How many horses did you look at before you found the one?

Number 1 -He was the first one I tried, but I am not a desicive person...so I went to go and see another one. Now I'm not one to judge a horse quickly,but the owner couldn't get 3 clear paces out of her, which was a bit shocking :O. So I went back to the first one, who has been lovely.

He was about 2 hours away, but worth it :)
 
erm I haven't ever really actively looked for a horse as such - most of them when I was younger were loans from the riding school I was at - and it was quite a natural cycle when you started you loaned the 13 handers then the 14.2hh etc so it was really whoever was up for loan at the time. My first horse of my own was given to my dad as his bonus - i did go and have a ride but in all honesty he could have had three legs and I would have taken him and Rio my current project was from a wanted ad I had kind of half heartedly posted seeing what would pop up - he was bought unseen from yorkshire - firm believer in fate and that they will find you
 
Two - a Haflinger and a Highland (was after a native of some description) and then a good friend pointed out this coloured cob x that her neighbour was bringing on and that my friend had been watching for a while...just knew it was him the minute I sat on him.
 
Only twice have I not bought the first one I've seen when looking. All others seemed to match their descriptions and photos. My current horse looked pretty abismal when I went to see him - he was very thin, full of worms and felt extremely green under saddle (considering he'd been out to a dressage event as shown by a video). I felt sorry for him though, he looked so unloved that I bought him! I go by temperament over anything else, I guess I've been pretty lucky so far - only one I regret buying (not because the horse was nasty, just didn't turn out suitable for what I wanted).

Max distance I've travelled has been 3 1/2 hours.
 
When I was looking for Fudge five years ago, I rang up or emailed close to 100 people whose horses sounded perfect for me in their adverts but many of them weren't when I asked further questions.

Fudge was the 11th horse I saw over a four month period and he was a four hour drive away, his owner was very honest and I loved him straight away even though I didn't try him out as well as I should have and he had some issues that needed working on.

There was only one other out of those I saw that I thought was a possibility after riding her, the others really were not what I was looking for at all or I just didn't click with them.

With Lady I went to try three and felt sorry for her, the rest is history :D
 
with Benson, he was the only one. Fell in love straight away. With Charlie we tried around 10 before seeing him, but still made the mistake and bought him, he was totally wrong for us. So we are on the hunt again,with not much luck at the moment!
 
Bought some terrible mistakes over the years mainly through letting my heart rule my head!!!

The best two I have had our local farmer found for me...14.2hh JA jumping pony mare who was just fantastic until I grew out of her! A few years later my Intermediate Eventer had died and the same farmer rang me up and told me about a 17hh Grey 4 year old that someone had for sale...took one look, decided I could do with something with that (even though my mum thought she looked like a cart horse) and purchased. We have had the best 16 years ever (jumped to Foxhunter, xc, dressage, pleasure rides) the mare can turn her hoof to anything and she is a Shire X ID/TB. The best horse in the world and still going strong!

There is no hard and fast rules - we all make mistakes, just make sure it feels right and the people selling seem right too!
 
Hahah in both cases - not very long. I picked the second of two we looked at on one day for my first horse (ex-racer).

The second one, I looked (briefly though) at one which I hated which was ten minutes. Not my type of horse at all. Followed by a trip to see a horse (only 40mins drive) which looked fantastic in photos. NOt so fantastic in real life. We then went to the dealer 100metres down the road from said not fantastic horse on the same day and found a nice mare. And then decided to risk having a look at one more place. I arrived there, there were 8 racehorses...I picked my boy, and that was that.
THe only one I actually sat on was the very first horse that I hated. The rest I jsut looked at. Mine only cost 300 quid so i figured if i didn't like him I could sell him on pretty quick :) But as it happens..I love him :D
 
My sisters though..what a flipping mission! It took us forever to find ponies for them..looked at loads, tried to arrange shares/loans etc..didn't work. Then we had ponies on trial, and all kinds of stuff. Finally found one for the youngest. The older one got a pony too, but it was sold about a year after we bought her.
 
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