I don't believe it

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PC Steele

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:eek:I went to view a horse today for a friend. Got to the yard it was a bit untidy but fine. Met the owner who was lovely and horse was really nice. Anyway got to the riding part and she led it out got on it and we walked past the school she explained it was too deep to ride in. It was like deep sand at the beach!!!!! So we went into the open field and she schooled the horse what I did notice while I was watching was a) How hard the ground was and b) how many ruts/holes etc. there were. Well when I got on I was petrified it was going to break its leg!! There was another horse being viewed in the field and that tripped and fell on its knees :eek:Then she asked me if I wanted to see it jump I said it wasnt that necessary if the ground was too hard. Well she did jump it with not much impulsion and the horse didn't have a very good jump as a result!! I really couldn't believe the dire trial facilities it was a real shame as the horse was really lovely.
 
What else could she have done? ok maybe not jump the horse on hard and rutted ground but maybe she was desperate to sell?

If you liked the horse then maybe it would be worth seeing if you could hire a nearby school with a good surface for an hour and try it there? Would be a small cost compared to that of vetting and purchase so if you liked it maybe it's worth it to try yourself and see how it jumps etc when ridden with more impulsion?
 
I'm confused - you haven't mentioned any faults about the horse but have said that the horse was lovely..so is it not worth pursuing further irrelevant of the trial facilities?
 
I don't have an arena at all at my place (it's a converted small holding of about 16 acres, thats including the orchard and hay field), it's just the fields, 4 stables, the 'school' which is grass and my jumping field that has a nice grass coverage and stays nice and soft :( I sell horses from there from time to time, they are all well schooled and nicely turned out, and I'd hate for anyone to judge them on the facilities I have). The 'retired' farmer who lives there has an irrigation company now, and there is all-sorts lying about on the drive! Some days it looks like a diddies yard!!!

I don't want all the fancy pants yard with the latest crp, not my scene, (plus I'm tight and hate spending money on things :P) as long as it is functional, practical and safe what's the problem? It's MY place to run as I want, and I'm very very lucky as I don't have to pay rent as the people are so lovely and just don't want the land to go to waste.

Fair enough that the ground was unsuitable, but don't judge the horse on the basis of where it is kept, could miss out on a lovely horse!

On a lighter note I am going to get a menage built next year, as my 'landlord' will do the drainage and fencing, all I need to do is buy the surface :D Will make winter riding most pleasurable!
 
I'd probably have done the same as PC Steele. A shabby yard doesn't bother me, but the ridden history of the horse does. If the horse was consistently being schooled and jumped on a hard, uneven surface, I wouldn't be rushing to open my cheque book either.
 
Don't you ever go on trail rides? :confused:

Every horse in the world is not always ridden/worked in a pen of cotton fluff. They are tougher than you think they are.
 
I agree that the horse should not be schooled on rough hard ground, out hacking you will be selecting the best going available, and will be going carefully over rough hard ground or stony bits, so not what you want when looking to buy. I suggest you ring owner, explain that you would like another trial but on a better arena, with jumps etc, ask her to arrange it for you. else ask for a months free trial.
 
SophieLouBee said:
I don't have an arena at all at my place (it's a converted small holding of about 16 acres, thats including the orchard and hay field), it's just the fields, 4 stables, the 'school' which is grass and my jumping field that has a nice grass coverage and stays nice and soft :( I sell horses from there from time to time, they are all well schooled and nicely turned out, and I'd hate for anyone to judge them on the facilities I have). The 'retired' farmer who lives there has an irrigation company now, and there is all-sorts lying about on the drive! Some days it looks like a diddies yard!!!

I don't want all the fancy pants yard with the latest crp, not my scene, (plus I'm tight and hate spending money on things :P) as long as it is functional, practical and safe what's the problem? It's MY place to run as I want, and I'm very very lucky as I don't have to pay rent as the people are so lovely and just don't want the land to go to waste.

Fair enough that the ground was unsuitable, but don't judge the horse on the basis of where it is kept, could miss out on a lovely horse!

On a lighter note I am going to get a menage built next year, as my 'landlord' will do the drainage and fencing, all I need to do is buy the surface :D Will make winter riding most pleasurable!
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I see your point, however, your yard is in effect your shopwindow, if you had two shops side by side selling the same product and one was clean, funtional but well presented, the other dark and dingy where you had to clamber over unrelated jumble to get at what you wanted, which would you go to?

Dont think that I'm criticising you, or your yard, having never seen it, but you have to make the best of it and present it correctly, I just remember an ex of mines' yard, she was fanatical about tidiness and cleanliness and the boxes being imacculate all the time, as you could never tell when a prospective customer would arrive on the scene. In the very competative market locally she was always full and very sucessful at selling clients horses for them, people are very often influenced or put of by things that are frankly irrelevant.

But thats human nature!
 
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Once upon a time none of us had arenas and surfaced areas to ride in - we rode in the paddock, slope, ruts and all. The horses will live and will generally work fine.

Interestingly when watching dressage you can see the horses that are always worked on a surface as they lack confidence when worked in grass arenas.

I have no arena just my paddocks to work in - and that is what I do.

If they are OK to turn my horses out into then they are fine to ride in.

If you really like the horse then ignore the ground. Go back and have another look.
 
I know what you mean with the ground being hard but if you like the horse go and see it another day after we have had some rain!
Or as suggested find arena

I am looking at a horse today and so am not expecting to be cantering around the place etc so will probably go back if I like what I see to begin with, if the ground is rock hard, as we are expecting rain this week etc. IF the horse gets sold to someone else in the meantime well that was tough for me(lets hope not though)!

Its hard to find a good horse so go back if you like it? Looking is driving me nuts! I have advert obsession!
 
Once upon a time, and not that long ago (I'm old, but not that old!), we didn't have surfaced schools, just a bit of penned off field and that was if we were lucky :eek::cool::D

As others have said, follow up on the horse is he was so lovely.
 
Ive got a horse working PSG/ inter 1, and the majority of his life he has just been schooled on grass because I can't afford to hire an arena, never held us back!! Sometimes working on a surface can cause more problems than grass :)
 
TGM you have seriously got the wrong end of the stick!!! The horse is for a friend who is a tad nervous so the fact that I was riding it in an open field without it napping, pissing off etc. was excellent I was merely commenting on the ground horses have obviously been turned out there in the winter and have been in mud up to their knees at some point so the holes in the ground were horiffic and most of them were covered by grass. Im not a pink and fluffy rider who needs a perfect surface and I appreciate the girl was trying her best with what she had. I was simply going from the angle that I was there to purchase that horse and god knows how many people have been to see it before me also it is schooled on this or the 'beach' of a sand school every day which was worrying me slightly ie. the stress on the horses legs. She was asking £8000 for it which I thought was a bit expensive. :mad:
 
I would say if the horse has been used to going on hard, rutted, deep, wet, grassy, frosty (etc etc) ground and still has good clean legs you are onto a winner!

:D
 
Allover said:
I would say if the horse has been used to going on hard, rutted, deep, wet, grassy, frosty (etc etc) ground and still has good clean legs you are onto a winner!

:D
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Very true, if the horse is used to doing canter work on 20 metre circles /jumping on rock hard, rutted ground, its definitely a winner. Just get a xrays and scans first.

Schooling is not the same as hacking on hard ground unless you canter in same circles all the way.
 
OP- I do sypathise with the situation you were in, if your looking forward to viewing a horse which ticks most of your boxes on arrival it must be disapppointing not being able to trial the horse on a half decent surface to at least see the horse through its paces and some flatwork.

Agree not everyone is blessed with a school and good trial facilities but unless the owner explains that the horse is usually hacked out due to this as opposed to schooled on bad ground then from a potential buyers point of view it would be rather off putting, suppose it really depends on how the horse has been advertised though.
 
I would have to agree with everyone else, not everyone is blessed with a super all-weather school to ride their horses in. You said the horse was lovely and in fact, riding it in a big open field where other horses are being ridden is probably better, if the horse was going to be naughty then it would do it in a big field. If you really liked the horse and he was well behaved then i cant see the problem ???
 
Must admit with Browne, most of us don't have Areans/menages, if the horse was nice and quiet as you said and your friend is nervy, it sounded ideal for her and if the price was over the top for her, you shouldn't have gone and tried it out.(Is this what they call timewasters) And most of us at the moment have rock hard ground, to either graze or ride on, we in Bedfordshire have had nearly no rain in 3 months.
 
This thread had just brought back a v funny memory.

A lady came to look at a nice AA mare, good as gold though she had a bit of blood (obviously). Anyway the lady turned up and my boss was nowhere to be found, she text and ask me to show the horse. Anyway got on and went into the arena, all going well untill the heavens opened and the mare decided she would far rather be in her stable and started throwing her toys out of the pram. At the same time the yard Rottwieler (weighing in around 140lb) turned up, took a fancy to this poor lady and started humping her, i would say humping her leg but as she was quite slight it was more of a full body technique he was deploying, and he WOULD NOT GET OFF!!!!!

It was soo embarrasing, needless to say we did not hear from her again! :D
 
Echo Bravo said:
Must admit with Browne, most of us don't have Areans/menages, if the horse was nice and quiet as you said and your friend is nervy, it sounded ideal for her and if the price was over the top for her, you shouldn't have gone and tried it out.(Is this what they call timewasters) And most of us at the moment have rock hard ground, to either graze or ride on, we in Bedfordshire have had nearly no rain in 3 months.
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For god sake Echo Bravo I was not time wasting I went to see this horse for a friend!!! When I had seen it I recommended that she go and see it because it was really nice up to her then if she wants it or not!!!
 
Hanno Verian said:
I see your point, however, your yard is in effect your shopwindow
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I'M SO OFFENDED, calling me a scruff-bag are you? A roughian?! He he :P

Private yard luckily :P I'd be too ashamed! I only have the odd project, 2 a year max to bring on and sell (ususally something I feel sorry for). Yes my yard (if you can call it that :P) is tatty, but I have great grazing, large ventilated stables, nice flat ground, decent fencing and really good hacking on and off road :) To me that is what matters :) (Don't think I don't sweep or poo pick, I'm actually a clean freak, I sweep the freaking gravel, who does that?! :P)
Also I'm the only one on it mwahaha, so I don't have any yard b1tchez (apart from my moody mare) to deal with!

Sorry for hijacking thread, hahaha allover, that's classic! Poor woman!

Hope your friend finds a nice horse soon OP :) x
 
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