How far would you travel to buy a horse?

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NicolaC

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I have a lovely horse for sale and he has been on the market now just over 3 weeks and I have had so many enquires but so far only 2 people to see him. When I tell them where I live most say I am too far away even though one was only about an hour away.

When he is sold I shall get another and am prepared to travel for the right horse. So the question is how far would you travel ie 2 - 3 hours to find a horse?
 
Depends on the horse... if it's an average 10 a penny pony then not far at all, if it's something a bit different/special then I'd go onto the continent. For my Trad COb I travelled (from Cheshire) as far as Dumfris in the north and Kent in the south... (I ended up getting him down the road but would have gone to Ireland if I'd needed to) But when I was buying a section A I would have been only willing to travel for about an hour.

As I say, it depends..

BnBx
 
As im in the Shetland Isles ive never actually viewed a horse before buying, my first horse was picked by my RI's dad on the mainland, second horse was previously owned by my RI's dad. I bought my friesians from pictures alone. Jack my Fell I bought from a fellow forum buddy and he travelled from Devon so one end of the county to the other!
All the above horses were exactly what Id been looking for and have never regretted buying them.

Only horse I ever viewed was my Welsh sec B as she was for sale locally and she is the only one I regret buying :rolleyes:
 
If I saw a horse I really wanted................................Ireland:D If I had bucket loads of dosh........................the world is my oyster.
 
Would depend how specific my criteria were really - would travel up to 3 hours if the horse sounded perfect and I hadn't been able to find anything closer, but I'd have to be really convinced before making a journey that long really.
 
xspiralx said:
Would depend how specific my criteria were really
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This exactly. When I've looked for backed, young sports horses for general riding to low level eventing, I've always figured I'd find one soon enough from plenty to choose from within a two hour radius. When looking for a young, backed arab - up to five hours away, which I could do in a day. When looking for an experienced driving pony to make a pair with the one we had (same colour, height and paces) I'd have driven to the top or bottom of Britain even though it would have taken up two or three days had there been anything promising. If you're looking for something a bit unusual and specific, you have to be prepared to travel fairly widely or wait a very long time for it to come to you.
 
Last time I bought a horse I travelled from Durham to Monmouth, but I knew exactly what I was buying as I was buying from the breeder and in fact bought two the second one I didn't see in the flesh till she was delivered, but then I had complete faith in the breeder and how right I was! So some people do buy without first seeing the horse. I should add I did have both horses vetted before the cash actually changed hands but I knew there would be no problems!!
 
Just got back from horse shopping in Ireland, so a fair way! I think it just depends on circumstance, if someone is working full time and has kids maybe they can't spare so much time to go see horses.

How much is transport in the UK, could this be a factor?
 
Depends entirely on the horse, 3 or 4 hours is nothing when you consider that we think an hour up the road for coffee with friends is normal;) Most of mine are only a couple of hours or so.

I sold a horse (unseen, but a full sibling to one the buyer had already had from me) a while ago and she was shipped off to somewhere in Saskatchewan which is about 1500 miles or so, the haulage would probably have cost more than the horse, but there you go, I wasn't paying it:)
 
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If I was looking for a general riding club type, then I probably wouldn't want to travel more than 100 miles. But I recently did a round trip of 700+ miles (in a day) to see a horse and bought him without even riding him. And I've just bought another one who was 391 miles away - but they are both of a specific breed.

I can't believe someone wouldn't travel 1 hour to see your horse - probably not serious about buying anyway.
 
I'm usually looking for something very specific if I'm buying so would go anywhere in Britain. When we sell youngsters people have come to us from as far away as Dorset and Inverness, and one even from France.
 
I've travelled four hours to try a gelding, he ended up being the perfect horse.
All the local ads at the time weren't for what I wanted at all.
 
Last few horses I’ve had have been local/bought from someone we know so not far for them. Ones we’ve bought from dealers have been about 1 ½ away max. I’m not that fussy TBH so don’t see the point in travelling miles. If I was fussy though I’d travel as far as needed for the right horse.

A girl at the yard travelled 3 hours at the weekend to go and look at a pony that turned out totally unsuitable (i.e. it was from gypos) .. seems a bit pointless to me!
 
The furthest I've travelled was North of Dundee to Port Talbot (9 hours), stayed overnight and came back. I don't mind travelling to look at horses, I treat it as a wee mini break :)
 
I bought all four in Germany....really don't mind it at all, I also see it as a mini break!

Transporting horses across Europe can be so cheap that distance is not an issue at all.
 
If they were serious they would have travelled. To say no because of a few hours in a car they must have had serious reservations as to whether your horse was right for them. If it ticks all the boxes, you'd want to go see it.

I travelled 2 hours to see my horse when I hadn't seen a photo. I went there purely on the strength of her pedigree. Really liked her, foot & mouth hit so everything stopped. contacted them 4 months later, agreed price for her including backing so I could sit on her, pending going back to see her second time post backing to make sure job done. Went for a little hack down lane, & confirmed purchase at previously agreed price.
 
Would depend on the type of horse I was looking for. Am contemplating buying youngster/project of some kind for sister to play with in her gap year and would want something fairly close by (maybe 2hrs away max?). However when we buy a cob for my mum, which will need to fit an exact criteria, I expect we'll travel a good distance if it means finding the right horse. :)
 
When I bought my lad all the horse I like were at least 1-2hrs away but Buddy was over 3hrs away and I would have travelled further for him :D
 
Went to Australia once...............................nothing to do with buying a horse, just something nice to remember :D.

6 - 8 hour round trip maximum for me bearing in mind you'd need to do it more than once probably, trying out, vetting (if you wanted to be there), then collecting. Even then would need to be something that looked pretty special.
 
I'd travel the length and breadth of the country to find the right horse. Ended up buying one about 200 miles from home after looking for nearly 6 months. Rode him both days over the weekend, boxed him over to a cross country course for a play, then had him vetted ASAP. The owner even brought him all the way down to my place in her lorry!

My second horse was local - less than 10 miles away!

Third horse, once horse 1 retires, is likely to be a youngster from one of two event horse dealers I've come across. They're close to family, which is how I know them, but about 250 miles from where I live right now!

I think maybe the people weren't serious about buying your horse. Having said that, if they weren't sure your horse was right for them, I'd prefer them to say so before they view than afterwards. Saves a lot of time!

Good luck in finding the right buyer!
 
I live in Northern Ireland, I really wanted an Exmoor pony and couldn't get one here so I jumped on a plane and headed to Edinburgh to look at him. Was no problem cause I was pretty sure I would buy before I got there. Only cost £240 to transport him over and I have the pony I want so i'm happy :).
 
I went to Glasgow to buy a youngster we flew up in the morning by easyjet met the seller and she took us to see the horse........ he was nothing like her discription & photos and also he had a virus, we caught the afternoon flight back to Stansted and bought a horse in the next village 2 days later! OH wasnt impressed lol
 
I'll travel about 1 1/2 to 2 hours each way and that's plenty far enough if you get there and find it's nothing like you expected it to be.
I try to combine the viewings of a few on each day if poss, to spread the risk!
 
Last horse I went from Lincolnshire to Galway Ireland came home with horse of my dreams gentle Irish giant would not change for the world. He will be the last horse I buy to ride.
 
I'm horse buying at the moment. The one I've seen that really does it for me :D is a 2hr drive. I'd go further for the right horse.

There's nothing local to me that I like within the price range I'm willing to pay, they seem to be overpriced here in my view (Cheshire).
 
You are a little bit out in the sticks, but with really good roads around you - it took me around 2 hours or a bit more with a trailer, not only once to buy a horse off you but I made the journey again to collect a cat! :p

Anyone really serious would look on a map and see the A roads and realise that whilst you are nearly in the sea, you are quite easy driving to get to. Sounds like a serious timewaster to phone you and ask questions before deciding you were too far - thats the sort of homework you should do before contacting the vendor!
 
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