Furthest you would travel to view a horse?

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I've heard about a horse for sale, he sounds absolutely perfect for me in every way possible but he's in Aberdeen and I'm in South Lincs! It would be something like 8 hours drive so would probably mean flying instead. Am I being stupid even thinking about it, is it worth pursuing any further? Haven't mentioned it to OH yet as think huge row will ensue with him telling me its ridiculously too far and out of the question (though could go by myself). The problem with such a distance is that it would be pretty difficult to get anyone to go with me, and I would def stay over and therefore could try horse over 2 days so could have pretty thorough trial. May have to sell it to OH as a nice weekend away where we also happen to be looking at a horse ...
What's the furthest you would travel/have travelled trying to find "the one?"
 
Well I went abroad to find my three, I actually found Rauti 'only' 800kms from home but I had gone to Holland too (so even farther away) to try a couple.

I personally LOVE going away to try horses out, can't you make a little holiday of it? Maybe a long weekend? That way your OH would be more than happy to go with you!
 
Depends - how long have you been looking? If I had been looking locally for ages and nothing had come up, then I would be tempted. Then I would speak to the seller and explain that you are a long way away and you needed them to be completely honest with you so that you didnt have a wasted journey and ask lots of questions - maybe even ask for a video/dvd/ of the horse in action so that you can see it moving etc before you go. Whenever I have been looking, I normally set a 50mile radius, then if nothing comes up - I extend it to 100, and generally find something within that distance.
 
We did a three hour journey to view daughter's pony, and I would probably be prepared to do double the journey when looking for a new one. Prices seem to be high in our area of the country, so you get better value for money by going further afield. However, would want to see lots of clear photos and videos of the horse before I committed to travelling that far!

Obviously, the type of horse you are looking for will affect how far you want to travel. If you are looking for a specific breed that is quite scarce, or specific competition experience then you may have to travel further to find the right horse than someone who just wants a happy hacker.
 
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I don't know - in the past we never used to go more than about an hour away to see a horse. Now I think I would consider further as I know what I am looking for and you can get a lot more info these days as the majority of horses are advertised online so you can see the pics, request more and even get videos of them. Back in the day when you had to rely on just a written ad in a paper/magazine it was a lot harder and 9 times otu of 10 you'd go to see the described 'fabulous' horse to find it was absolutely nothing like how it was advertised!

However, I live in Yorkshire so fairly central and pretty much most places I'd go wouldn't be much more than a 3 hour drive away and there are tonnes of horses for sale round this area. I understand there are not quite so many in Scotland so you may well have to travel further.

If you are seriously looking and think the horse sounds ideal then I would say yes, go for it, make a weekend of it if you can. I would though get as much information from the seller as you can to make sure it's going to be worth the trip. I would also maybe try and see if there are any other possible horses for sale in that area so you can have a look at a few (there are usually tonnes for sale in Lincs!). Another option may be if you've got a frind - or even someone off here - who could go look at it for you maybe, take some pics/video?

Whatever you decide - good luck!
 
I'd go for it, Aberdeen is an interesting place too. My friend came to us in Preston from Aberdeen to get a horse, she then lost the first one to colic so we started the process all over again!! I set myself distance rules when I was looking but ended up going to Gloucester for mine and I wouldn't have changed it for the world xxx
 
I would travel anywhere. I am in the most western part of Wales and travelled, in one day, to hampshire and then devon, we left at 6.30am and got home at 11pm! I then went to cornwall (about 5 hours from me one way) to look at my other. It is well worth travelling in my opinion.
 
i think it depends on what you are looking for, what your budget is etc.

the more specific your criteria and the smaller the budget = the further you are going to need to look (in general).

i only buy weanlings now so don't need to travel that far- max for me is about 3 hours but i am fussy about what i want.
 
Four of mine have been at a place I had a livery anyway (or the farm next door) and sort of "found" me! The other one I travelled the grand distance of 25 miles to find!

It depends on how few and far between the type of horse you are looking for are - could you get them to email video and loads of photo's before you go?

Never having been to Scotland - I'd probably go!
 
ha, we're in between Aberdeen and Inverness and normally have to travel 4-5 hours south to the central belt to view horses.

Do you know anyone up here who could give it a once over for you, to see if it would be worth you taking the journey. Otherwise, I would request good quality video clips before travelling and I would also make a nice weekend of it with OH, or at least arrange to see more than one horse while in the area.
 
Doh! Just realised I read it the wrong way round - I thought YOU were in Aberdeen and the horse was in Lincs! Oops - note to self, must read things properly!

Anyway, what I said before but just swap it round. Am shocked there's nothing more local suitable though as there always seems to be loads for sale round your area!!

It's typical the one you really fancy is miles away - sods law eh! lol
 
I searched all over the UK and throughout Europe to find my ideal Arab colt - my long-suffering mother even drove me on a 3-day trip all around Belgium visiting Arab studs!

I eventually found The One in Wales - a mere 8-hour round-trip train journey to see a colt that was most emphatically Not For Sale...followed by endless begging and pleading with his owners to let me buy him...

So I'm probably the wrong person to ask, as I will clearly go to ridiculous lengths to find The One!
 
Thanks guys for all your replies but just heard that he's sold subject to vetting! so wasn't meant to be it seems. Oh well saves me a trek anyway.
 
I would travel as far as I needed to, when I was based in Manchester in a weekend I did, NewMarket, Newcastle and Cornwall, basically a tour of England, I found him in Cornwall which had to be the last journey I took
 
Same here. I am in Scotland and have bought horses from Kent, Germany & Denmark. The ones from abroad though have been Knabstruppers before they were being bred in the UK.

When I have flown down south I have got cheap flights & been picked up from the airport by seller. Likewise people coming up here to view, have got flights for £30 odd return and can do it easily in a day. They have had a great trip out instead of doing 6 hrs round trip to view a horse in terrible traffic. So please don't be put off by a horse being in Scotland :)
 
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