Feeling disheartened

[Sealine]

I was helping a friend look for a horse recently. There is a lot of over priced rubbish on the market. We found the perfect horse for her by word of mouth through a friend of a friend. He wasn’t cheap by any means but he is safe, sane and sound.

 

[FestiveFuzz]

I feel you, we’ve been looking on and off for months. I finally found 2 I like, one had a vetting booked but the seller agreed to still let me view (but then disclosed a bunch of things that made me wary) and the second I’m viewing on Saturday assuming he doesn’t sell during tomorrow’s viewing. I was very tempted to offer a deposit to guarantee I could view him but I’m doubtful he’s the height advertised so figure I’ll leave it in the hands of fate.

 

[Miss_Millie]

I was helping a friend look for a horse recently. There is a lot of over priced rubbish on the market. We found the perfect horse for her by word of mouth through a friend of a friend. He wasn’t cheap by any means but he is safe, sane and sound.

Word of mouth does seem like the best way to buy, if you can get lucky enough to do so. Many horses are definitely stupidly overpriced for what they are.

 

[Miss_Millie]

I feel you, we’ve been looking on and off for months. I finally found 2 I like, one had a vetting booked but the seller agreed to still let me view (but then disclosed a bunch of things that made me wary) and the second I’m viewing on Saturday assuming he doesn’t sell during tomorrow’s viewing. I was very tempted to offer a deposit to guarantee I could view him but I’m doubtful he’s the height advertised so figure I’ll leave it in the hands of fate.

I hope that it works out for you! It is stressful when you wonder if a horse will sell before you can even view it.

 

[FestiveFuzz]

I hope that it works out for you! It is stressful when you wonder if a horse will sell before you can even view it.

Thank you! It really is, we gave up over summer when our youngster got injured as we’d book a viewing, prepare to leave and then invariably get a text to say sorry he’s sold now. After it happened a couple of times it didn’t feel worth bothering with.

 

[nutjob]

A word of warning about deposits, I put one down on a horse and the dealer sold it to someone else anyway and just kept my money. A CCJ hasn't persuaded him to cough up a single penny yet. I have also learned that you need to actually post on dodgy dealer fb pages to ask about particular dealers if you find a horse you are interested in. Don't just search it looking for posts like I did . Some people are afraid to post openly due to threats and harassment but will pm you if they have had a bad experience. Good luck to everyone still looking it's a dreadful time to buy a horse atm.

 

[Bobthecob15]

I think that deposits are to show that you are serious and are not going to pull out of a sale or of going ahead with vetting. If the vetting fails you get given back the deposit, but you will have paid for the vet by that point so will still be out of pocket. It is definitely a seller's market at the moment.

Yes absolutely we've just had this happen and got our deposit back but it did make me feel very open to losing it because what actually constitutes a failed vetting? Suitability for what you want? Multiple issues that arrise? I think next time I'll be more wary with how we word it!

 

[Bobthecob15]

A word of warning about deposits, I put one down on a horse and the dealer sold it to someone else anyway and just kept my money. A CCJ hasn't persuaded him to cough up a single penny yet. I have also learned that you need to actually post on dodgy dealer fb pages to ask about particular dealers if you find a horse you are interested in. Don't just search it looking for posts like I did . Some people are afraid to post openly due to threats and harassment but will pm you if they have had a bad experience. Good luck to everyone still looking it's a dreadful time to buy a horse atm.

Oh my goodness this is my worst fear!!! Its absolutely awful and even worse when you have a child who pins their hopes on each pony they see only to he disappointed when they turn out to have issues or not be as they were advertised to be. Hoping to find something via word of mouth but even that seems impossible

 

[Miss_Millie]

Yes absolutely we've just had this happen and got our deposit back but it did make me feel very open to losing it because what actually constitutes a failed vetting? Suitability for what you want? Multiple issues that arrise? I think next time I'll be more wary with how we word it!

I think as a general rule, the buyer is allowed to dictate what constitutes a failed vetting - if anything comes up that you aren't happy with, you should be entitled to get your deposit back.

 

[Miss_Millie]

A word of warning about deposits, I put one down on a horse and the dealer sold it to someone else anyway and just kept my money. A CCJ hasn't persuaded him to cough up a single penny yet. I have also learned that you need to actually post on dodgy dealer fb pages to ask about particular dealers if you find a horse you are interested in. Don't just search it looking for posts like I did . Some people are afraid to post openly due to threats and harassment but will pm you if they have had a bad experience. Good luck to everyone still looking it's a dreadful time to buy a horse atm.

That's awful, I'm sorry that you had that experience.