Justin at Hazlehurst stables ..any experience?

Hiya :)
I can vouch for Justin at Hazelhurst as I've had excellent experiences with him :)
First time around, tried out a privately owned pony which I really liked, but later in the day, went to Justin's to try some of his. Tried one lovely pony who was clearly very talented - beautifully schooled, fabulous jump, definitely a top competition pony... went onto ride it, and it was to die for on the flat, but I didn't have the experience at the time to hold it (just too forward for me at the time) when jumping. Justin was incredibly genuine, he was politely upfront and asked me how I felt about the ride, and I said that I'd tried a pony in the morning who I loved to bits, and felt I couldn't hold his pony - and immediately he was very genuine and agreed it wasn't the right pony and encouraged me to go for the pony that I had tried earlier. What I thought was very genuine was that at the time, his pony was in a Snaffle, and living in, but he didn't try and make a sale by saying "oh you could try it in a stronger bit" or "its only forward because it's living in" - he wasn't at all pushy so I was really impressed.
Long story short, I went on to buy the privately owned pony, however after 3 months it clearly wasn't working so he was sold on, and I was looking again.
I tried 18 ponies to no avail, but went back to Hazelhurst as my last stop. I tried a couple of ponies (all of whom were lovely) and Justin was very easy going - I brought my instructor and he realised we were fine by ourselves after seeing the ponies ridden, and he let us just "get on" and do what we wanted to in the school, and we just freely used the jumps and really put the pony (Otter) to the test. Afterwards, he kindly accompanied me on a hack, letting me jump XC jumps, and also let me have a school in a grass dressage arena. Otter was advertised as simply a lovely allrounder so we hardly had any expectations from him, but went ahead and bought him as he had a nice attitude and was a nice looking pony! Passed vetting, and Justin had him shod and delivered which was great!
I would warn that I think the ponies are greener than they will appear on the adverts, so my advice would be, if it doesn't have a competition record, expect it to be a bit greener than you think - Otter had a LOT to learn! However Otter has surpassed ALL expectations - only been jumping for just over a year, only competing for the last 8months I've had him, and jumps 1m15 for fun, placed every single time out SJ, does BSJA, BD, BE, the lot! Went to Royal Windsor! Reserve Regional Champion at Topscore quals! Area Champs next week! Qualified for Champs of Great Britain - he's simply a fab pony.
Justin has been very friendly with us at shows etc, and keen to keep in touch!

I'd really reccomend :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top