Horse I know for sale, but isn't as described.

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MissMincePie&Brandy

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I have just seen an advert for a horse I know, that belongs to a very odd woman I don't particularly like.

Anyway, the horse is on for a big price (double what she paid) and the description is not very truthful. The description in the advert says:
Lovely snaffle mouth, never pulls. Exceptional on the ground
No vices, easy to box shoe clip
A pleasure to own
Reluctant sale due to change of circumstances

In fact, the horse rears, does not hack alone, can't be tied up, has just recovered from a tendon injury (no doubt this will not be mentioned to prospective buyers), and IMO not enough road walking was done in the following months after his injury, as he is not nice to hack, oh, and he has a sarcoid. The 'change in circumstances' actually means 'too bloody scared of the horse and had enough of it because he's not progressing'
The horse has remained consistently good at lower level dressage, but he is not easy to do and was competed by a professional dressage trainer, because he can be difficult to contain when out. The advert says 'he has huge ability and capable enough to be taken to higher levels'. IMO he has gone as far as he can and is almost in his teens. He would not be a pleasurable horse for the average amateur rider to compete on who wants to do novice and eli tests. If he was capable of going to the higher levels he would not be for sale.

Meow? Sour grapes? Well, I don't like the woman who owns the horse and the reason I don't like her is because she is a very manipulative liar and I was caught in one of her traps once.

It really does go to show - The advert is very slick, professional sounding and well written, with some super photos, and going from the write up, it makes him sound like the elusive perfect horse with a price tag to match, but I know him and I wouldn't touch him with a bargepole and he is grossly overpriced.

I hope nobody else falls victim to this woman, as she will ensure the horse can't be returned once they realise he isn't what they thought. If the buyers are unaware of his tendon injury that will probably erupt again if he's taken for a gallop or jumped any time soon, and the tendon injury is unlikely to be detected in a vetting if the woman doesn't declare it, which she wont.

I'm not going to do anything about it. I can't, but it has made me feel better writing this ;)
I'll probably regret it as soon as it's posted :/
 
These things come out! If its going for good money people will expect a lot for it. They will probably have it vetted, or bring a trainer, and will easily see through the fake if things aren't true. You can write a good advert, and get viewings, but you can only sell what is there... Sit back and observe. You don't need to worry about it..x
 
Can you not get in touch with the place it is advertised, eg horsemart or whatever, and inform them that this woman is advertising falsely. They may not do anything, but at least you can say you've tried then, rather than just ranting about it on a forum and then leaving her to possibly cause someone injury if they buy the horse under false pretences.
 
I am in the same situation, i went to try a horse which the owner refused to ride, got someone else on who was thrown off within seconds and rather stupidly i still got on. I spent about 10 mins on the horse with it trying every trick in the book before getting off, its advert stated 4, green but done basics, but she admitted it was just 3 after i got off, i doubt it was even fully broken in as the poor thing seemed so confused. It was absolutely terrified of having a saddle on and i was later speaking to someone at the yard who said until 4 days before i saw it it was just unhandled. Now its readvertised for sale again 2 weeks later described as suitable for anyone, 5 years old and a hand bigger than when i saw it. Amazing that. Why cant some people just dam well be honest.
 
Agree with above,good things come to those who wait! Just sit back and I'm sure she will get what she deserves,maybe not right away but it'll all come out at some point. Its good you got it off your chest though
 
somethingorother said:
Can you not get in touch with the place it is advertised, eg horsemart or whatever, and inform them that this woman is advertising falsely. They may not do anything, but at least you can say you've tried then, rather than just ranting about it on a forum and then leaving her to possibly cause someone injury if they buy the horse under false pretences.
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No, of course not! No advertising site is going to take the word of some-one who may or may not have their own axe to grind and may or may not be telling the truth, without evidence, which OP is not in a position to provide. As always it is a case of 'caveat emptor'. If this horse is going for a high price, I assume it will be vetted. If a novice should attempt to ride, it would appear that they will soon find out that is not an easy ride, experienced horse people are not easily taken in.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
No, of course not! No advertising site is going to take the word of some-one who may or may not have their own axe to grind and may or may not be telling the truth, without evidence, which OP is not in a position to provide. As always it is a case of 'caveat emptor'. If this horse is going for a high price, I assume it will be vetted. If a novice should attempt to ride, it would appear that they will soon find out that is not an easy ride, experienced horse people are not easily taken in.
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Well i doubt there would be anything to lose from trying.

Experienced people may not be, but they're not the ones we need to worry about are they? How many stories do you hear of novices buying expensive horses which are advertised as perfect. They then hit the dust numerous times, horse gets passed on and is probably worse than when they bought it. Usually ends up in a can.
 
somethingorother said:
Well i doubt there would be anything to lose from trying.

Experienced people may not be, but they're not the ones we need to worry about are they? How many stories do you hear of novices buying expensive horses which are advertised as perfect. They then hit the dust numerous times, horse gets passed on and is probably worse than when they bought it. Usually ends up in a can.
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And more fool them. I'd never get on a horse the owner refused to get on - even if owner had broken bones and couldn't ride I'd be suspicious of how she got broken. I'd also take an expert with me who knows what to check, and can thoroughly check over the horse, I'd visit twice and arrive very early if I was at all suspicious (to see if they were lunging or riding off some energy) and I'd have a 5* vetting. I m ight be the buyer from helll but if I was in any doubt I'd walk away.
 
And if someone does buy this horse and it goes wrong even as a private seller she does still have some responsibilities. The best thing to do when buying privately is take a copy of the advert with you and get the seller to sign and date it confirming the ad is correct. Then if the "paragon of virtue" turns out to be anything but you do have some comeback via Trading Standards or whatever.

Can you guess we've had some close misses hence doing the above now? Thankfully never ended up buying one but came close...
 
Very frustrating :-( I agree with ISHmad, and one big advantage of being off a reputable dealer is they want to protect their good name and the fact that Trading Standards are more able to do something if horse is not as described. I always print out a description of the horse. Lets hope this horse gets the right home and at a bargin price!
 
Sadly I think the advert is pretty much par for the course.

I know there ARE honest sellers out there, but most horse sellers make second hand car and double glazing salesmen look like saints!
 
Oh god, don't start this post again - my friend went through the same thing a couple of months ago - turned out someone on here was actually going to see the horse, me and my friend got branded liars and all sorts by HHO users, and then the new owner of the horse came on and started 'kicking off' it all got rather like an episode of Jeremy Kyle! Then HH took it offlline! Anyway, it IS annoying, but you can't actually do anything about it, apart from maybe have a quiet word with the viewers..!?!
 
Thanks for ISHmad. Signing the advert sounds excellent advice to me.

I was just as annoyed as the OP when I was looking at ads last night, and spotted a horse I have viewed had been put on a new site.

I didn't get on when I went to view, and tbh, apart from the photo, would not have recognised the horse from the saintly advertisement.

Given its a traditional cob, I'm guessing a novice will probably get burnt.
 
Misinterpreted said:
I have just seen an advert for a horse I know, that belongs to a very odd woman I don't particularly like.

Anyway, the horse is on for a big price (double what she paid) and the description is not very truthful. The description in the advert says:
Lovely snaffle mouth, never pulls. Exceptional on the ground
No vices, easy to box shoe clip
A pleasure to own
Reluctant sale due to change of circumstances
Click to expand...

Going to go against the flow here... whilst this may not be very truthful, is it actually dishonest? The horse may have a snaffle mouth, especially if it can do basic dressage. It might be fine to box, shoe, clip (doesn't mention traffic or the other one that most genuine ads do) and not have any stable vices. A pleasure to own is just an opinion and change of circumstances can be anything and hard to prove.

Buyer beware and when I rang up about this horse I would be asking specific questions, such as has he ever reared or bucked, can I speak to your vet about his medical record? etc etc.
 
Is this horse a one off private sale? Google her mobile/landline numbers and you'll soon see if she's doing a little 'trading'. If so, this would come under the Trading Standards radar and maybe even the Inland Revenue because you can bet she's not declaring this income. Did you see last Thurs and the Thurs before articles in H&H on Jamie Gray of Spindles Farm and what he's been up too and how much money he owes!

I feel sorry for the poor horse. What will happen to that? We live in such a disposable society. Too many horses are being passed around when we get sick of them instead of trying to help them. I hope there is a happy outcome for this horse.
 
I know I cant be the only one who has noticed that the proportion of horses for sale in H&H where the reason for sale is supposedly owners ill health is much higher than a year or two back. Either theres a hidden health crisis or not everyone is being quite truthful.....
 
Unfortunately I think we all know someone who has either bought a falsely described horse or sold one :(

Lady on my yard sold her daughters first pony as it was out grown but failed to mention that it had suffered from laminitis that summer :eek: Then when new owners rang about it denied all knowledge :mad: :mad:

Same lady tried to sell the new pony she bought for her daughter (over horsed her :( ) for twice what she paid for it but ended up selling it for half what she paid :D
 
As long as people have been buying horses sellers have been lying about them.
It used to give me a giggle quite often when you'd get people on here posting freely about their problems with a particular horse and some months later you'd get the "how much" or "what do you think of my ad" where the adverts never (or rarely) mentioned anything to do with the problems.
 
These are things that the buyer should pick up on quite quickly when they go to view. Horses for sale are described as better than they are all the time. That's why buyers need to be thorough when checking them out.
 
I know it's dreadful the amount of people who exagerrated the truth or downright lie about a horse but, at the end of the day the old "buyer beware" saying should still come into play. Unless the vendor has drugged the horse (in which case you would have legal comeback) it is the responsibility of the buyer to check the suitability of the horse for them. A vetting will show up any tendons injuries (they are fairly difficult to hide!) and the buyer should be trying the horse more than once and in different circustances.

God the amount of horses I have tried in the past who have blatantly been for sale as the owner is terrified of them. Also, the amount of times I have heard the line "ooh, he's never done that before"! Yeah right - there is a difference between a green/novicey horse and one with established vices like rearing.

I don't think you can necessarily say the ad is misleading as, as someone said unless there is an outright lie in there for example saying the horse had won x,y,z competitions, there's not much you can do and the buyer should be asking the questions. If you ask "has it ever reared, bucked etc?" you can tell straight away if a vendor is being truthful in their response.
 
I quite agree its "buyer beware". Quite frankly anyone who pays a lot of money for a horse (or even not a lot of money), who is not very experienced, and who doesn't take someone else more experienced with them or have it vetted deserves what they get...

My neighbour (very novice, had a horse 20yrs ago and rode our horses from time to time) decided to buy a pony that she could "mother-daughter share" with her 5yr old last autumn. Bought a four year old because I had bought a four year old for my husband's first horse and it had gone well (bear in mind that I'm a BHSAI and would never have bought him a 4yr old if I hadn't been planning to bring it on while he hacked out on it). She couldn't arange a day for me to come to see it with her - as had already arranged transport to pick it up, and didn't have it vetted. The pony was quite nice. When it had its jabs it turnded out to be 3. Over the winter it ran off with her, bucjked her off, terrorised her child, and generally turned from a pony with a future in experienced hands to a nightmare that was sold to a dealer for a quarter of what she paid for it after 6 months.

I really don't think its anyone's place to ring up trading standards. It sounds like there is a personal axe being ground here.
 
Well it's very difficult. Having recently bought 2 horses, I have to say that private sellers seem to be great or awful. They can be too honest and get no viewings or misleading ( I wouldn't say lie) and that is a waste of time for everyone. And almost all the horses were in my opinion overpriced, compared to the 2 I bought. They were both very honestly described and proved far better than expected.
When I was looking, several horses I knew were being advertised and their adverts were misleading, but not strictly untrue. eg competed BE, recently won novice. (The win was a PC 75cm class.)
Anyway with each viewing or phone call I thought of more things to ask and in future I'll probably go to a reputable yard - I think they work harder to maintain a good reputation and the horse will have been produced properly, but you don't get a bargain.
It is the first time owners who really get stung and everyone will know a novice with an unsuitable horse.
 
Things like this really frustrate me!! It is the same with descriptions of livery yards - from personal experience you know that everything is the total opposite to how it is described!!
As soemone else has said, these things come out in the end - but in the meantime all you can do is make sure you inform people of the facts and advise them to steer well clear. Or at least give them the facts so they can make their own informed decision.
 
someone i knew had a pony that frequently fell over (as in hit the deck) for no apparent reason (coming out of its box, or even in the field).
No vet was ever consulted, as that was 'just what he did'

and the pony also reared. a lot. owner had initially encouraged the rearing as she said 'it makes him look like a freisan' (mmm) but when the pony started coming over backwards with her he frightened her and was put up for sale.

the person coming to see the pony was a novice. She had just recently started riding and had bought her first horse, a freshly OTTB, and had discovered it wasnt suited... so she wanted a nice steady pony.
she rode the pony round the field a couple of times and went away, and i decided i couldnt keep my mouth shut (although i did want to see the back of this owner, and the pony to go somewhere nice) and i would have a quiet word with the prospective buyer when she came up for the vetting, and mention the fact that it fell over randomly, and was a rearer (obviously i couldnt contact her before as i didnt know who she was/contact details).

unfortunately, she bought the pony and had it delivered without having it vetted. no idea how she went on. but id be surprised if was a happy ending....
 
I see your point, really I do, its not nice when people palm horses of as something completely different but from what you have said and the brief description you have taken from the add, the horse could be every ounce of what the owner has stated, or in someone elses eye.

Just because you don't see eye to eye with this person...fair enough, but your bound to look and see all the negative aspects about the horse, would you be quite so eaten up about it if the horse belonged to someone you liked?
 
Haha, i have to say how many times people i know try and sell their horse for a huge amount saying its great and its actually well below the averagely schooled horse, i just bite my tongue as im not one for starting an argument, some people do it for money (like the woman you mentioned) and some people just genuinely don't have a clue. Saying a horse is well schooled when it goes round like a bag or C*** is one thing but saying a horse is safe when it clearly isn't is dangerous and just wrong.
 
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