On the fence pony shopping

[charlotte0916]

Hehe ’marginally stupid’ - I think that’s a fair assessment of most things we do horse wise ?. Good luck with your search OP you’ve got a decent budget for what you’re after even in this market. Whereabouts are you?

Good decision, OP. For 5 figures, you can do better. I was horse hunting in January/February and seeing really nice horses in that price range. My budget, however, was low-to-mid 4 figures, so I have bought 2-year old. LOL.

But the travel restrictions are frustrating. I totally get that. It sucks. My 27-year old picked a shite time for her arthritis to take a fast, severe downturn. If she looked as awesome now as she looked at this time last year, I would not have been in the market. This sh1t definitely can push you to make decisions you might not have otherwise made. There were horses down in England which looked good, but my crystal ball wasn't telling me when Covid cases were going to get low enough for the Scottish government to ease travel restrictions (it still isn't), and that was just another stressful thing, on top of all the other stressful things like missing the mountains, missing the rivers and lochs, missing friends, my old horse's health issues. The 2-year old was a year younger than the horse I had envisioned myself buying, but otherwise she ticked all boxes. So fukk it. I bought her. You just need to make sure your "fukc it" decision is only marginally stupid and not very stupid. A pile of health issues in a 6-year old is veering towards very stupid.

Marginally stupid decision making is my new favourite phrase for the horse hunt! I'm near Bristol and oddly there doesn't seem to be a huge number of the type I'm looking for around here - 90% of the one's I've liked so far have been in Kent, Cheshire or Leicestershire, so not as local as would be ideal atm!

 

[charlotte0916]

Get a full vet check, ask for a second opinion from someone you trust to be levelheaded and then pour a yourself a wee dram lol. Good luck. Your horse is out there whether its this one or another, you'll get there

Wise words all round

 

[Upthecreek]

Never in a 100 million years would I allow a horse of mine go an a trial of any amount of time. Let alone 4 weeks. @Upthecreek you are off your rocker if you think any owner would do that

The seller is asking a lot of money for a horse that will quite possibly develop issues once in full work. You can’t test that in two weeks. There are too many unknowns for a buyer to pay what they are asking for that particular horse, so I personally would not buy it without a 4 week trial. Perhaps if it was cheaper a buyer would be more inclined to take a chance without a trial. Just my opinion, doesn’t mean I’m off my rocker ?

 

[Tarragon]

I know that you have probably made up your mind already, but I have been thinking about it. I do put a lot of credence on that gut feeling! I think that it plays a huge factor in making that good relationship. So, it looks like the general consensus is that the horse is not worth as much as the seller wants. You could try a lower offer? Assuming, that is, you would be prepared to take up the challenge of a horse of an unproven record