Honestly so annoyed!

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Blueysmum

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Weve been looking for a horse since January, our budget isn’t huge but realistic.

Weve travelled to France, wales and all over to view. Pretty much all not been as advertised or just not clicked.

Until yesterday. We viewed a 15.2 cob who my daughter fell in love with. He has personality, forward going and they seemed to really get on with each other.

I messaged the dealer and asked if I could deposit and get him vetted. She replied that she doesn’t know how long it would take to get vetted due to the long weekend and she has someone viewing him Tuesday…

So i asked again, could we at least put a deposit down? Iv had no reply.

She wasn’t at the viewing, it was a couple of young girls.

I’m so annoyed and upset for my daughter. She’s worked hard and saved every penny, we had to retire our girl in December.
 
I'm sorry but the cob is obviously a " worth his weight in gold" type if he's sound and the dealer is running a business. You should in no way feel forced to take him without a vetting but somebody probably would, and that's business I'm afraid. It's all about risk. If the dealer sells him to you now and he fails the vet she's got a problem on her hands. If the person on Tuesday takes him without a vet, she's in clover.

If she's a dodgy dealer, of course, she could just be playing what is a standard trick and trying to push you into buying with no vetting. Refusing the second viewing for the reason given sounds odd to me and I think you should calll her bluff and wait even if you are tempted to buy unvetted.

I'm very sorry your daughter is upset about it, I know horse hunting can be heartbreaking. I hope the person on Tuesday exists but doesn't want him and you get to go ahead with the deal.
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Blueysmum said:
I asked if we could view again today or tomorrow even though it’s a 2.5 hour drive and she said she has no staff before Tuesday..
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Surely you do not need staff, personally if I was buying the horse. Id prefer to be the one getting him from the field and tacking up myself just to see how that goes.
 
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I don’t know how it works buying without a vetting. Surely that’s a huge risk? We loaned our girl then bought her but she had to be retired after 3 years but I knew she would never have passed, only bought her because I didn’t want her to end up in wrong hands as there was always clearly something wrong with her.
 
Exactly! She’s awful at replying to messages too, iv been trying to contact her for months about others she’s advertised and she finally replied to me yesterday and went to view straight away lol
 
Blueysmum said:
I don’t know how it works buying without a vetting. Surely that’s a huge risk? We loaned our girl then bought her but she had to be retired after 3 years but I knew she would never have passed, only bought her because I didn’t want her to end up in wrong hands as there was always clearly something wrong with her.
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Yes it's a big risk, depending on the dealer. Not so much when they are reputable and have an exchange policy. That's the point really, she wants you to take the risk not her, it's a sound business strategy. If I was selling as a private seller and I had two viewers then I would wait for the second lot if the first lot wanted a vetting, because vettings are really stressful for sellers. I'd sell to the best fit for the horse even if they wanted a vet and another didn't, but a dealer won't do that.

You sound lovely, the horse will be missing out on a great home if he goes to someone else.
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Two possibilities here. The dealer wants a quick turnover and knows that other dealers or professionals will buy without vetting, or the dealer knows a vetting will fail, possibily because the cobs age is wrong, or the passport doesn't match the horse.
The cob may turn out to be sound as a pound, but it's a Red Flag gamble for a buyer who wants a long term horse in the family.
It's a tough life lesson for your daughter. Tears shed now will be shorter lived than the tears shed over a potentially disabled horse.
 
Barton Bounty said:
Surely you do not need staff, personally if I was buying the horse. Id prefer to be the one getting him from the field and tacking up myself just to see how that goes.
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You still need someone there you cant just have a potential buyer wandering around a yard unsupervised, to unlock tack room, point out which tack etc
 
It is but when I was looking, one well regarded dealer could only do Monday to Friday 9 till 3 due to childcare issues apparently. She was over an hour a way and I work those hours so never got to view.
ycbm said:
Insurance issues there, I suspect. But who wouldn't have staff on a prime horse buying weekend? It's an odd excuse, isn't it?
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Vodkagirly said:
It is but when I was looking, one well regarded dealer could only do Monday to Friday 9 till 3 due to childcare issues apparently. She was over an hour a way and I work those hours so never got to view.
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Not a good way to run a business selling a product where most people need to be out earning a lot of money to pay for it at those times! Still, if it works for her she can run her business how she likes, I guess.
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Blueysmum said:
We are viewing two more today so fingers crossed.

We even went to France last weekend to view a Normandy cob that was nothing like we had been told for the last month. In our head he was the one and we had everything planned for him.

Then on Thursday we drove to wales after work to view.

Iv had enough now 😂
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I think you deserve a trophy for horse parent of the year!

🏆 🏆 🏆
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Thank you, honestly iv had enough driving now 😂

Tbh she’s 17 and such a good girl. Works hard in childcare and saved £7k towards it (obviously iv had to to dig deep as well). I can’t fault her 😂 she isn’t a typical 17 year old who goes out and parties etc.

Now my 8 year old daughter.. she is going to be the trouble maker 😩🙏
 
Blueysmum said:
Thank you, honestly iv had enough driving now 😂

Tbh she’s 17 and such a good girl. Works hard in childcare and saved £7k towards it (obviously iv had to to dig deep as well). I can’t fault her 😂 she isn’t a typical 17 year old who goes out and parties etc.

Now my 8 year old daughter.. she is going to be the trouble maker 😩🙏
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Well you brought her up so you take credit for that too. Hopefully you can get the 8 year old into ponies, it does solve so many problems with troublesome girls 🤣
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Blueysmum said:
Exactly! She’s awful at replying to messages too, iv been trying to contact her for months about others she’s advertised and she finally replied to me yesterday and went to view straight away lol
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I am a firm believer in "What's for you, won't pass by you". I just missed out on what eventually proved to be the best horse I ever had, because when I rang the seller, they had just taken a deposit on her. 9 months later I saw her readvertised from her new home and bought her.
If you miss out on this horse, it wasn't meant to be and there will be another one waiting for your daughter. Good luck!
 
dogatemysalad said:
Two possibilities here. The dealer wants a quick turnover and knows that other dealers or professionals will buy without vetting, or the dealer knows a vetting will fail, possibily because the cobs age is wrong, or the passport doesn't match the horse.
The cob may turn out to be sound as a pound, but it's a Red Flag gamble for a buyer who wants a long term horse in the family.
It's a tough life lesson for your daughter. Tears shed now will be shorter lived than the tears shed over a potentially disabled horse.
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Totally agree - very tough, but better now than later
 
Blueysmum said:
I messaged the dealer and asked if I could deposit and get him vetted. She replied that she doesn’t know how long it would take to get vetted due to the long weekend and she has someone viewing him Tuesday…

So i asked again, could we at least put a deposit down? Iv had no reply.
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That's a red flag for me.
The normal thing to do is a deposit takes the horse off the market, so it's sold subject to vetting, however long that takes. Other viewings would normally be cancelled.
Sorry, I'd walk away. This doesn't sound like a straight forward person & I'm suspicious that she knows of something that the vet wouldn't like.

Also it's always a pain dealing with someone who's difficult to contact for whatever reason. If this is how it is before she has your money, imagine trying to get through to her after the sale if there was a problem!
 
Goldie's mum said:
The normal thing to do is a deposit takes the horse off the market, so it's sold subject to vetting, however long that takes.
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I don't think that's normal for dealers selling a horse they own. If they are selling as an agent they continue to get livery fees and if the horse hurts itself in the meantime it's no loss to them, so they don't mind waiting so much. If they own it they will normally, in my experience, keep the horse on the market until it's been paid for in full. Though the prospective buyer might not always know that!
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ycbm said:
I don't think that's normal for dealers selling a horse they own. If they are selling as an agent they continue to get livery fees and if the horse hurts itself in the meantime it's no loss to them, so they don't mind waiting so much. If they own it they will normally, in my experience, keep the horse on the market until it's been paid for in full. Though the prospective buyer might not always know that!
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Ah, I've usually bought from private homes. So there's no point at all in paying a deposit to a dealer?
 
Goldie's mum said:
Ah, I've usually bought from private homes. So there's no point at all in paying a deposit to a dealer?
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If the dealer will take a deposit then all well and good. But I think the point is that in today’s market someone is going to turn up and just pay the full amount without wanting second viewings, vetting etc and so the dealer would prefer to sell to them
 
bonny said:
If the dealer will take a deposit then all well and good. But I think the point is that in today’s market someone is going to turn up and just pay the full amount without wanting second viewings, vetting etc and so the dealer would prefer to sell to them
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They would still take the horse off the market if they do accept your deposit, though?
 
Goldie's mum said:
They would still take the horse off the market if they do accept your deposit, though?
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It would depend on the dealer/seller - the acceptance of the deposit is usually an agreement to sell, pending vetting... Bit of a grey area as to whether they'd still allow other viewings as a backup in case something goes wrong with the vetting or if the seller changes their mind and waives the deposit for any reason. Most private sellers and many dealers wouldn't, but I wouldn't be surprised if some did.

Sorry you are having such a difficult time finding a horse for your daughter OP, the right one is getting closer by the second though.
 
In your position I'd contact a couple of reputable dealers - Chris Dyson sells the type you seem to be looking for, and Sam Walton used to but not sure if shes moved more into sportier types. Tell them what you want and then wait for them to find you one, if they don't already have a suitable horse.

I don't always vet but I certainly would if the dealer seemed reluctant to let me!
 
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