the markets he goes to all that aside where does the welfare of these horses come into it??????its sick and shouldnt be allowed to go on i pray this will put an end to it
xx
 
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