Finding horse

Very interesting week. Decided against the lovely breeding gelding. Definitely a RC prospect rather than an advanced dressage prospect and whilst I can retrain a very lazy behind the leg horse I'd rather not as that's all I seem to be doing at the minute with reschooling kiddy ponies!

The lovely eventer next door has a mare for sale. Gorgeous and really lovely attitude, forward without being nasty, tries hard, everything you could want in a horse, and it's not grey! Why are you not getting it I hear you cry! Well it's up for 11k. So over budget. *sad face*

Going to see a grey mare near soton in a couple of weeks (I think it's over budget, but needs to go due to uni and "open to offers"). The non horsey mother thought it looked wonderful and said she'd be happy to stretch a bit for it (but I doubt she'll stretch as far as they are asking - saw it sort of advertised last month at 12,500) so thought I'd go and have a look, I'm 50% sure it will be sold before my viewing tbh, it does look nice.

Saw a few on BD website in budget, a couple a million miles away and one not so far but I have absolutely no idea what the hell the rider in the video was doing, seriously low quality too - I'm sure it was in draw reins at some point but the quality is so abysmal I couldn't say for sure. Seemed to spend most of the time head bent to one side and sort of leg yield/shoulder in but not. Very odd.

There's a grey mare in Maidenhead I might go and see, need videos first but owner is on holiday!

Currently chatting to someone with a lovely looking dales - dressage and showing prospect and sad reason for sale. Very in budget and looks nice. 5 and going well for the age if a little rushy and unbalanced but nothing awful. Very pretty (so the mother is in love with it). Could be a very special little something I think, and has the showing and jumping bonus :D

Have decided after chatting to a couple of people to chat to the Krack C friend once back from holiday and ask if she'd be up for loaning him to me - opens a field up for her yard to get another from Holland to sell, but I'm not convinced she'd go for it. Still nothing ventured, nothing gained! If yes, then I can get out and about, see how he does and keep an eye out for one to buy but without the urgency as I'll be competing a horse that really deserves to go out and do well until the navicular rears its ugly head.

I'm off to see the Sec A in a couple of weeks as well so fingers crossed he'll be with me soon!

And after having a month off of ridden schooling the driving ponies are back under saddle and once again I desperately desperately wish my favourite was 4-5 hands bigger as she would be a grand prix horse without a doubt. Sadly as a driving pony and as the owner currently lacks a school there is only so much we can do, but she is such a dream to ride and has by far the best walk I have ever sat on. Soft, responsive, tries hard (when not being mareish!) and moves beautifully when it all goes right. Can someone breed me a giant Section A please? I have yet to see a nice A that doesn't move nicely.
 
POSITIVE UPDATE

So went to see the dales today. Nice drive up there, got a bit lost finding the place but all very nice. Lovely pony, forward and typical native but not overly sharp. Lovely amount of scope to play within the paces as well. Little unbalanced and rushy in the canter and wiggly shoulders but pretty much what you'd expect for 5. Really liked her and didn't look like a crazy tiny person either! (14hh)

Apparently passed a vetting about a month ago (took 2 and a half hours!) but buyers pulled out. Not sure they are on good enough terms for me to get details and see if I could get a look at the vetting.

Uploading the video to my drive account to send to the unhorsey mother who is currently working in NYC so she can have a look, but think this one is definitely worth vetting, is a good price and even comes with a leather headcollar with nameplate and a couple of rugs ;)

My only issue is she is reg'd with the RVC, who are the vets I would have chosen to use for that area. As vets now have to disclose everything if they vet a horse they have on the books I'm tempted to use them anyway, but thoughts would be appreciated on that. I'm going to avoid the ones who took 2.5 hours I think, way too long!

Pony is regd dales so showable (really lovely lines and well put together, gorgeous movement, just a little up and tight at times) and can jump, but they don't as rider hates jumping. Moves nicely away from leg and I think could easily get to medium and above just depends on how quickly I could balance up the canter and get everything a little more relaxed.

I'm very much liking this one, so yay for that. Bad news is I got stuck on the M25 coming back. In the Defender. Which has no AC. Open windows don't work as AC when you're stationary! I have never been happier to get into a shower in my life once I got home, picked up my hay, drove to the big yard, did everything there and got home again!

Any major flaws in potentially getting a dales pony for advanced dressage? Has the temperament and movement to do well I think, but I'm not sure how well they are viewed on the circuit?
 
POSITIVE UPDATE

So went to see the dales today. Nice drive up there, got a bit lost finding the place but all very nice. Lovely pony, forward and typical native but not overly sharp. Lovely amount of scope to play within the paces as well. Little unbalanced and rushy in the canter and wiggly shoulders but pretty much what you'd expect for 5. Really liked her and didn't look like a crazy tiny person either! (14hh)

Apparently passed a vetting about a month ago (took 2 and a half hours!) but buyers pulled out. Not sure they are on good enough terms for me to get details and see if I could get a look at the vetting.

Uploading the video to my drive account to send to the unhorsey mother who is currently working in NYC so she can have a look, but think this one is definitely worth vetting, is a good price and even comes with a leather headcollar with nameplate and a couple of rugs ;)

My only issue is she is reg'd with the RVC, who are the vets I would have chosen to use for that area. As vets now have to disclose everything if they vet a horse they have on the books I'm tempted to use them anyway, but thoughts would be appreciated on that. I'm going to avoid the ones who took 2.5 hours I think, way too long!

Pony is regd dales so showable (really lovely lines and well put together, gorgeous movement, just a little up and tight at times) and can jump, but they don't as rider hates jumping. Moves nicely away from leg and I think could easily get to medium and above just depends on how quickly I could balance up the canter and get everything a little more relaxed.

I'm very much liking this one, so yay for that. Bad news is I got stuck on the M25 coming back. In the Defender. Which has no AC. Open windows don't work as AC when you're stationary! I have never been happier to get into a shower in my life once I got home, picked up my hay, drove to the big yard, did everything there and got home again!

Any major flaws in potentially getting a dales pony for advanced dressage? Has the temperament and movement to do well I think, but I'm not sure how well they are viewed on the circuit?

Unfortunately a lot of judges are biased towards the big moving flash warmbloods especially at the lower levels. Would a Dales have the ability or conformation to be able to sit and carry their weight on their hocks as they go up the levels? I'm not sure.
 
Dales are rather built to sit on their hocks and drive forwards, more so than a welsh cob, but they are more compact. Generally very powerful hind end - this particular specimen is very well put together and has a lot of oomph from behind and I see no issues (other than general native mentality) with getting her more laterals and her changes. The only main issue I could forsee is that she is not a WB and thus may not be quite the "picture" that some judges like, however it is all about how they perform the movements and if she can relax into herself she'll be lovely so no real problems other than she isn't a WB. Messed with a bit of collected trot and a few strides of collected canter (not done before) and she did it very nicely so there's definite potential. I'm just hoping that judges judge like I do (on performance, not looks or breed) and not like they do in showing ;) but until I get my BD record up and running again and grab some decent %s I can only judge unaff :(

The WB hunt has stalled rather. Just the big grey mare that is very over budget but going to see anyway and see how far they could drop as needs a quick sale. (the unhorsey mother likes the big grey and would be happy to whack another 1000 in the pot - damn these arbitrary price limits set by people who think all horses cost £3k or less because that's what PC ponies with problems cost 20 years ago.
 
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Dales are rather built to sit on their hocks and drive forwards, more so than a welsh cob, but they are more compact. Generally very powerful hind end - this particular specimen is very well put together and has a lot of oomph from behind and I see no issues (other than general native mentality) with getting her more laterals and her changes. The only main issue I could forsee is that she is not a WB and thus may not be quite the "picture" that some judges like, however it is all about how they perform the movements and if she can relax into herself she'll be lovely so no real problems other than she isn't a WB. Messed with a bit of collected trot and a few strides of collected canter (not done before) and she did it very nicely so there's definite potential. I'm just hoping that judges judge like I do (on performance, not looks or breed) and not like they do in showing ;)

The WB hunt has stalled rather.

Well some dressage judges will like her and some won't. A Dales in advanced dressage classes would certainly stand out and get you noticed! Your budget isn't realistically going to get you much WB unless it's got some sort of an issue, which if you're buying to possibly sell on isn't really ideal. So that leaves you with finding something a bit less conventional that perhaps others wouldn't see the potential in. Sounds like you might just have done that here! I do like a Dales!
 
Is she a forever horse? That was what you were originally wanting really, and even if you get her to advanced medium, you arent going to make much of a profit to get a bigger horse really I wouldnt have thought, if you were looking to train and sell. Plus by the time you've managed to make something of her, she may be getting on a bit in years and people may not be interested anyway. They want young warmbloods for dressage, what market will you target with her?

If she is a forever horse, go for it. But a train and sell on? I would say fairly pointless and just a waste of money/time.

Maybe either up your budget or expand your search if you want a WB. You've found nothing where you are other than the very big risk of a foal. I think you're going to have to take a weekend away further north or maybe in Europe and see what you can find. Continuing to search doesnt seem to be bringing anything up, just finding more horses you dont like/cant afford. Up the budget or start looking in the North East/Scotland.
 
Thanks micropony. She is a really lovely example and also fills my showing and jumping bonus boxes. She's still a little choppy and tight more often than not, but she's just turned 5 and owner is mainly showing and has just started learning dressage so to be expected and tbh when she softened and went with the flow she felt wonderful. She has a good attitude (with a dollop of native character that enjoys bickering with person in charge before realising said person knows best) and is a nice forward ride and has the potential to be a HOYS show pony if all else fails! Don't think she'd do well at prelim though, novice/elem and above she sould do fine - carries herself well and a good black pony that's easy to keep clean (not that colour is a deciding factor), goes out with anything or on own, stables well, polite on the ground, stands to be hosed. Nice to meet something with manners and that definitely wasn't doped! haha

Still the unhorsey mother may ruin everything and decide she doesn't like. Wouldn't put it past her. The extra good part is I actually looked the right size on her. Which is in itself a fair achievement.

I know the budget is pathetic for a WB, but it was a push for me to get it that high, the unhorsey mother who wants to be part owner just doesn't have a clue about how much horses cost. She suggested I ask a friend (3* eventer) if I could take a look at her current sales prospect. When I told her she'd need to double if not triple the 7k she didn't want to spend she looked at me in horror and disbelief. they are out there, just needs to be someone overhorsing themselves, someone needing a quick sale, or someone selling before they've produced - right place right time sort of thing.

I'm looking for something I can get up the levels and compete and keep, but if it turns out to not be as capable, then selling on would be an option. In this case, I can increase the value by showing and qualifying/winning stuff (already doing) if the dressage goes wrong and build the jumping up - WHP type things. The only thing that is a buy produce and sell is the sec A (though I may keep it if I win, who doesn't like winning ;) ) I'm not a dealer and don't really want to be. I school for people, and I'll happily compete horses for people, but I don't want to buy and sell (except maybe the occassional one if I see a cheap gem and have a spare stable and time for a few months). The issue at the minute is I'm completely horseless and that is hurting my rep as I am literally just reschooling 11.2 welshies at the minute which is great, but means I just get more 11.2 welshies to school. And that is so basic I'm feeling a little bit under-used.

The budget is stuck firmly at 7k, because the unhorsey mother has said that's as far as she'd go. The only way to up it would be to increase my share, which is impossible at the minute because of the outgoings for new big yard etc.

I'm incredibly picky, and want something decent, especially if WB. The problem is I see decent, and in budget, but they are sold already, owners don't reply, or they have terrible feet and feet are something I just won't budge on (that and lateral walks!).

I'm having so many problems because of the vagueness of my requirements I think, so I'm getting every tom dick and harry sending me their horse with "potential" because it fits the size and age requirements.
 
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I dunno if you should maybe be a little less picky on things like looks, like with the feet thing. I know its a bit of a gamble, but I mean you wanted to buy a foal at one point, which is one hell of a gamble. My horse had pretty ugly feet when I got him, but it was cosmetic damage so to speak, just surface cracks. Made them look horrible and yeah they could have turned out worse but they didnt. I got a half warmblood gelding with amazing movement and looks for £3000. Because he looked bloody awful when I bought him. Thin, built like a thoroughbred, no muscle on his back, no muscle anywhere really, ugly feet, scabs all over him from play fighting in the field. He's doubled in size, hind quarters are solid muscle, he's gone from a medium saddle tree to wide/extra wide in a year. He even grew 2 inches from 6-7 years old. He's got a good jump to him when he tries, and he knows how to do dressage, he loves showing off for a crowd. Most coaches have been shocked that we only paid 3grand for him.

They are out there, but maybe be less picky. How my horse looks and moves now would increase his pricetag a fair bit I'd say. Yeah he is in the minority out there, but they are out there. What I have now I wouldnt in my wildest dreams expect to pay 3grand for, more likely double that. Its a lot of work and patience and probably vet bills, but its worth it in the end.
 
Oh feet that look tatty don't bother me, I spend so much time with farriers and people who run the company I know more than I care to about feet. It's things like twisted feet, low heels, very unmatched pairs, poor base shape etc. All things that can cause big problems (so low heels can cause concussion problems and can put extra stress on tendons). Looking decent isn't 'pretty', but conformation, again to try and reduce potential problems and is mainly about how they move, I don't want them leaving docks behind when they trot, I want an active hind end and a well set neck. Anything else I really don't care about. Height/colour/sex/markings/breeding etc all taking a backseat (except for natives where I insist upon registered breeding as otherwise the price is always low.

I train and teach an awful lot of youngsters and I'm well aware of the difference between no muscle and potential for muscle. Horse needs to stand out so that I get noticed and hopefully get more clients as well as enjoy myself.

The foal was more because we have land at home so not impossible, just difficult to sort friends and nanny now my old boy is no longer with us, and an annoying wait for use. I tend to stick with the first 5 days shows what you'll get at 4 which is why I was sorely tempted.

I need something that has the right attitude that I can get going fairly quickly (it is my job after all!) and won't be a menace, attitude to work is so important and has taken a few out of the running after a ride.
 
Get the dales and the foal. They are the 2 you have actually sounded excited about, and you have a fun now horse and dream future horse. Charities (blue cross etc) are always looking for temporary homes for their youngsters til they get to breaking age so getting him some company shouldn't be too difficult- suspect they have something that would nanny well too if you don't just want a pair of youngsters together.
 
Not posted before but have enjoyed keeping up with your progress!

Have you thought about irish horses/event types? Some WB breeding has come into irish breeding in the years at a fraction of the cost of a lot of dressage bred types.

My mare is an ISH but breeding is 1/4 trakehner and 1/4 hessen. Not a huge amount of movement but a great brain, very well put together and competing BD Elem, unaff Med I think with scope to go further (would get there quicker with a better rider!)
 
Also been following but not commented, and no idea if this would be relevent but one secret of the dressage world are the carriage bred horses ;), lots of them with dutch carriage breeding, Friesian and Hackney in them.

My two one a 50:50 split of Friesian x Hackney and the other with a dash of Holstein in too, both cost under your budget. The one we bought as a 6 year old was a few grand under and is a nice height at 15.3hh, training adv-med, competing medium has the ability to go a lot further. The baby horse is too young yet but I have mega high hopes for her, though she is growing bigger than expected, she cost £500 as an un-backed two year old, and possibly has nicer natural paces than our established one but perhaps not quite as built to sit.

A word of warning though, Hackneys are nutters apparently :o, ours are lovely but both fairly hot (which we love).
 
Personally I'd get a section B they are incredibly versatile, attractive and marketable, if you bought one on and sold it as a potential for young riders dressage you would have more money in the pot for your dream horse.

Saw a lovely Cadlanvalley bred sec B advertised yesterday for £650, a real flashy sort - you get a lot for your money
 
Good and bad update.

Bad first. Whilst the dales was lovely, I think the potential resale if required marked is just too small and probably wouldn't make much money. So will have to find a way to turn them down nicely as if I had a bigger yard at home I would get it as not worried about selling urgently if it needs to go.

Good news. The enter in the other barn has a mare for sale. Nicely put together, 4, broken in 6 months ago, seriously laid back but lovely under saddle. It's been loving in my barn for a bit so seen it out and about so going to properly look and sit next week (off to wedding on Friday!). It's 11.5k but maybe flexible and the unhorsey mother has said she may move the arbitrary budget to 10k for the right horse. :D

Middling news, might find a medium pony (12/13 hands) and train up to high dressage as lots of money in that apparently, but not an urgent search, just something I've started thinking about.
 
Oh my goodness, posted without seeing a whole extra page of responses :D

Without my retired boy to nanny I don't think the foal is a viable option, our yard at home is very private and I'm not sure we'd really appreciate someone popping along as and when to check up on them. Also the way my home fields are managed are small paddocks to manage grass well, so not sure I could fit in more than 3 ponies in a field at a time, so two babies and a big horse might be a bit much for the field! That's why my old retired boy at 12hh, the yearling a and the foal would have worked, but sadly my reitred boy passed in June and they want too much for the yearling a. The cost of the foal would take most of the budget so no current horse.

Breed wise I haven't been ruling anything else, any type is fine, doesn't have to be registered with a studbook unless it's a native. I've seen a few Irish, but all have had problems, either low heels or not put together to my liking.

I do a lot of driving and wouldn't be averse to a Freisian, but they mature late and you have to get one with a free moving leg instead of a high knee and they go for a fair bit of money (and with a Freisian I'd prefer registered). I'd personally avoid Hackneys due to temperement - there's the odd lovely one, but they are pretty high maintenance and they can have the most abysmal feet. Most of the ones I know are a handful! haha.

I mentioned in my post last night, but I've been thinking about finding a mid size pony and training it up with the dressage and then selling as a young riders horse or leasing it (though I'd need to do more research about leasing!) but not something I'm in a huge rush to do, just keeping an eye out and would probably help to get my BD record going so that would help find mid size pony a buyer/leaser.

I shall keep posting until the time in a million years that I actually find a horse and then buy it. I dread to think how many miles I've put on the cars. Part of the reason I really want to try the neighbour's event horse as all of 5 metres away as horse is currently in my barn! I can take a look at her being ridden and then hop on whenever to have a try. Plus it has a vetting and set of xrays and they have the second barn so I can see how it behaves every day (and have been seeing it daily for quite a while) and has a lovely temperament.
 
All very good points :D however (lol didn't you know that was coming :lol:) both mine have excellent feet (both barefoot and will remain that way hopefully), and I wouldn't go for a pure bred in either breed for dressage. The breeds together throw something nice (in my very wide experience of two of my own ;), but from different ends of the country, and knowing a few high profile riders that have ones with hackney in them), but I'm undecided about the pure breds as obviously they were bred to a breed imagine not intended for dressage...

Topaz is a very high knee moving animal, she's just scored 7's at regionals for her medium trot so it can be trained in to lengthen, a struggle mind so don't blame you there ;). Skylla with her dash of Holstein has a much more 'dressage' movement and is no where near as 'kneey'.

Temperament is one of those things though, both are hot and fairly sharp but for dressage and me personally I love them like that, plus they're not that bad as I'm only a bumbling amateur so they're not so sharp only pro's can deal with them! What I really like though is their size, smaller horses but with fab movement!

For pony size though look at the PBA's or PBW's movement galore but in a pony package :). Love horse shopping lol, please keep updating us!
 
Haha, driving horses tend to have massive hind ends (well ones thrained properly) and all the driving horses and ponies I school are lovely and engaged behind - effortless.

You could probably get a good test out a freisian but really need to get them early and not emphasise the choppy trot. TBH a ride and drive freisian is the way I'd go if I went for one. Hackneys can be nice, but just too scatty for my taste!

Hot is fine, I know what I'm doing ;) but there has to be the potential sale value/desire if horse not as capable as hoped so something very hot might not be the easiest to sell (same with hackney breeding!)

Pony size I'd be looking at the british riding ponies, irish sport ponies, PBAs, maybe PBWs, but the main extra after movement etc would be has to be pretty as the end owner/leaser would be kids/teens and pretty pony is vital!
 
Very true about the re-selling my two would not be for everyone!

For ponies you cannot get prettier than a PBA in my opinion (not biased at all that my other one is a PBA :o), and considering most british riding horses will have had a good dose of Arab and Welsh in their heritage they tend to be pretty and good movers too.

What's your age bracket or is it dependant on the animal in question?
 
Age bracket is 4-6 really, but happy for a 3 year old as long as backed or a 7 year old as long as it has actually done something and not lolled about in a field. A green 7 year old just isn't worth my time at the minute as they tend to have bad habits and take longer to build the muscle properly.
 
Update

I was going to see a horse this morning, but her yearling broke itself badly so was cancelled pending reschedule. So I told my barn neighbour that I'd be about all day if their horse was due to have a little session that I could jump in on.

They were up for it, so saw her ridden by lovely neighbour the eventer and popped a little x pole up and up again (nothing massive, only 90cm or so) which she popped very economically (been very economical since burghley young horse) and then I hopped on and had a play on the flat. Fantastic walk, really balanced canter, trot needs some work but there are moments of lovely uphill balance. All in all very lovely young mare. Turned 4 in April and still a little bum high, super chilled out and just generally nice. She's like that all the time (is currently living in my barn as they have overflowed!) and she has x rays which I've been emailed.

So think I'll "view" her again on Saturday with the unhorsey mother in tow to see what she thinks and then hopefully it will be a case of getting a vetting (came with a vetting cert but I know lots of insurers don't like Dutch vetting certs, even if it is from Nov just gone). However, the price is a little over the arbitrary budget set by the unhorsey mother and I think it may be over the x rays needed for insurance limit, so I'm hoping they'll take the x rays from Nov. Still, if she is the one to go for, I'll save a whole bunch on transport ;) just shift her into one of my stables on the other side of the barn!

She's good enough pace wise to do dressage, but has that pop on her so SJ and eventing (unaff or ticket as too expensive for me to affiliate at the mo) are a definite possibility. Still, it could not work out, will have to see how it goes this weekend.

Off to see the tiny pony tomorrow, so hoping that one will be lovely and I can have a little one to back, bring on, break to drive, take to showing shows and qualify for stuff and then sell on (or keep for a bit if I get sucked into winning).
 
I'm not sure where you're based but I know of someone in Sussex who brings in youngsters (4-6) from Ireland, and these can be from family cobs to competition warmbloods. She does a 1 week money-back guarantee and 3 month exchange period with the ones she brings over from Ireland (so if it's not right you can exchange for a different one) but also has lots for sale on behalf of clients. Her prices tend to range from 4,000-6,000 depending on breeding, age, etc. She can match to suit requirements. Not sure if that helps at all, but it's where I bought my mare from! Let me know if you want details :)
 
I'm Berkshire.

Saw the tiny pony today. Very very lovely. Definitely potential for driving and open M&M showing and whp. Saw a ad of gorgeous foals too! Very very tempted by absolutely every A I saw and breeder was wonderful. Going to show the couple of pics and vid to my friend who is into her As and see what she thinks, but I really liked him!
 
Gone properly crazy. Saw a 14hh pony for sale on PC ponies fb page yesterday, looks nice, video shows nice, family sounds nice. Pretty cheap as well considering how much they bought for. Sounds just what I am looking for regarding pony produce and sell on, seller sounds genuine and reasons all sound genuine when she rang today. Is off to sales livery with their old SJ trainer tomorrow and his yard is 4 hours away (she is 2 hours away) so can't really go see him, but I'm (sort of) happy to buy unseen. Issue is I'm not sure if the speed is unsettling me as not much time to think as if I buy him today he'll come straight to me instead of going on sales livery. I've been instructed by unhorsey mother to buy him today and just go with it (he's sub 2k and apparently a fab hacker so if all goes tits up he can live at home as such) but I'm not sure!

I think I'm going to buy him but I don't know if I'm being stupid! Help
 
Will you have him vetted? I don't really think four hours is too far to go to see a horse, but if you don't want to and he passes a vetting, can't see much of a problem, particularly if he's one to school on and sell.

If you aren't having him vetted I would be going to see him regardless of distance so you can at the very least check him over and see him trotted up.
 
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Not having vetted. Running a yard and a 9 hour round trip really don't go. I've done the crazy and have bought him and he'll arrive at some point this week. Either a steal, or a really big mistake but decision made. Not sure how much comeback there is with private sales unless he turns up seriously not as described, but even then I think I'd be stuck with him...

Hoping it will be the former and if the latter then he'll go to my yard at home and live in a field.

I think I am officially a crazy person. But I figure you have to be properly crazy at least once in your life, so now I can be sensible. Hoping he doesn't arrive missing an eye and two legs!

Still in the hunt for big horse. Going to ride next door eventer's mare again tomorrow with a more scrutinous eye. Temperament is good, darling on the ground so just need to work out if I can work with her under saddle. Also she is expensive!
 
Gone properly crazy. Saw a 14hh pony for sale on PC ponies fb page yesterday, looks nice, video shows nice, family sounds nice. Pretty cheap as well considering how much they bought for. Sounds just what I am looking for regarding pony produce and sell on, seller sounds genuine and reasons all sound genuine when she rang today. Is off to sales livery with their old SJ trainer tomorrow and his yard is 4 hours away (she is 2 hours away) so can't really go see him, but I'm (sort of) happy to buy unseen. Issue is I'm not sure if the speed is unsettling me as not much time to think as if I buy him today he'll come straight to me instead of going on sales livery. I've been instructed by unhorsey mother to buy him today and just go with it (he's sub 2k and apparently a fab hacker so if all goes tits up he can live at home as such) but I'm not sure!

I think I'm going to buy him but I don't know if I'm being stupid! Help

How come they're selling him so cheap if they paid much more to buy him?
 
Son had rotational with old pony, not riding him. House is being demolished and rebuilt, mother is ill and very stressed with everything. Pony hasn't gone out and competed and they bought him as something with potential to go out and compete. Trainer moved North to new yard and thinks very underpriced but mother needs him gone as has all got a bit much. Has other horses and ponies and sounded very much like he is reminding everyone of nasty fall and isn't getting the work etc.

I'm thinking as whole place is a building site and not competed, son doesn't want to ride anymore, no time to ride him, he was going to trainer on sales livery and that isn't cheap so priced to sell with little outgoings. Hard to sell for a lot with no confident jockey and no recent record.

Hoping he's a steal that needs some work but will be worth more with some work. Trainer thinks is a top circuit pony but I guess I'll see when he turns up. :/ I'm willing to take the risk at under £2k and I have space at home for him if he's terrible and only good as a hack.
 
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I was having second thoughts and thinkingf not buying pony as I just don't like buying unseen when mother told me she was buying him as she liked him and reminded her of a pony we had a decade ago. So she's gone and bought the pony, apparently turning up at my yard tomorrow. Knew I shouldn't have shown her any pictures or video. So unhorsey mother now owns a pony. So hopefully she hasn't made a mistake. She likened it to buying one of her many sculptures "he's cheaper and just as pretty".
 
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