Has anyone ever missed out on a horse they wished they'd bought....?

MrsMozartletoe

MrsMozartletoe

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This thought pops up in my mind every now and then. I think I haven't posted the question before because it might seem that I'm not ecstatic about the Dizzy one, which would be wrong.

I'll stop woffling ;):rolleyes:

When I was last horse hunting, I met a gelding. We'll call him Frank.

Young. Unbroken. Nervous of humans. About 16hh-ish. Four years old if I remember right. Nice looking, if a bit on the slim side for me (bearing in mind that my previous horse was an IDxTB).

His owner warned me that he would back off and be scared of me, so when he shot to the back of the stable as soon as he saw me I didn't take it personally :). She brought him out and I let him investigate me as much as he wanted to, which wasn't a lot, it was more of a look. Then something seemed to click and he stood next to me. We lunged and he moved well and did all that I asked.

I walked him to the field, he walked steady and with his head at my side, sometimes whiffling his nose over my hand. When I took his headcollar off, he stayed with me, walked with me to the gate and watched me walk away.

The following weekend I met Dizzy and fell, admittedly, for her looks. Since then she has turned out to be the one for me in so many ways :D

I had to wait for the cheque from Tiggy's insurance. The owner of the gelding couldn't wait. Dizzy's owner could.

I still think about that lad. I've thought of trying to track him down, but they were going to break him in (I hate that phrase) and I don't think he'd be the lad he was, but still, I think about him and wonder...
 
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Yes I still harbour regrets about an anglo arab i should have bought about 20 years ago. I totally gelled with her but was at uni sitting exams when she came up for sale. Strangely I now own a horse who resembles her closely in looks temp colour and breeding and is called Karma. Sometimes I think I ended up with the first horse-just re-incarnated! Sorry for silly sentimental post!
 
I still think that I was silly when looking for B. I was due to go and look at a 16.2hh 10yo Grade A mare for a stupidly low price (owners emigrating and had a buyer for the mare but they pulled out last min leaving owners in trouble) but I booked in to see B the day before and fell in love with the morbidly obese grey catrhorse stood infront of me!

I still to this day think I could have been so much further up the affiliated ladder than I am now, but I have B as a result of NOT looking at this mare and he has done my confidence and riding ability SO much good and he will be with me for the rest of his days and he owes me nothing.
 
I have..but without him I know at least he got me somewere with my parents ((getting a horse :) )) And gladly im staying in touch with the new owners, but I do miss him :/
 
When I was looking for my first pony (late, at 13), I was looking for something I could be quite competitive on. Trialled this little NF who had hte most cracking jump, was gorgeous to look at and so so so sweet in the stable. I fell completely in love with him but he failed the vetting on a flexion test.

Ended up getting a NF from the same line who turned out to be the best first pony ever.

Not exactly what you were asking but I do still think about that little one and what could have been.
 
tbh no.... as i have bought every horse i have had on their first viewings... except one cob i saw before i bought B, however i do not regret not buying her!
 
Well I can tell you about a horse I wish we never bought. lol. told my mum and dad and sister at the time she was the wrong horse for us, I didnt like her and I didnt want her, but who was the youngest member of the family and got shouted down.....yep me.......who got prooved right.......yep me.......who was left with her when my mum gave up driving her as she bolted,with us in the carriage then threw us all out and we ended up in hospital, and my sister gave up riding as she got bored.......oh yes again me.....who nearly gave up riding after I finally found this horse a new .....yep me! Still wish we had never bought her, and realise that even at the age of 12 my instincts on horses were better than the rest of my family put together. Luckily I got her back after the carriage accident and took her to senior camp (where she bolted with me daily) and got her going back properly enough to sell to a happy hacking non jumping home.(as she was basically dangerous to jump and a pig to school, but an angel to hack) But I now know if my instincts say No, it means NO. :D
 
There was a horse owned by a riding school i rode at i really wish i could have brought. I was only 15 at the time though and there was no way my parents or i could afford a horse so i didnt so much miss out on her as it was impossible to have her at the time. She was one of those horses that from the first time i sat on i really thought could be something special and i was absolutley gutted when they sold her. She was 5 at the time & i always told her she'd be mine one day and i still hope that may be the case. I've not a clue where she is now, all i know is she's been sold on a few times but if i ever found her i'd definitley ask for 1st refusal if she was sold again. I know she might but be the horse i remembered but i'd have to try. On the flip side, if i'd have had Tikka then i wouldn't have my girls now so i'm sure everthing happens for a reason.
 
When i lost my beloved boy last year my hubby could see how much i missed going to the yard and not having a horse. Although i said i didn't want another one he knew it wouldn't be long before i was looking at websites.
He knew i wanted a Shire or Clydesdale youngster so he phoned around a few breeders to see what they had available.
He showed me photos of 2 cheeky chaps both yearling colts. One was a pure bred Shire that was very handsome. He was a really light bay and i even named him Minstrel. I showed everyone his photo and hubby arranged to view him that weekend. The other was a scruffy Shire x TB that i passed over his photo because he looked like he'd been dragged though a hedge backwards!!! However the breeder said we could go and see him that night.
To be honest my heart was set on "Minstrel" so i wasn't really enthusiastic to go and see Chaos but when we got there i fell in love. He didn't look anything like his photo and he was so cheeky and nosy even my (non horsey) OH liked him and bought him there and then. He was even delivered to me the same day!!!
I sometimes wish I'd gone to see "Minstrel" just to see what he was like especially as i liked him so much from his photo and i think of asking the breeder what happened to him but i love my Chaos and although he doesn't look like a shire (more like a middle weight hunter) he's a cutie and everyone comments on how handsome he now looks compared to the ugly, scruffy yearling that fell off the trailer!!!
He's defiantly an ugly duckling that has turned in to a swan :)
 
I used to loan a beautiful arabx mare. she was at the riding school I worked at and TBH I didn't care for her much at all....she napped for england, hated jumping, and although she was good to school she didn't enjoy it much.

I took her on loan when the place closed down and the owner didn't have anywhere to keep her. I had her for 4 months until I went back to uni and she became an amazing horse, with lots of wok and patience we really clicked. We hacked out by ourselves for hours with no napping, started jumping 2ft6 with fillers, went swimming in the sea and galloping along the beach etc!

Owner couldn't cope with her as she needs a lot of physical and mental stimulation, I was offered to buy her but after much thinking I decided she was older than what I wanted and I was still at uni with 1 1/2 years still left.

She is now with a mum and daughter who don't ride very much but look after her. I still get to see her and take her for a good ride once a week!

I think she still remembers me as she whinnies to me and comes trotting over, but won't let anyone else catch her! I do regret not buying her but at the time it wouldn't have been a good idea.
 
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Yes....... Happened to stumble across a mare who was full sister to a top event horse at the time (approx 15 years ago) She was lovely but was lame. The guy said he had the vet coming in the morning to see what was wrong and would then ring me to tell me. I ended up ringing him and the horse had been sold.......to the vet!!!
 
Kind of with a twist lol. I went to try a mare when I was 18 and she was perfect sweet and honest and stunning with it but she was slightly out of my budget and owner wouldn't budge on price( not surprised really). I was a bit gutted but then heard from my instructor 2 months later that she had done a tendon so even tho I was dissapointed I was slightly relived I didn't when I heard that
 
I had a horse sent to me for schooling recently (okay, so it was to my mother, but I ride them all to judge suitability for paras, as they are our main clientèle)

She was the double of Horsk when he was younger, with similar lineage and an almost identical personality. I tried to convince my mother that we should buy her from the breeder, rather than selling her on, but there were several interested parties already.
So in the end we only had her for about six weeks, in which time she went from being barely backed, to carrying me easily (bare in mind I only have the use of one leg, and poor balance) , before she was sold to a very loving home :rolleyes:
 
Yup! I viewed a TB mare with a friend (for him) He bought her and I suffered horse-envy even though I said I'd never have a TB. His marriage went down the pan and I helped him with her for a while (and fell even further in love) Things got so bad that he had to sell her so I even helped that day too. It was only after she'd gone that I confessed how much I'd adored her and he said that hed had no idea how I felt and would have sold her to me cheaply, even in instalments if he'd known because then he'd have been able to keep in touch with her, so to speak. She really was the one that got away...

On the plus side, she definitely changed my incorrect preconceptions about TB's and I now own a gorgeous gelding whom I adore.
 
I worked during the holidays, when doing my A-levels, at a riding centre in Majorca. I got allocated a lovley grey spanish arab and he is, to this day, the horse I have loved best (despite the language barrier ;) ). He was classically trained so could do the spanish walk and trot and was just soooo beautiful! When I left the owners offer to sell him to me for £800, unfortunately I couldn't get the money together for shipping him over so I had to turn them down. 3 weeks later he got kicked in the field, broke an leg and was PTS :(
 
Oh bless Mrs M, thats a lovely memory and understand your thought process. Life is strange, as you know I have had a bad year with horses and now an opportunity to buy a horse i looked at and wanted at the beginning of the year has arisen!!! I am going to see him this afternoon. I phoned to make an offer within an hour of trying him and had been pipped to the post can you believe? Due to a change in circumstances of that buyer he is now available again. It is bad timing I am still on one crutch so eldest daughtr will try him and they will try and heave me on for a sit and walk around the yard, will be interesting if nothing else - just hope I can get off again hee hee. Wish me luck :-)
 
A bit of a twist on this really. I went to view a pony for my son, and turned up at the wrong yard. Spotted a pony in the field (same description) and asked if the owner was about. After realising i had the wrong yard I was about to walk away and complimented the owner on their pony, and she told me about him, he sounded perfect, so I cheekily asked the owner if she would sell (I got told a very stern no!). We went off and found the right yard. Pony not as described and chucked my son off.
On the way home I phoned another ad as it was close by, went to view, tried it, and bought it there and then.

A couple of years later was looking for a pony for my daughter and asked about. My farrier said he knew someone who was selling what i was looking for.

Went to view, and yup, you guessed.... it was the pony I had spotted in that field (owner emigrating). Bought it there and then and he's still with us at the grand old age of 30, having taught loads of kids to ride, and is now on loan to my friend for her children.

My friend had a little 13.2hh stallion, which was THE most fun pony ever. I'm a nervous rider and I gelled with him. I felt so safe, I'd hack him alone. He was by no means a saint, he was cheeky and would spook and jog (I recall going downhill on tarmac at sideways canter oneday lol) but I adored him. I asked her to sell him to me (she wouldn't, he was a veteran, i don't blame her lol) but I often think, if I could find another him i would buy it in a shot. I'm still looking.......
 
Slightly bizarre twist to this!

But I wonder how many HHO'ers, have horses who we either wished we'd bought, or that had looked at to buy...

I'm taking it too far now :p
 
I really liked a gelding at my friends yard that was for sale (same place and time i got Honey) I decided against him because he was too big for my stable but he had the most amazing trot and jump. I could have been alot further along than i am now but i think he would have been too much for me eventually :(
 
The closest I've come to anything like that is actually the opposite - I nearly bought a horse I am SO glad I didn't! Being totally naive about the whole thing, I nearly ended up spending (ok, wasting) money on a dodgy dealer and a horse who was, now I look back on it, at least twice the age she was supposed to be and probably had health issues. I fell in love with her at the time, though. Luckily she was bought by some other mug from under my nose!

I have a couple I regret not buying:
One was a couple of years ago - unfortunately I wasn't in any position to buy as my horse was on field rest and had cost me a small fortune in vet's bills, so I was too skint, but she was a GORGEOUS Hispano Arab (PRE x Arab) mare called Pollila, previously mostly used as a broodmare but the yard I was working at wanted me to start riding her as she had been previously broken. The job didn't work out and so I only rode her a couple of times, but she was SO much fun to ride - green as grass in the school and rather mareish to boot, but I got the impression she would have been my perfect horse had I been able to buy her and bring her on. As far as I know, she got sold up north to be a broodmare and then got sold on again, and I haven't heard anything since.

One was a little longer ago, before I bought my horse, I was having lessons on a lovely TB mare called Quiz. I adored her and she was well-schooled and could jump. She was offered to me at a damned decent price (top end of my budget) and I turned her down because 1) I hadn't planned on buying for another six months (I started looking sooner than that, so poor excuse) and 2) she wouldn't jump over about 2'6", and at that time I wanted to do more (soon after, I discovered that I really prefer dressage to jumping and 2'6" is about my limit... so Quiz would have been perfect...) I really wish I would have given her more thought at the time - things could have been so different. I really regret not properly discussing her with my instructor (who had her at her yard).

Ah well. I did end up with a lovely horse, and it was just a shame things turned out as they did (tendon injury, turned away, and now she can only be a hack I've given up the horse owning thing for a while). Next time I'm in any sort of position to buy, I'll seriously consider things more!

:)
 
In a way mine came around again so I am a believer in whats meant for you won't go by you! Had the chance to buy my old boy at 7, turned him down because of his awful feet, very hard decision to make at the time - roll on 11 years and 3 other wonderful horses later I got offered him again for £1, grabbed him with both hands! We've had loads of fun, he's now 20 and fit as a flea - and his feet are brilliant now!
 
Before i was even looking for a horse, my friends (who i share a field with) had a 4yr old mare called Blue (Still River Blue) she was a big black ID with a white blaze. hadnt been broken yet but had been sat on. she was so sweet, but very energetic and forward. But friends boyfriend at the time decided to sell her and kept all the money (£4000!!) then buggared off.... Wish we were able to keep her she wouldve been ideal for me :( I Stil think about her now and wonder where she is and whats shes doing....

Also when i went to view Lady there was another horse which kept coming up to me and nuzzling its nose into me, just seemed to click with it but at £4000 it was out of my budget :(
 
greymare said:
Oh bless Mrs M, thats a lovely memory and understand your thought process. Life is strange, as you know I have had a bad year with horses and now an opportunity to buy a horse i looked at and wanted at the beginning of the year has arisen!!! I am going to see him this afternoon. I phoned to make an offer within an hour of trying him and had been pipped to the post can you believe? Due to a change in circumstances of that buyer he is now available again. It is bad timing I am still on one crutch so eldest daughtr will try him and they will try and heave me on for a sit and walk around the yard, will be interesting if nothing else - just hope I can get off again hee hee. Wish me luck :-)
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How did it go?

Hope you're feeling a tad better :)
 
sounds silly but no, but then I have never really looked for a horse, they have all come to me without me trawling the for sale ads or the country looking.
 
Came across a gelding over the summer - nothing special to look at, had been over from Ireland a grand total of 3 days, hunted one or two seasons there and was very wary of people in the stable. Probably about 6yrs old.
Thought he would be a nervous wreck once ridden away on his own, being used to following the field - but no. He was the boldest of the lot, and beautiful to ride! He was the nicest horse to jump I have ever sat on, he did everything he was asked, came back so lightly and felt so capable! But we couldn't have afforded him :( He would have been a horse that would have me loving jumping again though!

There have been quite a few others that I've 'clicked' with, and still wonder how they're doing, most only not coming home because they were too small :(
 
I remember in the early 80s I went to Neath fair and saw a little colt,grey and bought by a dealer.I could of had him for £50.00 but didnt buy him (got a feeling he went for meat).I really regret to this day of not buying him.
 
I wouldn't trade my horse for the world but just before seeing him and totally falling for him I saw a Highland pony, he was a little bit too green at 6 as though having ridden for years this would be my first horse purchase. And there was something not quite right as I found it hard to get detailed answers to questions I asked the people selling him and I never got a chance to see him caught, tacked up, handled - I just had to meet them at a school they hired to try him as he was living out. I couldn't understand why such a well bred Highland was also struggling to sell. He was also ridden in a gag.. I just worried about him afterwards as he had seemed quite genuine and contacted the people after I'd told them I wasn't interested to find out where he'd gone. He'd gone to a riding school. He ended up back in private ownership after that further down the line but with issues. I don't know how many owners he had from when I saw him. Where those issues arose I don't know but felt sorry that he'd maybe not been in good hands after I turned him down. I don't think I missed out I just think it's more a case of wanting to know the horses you come close to along the line go to good homes sensitive to and suitable for their needs.
 
MrsMozart said:
How did it go?

Hope you're feeling a tad better :)
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It was great. We all stood ready to push me on but in fact I managed to mount off a high block and he stood like a rock, good as gold. Had a little walk round and felt very comfortable and even better confidence intact. Realise the mounting fall debacle was a completely freaky one off accident and not likely to happen with a sensible boy like him and hope I may have got it right this time. Negotiating now so updates later :-). Leg still sore but can go without a crutch for short distances now and luckily have a good friend on yard to help out with what I couldn't do if needs be. Luckily he is a horse who is not really bothered how often he is ridden so low maintenance while i finish healing. Maybe I am mad or maybe an opportunity too good to miss?!
 
Yes.

There was a proper gypsy cob for sale a few years ago, I regularly saw him round the shows when I had the bay horse (in sig). The owner had bought him from Stow Fair as a youngster just to be a companion and just by luck he turned out to be really good. He was not my type at all, nothing to look at, not nicely marked but boy, did he have a jump! Like pouring cream, he made a beautiful shape over a fence (a bit like Muffinino's T) and would really help out his rider.

I tried him at a show and really liked the way he was so easy. I had the bay at the time who was really hard work - he never relaxed. But having the cob would have meant selling the bay and I just couldn't do it at the time. I later sold the bay and regreted it! I never saw the cob again, I was told he went up to Scotland.

I do believe what is meant to be will be. The horse on the left in my sig I first saw advertised when I was pregnant. I was gutted, he was just what I wanted, but as I was pregnant it was out of the question. He was advertised for sale or loan and twelve months after the first ad he was advertised again - this time within my budget! It turned out he had been loaned, the agreement was that the loaner could loan him for six months but after that had to either pay for him or return him. When the six months were up the owner had difficulty contacting the loaner, but when she did catch up with her, she told the owner that she had no money to pay for the horse and no transport to return him. Eventually they agreed to meet half way and the owner was horrified when her horse came off a lorry at a service station lorry park, unkempt, scrawny and covered in rub marks from badly fitting rugs and tack. :eek::mad: She said the worst thing was that he was so pleased to see her and winnied, she felt so guilty for letting him go. She also said the lorry drivers were rather amused with the telling off she gave the loaner! The seller told me that she thought she had done all the right things, got references from vets, YOs, etc, but she was still caught out and would never loan again.

Anyway, after six months of getting him right again I bought him, the horse I had so desperately wanted twelve months before. I had him until he had to be PTS due to heart disease in May. :( I was just meant to have that horse.

Sorry for the ramble! :o
 
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