Looking at horses - how far have you travelled to view

The longest I did was a 9hr round trip from Welsh borders to Essex.
He was only a yearling, so not much to see, but I wanted to check he had good limbs and feet and I wanted to look in his eye and decide if he was 'my' horse.
I don't regret it at all and thankfully bought him!

The longest round trip before that was 6 hours. That was a 2yro and when I looked at her in person, she wasn't my horse so didn't buy.
I don't see it as a wasted day though, it meant I didn't buy the wrong horse.
 
I think it depends on what you are looking for. If it a very specific breed or type that is rare the more likely you are to have to potentially travel or wait till a local one comes available.

I saw 6 both times I was looking and travelled 6 hours. This was however over a 9 month period so it was slow going. My second new forest I ended up getting from a dealer 30 minutes away who specialises in them who normally only sells four year olds. I really didn't want another youngster this time round. I wanted a schoolmaster type around 9-12 but nothing it was all youngers or veterans. She had a 5 year so I went to try him and he was sensible so I got him.

Had I not been looking for another new forest I probably could have found something quite quickly locally quickly without having to travel.
 
Couple of hours max if I’m looking at just 1.

But on a few occasions have done either a uk road trip of and Irish trip and lined up a route with a few to see
 
I often fly/ferry to buy horses. I’d be more prepared to travel further to a dealer with a good reputation than a private home where you don’t know if they’ve described the horse correctly.
 
Drove from Shropshire to Lanarkshire and Norfolk, Cumbria and Cornwall
From Gloucestershire to Kent
From Inverness to Cumbria and Yorkshire
And to Ireland on week, weekend and day trips many times.
 
Flew from Adelaide to Brisbane, [rough equiv London to Moscow] then hire car and drive 2 hours north to Moreton Bay hinterland to see just one horse, a big sweet w/b.

When I got there I immediately saw what I hadn't seen in the sale vid. [they worked him in deep footing]. Poor boy was so far down on his back bumpers - fetlocks - that they were touching the ground. I think was either that immune disease where their tendons and ligaments go soft, or an early injury. Owner had not bothered to tell me, and put a price of $20,000 AUD on the horse.

Goes without saying I gave her a piece of my mind and threatened to report her to the RSPCA if she sold the horse for anything other than companion/gentle hacking.

Next trip. Drove from Adelaide to Yarra Valley, Victoria [8.5 hrs each way], to try next horse. Bucked, nabbed, turned its head and actually bit me on the toe.

I'd found my mr perfect years before, in Queensland, on a similarly epic trip, so didn't baulk at distances; but now am older, and poorer, am gonna look closer to home! [and I'm not even breast feeding!] -- my horse hunt adventures could fill a book, but I imagine you want something a bit more straightforward.

I hope you find a lovely horse. x
 
Flipping miles! Last one (bertie) was a good 3 hours each way despite living in the south east where you’d think there’d be loads closer.
 
When I was looking for what became Charlie, the furthest I went was about 3 1/2 hours but I saw 5 in a day all within about an hour of each other so I felt it was worth it - until the last one (luckily) dumped me and I had to drive home (alone) with a torn hamstring. After that I stayed fairly local (within an hour) until going to see one about 3hrs away (and ending up in A&E in Portsmouth - not the horse's fault just a silly accident). Then Covid hit so I stopped looking for a bit. I wasn't planning on going so far again as restrictions started to ease but the dealer with whom I saw the second one I fell off contacted me to tell me she had a suitable one so off I went to Portsmouth. That was Charlie. As he was a fair drive away I arranged for a transporter to deliver him so had to wait a few days for her to be able to pick him up.

When I sold Charlie and started looking for what became Wiggy, I decided I wouldn't go more than 2 hours. Wig was about an hour away and was the first one I saw. Saw him on Monday, had him vetted on Thursday, picked him up on Saturday. Having him that much closer to home was so much easier, I just popped along to pick him up, left at 7am and he was in his new stable munching hay by 10am.
 
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I did the unforgiveable and bought unseen,but I had put an advert up for what i needed and her owner replied. I had many videos and agreed a trial period during which I vetted her and it has all worked out. It was way too far to travel to see her and the transporter fee was reasonable. I only wanted her for walk hacking. I would not have done it when I was younger.
 
There's some good horses at Jack Thomas Watson but he's in Northumberland and easily a 9-10 hour return trip for us.
We would have to take the dog with us and stop at some dog friendly place overnight, there is no way I could do that and ride when not used to it all in a day.
 
Birker2020 said:
There's some good horses at Jack Thomas Watson but he's in Northumberland and easily a 9-10 hour return trip for us.
We would have to take the dog with us and stop at some dog friendly place overnight, there is no way I could do that and ride when not used to it all in a day.
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I have seen a few of his advertised, he had a lovely Connie x tb in a while back but somerset to Northumberland is a tad too far...
 
blodwyn1 said:
I did the unforgiveable and bought unseen,but I had put an advert up for what i needed and her owner replied. I had many videos and agreed a trial period during which I vetted her and it has all worked out. It was way too far to travel to see her and the transporter fee was reasonable. I only wanted her for walk hacking. I would not have done it when I was younger.
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With the luck I have had and the amount I am prepared to spend I would want to view ideally. Normally I have bought cheap ex racers or youngsters, who wouldn't have mattered so much. I still like to meet to to suss out there personalities.
 
I did a 12 hour round trip a couple of years ago. Set off at 5 am, viewed pony, daughter rode etc., stopped for lunch then drove home. It was a big day out but not horrendous, we did buy the pony so that eased the experience a bit!

I've also bought unseen a couple of times and it's always worked out. Plenty of videos and a vetting essential if you go down this route.
 
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