Horse shopping. What rings alarm bells?

[MiniMilton]

<small off topic rant time: feel free to ignore>

Oh dear. The Ireland stereotype has appeared again I see.

Fine. I get it. I am clearly failing in my role as a person from Ireland. My pony is healthy, well handled, and I have no intention of even backing him lightly until he has turned three, preferably four! He sees the vet and trimmer regularly, and is wormed, vaccinated, etc. I do apologise, and shall of course rush out and book pony in for a nice day of hunting as his second birthday present. Silly me, for planning on producing him slowly! Not at all in keeping with the Irish stereotype, how inconsiderate of me...

Seriously, there are plenty of poorly bred and badly produced horses that don't hail from Ireland. And many lovely ones that do. Can we try to remember that please?

<end of rant: insert leprechauns here>

Oh but you forgot the part where all the Irish horses have strangles, ringworm, lice... Nothing to do with the fact that these sort of horses come from dodgy dealers that genuine Irish buyers wouldn't touch with a barge pole!
There are great producers producing top horses and ponies that are disease free but I have given up doing my little rants as it falls on deaf ears with most of HHO

 

[webble]

I think describing the horses as newly backed or green would sound better.

Out of curiosity, who would be giving the references? Vet? Farrier? Instructor? I think my Vet would die laughing if I asked him to provide me with a reference to show i'm worthy enough to buy a horse.

I would much rather buy from someone who interrogated me and asked for refs than someone desperate to sell

 

[Cortez]

I would much rather buy from someone who interrogated me and asked for refs than someone desperate to sell

Oooh, not me! I LURVE it when people are desperate for me to have their horse - means I can strike a very good deal (also why I have had several free ones)!

But then I am from Ireland, where all the horses have lice/strangles/plague and have been hunted at 2/jumped until their legs fall off, or whatever (honestly, what nonsense!).

 

[MiniMilton]

I would much rather buy from someone who interrogated me and asked for refs than someone desperate to sell

I would rather someone gauged my management by discussion with me and checked my experience by online results than to ask me for references. When selling I often have a cheeky google of the name to see what results or Facebook profiles I can see, and if I didn't like the sound of someone or their set up then I would not sell to them. I would never ever ask for references though

 

[Rollin]

That would totally put me off.

Actually it does not. I have already done it.

 

[webble]

I would rather someone gauged my management by discussion with me and checked my experience by online results than to ask me for references. When selling I often have a cheeky google of the name to see what results or Facebook profiles I can see, and if I didn't like the sound of someone or their set up then I would not sell to them. I would never ever ask for references though

That only works for someone who competes though. As you say I would like them to have a good long chat as well but some people can blag whereas an instructor/vet etc will hopefully be more honest about their abilities

 

[MiniMilton]

That only works for someone who competes though. As you say I would like them to have a good long chat as well but some people can blag whereas an instructor/vet etc will hopefully be more honest about their abilities

You would be better trusting your own ears and eyes. The prospective buyer is a paying customer of said vet/instructor. Their loyalties will lie with their paying customers, not some stranger selling a horse

 

[Marydoll]

There are some cracking horses come over from ireland, and only a fool would disregard a horse because of its origin, theyre no better or worse than here

 

[L&M]

My pet hate is an ad selling a horse for a specific discipline, but not actually showing any photos of the horse doing said discipline...........

Also classing a horse as a 'potential hunter' .......a good hunter is worth its weight in gold and very hard to find, not a horse that is just useless at everything else so may as well and up on the hunting field.

I also am very wary of 'selling due to lack of time' or 'sold from field', as screams to me the horse is too much for owner so have just given up and turned them away.....

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

"100% box, shoe"... so, does it hack, can you clip it? Does it go in a trailer or just a horsebox? How has it got to ten years old and never seen clippers? Why is it not a novice ride, and what do you class as novice - I would call myself a novice as essentially I'm a one (well now two since the youngster is riding on) horse owner, and my husband is also a novice but we're very different in our abilities. We are looking at the moment, no rush but the only one we've seen was sold three weeks ago and they hadn't removed the ad, that's another big annoyance!

 

[MiniMilton]

Ooh I just spotted an ad where over every jump the rider has one hand on the reins and the other with the stick in the air giving the horse a jolly good smack. Oh great. So the horse does jump, provided you beat it over every single jump. Sounds like a fun day out

 

[cadefan]

Lets get this right once and for all its ......... conFORMation............
if he is "Confirmed" he is a practicing member of the Church of Pegasus and he will be accompanied by a certificate confirming his Confirmation.
You are expected to conform to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Please confirm you have read, and in future please agree to conform. [rant over]

** practising ** !!

 

[NativePonyLover]

My yard manager & instructor were my references, when I bought P. I don't use either of them now (no big falling out, I just found a yard that suited P better & I went down the natural horsemanship route in the end), but they were both honest & just said he'd be going to a good home. My vet & physio offered (my previous horse was a walking veterinary nightmare & neurotic with it) as they were keen for me up get a non neurotic, veterinary nightmare.

No one though I was odd & his then owner appreciated that she could verify I was a (not very competitive) but nice owner. X

 

[Ruth17]

I avoid POA as I assume it's out of my price range or they make up the price on the spot based on their opinion of my budget! Also the word potential when there is no evidence. Can be sharp - nightmare to ride, needs bringing back into work - why don't they do this themselves and put another grand on the price?

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Oh but you forgot the part where all the Irish horses have strangles, ringworm, lice... Nothing to do with the fact that these sort of horses come from dodgy dealers that genuine Irish buyers wouldn't touch with a barge pole!
There are great producers producing top horses and ponies that are disease free but I have given up doing my little rants as it falls on deaf ears with most of HHO

At one time buying an Irish horse was the right thing to do, especially good for hunters, connemaras, pointers and NH racehorses.
Unfortunately, partly due to the recession the markets are flooded with things that are being sold to get rid, and they are not all healthy and may have been looking for a buyer for some time.
The bigger horses can be sold in E&W and Scotland having been transported in mixed groups, they are schooled at the dealers yard with a view to a quick turnaround, so even yards which once "brought on" nice young horses from scratch have decided just to go for a quick turnaround. It must be quite profitable as they otherwise would not put up with the hassle from unhappy customers.

 

[Loubidy]

Ahh found a worse one, youtube links to heavily edited footage with club music playing!!! No I wan to see the whole thing and I want to hear the horse move. All this editing just makes me assume you've skipped the bit where he bucked!

 

[stevieg]

I also avoid POA, rightly or wrongly assuming I can't afford it. Nothing else puts me off really other than a pic of a horse with poor conformation.
We sold a TB mare some years ago and changed our ad to say 'Not a novice ride' as we were tired of numpties coming to look at her (one guy wanted her so that he could round his cows up!!)

 

[dunkley]

I've even seen 2 ads saying "not for the faint hearted!" ...enough said

This made me laugh! Our lovely big ginger boy was advertised as just that, which is what made us go and see him He had loads of ironwork in his mouth, a kineton AND a grackle, and his 14stone male rider couldn't hold one side of him. I think he appreciated the 8 stone dripping wet teenage girl that he got, who was happy to put him in a snaffle for flatwork, and something a little bit more assertive for xc. He exceeded all expectations, is a perfect gentleman, and we still have him five years later. Actually, we don't - he is on loan to another slightly built young lady, and the worst thing we have heard so far is that he is 'enthusiastic'

I hate adverts for weanling colts at pocket money prices, and adverts demanding a '5* forever home' for a 'much-loved' horse that they have obviously had for not much more than the summer. If you can't/are not prepared to offer a 'forever home', then WHY should you expect someone else to?