How did you choose your horse?

RubysGold

RubysGold

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I was just wondering... I would like another horse.
But one day I want a yearling. The next day I want a 9-10 year old.
One day I want a 14.1hh conne type. The next I want a 16-16.2hh (TBxID, TbxWB spring to mind)
One day I want a chestnut with a blaze, next I want a Dapple grey, then I want another bay
One day I want a confidence giver, a horse that knows everything, the next I want something that I can teach.

Did you just know what you wanted? Or did you start looking without knowing what you were looking for?
With Roo, I wanted a shire, she was the first I saw with shire in her, I knew from the moment I met her she would be mine.
 
Well 3 of mine are rescue sort of and the 4th I knew what I was looking for mainly for my OH and luckerly found him, must admit one of the rescue I got handed the day it was born.
 
Quite easy.

I have a very specific type and colour range in mind and don't bother looking at anything else, I browse the sales pages all the time, if I see something that takes my fancy then I might go to see it.

Currently anything I buy for myself must be

A mare
Palomino, cremello or similar dilute.
Preferably Paint or QH.
Registered.

Then I narrow it down from there...

Bloodlines must be right.

I am not bothered whether a horse has been broken or not, I look for broodmares not riding horses.

Then I might go and look, and if it didn't try to kick me into next week, and all the bits were in the right order in the right places and I could see registration papers then I might hand over some money, load up and go home.
 
When i was looking i started with looking at what i could afford with the budget i had. I wanted something to event so a ready made horse wasnt an option. I had a youngster before so we went for the youngster route. Wanted something between 16-16.3hh, 3-5yr old ... We viewed one horse and loved her :D She was slightly over budget but worth her weight in gold. Shes the most quiet 4yr old iv met, complete dope on a rope but forward to be rode, hacks alone, just generally takes everything in her stride and is so much fun to be around. I did say i didnt want a coloured but she is what she is lol i wouldnt choose anything on its colour tbh but i would deffinatly not have a badly coloured coloured!! I think its good to have a bit of a clue what your after, so i would choose a height/age range and decide what i wanted to do with it.
 
I was given FB to ride at the stables when I took up riding again in Spain, because no one else would ride him. He had a reputation for being difficult (bolting, pulling, rearing). A year later I bought him and I think only 6 other people have ridden him in the last five years.

I wanted a chestnut arab stallion when I was looking for my next horse. I ended up with Ari, a dapple grey, Anglo Arab gelding, but I knew the moment I saw him he would be mine!
 
Well, I wanted a safe, sensible allrounder I could do low level dressage comps with and Em (my daughter) could jump . . . I didn't want a grey, I didn't want a continental horse and I didn't want anything too young.

Kali is an 8-year-old (6 when we tried him) 16.2hh, grey, Polish sporthorse. He is quirky (he is sharp, rears when really challenged) and has a club foot. However, I fell in love with him the minute I saw his ad in H&H - and when we drove onto the yard and I first clapped eyes on him - and when Em galloped him (very first time she had actually done that) and jumped and hacked him, I just knew we had to have him. He's insecure and opinionated - but with the right handling, work, feed and training he has really turned around and is a fun horse to own and ride. Oh, and he's beautiful (but then I'm biased).

What I loved most about him when I met him was his personality - he's friendly, a real "people horse" and has TONS of character . . . and he's very, very sweet and affectionate.

P
 
I didn't :)
Tilly - the uncatchable horse - followed me around the field with her head on my shoulder. I had decided my next horse would be a 7-10yr old, green, flashy, warmblood, 16hh type that could compete etc and instead got a 5yr old, 14.2hh, hairy highland that was unbacked.

Fidley - I had the choice of a cute little pony that came running to call, stood quietly and was oh so well mannered or a pony that jumped at everything, ran away from you, had to leae head collar on to catch and had no training :) Guess which one I picked.
 
The horse I have came to me to be sold - he had so many problems and issues that no one with any sense wanted him so I bought him. Like I needed another horse at the time!
 
Made a list of what was manageable, what would be the most suitable and what I wanted to do with it.. did my research, spoke to people!

2 weeks ago I went to view a horse, ended up deciding to have another one vetted. I just knew as soon as I sat on him he had to be mine.. He arrived today and hopefully we'll have a long, and undoubtably happy future together :) xx
 
we sort of stumbled into her... :D

went to look at a horse at a closing polo yard/riding school and she was the 3rd pony they brought out. she was a lazy dead to the leg so and so and her only issue was napping. so home she came :)
admittedly she turned out to be a real green strong second pony jumping machine (after being taught) type and it took me a year and a half to grow to like her but she taught me and my sister how to ride a real pony rather than a riding school 'zombie'. having said that, i've started a couple lessons at a local riding school and ride a beautiful well balanced and schooled 17.2 ID :D:D
anyway, i realised after meg was the one was us cause when we first turned up at the yard i was standing outside her box and she headbutted me over the door :)
 
when i was looking for my first horse, i did NOT want a bay. I thought they were too average and common. Didnt care whether it was a mare or gelding. Didnt want TB, or arab, or connie. I wanted a coloured, cobby type horse, safe, bombproof allrounder.
I clicked on HorseMart and just typed in my budget. Page 2, i saw the most stunning horse id ever seen. Bay mare, TB x Arab, pregnant by a connie stallion (didnt know for sure, we had her tested after a few months) Hadnt been ridden in over a year, not treated very nicely by the dealers (offered us sticks to hit the horses with) When i went to see her, i saw some stunning horses, all £4000 each. The dealer said she didnt like Lady very much and was selling her very cheap. if she didnt sell her she would go for meat. Then Lady was stood over in the corner, the dealer brought her over, and she gave me that look. I melted, and agreed to buy her and collected her a couple of days later. The other horse was gone out the paddock.
Shes everything i never wanted but i wouldnt change her for the world.
 
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my current lad i bought completely from his piccie, when he arrived he was so so much more full of presence, normally when i buy a hors ei know i will produce and sell but not this lad! i totally adore him (even if he did put one person in hospital)

this was his advert piccie, hes 16.1 just 3 tb x
newhorsie.jpg
 
My old boy 25yr old purebred arab came out of market at 6 mths old, only other person bidding was a meat man. We have had years of fun together mainly doing endurance.

My youngster was bred by Avonbrook Stud, she is a connie x tb and I had a dream that the tb mare was gonna have a grey filly which was genetically impossible but if it happened she had to come to me ! and to this day she has only thrown colts apart from my girl who was born a silver colour !! She has now grown into a gorgeous 16.2hh dunn.

I guess I didnt choose either of mine, they found me !

Love both of mine more than chips :D
 
Diamond. It was her colour. Then size. And gut feeling
Tho didn know she would change colour

Her son I bred

My pony. Appeared on net dec 30th 208 on anniversary of biscuit 1. Death. 30th dec.1995 3hrs. after. Same colour same White leg. Same pet name......Fate.........
 
I bought mine because I felt really safe on her the first time I rode her ironic as she put me in hospital 9 months later! But despite our ups and downs I still adore her and hope we will have many years to make up for the hardwork and heart ache of the last couple!
 
Haha, my first horse was one of those "landed in my lap" situations...he wasn't suitable, I was massively overhorsed, but he needed someone who understood him and I learned an AWFUL lot on him.

When I went looking again last year, I decided I wanted a straight-forward, 7-12 schoolmaster. I'm not colour-biased but had fallen for the ID as a breed after helping my friend and YO break in her youngster.

I broke ALL the rules in the book...I went alone to a dealer (just to try out a bunch of horses in one place really), agreed to try out something I wasn't looking for, fell in love, didn't even haggle and put a deposit down on the spot. I saw him on the Monday, had him vetted on the Tuesday and brought him home on the Wednesday.

My 7-12 yo schoolmaster became a rising 5 green-as-grass youngster, but I climbed on board and it felt like I'd always been there! He was completely bomb-proof, continuing at a lovely sensible canter into the jump we were aiming towards when a horse went absolutely ballistic and reared not 10ft from him! Riding wise he actually couldn't be more perfect for me if someone had designed him for me! He pushes me just enough without scaring me and even won "horse the organiser would most like to take home" at riding club camp! :D

Shame he's a thug in the field, but he wasn't like that when he arrived, so I suspect he's growing into that.
 
From Tiny advert in H&H with no pic and again the seller was very honest. I jumped a queue of about 5 others and asked if I could just have a peek(he was only 14.1) and we didnt know if he was going to be too small etc

I told the lady I just wanted to LOOK to exclude him(but turned up in jods boots etc) and before she knew it he was caught tied up (& what did it he fell asleep..I was after plod & he wasnt doped) and we knew before we even got on board that he was the one. Our half hour trial road/field...cantering to home and out in company) I handed her a cheque there and then! She was quite shocked and then worrying about telling the other buyers he was SOLD!

He was advertised as a family horse but can be stubborn(yes cob) and probably more 2nd horse. I think if we hadnt turned up I know I would have lost him. FATE! & a rare honest seller. And a very good boy.
 
Wanted a horse to ride.

Went to see a foal, ended up buying his brother - also foal! He's now 7, broke him in myself he's everything I could wish for.

But, I'm now looking at another foal haha sister for him .... someone talk me out of it!
 
I think you know as soon as you sit on them :)

Both of mine were everything I didn't want appearance wise. My first is stunning with beautiful paces bit of a stress head at times. My second is bombproof on the roads but is no longer rideable :(
 
with my old TB I didn't have any preset ideas other than safe and within budget lol, colour and age wasn't important so i ended up with an 18 yr old bay mare, she was safe apart from one quirk, ride her in an open field and she would panic and run for the hedge!
The 2 i have now kind of found me! Big girl i was asked to take on loan by her sharer as the owner could no longer keep her and she was going to go to a dealer, i agreed as i'd not long lost the TB. At that time i'd also been offered the chestnutter, 6 yrs old and unbacked:D liked the look of him, fancied a challenge so accepted:D Within months they'd both been gifted to me and have been with me now for about 4 years. they're with me for life so i won't be horse searching for a long long while:)
 
We chose D because he either came to us or he was PTS the next day because he was dangerous, 5 years on and he is still here :D Didn't try him out, had we have tried him, we would never have had him!! It took a year before I would w/t/c him!! Now he has definitely been the best thing to ever happen :)

And our new boy A we have on loan because perfect timing has lead him to us in a perfect situation for us/his owner/ him. Obviously I tried him and liked him.
 
I was just looking for a safe all rounder between 14-14.2hh as my first pony (after sharing) because I wanted to be able to ride and compete more than my contract allowed me to.
I went to see a fair few that had nothing wrong with them but just didn't feel right, went to see a stunning coloured and got so drawn in by his looks that I bypassed his awful ground manners and nappiness and ended up being thrown off and breaking my arm. After our seach was briefly halted Mum gave me a stack of adverts to order, I placed Comet's last but after telephone calls he was the only one either available or suitable.
When I walked into his stable he kissed me, so that was a few brownies points to his name. We viewed him twice and had him vetted to make sure he was the right pony and I couldn't have found anything more perfect for me. He's taken me from plodding around hacks to riding on the welsh endurance team, from running out of every xc fence to jumping hay carts and barrels first time, from never getting placed in dressage to consistently being placed. He's got his quirks and sometimes I could happily shoot him but he's fab :)

Maisie wasn't really even for sale, I'd known her as a 3yr old when she'd just arrived at the yard where I used to share. I had her first canter when she was being broken in :) She already had someone waiting to buy her when unfortunately a field accident put her out of work for a year nearly taking her life several times. When I bought Comet, she was just coming back into work and I remember being allowed to ride her in the school and being in awe of how well mannered she was for an unschooled just broken 4 year old. A year and a bit down the line, she was being shared and was well known for her lovely nature but rumours were circulating that due to her lack of jumping ability she would be going up for sale. Dad had been riding a mare at the yard for a few months so Mum enquired as to whether Maisie would be suitable for Dad. I think the fact that her owner knew us and would see us made the decision to sell her a lot easier so she agreed to let us try. Dad rode her 3 times and we bought her :)
 
i didnt want anything with TB in it (bad experiences in past put me off tbs!!) after several let downs i decided to give up looking for a horse. my ex came across Quin an encouraged me to arrange to go and visit him. I wasnt expecting anything special. But as soon as i saw him i knew i wanted him. 9 months on we have a bond i've never had with a horse and i feel like we've really conected.

My little pony, i didnt really know what i was looking for, just a companion for my horse really. I fell in love with her as soon as i saw her. I didnt want a mare but hey ho, i dont look back on my decision to get her, she loves my horse and he loves her :)
 
my current horse was a gift - owner was getting a new horse and didn't want to see Jerry passed about/ridden into the ground.

First horse was found by my riding instructor - I didn't really have any preferences then. I was just excited about getting my own horse :rolleyes:

I do have quite a specific idea of what Im looking for when I start to look for the next one though
 
I was looking for months when with my ex Husband,he hated horses,well this was well before internet,looking in local papers and word of mouth.

I ended up driving to spalding from Derby from word of mouth to see the chestnut in my sig,was brill on the day,been a nightmare to catch and a nervous wreck since,would never part with him now.(been close)

When i lived in Lincs made good friends with a lady who had alot of youngsters for sale,told me to walk round field she had ,really really liked a certain one(for the colour and size)well some other one kept bugging me and would not leave me alone,went with the one that bugged me.Thats the fatboy in my pics and I have to say the best horse I have ever had the pleasure of owning.

The one I liked first Heard from the owner was the worse one she has ever had to deal with was a nightmare to break.
 
I went to a dealers in Manchester, quite a drive from Worcestershire, to see a 15hh coloured mare. The dealer was very honest warning me that this mare was very forward, and she was! Much too forward for me. In the stable next to her was a dirtyish little 14.2 mare, aged 5, not at all what I was looking for. My friend who had travelled with me persuaded me to try her. As soon as I got on her I felt like I could have hacked her out for miles and couldn't contain the grin on my face :)!

Told the dealer I would give it some thought, trying to be VERY sensible, but by the time we hit the service station on the motorway, I was pulling in and calling him to say I would have her.

She came with sarcoids, a very short mane and a little underweight, but she is the best horse I have ever owned. This little mare can turn her hoof to anything.
 
I didn't choose any of mine they all found me!!
First boy I wasn't looking for a pony just liked going to watch shows. We got talking to a lady who said she had the perfect horse for us. We declined her offer as dad would never of agreed but she insisted and gave us her number a few months past and we met her at another show(my 15 birthday) she offered us the gelding on loan for the winter before she sold him we couldn't refuse and I went to try him. She didn't paint a pretty picture of him lumps and bumps doesn't like jumping anymore so we didn't even ask his colour! Well i always wanted a black horse with a White star due to a dream I'd had about a foal. We couldn't believe it when we drove on the yard and there was this bright eyed dark bay pony!!the rest is history sadly he passed away 3years ago now.:(
My mare arrived on my 18th birthday but not as my present just up the yard to sale.she wasn't my type an Arab chesnut mare just out of racing!!I instantly liked her but didn't want two horses! Then she caught her leg in the fence talking to my gelding and somehow I ended up looking after her! She was such and easy patient I couldn't not have her!!
My other horse is my ex boyfriends! Though I chose him and again we went looking he was just up the yard !!think he just gave me that look over the fence to be honest!
I'm not sure where I would start if I had ever had to actually look at adverts :D
 
I didnt have a clue just knew it had to be over 16.1hh or I would look stupid. Didnt know what breed/height/age or anything I was looking for. As it goes I went for a lesson somewhere and saw him over the door and said if I could have any horse it would be him - he was for sale so I tried him twice and that was that. More than double my budget and the dodgyest vetting ever later (long long story) and here he is with me. Biggest mistake ever really but I wouldnt be without him now the poor pony!!
 
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