oh dear that didnt go well... horse buying

0ldmare

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Well I am back from my marathon trip that I was dreading to try a horse (phobic about riding in front of owners). Anyhow there is a moral to this story, which is Don't ever say 'its been 25 years since I fell off a horse' the day befor you go and try a new horse. Fate will strike!!
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So I rode mare for a short time in the school. Very nice, felt a little bit sharp but nothing happened. I really liked her and we seemed ok even though I was riding pretty rubbish. Then took it into a field where there were big black hay/silage bales, which she found quite scary. Rode about a bit and had a canter etc, all ok.

The owner meanwhile had climbed up onto a big bale and I finished and rode over to her. Mare was a bit unwilling to go too near, but we stopped and I think I was patting her and just sitting relaxed in the saddle. Then the owner slid off the bale which gave a big rustle. Mare reared up and spun, then I think maybe did it again. Not sure, it all happened too quick to take in and I sailed out the side door.
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I'm fine, banged my head, which is ok (no sense, no feeling
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) and hurt my hand which has swollen like a balloon. More to the point felt a total prat and hurt my pride!
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Oh, decided not to buy. I suspect I may be even more phobic next time lol

Please make me feel better and tell me about your horse buying horrors. Please!
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Stupid bloody woman (not you, the seller). She just lost a sale by the sounds of it.

Onwards and upwards. Oh, and if it's any consolation, when I tried my horse out I couldn't stop him in the school. Must have been cantering around for ages, before I found the right button....

Still can't stop him !!!
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went to see safe and sensible semi retired ex hunt horse... enjoying cantering him across a stubble field when a covey of partridges got up just in front of him..... apparently I described a perfect star jump as he went right and I stayed in mid air. My OH fell over and rolled on the ground, he thought it was so funny.....:) then I couldn't get back on ........ had to go back to the owner with mud on my knees and try to pretend I hadn't fallen off the horse her novice husband had taken hunting
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oh dear
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what a stupid owner though...bet she's kicking herself now
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just go and buy and unbacked 3 year old- then you won't have to get on
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Am sorry to hear that i went to try a welsh section d once he was only just 5 watched person that had been schooling him he was a man and weighed a bit more than me and the horse was cantering but was just sort of rocking and looked really unwilling to go and then saw it jump etc all seemed fine then o got on it kicked it into canter first rein was fine then asked again and it seemed to realise it had less weight on its back and just flew off in gallop with me people look at (there was 5 of them) as if i was doing it on purpose then he finally came in to help me about 5 minutes later i eventually stopped it wouldn't mind but the walls of the arena were only about 2ft tall and there was a 8ft drop on the other side.
Didn't go try any other horses bought a yearling instead lol
 
Oh how awful poor you,
But what an idiot the owner was, and perhaps you got off lightly too in deciding not to buy it ( well who would after that!) Personally no horse should behave like that unless its a newly backed 4 year old, IMO.
Just be careful next time and get the owner to canter it around a field and you watch for how its being ridden etc, - you can do that kind of thing when you know a new purchase a little better!
 
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Personally no horse should behave like that unless its a newly backed 4 year old, IMO.

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Really? I don't know many that wouldn't react to what the seller did - albeit a little less violently perhaps......... Even my 'bombproof, nothing bothers me'
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ned would have had something to say.
 
i went to look at a happy hacker to be told on arrival that it was sold but not to worry she had plenty more for sale on the phone she never mentioned she was a dealer or that anyone else was coming to view the happy hacker, well having travelled 60 miles thought what the heck lets have a look at the others she pulled out 16.2hh chestnut tb not alot of difference to the 14.2 fell i had come to look at anyway back to the tb the lady said i think you will like this one its a paragon of safety "would you like a leg up" not till i have seen you put it through its paces, the lady got on and this paragon of safety reared up started bronking violently across the field straight into a 6ft hawthorn hedge and completely disapeared then reappeared 2 seconds later still bucking then suddenly stopped broke wind and calmly walked back over to me the lady said "i think i rode that quite well" the moral of the story is if you go to look at a 14.2 fell expect an exciting ride !!!!
 
At least it dropped you before you took it home! My big horse was an angel when I tried her, but it took her less than 30 seconds to get me on the floor the first time I got on at home.
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She's either very very good or very very bad, I wish she'd been bad the day I tried her and I'd have had chance to run a mile.
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Hope you are ok - not a nice experience and not the right horse!!!
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I went to try a horse some years ago, rode it into the school, went to shorten my stirrups ...... horse exploded forwards across the school and I did a very undignified flying dismount off backwards ..... put the horse back in its stable, and painfully drove the 2 1/2 hour journey back home, blushing and feeling rather stupid!
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Oh thank you guys, you have made me feel a bit better! And some of those stories are just classic!

I should have thought that the owner would get off the bale and been a bit more prepared. Unfortunately instead I was stupidly sitting there all relaxed.

Poor owner though, I do feel for her!

I guess I am glad in a way that the mare did it then (although would prefer not to have had a flying lesson!). She hasn't ever been hacked out much at all and if she'd had that level of reaction at the sight of a lorry or something scary on the road it could have been more painful than just dented pride and swollen hand

She is a seriously pretty little mare though, such a shame
 
after a few wrong uns i found my perfect horse , even though there were several reasons i should not of bought her . She was 16 not 13 and had had laminitis the year before , but is still going great at 20 .
 
I fell off the first horse I ever bought when I was trying him - we were cantering slowly down a wide grass verge (private driveway, not a road!) and a sheep stuck its head through the fence - horse went sideways and I didnt
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I bought him anyway
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In fact thinking about it I fell off my present horse when I was trying him, I had a lengthy trial period and during a jumping lesson he stopped and I didnt (AGAIN!)
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And I bought him too...

Perhaps I'm just mad though
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Question for you - if stupid owner had not done that would you have brought her?

Must admit if that had happend to me and i already liked her i would have thought well if this is her at her worst (and to be fair it can happen at anytime when we sit there with reins like washing lines, leaning forward and the poor mare had no idea who was on her back) - i would have put a cheeky offer in.

See how you feel tomorrow and maybe go back for a 2nd look.

By the way i was bolted with when i was 14 and buying a jumping pony - poor thing was in a running and a standing martingale, a vulcanite pelham- oh with a rough tape around it at the corners - a untwised curb and then the girl was wearing spurs and had a hugh schooling whip.....

Brought it and dad made me put a snaffle in it at our first show (next day) and we never looked back.
 
so you you decided not to buy this horse who you described as really nice, dispite your rubbish riding because it spooked a little at a wrapped round bale?.......i find that really odd TBH....

i'm sure the owner is quite relieved....
 
Maybe JM, but the reaction was fairly extreme. I wasn't that close to them and had stopped some 25-30 feet away or so. My old horse is way spooky but would have been well within her comfort zone at that distance. I would forgive a spin. But I'm not really into rearing and spinning. Maybe its something to do with my advancing years lol. That coupled with the fact that I had said that above everything I was looking for a safe and sensible horse....hmmm
 
i'll exceapt that OM...as i didnt realise the whole scenario..it wasnt in your OP..

no, i'm the same now...advancing years/safety takes precedence i'm afraid
 
Its a b*gger isn't it this getting older malarky! Wish my nerve was how it was in my 20s and 30s (and my ability to bounce come to that
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Personally no horse should behave like that unless its a newly backed 4 year old, IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

Really? I don't know many that wouldn't react to what the seller did - albeit a little less violently perhaps......... Even my 'bombproof, nothing bothers me'
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ned would have had something to say.

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SORRY?! - Not spinning and rearing - toatally not acceptable!!, none of my youngsters (or oldsters) have ever done that
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SORRY?! - Not spinning and rearing - toatally not acceptable

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I did say albeit a little less violently.............
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Really bad luck especially about the hand
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But, honestly, it made ME feel so much better to hear that things like that happen to other people too - not just me !!
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Good luck in finding the right horse soon
 
Sorry storminsteacup maybe I wasn't clear I was a good 25 - 30 feet away from the owner and had stopped and was chatting.

I was certainly relaxed (perhaps foolishly!), but then I would sit relaxed on any horse when chatting. No not exactly reins in loops, but reins in one hand while I gave the mare a pat. And no I have never fallen off a horse I was trying before either, indeed its been 25 years since the last time I hit the deck.

Oh well, we live and learn. Next time - in the unlikely event there is a next time - I will definitely not risk any relaxation at the end
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