Horse not quite as described

[Abacus]

He could be a Connemara that is positive to HWSD and so his passport has been 'lost' and so he is now non-pedigree passport. What are his feet like?

His feet LOOK amazing - very well shaped, no cracks or crumbling. I haven't had a prop opinion and nor have I yet got a vet to look at his microchip. All I have is the name in his passport and microchip number but will do some research.

 

[TPO]

Are you vetting him while you have him on trial?

 

[maya2008]

Has your son sat on him? What does he think? Horses can go very differently for different people.

 

[Abacus]

Has your son sat on him? What does he think? Horses can go very differently for different people.

Not yet but he has a lesson booked this morning. I wanted to make sure he's basically safe first, which I think he is.

 

[nagblagger]

How did the lesson go?
Any progress in your decision making, has he passed a vetting?
we like updates.....

 

[Rocky159]

Pressed send too soon. I didn't see that page. His passport has been with him since Jan 2018 and has vax history etc.

I am riding him myself - he is intended, not immediately, for my son who is 12 but competent and tall. I think I am a reasonable although amateur rider - have evented to a decent level - he isn't being ridden by an utter novice. I do intend to get a friend who rides my horses (advanced event rider) to have a sit and see what she thinks, and I have a lesson booked tomorrow to get a second opinion. And of course I will give him a full trial up to 6 days - I don't expect perfection on day 1 but am more trying to judge if he is overpriced for what he is, taking into account the nervousness, jumping and passport situation.

He’s definitely over priced.

 

[stormox]

He’s definitely over priced.

Surely the price is decided BEFORE the horse goes on trial?

 

[Abacus]

Surely the price is decided BEFORE the horse goes on trial?

Yes the price is agreed but the trial is to work out if the horse is suitable. If it's good but not quite what was expected then you can always make a lower offer rather than send back. The agent may not agree to it of course.

The lesson actually went very well. Calm well behaved pony, and a happy boy on top. They even jumped (properly tiny), which I didn't expect, and the pony was good. I couldn't actually fault the horse at all. He seems generally more settled.

 

[TPO]

I know that the trial is only for a week so it's understandable that you (generic) would want to "try out all the buttons". But it's a big ask to move a horse to a new place, with new people and a new routine then expect it to adapt immediately and start into ridden work, lessons and jumping.

Despite a couple of posts asking you've never answered about a vetting. Assuming that you are doing the trial in place of a vetting I'd caution against that. If the dealer has already managed to "sneak" an unregistered horse past you I'd worry that you might miss other things. A few extra hundred pounds now might save more further down the line.

If you decide to keep the horse I'd hope that things could ease up for a while after the trial to allow the horse to settle in properly.

 

[Abacus]

I know that the trial is only for a week so it's understandable that you (generic) would want to "try out all the buttons". But it's a big ask to move a horse to a new place, with new people and a new routine then expect it to adapt immediately and start into ridden work, lessons and jumping.

Despite a couple of posts asking you've never answered about a vetting. Assuming that you are doing the trial in place of a vetting I'd caution against that. If the dealer has already managed to "sneak" an unregistered horse past you I'd worry that you might miss other things. A few extra hundred pounds now might save more further down the line.

If you decide to keep the horse I'd hope that things could ease up for a while after the trial to allow the horse to settle in properly.

I couldn't agree more about giving him an easier time after the trial. We haven't actually put much pressure on him. Gentle schooling and a tiny jump, which is much less than many horses his age are expected to do after travelling to a show, albeit here he has riders he doesn't know. We have also spent a lot of time on the ground, for short periods maybe 3 times per day, grooming him and fussing over him and just with him standing there while we do stuff with the others. He is much more settled and is now fine to catch. The latter bit had concerned me - and apologies for forgetting to mention this - because the dealer left me a vm when he was on his way, warning me to keep a headcollar on in the field, which made me think she knew he'd be tricky.

Re: vetting, it's a tricky one simply because of timings and the long weekend - waiting to hear on whether a vet can come on Monday. I'm generally sceptical about the value of vettings but yes of course they might find something that isn't worth taking on as a problem.

 

[GreyDot]

Personally I would strongly recommend having him vetted. And of course the microchip read and checked. Good luck with him, I hope he has found his home.

 

[AmyMay]

Sounds like a cracker.

 

[Wishfilly]

I couldn't agree more about giving him an easier time after the trial. We haven't actually put much pressure on him. Gentle schooling and a tiny jump, which is much less than many horses his age are expected to do after travelling to a show, albeit here he has riders he doesn't know. We have also spent a lot of time on the ground, for short periods maybe 3 times per day, grooming him and fussing over him and just with him standing there while we do stuff with the others. He is much more settled and is now fine to catch. The latter bit had concerned me - and apologies for forgetting to mention this - because the dealer left me a vm when he was on his way, warning me to keep a headcollar on in the field, which made me think she knew he'd be tricky.

Re: vetting, it's a tricky one simply because of timings and the long weekend - waiting to hear on whether a vet can come on Monday. I'm generally sceptical about the value of vettings but yes of course they might find something that isn't worth taking on as a problem.

The replacement passport *could* mean someone is trying to hide issues, though- which to me suggests that getting a vetting in this case would be worthwhile.

He sounds like he was great with your son, but replacement passport with no breeding for what is supposedly a purebred animal always makes me wonder if something is up. Yes, passports get lost, but why wouldn't you replace it with the people who originally issued the passport?

 

[criso]

Even if you don't do a full vetting, getting the microchip scanned could be useful in this case. Talking to a transporter, they often find more than one.