HORSE HUNTING FRUSTRATION!!!!!

Sprout

Sprout

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 March 2007
Messages
15,335
Location
New Forest
www.horse-riding-world.com
Has anyone else spent months searching for a new horse, driving hundreds of miles in every direction, wasting weekends when you should be doing other things, spending hours on line looking, putting ads up in all the local horsey places etc etc and STILL not found what you are looking for?
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Maybe its just be, and I am either unlucky, or too fussy!
I did find my Mr Perfect recently, and locally too, but the owners pulled out at the last minute when the vetting was being arranged.
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Please someone, tell me its not just me!
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Took me over a year to find pickle, strangely enough found him through a reply to a wanted advert I put on new rider. He wasnt even being advertised!
 
Don't worry, you are not alone

I started looking in November and found my "Mr Right" the following March. Clocking up more miles than i care to remember
The right one is out there, and with your name on.
Don't give up
 
Yes, more than once!!

On a couple of occasions, I've found Mr Perfect after 3 or 4 looks, on others, it's been ages.

One Mr Perfect was found in Herefordshire, a 5 hour drive from me - thank God he was the right one! He's still with me, and still has a shiny halo.

The other Mr Almost Perfect (he's 5, and he WILL be perfect when he grows up a bit!!) was found after about 6 months and thousands of wasted miles, 30 mins down the road!

The first one was found in Horse and Hound, the second was through word of mouth. There's no right or wrong way about it - some people said to me to avoid ads as they usually all the rubbish that people can't get rid of through word of mouth, and I certainly have seen a lot of rubbish through ads. Others have said avoid dealers/professionals as they'll stuff you, and yet my two best horses came from professionals.

I do wonder if people selling privately are often selling the horse because they don't get on with it or it's difficult, or there's something wrong with it, whereas professionals are more likely to be selling because they're making money from it, or the owner wants to sell, or the horse is not good enough for them, but would be fine for an amateur.

I just know from my own point of view that when I get my hands on a lovely, genuine horse that performs well and is a delight to own, someone would have to kill me to get it off me!

Plus, I wouldn't really need to advertise him, I'd have a queue of friends/pony club mums/trainers who snap my arm off!
 
Ok, if I tell you what I am looking for, please dont fall off your chairs laughing!
A gelding, 7 years or over, 14.2hh-15.2hh, for me to hack out with my daughter, and my husband who has just learnt to ride. We hack out on the New Forest, so something that would calmly cope with the herds of wild ponies that bomb about, cattle and donkeys that hide behind gorse bushes etc. I have quite severe knee problems, so cant cope with anything sharp or spooky. At the moment I either ride my daughter`s old pony, a 13.2 who is incredibly spooky, so I need valium before we start, and morphine, a darkened room and a wine box when we get back, or my husband`s 16.2 who feels like the Lock Ness Monster to me, as I am quite small and he has such a long neck, and getting off is interesting, I seem to be in freefall for hours, then my feet hit the ground, my knees give way, and I end up in a heap under his nose!
I am not after a complete plod, something safely forward going!

Four sound legs and a smile - is he out there?
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I found Mr Perfect straight after giving up my loan horse and he was just up the road. He had a few health issues but we had some great times but unfortunately is now no longer sound
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so is my big pet
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Found another Mr Perfect but I took too long thinking how much it felt like I was betraying Mr Perfect no. 1 and the owner pulled out and kept him
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Found another Mr Perfect but he's not as grown up as advertised but he'll get there
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They were all local, your perfect horse will find you. You'll go see him/her and just know
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Just take your time
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Thanks for all your replies, and words of encouragement.
None of you have owned up to falling off your chairs with hysterical laughter at my description of my "perfect partner" - some might think I was describing a rocking horse!

I will let you all know when my long awaited beastie finds his way into my life.
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My only advice would be to buy something already on the forest if you want a safe fun hack. A lot of horses that would be safe on roads and even forest tracks blow their minds on the forest plus there is always the flies. It takes most horses at least 2 summers to get over the shock of crab flies!

I'm guessing as you are local you have already tried the NFED?
 
Sprout
I'm glad I read this as it's made me realise its not just me.
I am in despair of finding one a) that fits the bill and b) when it does tick all the boxes can get through a blinking vetting.
Good luck with your hunt - I keep telling myself there's one out there for me so I'm sure there's one for you!
 
Burtie, you are so right about the Forest suiting some horses and not others. Luckily the boys we have at the moment have got used to the wide open spaces, ponies stampeeding etc, but for some it literally does blow their minds, and the trouble is, you never know until you try them, its not something you can guess through an apparently calm personality.
Then there are the Crab flies! I really wish someone could invent a fly sray that works for those pesky little monsters!

I do look on the NFED site, desperately hoping something will come up locally - one day.


Thanks everyone for your suport.
 
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