Horse-hunting rage...

C

chillidragon

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I have read fifty thousand adverts and I'm beginning to have little spasms of rage...

Genuine sale - No sh** Sherlock! I thought I'd turn up to find the joke was on me...
A real leg on each corner - As above
Coloured cob - Patently bay/black/no-white-whatsoever super-featherweight
Comes with 8-month old 2* vetting certificate - OMG, no really...
Working well on the flat - Pic of horse with hollowed back, pinned ears, white eyes, frothing mouth and whip-marks (I kid you not)
A super/outstanding/genuine/real/stunning/quality gent/donkey/brick... - Pic of very ordinary horse, or worse, raggedy, unkempt, dull-coated, unloved neddie
Real family horse - Pic of horse being ridden/crushed by sunburnt, grubby, overweight, topless, hatless, random male
Open to vetting - Pic of rider armchair-slouching on horse's loins
Bombproof/novice ride/confidence-giver - Pic of rider death-grip-clutching draw-reins attached to a mouth stuffed with more ironmongery than a smithy and winched in tight with a 6" standing martingale.
Typos: aperlooser, temperment, featcher (feature), sadley, confirmation - You want five figures for your horse and can't even be bothered to spell-check?

Okay, I feel better now
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. But seriously, do some people not think before they put finger to keyboard and post their adverts?
 
I know how you feel. I'm helping my neice's friend look for a pony atm. We went to see a 14.1 supposedly superb allrounder this morning only to find it was lightly backed in March, has never left the yard it was born on and has only ever done light ground work - no jumping or anything
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To add insult to annoyance the ad said chestnut and it was light bay and it was def under 14hh
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Tell me about it!!! I cannot believe what the dealers think you wanna pay good money for. I rang several local ones who almost laughed in my face when I told them my budget...when I did see some they all had some issue or other, one I was shown had never been in a school and had panic attacks and he still wanted 3.5k for it . hilarious
 
Yes, it is gutting. I could write a book on the wasted hours I have spent horse hunting. And the worst thing is I don't feel I can be nasty and say 'your horse is s**t and misdescribed and you've misled me' - as to the owner it IS wonderful. With the advent of DVD's adn videos it is making things easier, though often they can be quite skillyfully edited (i.e to take out the bucking, rearing and lamenesss)
 
Well for all those horse hunting I know of one very genuine horse for sale that is not misdescribed! He's not mine by the way
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but I sometimes ride him so am fond of him and want to see him in a nice HHO home!
 
I read your post and smiled...
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it really annoys me too when I read 'between the lines' so to speak. However, I tried to sell my Welshie and was totally honest in the advert to save me answering those 'awkward' questions and how many calls did I get??? None! Two emails - not suitable - and one person who kindly pm'd me. Decided to keep the old man and enjoy him!!
 
Can I add 1 to the list, please? I heard it tonight from a friend trying to buy 1 who had a phone conversation with a seller. I have titled it "So is the f***ing horse for sale or not?":
"My ex boyfriend and I jointly own the horse and he hasn't agreed to sell it yet."
"So is the horse for sale or not?"
"Yes. Providing he agrees, which I think he will do. Although he did say no last time I spoke to him."
It goes on...
 
What Fiorano says about honesty is quite a difficult subject. Do you think people expert ads to be overhyped or do you think most people expect total honesty? Being cynical myself I expect hype from most and the others who are generally genuine peeps misdescribe as they love their horse and can't see its faults!

Aslo there is the attitude of the seller. A friend of mine is a BD judge and only competes her horses when they are established at a level above the comp - this pretty much ensures she is in the top 3 every comp - so she gets qualified for the regionals etc. Less ambitious people may describe the same horse very differently as they know the horse could go out and compete at a certain level and do quite well - maybe it wouldn't win and hence not qualify for championships - but would do a good job and get 6's. So could my friend be putting her horse down too much and inadvertantly making him sound like he's not much good? Whats the right way to go - give people a very good surprise but maybe struggle to get interest, or slightly overhype and make some (but not all) people dissapointed?
 
I remember looking for a heavyweight for my novice then OH and my sister to share. We went to look at one about an hour and a half away, had explained just what we were looking for. The poor mare we saw was an underweight lightly built TB. I was to be the test pilot and stood there thinking, no way am I getting on that (the bloke selling it got on out of sight!) The story of its being there and it's scabby knees made no sense at all. I came up with the perfect 'get out of riding that' comment. Looking him in the eye I said "I think it is too forward going for us" We then got back in the car and drove an hour and a half back home again. We saw three when we bought the most recent, didn't get on two BUT the third was perfect, just as described, lovely honest seller, and the horse is now at home and sister is enjoying her
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Its not just horses! I'm currently looking for a lorry and have found that....

'Compact living' - Means you cant even turn round.
'sleeps 2/3/4' - If your all midgets
'day living' - Tack area
'airy horse area' - Roof has holes
'Good runner' - 10 years ago


...it goes on.... i can totally sympathise. Good luck.
N xx
 
I went tonight to see a £12k 7yo dutch WB who is claimed to be loose jumping 1.70 and easily schooling home 1.30. Girl didn't want to ride it, only had a bit of a field, said it had not been ridden all winter, it was as fat as a house. I made her ride it and she would only walk and trot, it was as backward and lazy and she had no jumps. Apparantly they paid a lot of money for it as a 4yo, it can really pop a fence but is very very green. Oh and its superb elevated paces were as flat as a pancake.

Doh!!!
 
I know just how you feel. I could add
"back on the market due to timewasters" = failed vetting
"15.2" = 14.2
Lovely manners - provided you don't go in it's stable where it goes into attack mode.
Lovely to hack - we walked 100 yards it up & down the road once.


I understand that it is difficult to describe a horse, one riders forward going fun ride is anothers maniac. Safe hack to one is dead plod to some one else, but there is no excuse for getting the height a whole hand wrong or describing a badly arthritic horse as a superb dressage prospect or a badly scarred horse as ideal for showing. And as for describing ahorse as bombproof when it spooks at everyday objects around the yard - luckily that was a 15.2 that was 14.2 so I just said too small & left (thankfully only a half hour drive to that little gem).
 
[ QUOTE ]
"back on the market due to timewasters" = failed vetting
"15.2" = 14.2
Lovely manners - provided you don't go in it's stable where it goes into attack mode.
Lovely to hack - we walked 100 yards it up & down the road once.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think I'm going to write a book on the whole horse-hunting experience, complete with pictures and HHO anecdotes and I will become a millionaire when it is turned into a box-office smash hit. That or I will go slowly mad and lose the will to live.
 
I do sympathise, i personally always describe anything i sell exactly as it is, but on the other side, you want to see the numptys which come out and cant ride....
 
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