People who impulse buy horses

[MissTyc]

As title, but I don't mean knowledgeable horse-people who impulse buy ... but clueless people who share a horse for 2-3 months in summer and then turn up with the cheapest horse/pony they could find ...

In my experience, they never make it through the winter (the people! Luckily the cheap horses tend to be pony/native/cobby types that do OK). I live to be surprised.

Field next to mine has just been populated with a new pony. Spoke to the owner and she was telling me that she was going to take him on loan but he was so sweet she bought him instead. She's been riding 3 months and "bought some hay for the winter" (pointed at a roundbale in the field with 3 horses). This is going to go well, isn't it? Farmer doesn't care. I bet the pony ends up wintering with my herd to be sold in spring, but as said I would love to be wrong!

 

[MDB]

I impulse bought. Moved to a new country, bought a house and some land, decided it would be great for horses and two days later the trailer turned up and deposited my said horse. I had only ever had lessons as a child under 10 years old, and then the occasional holiday hack every so often. Totally clueless. Never had I picked up a hoof, groomed a horse or let alone tacked one up.
Well the said horse lasted a year. A combination of buying a very young, green, 5 year old horse, who was extremely nappy, bargy and disrespectful, along with my inexperience and lack of confidence meant it didn't work. However, I learnt a ton.
Just before moving him on I then got myself two mares on an impulse. They were both emaciated and one had been maltreated and was a total fruitcake when we got her. My husband, bless him, couldn't leave her after seeing her, so she was the first one to arrive. The second one arrived a couple of weeks later.
We sold the naughty gelding soon after and I havent looked back with my 2 mares. I adore them. We have a great bond, funnily enough more with the fruitcake, thepreviously beaten and abused one, who has given me her heart. I would never swap them for anything. It has been 3 years with my two lovely ladies.

 

[Chinchilla]

Hmm well ours were mostly impulse buys. Rosie mum saw as a 5mo at bealieau road and thought she was too pretty to go for meat so nabbed her for 16 gns (she ended up coming home with 8 foals!! :O ) .

Henry was being neglected by clueless owner who impulse bought him "for her grandkids to ride" (he was 18 months old haha not likely, and emaciated, long feet, lice, worms, field full of ragwort) so mum got P'd off by it one day and told the woman who owned him, I'll have them for £20 each or call the RSPCA.

Alfie we got after getting a text one day from a friend saying, I know someone with a TB who just broke her back, she doesn't want to sell him because of what he's done but doesn't want him PTS either, would you like him? - we agreed to meet him but had pretty much decided it as soon as we read the text!

xD in fairness most of these were my mum, not me, but yeah. I mean Henry we still have, 26 years after he was impulse bought, and Rosie we've had 16 1/2 years (or near enough). Alfie has a home for life too. So some impulse buys work out pretty well actually.

 

[Caol Ila]

Mine was kind of an impulse buy. Myself and parents had kicked around the idea of buying a more dressagey horse than the quarter horse I had. But not seriously and the idea fell by the wayside. A few months later, a flyer for a seven year old Shire-tbx mare appeared on the yard bulletin board. A friend at the yard asked if I was still thinking about dressage horses. I said, "I dunno, maybe." She said I should look at that one; she'd seen the mare at shows and she was nice.

My mother and I thought seeing the horse would be a nice thing to do on a Saturday afternoon, but we probably wouldn't buy her as we weren't really horse shopping.

17 years later, I still have her.