How many horses did you view?

My ginger ninja was the 2nd horse I tried,I knew the minute I hopped on board despite being 17 and nothing like what I was looking for! The first one I tried and had on trial tried to climb out of her stable, wouldnt go in the field with the other mares, kicked a horse tied close to her and then when put out with my other lad, beat him up and chased him through 3 lots of electric fencing causing loadsa damage and huuuuuuuge vets bill.. I think you know when you have found 'the one!'
 
About 15. Vetted 5. 4 failed. But before that I looked at 1000s - yes, three zeros, on-line. I followed up on about 250 by email. I spoke with about 180 people after the emails. It was a very time consuming process. My boy came to my attention because of the owner of one of the horses who failed the vet. After all I had spoken to, I was so relieved to find some really, genuine, lovely people. She didn't have to do that when the vet had effectively written off her horse from ever eventing due to atrial fibrillation.
 
Years ago we would see loads but those were the days pre-internet when you just went off the ad description in the paper. Hence half of them turned out to be pretty much cut and shuts!! :-) When I bought my youngster I only went to see him as his ad kept cropping up so I thought may as well have a look!
 
I viewed 4 but my boy was the first one I saw - went back 3 times to try him and then 5 stage vetting before taking the plunge! I knew straight away though that he was 'the one' :-)
 
Only 3! 1 was a donkey I couldn't get into trot, the 2nd was an ex race horse who I couldn't stop and the 3rd was just right! Its scary that the 3 adverts were very similar but the horses were so very different!
 
Last mare, we went to Goresbridge Sport Horse Sale for the day and bid half-heartedly on a couple but came away empty handed. On the way home we got a call about a mare that a friend had so met them on the way home somewhere with decent facilities to try her. We liked her and got her vetted the following morning, she passed, we paid a deposit and arranged transport. The balance was paid the day the transporter picker her up. She has gone in two short seasons from nappy failed show jumper to jumping clear At BE Novice so clearly we made the right choice :)
 
I viewed 6 or 7, I think

Had one vetted but when I arrived to see it at the vetting I didn't like it as much as I did the first time I saw it. The vet was not happy with it either so it seemed my instincts were right and I walked away.
 
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I have had 4 horses and ponies that were mine and when I read the title of this thread I realised I had never actually viewed a horse until I bought my current one and she was the only one I viewed.

First pony - arrived at Riding stables with a note in browband - I thought I was going for a lesson!
2nd pony came on loan at first. She arrived while I was at school although I had ridden her 2 years earlier when she was at livery as a hunter. In the meantime she had had a foal and nearly two years off work.
Horse 1 - was being sold from yard. A TB which is not my ideal at all. Mother of teenage owner got fed up with paying livery and dropped price to a quarter of previous price. I rode him for 10 mins and said I would have him.

Current horse was at a hunting yard where friend kept her horse. I was riding exercise for them at the weekend. Friend rang to say a nice mare had come in to be sold. I went and rode her out at exercise a few times and bought her.

Unfortunately I have since bought ponies for my daughter which has not been quite so successful.
 
I think six or seven when looking for the horse I have now, but I was only looking at backed 4 - 8 year old arabs and two of those were vetted and failed. When looking for my last riding horse I didn't really know what I wanted to do with it, didn't mind what breed, etc, I just wanted a smart, straightforward horse and figured I enjoy looking at horses so I'd just buy one I liked when I met it. I saw 35 and only sat on a few of those. I started that quest with a fairly small budget and saw many lame horses for sale, but eventually found a very nice irish mare.
 
Not sure I believe in "the one". When I was looking for a new horse last year, I had an idea of the sort of thing I wanted so went to view a couple of those and didn't get on with them. So then I widened the criteria and looked at some others. Think I probably saw about 5 in total. The horse I eventually bought belonged to someone I know. I hadn't seen any pics, just knew he was "about 15hh, Irish probably Connemara, 6yo, very green but loves to jump and would be perfect for you, you'll have a ball with him". I went along to look. Didn't much like him in the stable but trusted the judgement of the seller that I'd like the horse when I rode him. Watched them ride and still wasn't mad keen but got on. Didn't particularly like him on the flat, found him VERY green and VERY sharp. I was going to get off but seller convinced me to have a jump and I absolutely loved him then.

At no point did I go into raptures and say "OMG this is the ONE, I can never be parted from this horse, I just KNOW he's the one for me". I did like him when I jumped him because he had the right attitude - honest, bold and clearly loved it. I found him difficult on the flat because he was so green but I also knew I could work with him. I also knew he was the right size, type and attitude to sell again if I didn't get on with him in the end. As it happens, 16 months down the line, he's turned out to be pretty well perfect. He's come on in leaps and bounds, loves to learn. Flatwork is getting better and he's an absolute machine XC - I don't use that term lightly either! I'd done a couple of 80cm ODEs this summer then took him to camp at Somerford recently. Skipping over 1m-1m20 XC like it was 2ft :D
 
Current horse was the second one I viewed, I'd discounted 5-6 just from discussing them with their owners. Although this horse was a more unique requirement as I was looking for loan/lease.

My Croc gelding that I have was the first one I viewed. I had spent probably 2 months half heartedly browsing adverts and his jumped out at me so I went to try him. In the 5 days following I tried 1 other, and saw 5 similar stamps at a dealers, only one of which I sat on, then went back and bought the one I viewed first. Absolutely outstanding type of horse who has been riddled with problems.

2 horses before that were sell on's. I bought 1 unseen and the other was the only one I viewed as I'd discounted all the others from photo/video. Both sold reasonably easily.

The one prior to that was purchased as a youngster - I did a weekend tour of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset & Gloucs - probably saw about 10-15 and picked 1. I sold him eventually as he wasn't right for me.

Prior to that (I still have this one) - he was the second horse I viewed and my horse of a lifetime

Prior to that, it was an impulse buy (bad move), my first purchase, and the only one I viewed
 
To quote the adorable Nick Frost in The Boat that Rocked . . . it's kind of a grey area . . . I viewed about 9 before I actually went to see Kal, but his was the first ad I responded to (I fell in love with him) and was told he was sold . . . after striking out on the others, I saw him re-advertised and went to see him . . . so I "viewed/saw" him first . . . and (without being at all sappy) he is my horse of a lifetime . . . I won't buy another one like him when he "goes" . . . I'll buy something far more sensible . . . but I love the bones of him and he has given me so much joy and fun . . .

P
 
I looked at three, a "loveable mare" that turned out to be a grumpy teeth grinding so and so who wouldnt take her head out of the corner even for her owner, a gelding who didnt want to move and my boy, who coincidentally was for sale at the same place. My friend thought he was perfect for me although I thought his giant elasticated trot was not a good fit for my hip replacement (lol) wasnt so sure (still hurting after parting with my previous one) So I gave in and bought him. Best horse Ive ever bought and in contention for the horse of a lifetime award. I hear "I told you so" an awful lot!

Edited to say that I didnt view any horse the owners didnt make all the right noises about and they were not as described, I seriously do not know how some people can be so deluded, as it happens my boy was under sold by a country mile!
 
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I looked at loads on line, enquired about a few but only viewed 3.

The one I ended up has turned out to be just what I was looking for, but it has taken work and time to get there. However as I only had a small budget I was always looking for a project as opposed to the finished article.
 
My horse, my instructor suggested one, I looked but couldn't ride as the yard had strangles isolation, then I viewed another which I didn't like, finally viewed my mare and clicked with her immediately.

Stepson's first pony initially came as a companion on loan when I brought my mare home, my stepson got into riding and we bought her.

Hubby's horse, viewed one other, would have bought it but dealer started messing about re having it vetted, so alarm bells went off and we didn't buy it, then we viewed an bought his horse, who is a million times better. I thank my lucky stars fate stepped in!

Stepson's second pony, heard he was for sale through me instructor, had seen the pony hack past a lot when it was stabled up the lane from us, didn't have any idea what it could do, just that it was safe and sensible, bought it and he turned out to be one of the best ponies ever.
 
I've never been to see a horse that I didn't buy!! Most have been youngsters or ponies, some brought unseen! When I lost my old riding mare after 22 years (brought on a whim when we went to get a bail of hay, and was the horse of a lifetime!!), I waited a year before I started to really look at adverts and I went to see my new mare and she came home to me the week after. She was the only one I looked at. No regrets at all.

We did have a pony on trial once, nice 14.2 by Masterpiece and we would have brought him but he had a sore eye so we wanted our vet to have a look and he had uveitis so went back.
 
With the last pony we bought the 2nd one we viewed, with this new horse we went to view one but couldnt ride it due to various reasons then bought the next one we viewed & rode x
 
Horse no. 1 - asked YO if we could reserve a newly vacant stable next to OH's so we could start looking for a horse for me, she said she had one that might suit me, tried him, bought him.

Horse no. 2 - swapped horses with OH

Horse no. 3 - after 11 years of ownership finally had to look at adverts and go and view properly for the first time! Tried 3 (first 2 unsuitable and 3rd was fab but failed vetting) and then bought 4th one :) my very special little ex-racer.
 
No.1 First one seen when I started my search. Through a recommended dealer, really nice ride but we just couldn't "click", went back to dealer and swapped for horse No.2.

No.2 2nd one I'd seen and ridden once.

No.3 Next was through an ad, third I'd seen in the space of a few months, had several issues confirmed via vet weeks later, sold to a nice home.

No.4 and No.5 Through recommendation off friends.
 
The first one: lots and lots. Quite a few failed the vet. She passed but turned out to have some serious issues and was PTS.

Little cob: only him. Nipped across country on a whim to see a pretty looking youngster and put a deposit on him there and then.

Replacement for PTS horse. 4. None remotely as described. So bought unseen from Ireland through a dealer. Fabby horse.

Big orange weed: none. Told dealer what I wanted and he arrived from Ireland 2 weeks later, unhandled, filthy and terrified. Turned into a brilliant horse.
 
hmmm, this time around it was somewhere around 25 that I tried before finding the one but in the past it's never been more than about 6 or 7. Either I've got more picky or there's a lot more poor quality horses out there these days!
 
About twenty!!! And a year, before I chose Pip.

I did go and see pretty much anything that was vaguely suitable. First one I liked failed the vetting, but probably wouldn't have been suitable anyway. Then I had another that technically passed the vetting, but the vet said there was something he was uncomfortable with, and recommended scans of his front feet (I do wonder if said vet had been out to this horse for front feet problems before) and when I asked the owner for vet records she refused, and as this was only a 5yo, I decided to keep looking.

Then I had a stunning wb x tb on loan with view to buy that turned out to have a spinal problem, I spent a lot of money on x rays and scans etc because he was such a perfect horse in every way and I was hoping it was just muscle soreness, which depleted my budget from 7k to 2k!! He was a beautiful animal - but the vet said he would only get worse :( :( :(

A friend of a friend knew a hunting yard that had a "very pretty" horse for sale, went to see him and decided to have him straight away, even though he ran away in the stable! He was a bit scrawny and unfit, but at this stage I just wanted something that was vaguely sound and vaguely sane, only had a 2 stage done due to smaller budget, he passed. He has been a million times better than I ever could have hoped, I love him to bits and will keep him forever :)

Baby horse was the first we viewed, but we have a friend who's a dealer and we mentioned that we liked duns and wanted something sporty, 15.1hh - 16.1hh, and he bought one back from ireland with him, and we just couldn't resist. Okay, he's more like 17hh, but he's just the soppiest cuddliest thing!

Our older horses could have only been the second or third we viewed, I guess you're less picky when you're a kid, so long as it's cute! My sister's old pony, she didn't even see, me and my mum went to view him and bought him there and then!
 
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