How did you know when you found the 'right' horse?!

Interesting question! I found mine through word and mouth so no photos to look at before hand!

When I was looking for my current horse I remember the morning of the viewing before I left saying to friends 'that there was no point me going, probably wouldn't end up even liking the horse...'. I'd viewed a fair few before hand and actually almost bought one, got it vetted and luckily it failed, I never had a good feeling about buying it...funny how things work out!

Anyway I went to view this horse and he looked okay when I saw him, wasn't love at first sight. I got on and rode him and as soon as I trotted him I just knew we were buying this horse, it was just a magical moment that I wasn't expecting.

We've had our ups and downs - I didn't ride for months because of zero confidence and when I did we didn't do much. I felt scared most of the time and we didn't really have a bond.

But this year we clicked and we've done so much together and we have a strong bond and I just adore him! :D I couldn't have honestly found a better horse for me.
 
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i have permission for this please dont be boring and push! I now own the rights
 
I only go to view horses that I really like the sound/look of from the ad and after I've spoken to the vendor. The last several horses I've bought have been either the first or second that I've seen. If when I get there the horse is as described, I know that will be what I want.
Since the time when we travelled the breadth of the country, from Liverpool to Hull only to find the perfect horse within hacking distance of home, I restrict myself to travelling no more than an hour but have had no problem finding what I am looking for.
 
I am ruled by my heart.
When i bought my mare, the ad said she was shirextb, I loved shires so arranged to view (was inexperienced and just knew i like shires) picture was rubbish so didn't know what i was viewing. I saw her stood in stable, and i knew she would be mine.

when i bought my boy, he was over budget, but i saw his photo on the advert and could not stop looking at him and thinking about him. I borrowed the extra £250 from my parents and after a viewing and a vetting I brought him home pretty quick :D
 
I got my pony from the auction and I didn't like him at all! My mum bought him anyway and he was far too much for me, still is truth be known but the thing is I wouldn't swap him for the world and he is the perfect pony for me because he is difficult and because I have to work to make myself better all the time. Last year I had an awful fall and ended up in hospital, my mum tried to sell him but I wouldn't let her because I knew I had to work to right all the wrongs. So five years into owning him I realise he is the perfect pony for me as he has taught me so much, I dont think you can just see from a picture I think you got to experience a perfect horse
 
Almost every horse I've been to see hasn't been as described in one way or another. I always ring and chat to the seller first and every single seller has given me the feeling of excitement until I've turned up or until I've got on.. One way or another it's never like I'm expecting and after quite a few disappointments I'm now just waiting for the next one.

I've fallen in love particularly with two photos- one of which I knew the moment I sat on him it wasn't going to work and the other left me content (not particularly excited just content it was what they said it was) but the horses physical state was such a difference to the amazing photos I'd been coo-ing over that I left feeling really quite gutted.
 
when i bought my old boy i knew then and there he was the one. i was 14 and he was my first ever horse. my mum wanted me to have a plod but i had my heart set on a tb (having worked weekends at a racing yard since i was 12). the first thing my mum said when we saw him was "my god he is ugly!" but to me he was perfect with his big roman nose, donkey ears and gangly legs. i tried him out and loved him but when he wouldnt stand still and kept doing silly little bunny hops i thought my mum wouldnt let me have him. luckily my boss's wife came with us and distracted mother and reassured her he was ok. 2 weeks later i brought him home and he had been as perfect as what i expected! he had his moments and being an ex racehorse we had a lot of training to do but we taught each other. finally had to have him pts last week but upto his last breath he has always been the one for me. i have another horse which ive had for nealy 2 years now, he is also an ex racer and i looked after him in training. when i first sat on him i knew he was something special to me and said to his old owners when he retires he will always have a home with me if they cant find one for him. i dont get the same excitment as i did with my older horse but we do have alot of fun and i know you shouldnt have favourites (and i wouldnt tell him...he has a big ego problem!) but he will never be as special as my old boy.
 
Don't be disheartened, it took me ages (about 40 viewings) and 100s of miles to find my boy. I wasn't even sure if I should go see him as he was older than I wanted and also a bit small but I'm obviously so glad I went.

I knew he was the one when we went for a hack on the second viewing and he didn't put a hoof wrong - he made me feel so safe. That combined with his amazing movement and his trainability made it a no brainer
 
I knew instantly with my late mare. Like you, I had been searching for a while and not one of the horses I saw filled me with any enthusiasm. I began to wonder if I even wanted another horse! I put a wanted ad on a horsey website saying I wanted a gelding over 16 hh and could offer a forever home to the right horse. My least favourite colour, other than grey and coloured, is bright bay. Someone answered my ad saying they had a 16hh 6yr old mare for sale with three white socks and that she wasn't at all mareish. Immediately I read the email, I had a strong feeling about her and travelled 3 hours each way to view her. I had no photographs to go by but the instant I saw her I knew she was 'the one'. As soon as I entered her stable I could see she was not 16hh but around 15.3hh and bright bay! But she was my horse of a lifetime and I miss her so much.

I did not search for long for the horse I am now buying. I saw a few, and though one was really nice, he had serious conformation faults and I had to walk away. When I saw the filly I am buying, I knew she was right for me even though she has no white on her (she's a dark buckskin) and I like a lot of white on my horses. But she has a bold, friendly nature, is a little small at 15 hh (but at two I am hoping she will grow a couple more inches). Her movement is to die for. Just so straight and with the most fabulous natural extension in her trot. I hope she's the right one. It's harder to know when you are grieving, I think.
 
My two have been found by chance.

I was about 11 looking for a 2nd pony went to south wales to look at a connie mare that was so obviously wrong for us, we stopped at our caravan and picked up the free friday ad book and my welsh d mare was in there only down the road from where we were staying. I have had her over 10 years now.

Then we were looking again for my mum a couple of years ago, we bought a welsh d, he was ok but didn't seem quite right for her, she went on holiday down to previous said caravan and was looking on preloved when she saw this picture of a mare on a beach. She recognised the beach as the one below our caravan, she showed me, that weekend i went down looked at the mare, my mum was in love with her and we bought her. Sold other cob on to better home he was never going to be right for us.

We now say if we are looking we will head down to our caravan to find them.
 
I had been chatting to a lady on here about how awful my loan mare was and she was such a support. The loan finished after a few months and she went back and I heard about a little TB looking for a forever home so went to see him. He failed the vetting sadly so even though he would have cost me a quid I still walked away :(

Within a few days someone pointed me in the direction of a FB page selling loads of horses locally due to the owner having a life changing accident. I called up a lady called Mel about a bay TB they had in the pics and after the phone call I called her back was was like ... 'is that Mel from HHO?' ... transpired it was the same person I had been blubbing to on here about my loan mare, lol! So within 24 hours the TB had been moved to her yard down the road from his original yard and I went to see him ... What greeted me was this big, scragly unkept horse that looked very odd shaped and so we went for a hack and I think I brought him about two days later .. after he had been washed of course ;)

Not only did I buy him but I also stayed at the yard and have been a livery ever since. The unkept roughed off dirty TB I first met is now the most handsome horse I have ever met and I whole heartedly adore him :o
 
Twice I've had that "i must have that one" feeling... once was a very good horse and the other horse only had one good leg :)
The rest that I felt nonchalant about, were ALL excellent horses in their own right. So you can make your own mind up from that :)
 
I didn't have a lightbulb moment with any of mine. Tried them, liked them and they ticked all the boxes. One turned out to be difficult but I have the strongest bond with, one I never bonded with and sold on and my newest is going great. I'm not particularly a heart over head person though! Exactly like choosing a partner- box ticking exercise ;)
 
I knew as soon as I saw Donovan. we had been through a horrid time, and we had gone to the welsh sales with a view of possibly getting a pony to drive. there was one in the catalogue that sounded promising, but on the friday evening when we got there, it was yet to arrive. So we were wandering around the stalls, looking at which ever came next, with my great friend who had given me so much advice. I walked straight past donovans stable, and just glanced at him, but at the time we were chatting between ourselves. My friend just stopped and said 'what about this one?' so i backstepped and that moment arrived. I looked at him, and just felt it. people have said to me that you will know when you see the right one, but I never believed it, until then!! We had a good look round him, kept going back to him, looked at the original one we had seen in the catalogue and decided it wasnt a patch on donovan. Went to the auction the next day,and to begin with there was 3 people bidding for him. it got to £600 and I hadnt moved, in the end it got to me and another woman, and I just put in that extra bit, and he was mine!!! HORAY!!!
 
I brought a mare that wasn't suitable... She was an angel but too sharp for me so I found her a nice home. 4 years later I was in a position to tentatively start looking again... I asked a friend if she knew of any nice cobs for sale and she knew of one that was.... I added the owner on a social networking site..looked at all the pictures and decided that she was lovely but a hand too small... After speaking to owner decided just to go and look... Rode her in school and hacked out, went back a week later and hacked out again... Brought her home. I have broken her to drive. I can whistle her, open the field gate she comes out the field through the gateway right upto me and stands still while I close the gate and I put her headcollar on. She has grown a 5th leg when needed to get out of sticky situations out hacking. She stands like a rock while I lean down and clip dog on lead to cross road (naughty I know) I can lead the dog from her for miles. She has turned me into a very nervous unhappy hacker with no confidence to someone who now goes for miles on my own, going for good gallops and then plodding home on the buckle. She walks past working, being used stump grinders with the bits of bark being fired out, bonfires, tractors with those great big spikes at the front, double decker buses, prams, barking dogs, you name it we have had it jump out on us. And she doesn't do a bad stressage test either. And that, is how I know she is right for me :) Not for everyone, just me.
 
Mine wasn't what I was looking for. But when the lights in the school failed while I was riding and she was totally sensible I was very interested. When my nervous husband rode her and felt confident enough to take her for a hack I felt hugely positive. When he came back smiling having given the other horse a lead and then I discovered it was only her second ever hack I was sold.

She may be too small. She may be too fine. She may be the wrong breed. She may (still 2 years on) be too young. She may be a boring bay and she may be a bit stressy and anxious but she is perfect.

I would love to talk to the vet who pronounced her sound but totally unsuitable and tell her how that little mare has improved my husband ' s confidence and enabled me to go hunting, and win dressage competitions. She even gave my 11yr old nephew confidence after a 12hh pony knocked it and was his ride for his first competitive outings, from lead rein handy pony and fancy dress to a proper dressage test.

Love her to bits. Look outside the box for your horse of a lifetime.


Eta
I found her on a fairly rubbish Facebook page and she cost less than half my budget.
 
3rd horse I tried and 2 things happened. 1st I didn't wanna get off every time I tried her which was 3times in the end. And 2nd when trying her out on a hack she felt as safe as houses! She is still an Anglo Arab chestnut mare but I knew from the second I boarded that she would look after me and she always has! I'll never know how I could trust the feeling so early on but I was proved completely right.....thank God!
 
I bought a lovely horse 3 years ago, and we just weren't suitable for each other, in the end after a bad fall, he frightened me and he could feel it when I got on him. However he is perfect for my husband to ride and they have such a fantastic bond, you could not have asked for a better horse for him.

At the yard where where my first horse (that now hubby rides) was at livery I heard that the yard owners daughter was selling her show cob but he hadn't been advertised yet. So I had a lesson on him and bought him 1 hour later, I just knew he was 'the one', safe, sane, been there, done that and he has taught me so much.

It really was an immediate feeling of being 'right'.
 
I don't think you know until you've had them a year or so anyway. :p

If it fits your specifications and is sound, go for it, bonds often take time to develop.
 
I wasn't even supposed to be looking when I saw my girl but from the first moment I saw her I just knew. I rode her for the first time and i was home - i hadn't felt that since my first pony. She is simply perfect and makes me happy everyday. Just thinking about her makes me smile. :-) I could go on and on and on.....!

 
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