Pagan
New User
Hello, all!
I own an ex-racing TB - he's my second horse and was bought as a project for me to take back to scratch. He's progressed in leaps and bounds (despite a few medical problems along the way!), and my OH and I have decided that we'd like a youngster. It was always my dream, but I never thought I'd be able to do it. Fortunately, my OH has been incredibly supportive and is now a horsey-convert
, so I have found a sharer for my ex-racer, to take some of the pressure off us while we get our youngster settled.
We are expecting it to be expensive and time consuming, but intend for this horse, like my TB, to have a "home for life". We don't want a horse to bring on and sell - we want a youngster purely for the pleasure and experience. I don't really think there is a "profit" in buying and selling horses, once you have taken into account stabling fees, tack and equipment used in the backing process and time and effort. I have worked with and around horses all of my life, including helping to handle a couple of yearlings, and intend to take the slow and steady approach, and for the youngster to be professionally backed and started. I have no intention of messing up such an important start to a life-time of ridden work!
My reason for posting (apart from over-flowing with excitement!) is to ask some advice from people who have been there and done it. We're gathering as much information as possible, to ensure that we are not walking blindly into anything. As this is going to be my only chance to do this (as I will otherwise end up with far too many horses that I will want to keep forever!) we are intending to get a weanling or yearling.
Eventually, I would like our youngster to become an all-rounder type that my OH can ride. He is approx 6ft tall, and around 14 stone in weight. Ideally, I think I would like something that will mature to 16 - 16.2hh. I think we are leaning towards an ID or IDx, but I'd love any other suggestions for possible breeds to look into.
I have drawn up what I think is my full shopping list of bits and pieces that will be initially required (a lot of the basics I already have for my TB), such as a foal headcollar, rugs (and regular replacements!), it's own grooming kit, and have also considered the cost of gelding if we get a colt.
I'm a bit stuck on what sort of questions I need to ask about my potential baby? I have always phoned about horses that are already backed for ridden work, so generally ask what level of training they are at, about their medical history, what they are like around traffic, etc, but I am expecting to have to start training pretty much from scratch this time around, and I can't imagine many weanlings/yearlings will have a lot of medical history unless there was a problem at birth or an accident.
Any advice would be gratefully received!
I own an ex-racing TB - he's my second horse and was bought as a project for me to take back to scratch. He's progressed in leaps and bounds (despite a few medical problems along the way!), and my OH and I have decided that we'd like a youngster. It was always my dream, but I never thought I'd be able to do it. Fortunately, my OH has been incredibly supportive and is now a horsey-convert
We are expecting it to be expensive and time consuming, but intend for this horse, like my TB, to have a "home for life". We don't want a horse to bring on and sell - we want a youngster purely for the pleasure and experience. I don't really think there is a "profit" in buying and selling horses, once you have taken into account stabling fees, tack and equipment used in the backing process and time and effort. I have worked with and around horses all of my life, including helping to handle a couple of yearlings, and intend to take the slow and steady approach, and for the youngster to be professionally backed and started. I have no intention of messing up such an important start to a life-time of ridden work!
My reason for posting (apart from over-flowing with excitement!) is to ask some advice from people who have been there and done it. We're gathering as much information as possible, to ensure that we are not walking blindly into anything. As this is going to be my only chance to do this (as I will otherwise end up with far too many horses that I will want to keep forever!) we are intending to get a weanling or yearling.
Eventually, I would like our youngster to become an all-rounder type that my OH can ride. He is approx 6ft tall, and around 14 stone in weight. Ideally, I think I would like something that will mature to 16 - 16.2hh. I think we are leaning towards an ID or IDx, but I'd love any other suggestions for possible breeds to look into.
I have drawn up what I think is my full shopping list of bits and pieces that will be initially required (a lot of the basics I already have for my TB), such as a foal headcollar, rugs (and regular replacements!), it's own grooming kit, and have also considered the cost of gelding if we get a colt.
I'm a bit stuck on what sort of questions I need to ask about my potential baby? I have always phoned about horses that are already backed for ridden work, so generally ask what level of training they are at, about their medical history, what they are like around traffic, etc, but I am expecting to have to start training pretty much from scratch this time around, and I can't imagine many weanlings/yearlings will have a lot of medical history unless there was a problem at birth or an accident.
Any advice would be gratefully received!