first person coming to view her tomorrow - help!

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Santa Clause

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Okay well tomorrow a nice young(ish) lady is coming to see my girl , she's been for sale for 3 weeks and have 3 people wanting to see her already!
anyway what is general practice when it comes to people viewing horses;

should she already have been bought in from the field,
If not do I catch her/lead her,
do I groom her,
do I tack her up,
do I ride first,
how big should I set the jump up,

Thank you in advance
I'm soo nervous & I really want it to go well :)
 
when i had people visit to view my mare for loaning i left in the field so they could come with me to see how she was to bring in. Then groomed, tacked and rode myself first, then let them ride.
 
I tend to have the horse brought in unless they've specifically asked to see the horse caught. Only because at this time of year it can take a long time to get them looking presentable.

The rest of the viewing I leave to the discretion of the people viewing. I give a quick groom over just to show that you can and then tack up myself but if they wanted to and I though they were competant I wouldn't stop them. Its normal for the seller to ride first, I'm always sceptical if the seller doesn't want to get on their own horse. I did have one person viewing D when I sold her that didn't want me to ride first and I didn't argue with that.
 
As above.

Either bring her in before, or let them come with you.

Groom and tack up with them there, even ask them if they want to help so they can experience the horse for themselves.
You MUST ride first, if I went to veiw a horse where they didnt want to ride first I wouldnt get on myself.

I would say you have a ride, flatwork. Then let the person trying her out have a ride.
Then you get back on and pop a jump, then if the person wants to get on and have a jump, let them.

I prefer it this way so you can see what the horse is like with/without jumps.
Some horses get a lot more hyped up when they have jumped, so they can experience the horse with and without the 'jumpy' energy.
 
At this time of year I would probably fetch her in and knock the worst of the mud off her (plus it's meant to be raining tomorrow so she'll be sopping if you don't) This is their first viewing after all. If they like her and want to bring her in they can come back and do it. You'll be there for hours if you don't do the worst of it. They can pick her feet up and play with her if she's clean. I'm sure she won't mind a second brush on top of the one you already gave her.

If she is good to do I would offer it up to them whether they want to put on tack and ride first (assuming you think they are competent). If you ride first jump her as big as you usually would then put it down for them.

Good luck and I'm sure it'll go swimmingly.

This is just how I'd do it though of course.
 
Thanks, I think i'll bring her in as it is a bit of a trek to the field anyway :rolleyes:
I was planning on riding first but just wanted to check this was the 'done thing' :)
 
When I went to try my horse, he was in his stable, and when i got there the owner groomed him, let me help tack up etc

Owner rode him first doing some flatwork, then i rode him, then owner got back on to jump him, then i jumped him,

she let me untack etc and i led him to the field to be turned out,

I went back later in the week for a 2hour hack and spend some time with him
 
When we were horse shopping last year we saw lots of different horses and the sellers all differed in their approach.

The majority left the horses in the field and caught in once we had arrived. On reflection one of those that didn't, I suspect would have been difficult to catch.

When we visited the horse that we eventually bought they called her in when we arrived and she came over willingly - good to see.

This was our first viewing and they also groomed, tacked up and rode before I did. I would not get on a horse that the owner did not ride first. First rode in the school, then hacked around a field and then finished by hacking around the block on fairly busy roads. Although they didn't have a jump set up it was no problem for them when we asked if they could jump her for us, which they did.

We had a second viewing because on the first viewing it was just me and my OH (although I think we had already made up our mind), as it was to be a mother/daughter share we felt my daughter should have a say in the matter.

On the 2nd viewing she was already caught in but they let my young daughter hoof pick and groom her, again good to see how well she behaved for a youngster. They tacked her up again - more because we were still numpties at this - having only ridden at a riding school where they bring the horse out to you all groomed and tacked up. This time I didn't ride, just my daughter and only in the school.

After the first viewing we also saw a little 8 year old turn up from a neighbouring house who they let have a plod around the school. This wasn't part of the viewing, the little girl apparently liked to come round and ride Rosie. Felt a bit mean when we bought Rosie 'cos the little girl had lost her ride.

Good luck with the viewing, probably best to play it by ear. I'm sure alot of buyers ask to see all manner of things.
 
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