Gah...horse buying. Is anyone out there honest?

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Twiglet

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Admittedly I'm probably on the paranoid side, after getting burnt with the last horse purchase (albeit with no money handed over thankfully), but every seller out there just seems to have something to hide. Have had extensive phone calls with people who come across as smart/reliable/trustworthy....and a quick google of the phone number brings up a host of things to be concerned about. Like the horse who is a 'beloved member of the family' who she has just brought herself round to selling - except for the advert three months ago, for £5k more. Or the 'snaffle mouthed for everything safe allrounder' who is shown on facebook bitted to the eyeballs over small show jumps. And the 'experienced eventer' who is on BDWP as doing his first BE90 six weeks ago.

I don't think I'm looking for the impossible, but it just seems like I'm wasting so much time talking to, and driving across the country visiting people who are incapable of being honest. I know horse buying is a mug's game, but I think I'm a relatively good judge of character, and not stupid - so why am I only finding these horses that seem like a disaster waiting to happen?

If anyone knows of something that is being sold by someone who isn't a serial liar, do let me know :D

Wish list is :
16.1hh - 17.2hh gelding
6-11 years
Must be relatively safe and sensible (ie. doesn't rear/bolt/anything other than the odd excitement buck)
Have decent paces on the flat and be capable of novice dressage test - I don't need Valegro!
Finds 1m SJ well within scope
Have cross country form - preferably BE90/100 (and without points)
Hack alone, in company, be sensible in the stable and on ground
Must be utterly sound and without veterinary issues - open to full 5 stage vetting and x-rays
Must load!
Non-grey preferred
South east based - preferably Surrey!

I know it sounds like an uber fussy list, but I'm really not looking for a Badminton horse, or who is going to go 'all the way' or 'up the levels' - just a safe, sensible, fun allrounder who I can do BE90s/100's (eventually!), chuck on the lorry and take to the beach, trust my novice boyfriend to handle, do some local dressage in the winter, and generally have relaxed fun with. My budget isn't unlimited but I think it's probably relatively healthy for the wishlist (a flexible £10k).
 
You'd think it was easy wouldn't you!!! My wish list would be the same as yours if I was looking......and the thought of horse buying fills me with dread!

How about a reputable dealer? I've heard good things about Shane Walsh, at least then you could try a few at the same place, and have some comeback if its not right (think he has a 1 month return and exchange policy?).

Good luck!!!
 
Not a million miles away as in Berkshire but have you tried contacting Dave at Irish Horse Imports? Usually has a variety available, maybe a bit younger than you're looking for but does have some older horses in. Usually well under your budget and if he's going back to Ireland soon can keep an eye out for what you're looking for?
 
I know of one for sale (at least I think that it still is) that is well within budget and matches all of your points, except from location. If you PM me I can send you details, though sometimes my PMs don't make it to their destinations for whatever reason.
 
A friend is selling a horse just as you've described, hes over in Glos with a 3* event rider, so unsure if the travel would put you off? If your interested PM me
 
lol, see my thread further down. I'm probably going to be too honest & end up talking people out of buying! :lol:
Sadly my horse doesn't fit your wishlist :p Good luck finding the perfect hoss :)
 
Oh no did the lwvtb not work out.
My advice is to let all your horsy contacts know that's how I found my lovely boy.
 
well your cutting out half your potential horses by not considering a mare, most mares will live happily with geldings, mine does :)
Do you see something bad & run per say? like the experienced horse who has done 1 be90, it might have done a whole season unaffiliated over be 90 courses last year? so has a lot more under its belt than expected or did you ask & it truely has just done 1 event?

My mare if I hadn't have had 2 months off jumping trying to find a jump saddle for a flat backed horse than isn't going to cost me 1.5k! would have been able to give you what you want (but she's in north yorks) her last 2 results on paper are horrendous due to saddle not fitting & me stupidly not realising until after the 2nd event & a consequent sj (thought she was just getting a little big for her boots, turns out she was getting squeezed to death by her saddle :( ) but I am hoping that when we go to richmond at the end of the month & consequent events it will become clear to people that there most certainly was a reason for the 2 god awful results as she is an angel of a mare!

That is not meant to be a rant at you (hoping it didn't come out that way ! ) but I suppose I am just seeing it from the sellers side who will happily explain the balls ups that have happened to her in our less than perfect first season BE without people looking at the 2 results & thinking hell no!

I think for your 10k you should happily get what you are looking for :) its always harder when you are wanting what I call the best of both worlds, something you can relax & enjoy but also something that you can be competitive at BE as quite often these horses are hard to find. I know because I keep looking to see how much competition my mare will have when I finally get round to selling her, which I'm not sure I want to do because she is just so easy to deal with. I want something that will take me novice & intermediate & I know the types that do it & I'm not 100% sure I want to trade her in haha

good luck with your search :) I agree about a dealer although then they possibly won't have had the BE experience you want, other than maybe if you go to an eventer, but then you have to consider they have been ridden by a pro & I have seen pro's get the "worst" of horses round a BE 100 & get a result out of them, so I would be wary of that too.
 
I know of something, a really sweet chestnut ISH gelding. Falls within your age/price bracket.
He is advertised as a hunter/allrounder having failed at eventing (his sj is like playing skittles!!). He's not perfect by any means but he is a sweet genuine horse, and would do the job you want if you can compromise on a few sj faults.
 
kassieg said:
well your cutting out half your potential horses by not considering a mare, most mares will live happily with geldings, mine does :)
Do you see something bad & run per say? like the experienced horse who has done 1 be90, it might have done a whole season unaffiliated over be 90 courses last year? so has a lot more under its belt than expected or did you ask & it truely has just done 1 event?

My mare if I hadn't have had 2 months off jumping trying to find a jump saddle for a flat backed horse than isn't going to cost me 1.5k! would have been able to give you what you want (but she's in north yorks) her last 2 results on paper are horrendous due to saddle not fitting & me stupidly not realising until after the 2nd event & a consequent sj (thought she was just getting a little big for her boots, turns out she was getting squeezed to death by her saddle :( ) but I am hoping that when we go to richmond at the end of the month & consequent events it will become clear to people that there most certainly was a reason for the 2 god awful results as she is an angel of a mare!

That is not meant to be a rant at you (hoping it didn't come out that way ! ) but I suppose I am just seeing it from the sellers side who will happily explain the balls ups that have happened to her in our less than perfect first season BE without people looking at the 2 results & thinking hell no!

I think for your 10k you should happily get what you are looking for :) its always harder when you are wanting what I call the best of both worlds, something you can relax & enjoy but also something that you can be competitive at BE as quite often these horses are hard to find. I know because I keep looking to see how much competition my mare will have when I finally get round to selling her, which I'm not sure I want to do because she is just so easy to deal with. I want something that will take me novice & intermediate & I know the types that do it & I'm not 100% sure I want to trade her in haha

good luck with your search :) I agree about a dealer although then they possibly won't have had the BE experience you want, other than maybe if you go to an eventer, but then you have to consider they have been ridden by a pro & I have seen pro's get the "worst" of horses round a BE 100 & get a result out of them, so I would be wary of that too.
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I don't feel ranted at, don't worry :)

Re: mares....let's just say the budget is flexible before the gender is! It's totally personal preference, and I've no doubt there are very non-marish mares, and a lot of people prefer them. But for me, I'm a boy's girl - I don't get on with female animals generally, I find geldings a lot less complicated and easier to be around, and I don't have the time or the inclination to 'ask a mare'.

Re: seeing and run....potentially a bit, but then the 'experienced eventer' was also on a public facebook post with '***'s first event, such a good boy!'...! I know people are going to exaggerate for selling purposes, and I do haircut the claims made in the adverts, but it's just such a waste of time.
 
ihatework said:
I know of something, a really sweet chestnut ISH gelding. Falls within your age/price bracket.
He is advertised as a hunter/allrounder having failed at eventing (his sj is like playing skittles!!). He's not perfect by any means but he is a sweet genuine horse, and would do the job you want if you can compromise on a few sj faults.
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Thanks...he does sound sweet. I just don't think I'm going to look at compromising on something as fundamental (for BE) as showjumping at this stage. Once I've been looking for a while I might start to be more flexible on the wishlist, but I think (I hope!!) there must be things out there that tick the most important boxes!
 
ihatework said:
Ok, no worries,
He has clears at BE90/100 though, just novice when the calculator was really needed!!
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Ah ok, well that's a bit of a different kettle of fish. I have absolutely no desire to ever go Novice, ever, so that kind of height wouldn't be an issue :p Would like something that would do the odd BS on a ticket, but again, talking a metre, maximum really....albeit reliably at that height. Do you have any more details you can PM me?
 
Twiglet said:
I don't feel ranted at, don't worry :)

Re: mares....let's just say the budget is flexible before the gender is! It's totally personal preference, and I've no doubt there are very non-marish mares, and a lot of people prefer them. But for me, I'm a boy's girl - I don't get on with female animals generally, I find geldings a lot less complicated and easier to be around, and I don't have the time or the inclination to 'ask a mare'.

Re: seeing and run....potentially a bit, but then the 'experienced eventer' was also on a public facebook post with '***'s first event, such a good boy!'...! I know people are going to exaggerate for selling purposes, and I do haircut the claims made in the adverts, but it's just such a waste of time.
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I do get that, I would always choose a mare, my instructor thinks I'm mad & is determined I will get a gelding next (considering I have 3 mares not sure he is right haha) I think sometimes you do just get on with 1 or the other, that said I would go to look at a gelding if otherwise he seemed perfect, just to see :) I think if it is the right horse you just know, when you get on it. I've worked producing etc & some I got on & thought I could happily buy this horse & others I got on & appreciated but wouldn't have wanted to own.

Yes see people really don't consider social media these days ! I don't post anything on facebook that I wouldn't be happy anyone seeing. Personally I think it is a very "private seller thing" to over exaggerate. If you look at a dealers ad it will say what it can do, what its good at & how it acts. If it has vices or won't load or something they won't say it, but they also won't say that it does. Private ads will say beautiful trot, amazing canter, can leg yield, shoulder in etc etc rather than just established paces & lateral work - which gives you a better clue about the quality of the horse or just that someone thinks that there horse is the best on the planet? I'm not going to lie I really hate buying privately & don't envy you at all !! :)
 
I think you're right to be cautious about sellers, a healthy dose of skepticism can go a long way. I do try and stay objective when viewing but it's easy to get drawn into the sales speak. I'd say dealers in my experience are worse at that as they tend to know v little about this history etc. but promise the moon.

Social media is brilliant though, as my friend found out doing similar investigations into safe allrounders where the person's facebook page would be littered with posts about how tricky they were. That is always odd to me, it's downright dishonest and stupid as you're gonna get found out , duh !

You're looking for a special horse but that budget should def mean you get a good un. I'd second the bit about trying out dealers with a good repn, might be younger and greener than you are after but they have more stock. Good luck !
 
Lanky Loll said:
Not a million miles away as in Berkshire but have you tried contacting Dave at Irish Horse Imports? Usually has a variety available, maybe a bit younger than you're looking for but does have some older horses in. Usually well under your budget and if he's going back to Ireland soon can keep an eye out for what you're looking for?
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Hi, haven't tried Dave although heard multiple good reports. I thought he only had young stuff in though?
 
See, what you describe is basically what Billy is (although competes at higher levels) and I'd never sell him if I can help it! I think that could be part of your problem though, once people have a horse like you describe they don't want to sell :)

If you consider coming to NI my trainer/instructor has some very nice horses for sale & could find one for you if he hasn't one to fit your description:)
 
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Agreed a Billy type would be just super....and a lot of this type are sold without being advertised I think. I was hoping to catch the 'off to uni' market at this time of year, and have had a few calls which could be promising off the back of a wanted ad, but it's a full time job to trawl through them all and weed out the hopefully-honest ones.
 
Thanks - I don't want a loan though, only looking at buying, and it'd only be eligible for HC or opens by the looks of it.
 
Have had extensive phone calls with people who come across as smart/reliable/trustworthy....and a quick google of the phone number brings up a host of things to be concerned about. Like the horse who is a 'beloved member of the family' who she has just brought herself round to selling - except for the advert three months ago, for £5k more. Or the 'snaffle mouthed for everything safe allrounder' who is shown on facebook bitted to the eyeballs over small show jumps. And the 'experienced eventer' who is on BDWP as doing his first BE90 six weeks ago



you think the above is bad................i drove to the forest of dean to see a 15.1 show cob grey gelding, got out the car to see a 16hh chestnut tb mare. admittedly they had sold the cob but thought i would like this one instead ;)
 
They are out there and yes I did buy exactly what you want from Shane Walsh very recently. Irish horse imports has a lot of cracking horses...but you said 6 and with a record and David specialises in good green 4 and 5 year old. Market is picking up now. My YO had 2 x 4 year olds she produced on and are ready to go and they both went in a week of being properly advertised. Could be worth a call to Shane because if he hasn't got what you want, he might well know someone who has. Persevere with contact as his phone is always ringing and it took me a bit of time to get hold of him. Another random option could be...buy a green horse from Irish horse imports and put some more of your budget to have it produced on and then boot camp yourself as well once the horse is going well. You might have more options then. It was something I was seriously considering as couldn't find what I wanted but I am on a small pro event yard and know how the horses are produced.
 
You bought the horse from Shane Walsh I had my eye on :p He doesn't have anything else in at the moment I don't think....will call him again at the weekend though.

Re: buying young and schooling up. I know it's a possibility but I just don't want to. I bought Buzz as a 5 year old and put two years of blood sweat and tears into bringing him on and whilst I enjoyed (nearly) every minute, I now have a retired 9 year old who's broken my heart and spent over a year in the vets. And I'm still not out eventing. I know this can happen with any horse at any age, but I really just want to go out and have fun, and enjoy having my own transport and a functioning horse for the first time.
 
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