Is it really impossible to buy a genuine quiet horse these days!!!??

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u02srg3

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I am desperately looking to find a safe, genuine horse for my mum so she can hack out with me on my TB. We've been searching for over a yr and some of the horses we've seen are just nutters (despite what their owners tell you over the phone). It has gotten to the point where my mum wont even get on them to try them out. Just wondered if anyone knew of a 15hh to 16.1hh nice natured, calm schoolmaster type which would be safe to hack out on (in Scotland). Looks or breeding are not important.
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Nope, it's not impossible, we found one back in October last year. He is a saint, if a little too quiet but he is a big boy, he's 17.2hh and is by Primitive Rising but has a bit of shire in him. We also needed something that my mum could just get on and go out in company or on her own. They are out there, i'd look through the cobs sections or hunt horses.

Good Luck
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I have the same frustration - having been looking for a safe, sane happy hacker since last summer. The ones I have been to see are either spooky nutcases, or SO laid back they cant get one foot infront of the other!
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When I ring up, I am totally honest about my ability ( or lack of! ) its a shame some of the owners cant be as honest, it would save a lot of time all round.
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It works the other way round too.....been trying to sell my daughters 14.3 pony for a couple of months. She is completely safe, no riding vices, hacks out alone and is very easy to do.

However...I have had a string of people coming to try her who look like they have had a couple of lessons at a riding school. Using the reins to haul themselves up in riding trot and collapsing with a thump on her back on return.....result she trots faster and faster.
 
I agree it's not impossible, but it's wise not to have any set idea in your mind of what type you want.

When we took Snowy (an ex racehorse) on, we had no idea how he rode - indeed it was the last thing on our mind. He needed urgent feeding and care, and we concentrated on that.

However, he has proved to be the most fabulous family horse, and I would happily send a novice out on him, and know that he would look after them.

If I had been looking for a novice ride, I wouldn't have even considered an ex racer, so don't be put off by type or height, or you might overlook the perfect horse for you.
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I don't think that it is impossible - but I am sure that it is much harder than it should be. But equally as Sparklet said, I think that if you are selling a perfectly good horse you seem to attract people who appear to have very little experience of horses, and then wonder why they can't get the horse to "go" like you can.
 
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I don't think that it is impossible - but I am sure that it is much harder than it should be. But equally as Sparklet said, I think that if you are selling a perfectly good horse you seem to attract people who appear to have very little experience of horses, and then wonder why they can't get the horse to "go" like you can.

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This is the reason why my mum's safe, genuine hack is going to a riding school, and not being put up for sale
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At least then she'll be supervised with beginners!

To OP - quite often these type of horses are sold through word of mouth, so let your feed merchant, local tack shops etc know you are looking. That's how we found my mum's horse.
She was also in fairly poor condition, and had never been schooled, so was sold purely as a hack, and she is not a good looking horse
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Also, why not speak to local riding schools to see if they have any they'd be willing to sell. Yes, you'll probably have to pay over the odds, but what price safety???
 
Just a quick note of caution about buying riding school horses. Some of them are quiet, novice rides simply because they are in a regimented routine with lots of work and their mates all doing the same thing. Get them home on a 1 to 1 basis, with their work load a fraction of what it was before and their bombproof temprement can soon change.
 
No its not impossible, I bought last August a lovely gelding who has simply been ideal in every way, quiet but not a plod, will hack out for england with company or on his own , nothing phases him.He has truly been a star and now has flat work lessons and would easily hold his own in a dessage test.

My dilemma is to sell him or not as I am wondering to step up a gear with my dressage, but would I find such a star - I think not.He loves his cuddles and often put his head in your arms for a good 5 mins and we have a cuddle .He is the yards favourite.

They do exist , it might just take longer to find one.

Good luck in your search.
 
You are indeed looking for a very rare and valuable commodity.

Finding a horse that has the temprement that alows it to happily hack out on its own in the heaviest of traffic and stay calm in the spookiest of situations is a real challenge.

Firstly you have to find the horse with the right temprement and secondly give it lots of training and experience.

I would follow the advise given above. Put up some wanted posters in the local tack shops/feed merchants/livery yards. Also have a word with the local mobile instructors, grooms farriers and vets.
 
I think horses like that are one in a million.
I met my one in a million horse about 3 years ago, and had her on loan for one blissfully happy year when she did nothing but shine like the star she was every day. She was my reason for getting up in the mornings, she really was. Unfortunately, she wasn't mine and the owner wanted her back to breed from and would not sell her to me (smart woman really!). I don't think i've ever cried so much over a horse, I was absolutely devastated. I was offered to keep her until she got too pregnant to be ridden, but I didn't want the responsibility.

So, here I am, 2 years, 2 disasterous loan horses, 2 disasterous purchases, and £3000 lost later (because 1st the one I bought was an angel to start with, I paid £4500 and I had to sell him becasue he was such a nutter to a dealer because I couldn't handle him and only got £1500 for him), and I still have not ever come close to finding another like her. The horse I own at the moment is turning out to be just as horrendous. If I can't get this current one sorted and try and get my confidence back, I am going to give up horses altogether because I am so disillusioned.

I am a good rider and look after my horses well, but my confidence has been bludgeoned by a string of horses sold/loaned to me by dishonest people who did not tell me the truth.

Sorry, you proabaly wanted a moonlight and roses answer, but I'm not in the mood today, i've had it I think!
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