Ambers Echo
Still wittering on
Ive seen a lot of posts recently on FB about allegedly missold horses: horses who were fine on viewing and then started napping, spooking, spinning etc once at their new homes.
It got me thinking about how much of how a horse behaves is rider related? I had a pony once who I backed and evented unaff for 2 seasons. She was an angel. She was just so lovely and straightforward. But her new owners sold her on after 6 months as 'unrideable'. Goodness knows what had happened in those 6 months but she had been fine with me. Was she just hitting the Kevins later on and I would also have run into problems? Or was it something to do with the rider/environment?? I sold her in good faith as a straight forward pony and was mortified when they rang me to explain that it had gone wrong.
Then there is Max. Max presented plenty of challenges to Izzy and I knew she was not riding him well but I still thought he brought a degree of quirkiness to the party. Eg he would spook if a rosette was pinned to him and would get very excited in a lap of honour. Well on Sunday Katie was lining up for her rosette and she did not bat an eyelid about it being pinned to his bridle and neither did he. Then they had a fab, controlled lap of honour with no issues at all. So was it really ALL rider related all along?
I'm not blaming buyers who feel cheated when they find themselves with a horse they can't manage. It must be incredibly difficult to buy a 'straightforward' horse' only to get one you are finding difficult. But maybe more buyers should consider that they might be the problem before they yell 'missold'?
And when selling how do you know if you have:
1) a horse who will look after any rider (Jenny!)
2) a horse who will behave perfectly well with a good rider but not for any rider (Max??)
3) a horse who will challenge any rider.
Just wondering!
It got me thinking about how much of how a horse behaves is rider related? I had a pony once who I backed and evented unaff for 2 seasons. She was an angel. She was just so lovely and straightforward. But her new owners sold her on after 6 months as 'unrideable'. Goodness knows what had happened in those 6 months but she had been fine with me. Was she just hitting the Kevins later on and I would also have run into problems? Or was it something to do with the rider/environment?? I sold her in good faith as a straight forward pony and was mortified when they rang me to explain that it had gone wrong.
Then there is Max. Max presented plenty of challenges to Izzy and I knew she was not riding him well but I still thought he brought a degree of quirkiness to the party. Eg he would spook if a rosette was pinned to him and would get very excited in a lap of honour. Well on Sunday Katie was lining up for her rosette and she did not bat an eyelid about it being pinned to his bridle and neither did he. Then they had a fab, controlled lap of honour with no issues at all. So was it really ALL rider related all along?
I'm not blaming buyers who feel cheated when they find themselves with a horse they can't manage. It must be incredibly difficult to buy a 'straightforward' horse' only to get one you are finding difficult. But maybe more buyers should consider that they might be the problem before they yell 'missold'?
And when selling how do you know if you have:
1) a horse who will look after any rider (Jenny!)
2) a horse who will behave perfectly well with a good rider but not for any rider (Max??)
3) a horse who will challenge any rider.
Just wondering!