Pony sold as seen....

Bertolie

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 August 2011
Messages
1,600
Location
Gloucestershire
Visit site
I have a receipt for my daughters new 14.2hh gelding that states 'sold as seen', we are having issues with him with mares in season and vet has taken blood to check to see if he is a rig.

If tests prove he is a rig, do I have any right to return him? He was bought from a private seller who only kept him with a mare/mares.

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Sold as seen literally means that you bought the horse based on the condition that the horse was in at the moment you handed over the money.
Even if on the journey home it morphed into an elephant it would be tough luck!
 
Didn't think we had any hope of being able to send him back, but I thought it was worth asking!

We dont really want to get rid of him as he is a sweetheart on the ground, to lead, stable etc. She hacked him out with a mare when she went to see him and he was as good as gold, which is what she wants as she has lost confidence. We have had him just over a week and he has trashed 3 electric fences so far, and forced my gelding through a stock fence. We are having to keep both new pony and my gelding stabled at the moment, and although we have individual/pairs turnout there are mares on all sides. Just not sure what to do?
 
A week isn't very long. Give it more time. Turn them out on their own or in seperate fields for the moment, and see what comes back with the blood test. Is it an old gelding? I find teenage geldings sometimes go through a riggy phase and like to herd mares around. Doesn't mean they're rigs, just turning into dirty old men!
 
I had similar issues when I got my gelding, keeping him with my mare. Put him on rigcalm and her on frisky mare and it seemed to do the trick, OR they may well have just settled down anyway. We did have a bit if an issue with him when my mar was last in season recently (she's very, erm, 'persuasive') so I think we might go back to both for the summer. no problems through the winter though and it was literally the first week or so where everyone was a bit excited. As others have said, give them time and poss some supplements. Good luck!
 
No, you can't return him BUT I wouldn't be too hasty either. My gelding is very 'riggy'. It doesn't actually cause much of an issue. In fact this February I actually dared to turn him out with my mares and youngstock :eek::eek:. This has made him very easy to ride (he was starting to over-horse me). Only thing is it has increased the frequency of him pulling off shoes as he fair gets about when marshalling his herd. So now he's out in over-reachers and this has helped with this.
 
I would think that he would be fine turned out with mares but unfortunately he has to be turned out with my gelding. He tries to kill my boy if he thinks he's getting too close to any mares but with mares in paddocks on all sides we are not sure what to do.

We havent hacked the two geldings out together yet as daughter needs to sort out a saddle for him, but we are concerned that he might lash out at my boy if we pass any mares?

The vet seemed to think his actions were quite extreme and although she didn't feel any testicles, she also said she would expect to be able to feel a scar from gelding. Not sure how true this is though? Also not sure how common two undescended testicles is?

New pony is 13 years old, and we do know that from birth til the age of 7 he was with his mother, and that the owner was unable to handle either of them and just used to 'herd' them around with a JCB! He wasn't backed until the age of 9. His passport states gelding, but wasn't issued until he was 8 years old and we wondered if someone just had a quick grope and decided he was gelded! We know the person who owned him from the age of 7 to 10 and he said he has always liked the mares, and then he was kept with 2 mares on a rented field from the age of 10 until we bought him.
 
If the passport says gelding then you have not bought sold as seen imho, as you saw you were buying a castrated animal. People can't wriggle out of these things so easily. Have a look and see which vet signed off the details. Did they tell you it was a gelding, and was it advertised as such?
 
Last edited:
You've had it a week... horses are not machines, their behaviour can be unpredictable.

In a sale from a private seller, you dont have any legal right to "send a horse back". Just think how many private sales keep their horse on a livery yard... you just expect them to magic up a space at a livery yard because you dont want the horse anymore?
 
Wench - in fact you are wrong there. You do have rights, they are just harder to enforce. If they have mis-sold the pony to you, you have the right to re-dress. No matter what the receipt says. If they advertised the pony as being good at something and it isn't, you can try to return it. It is just much harder to do. You need to have it in writing that it was good to turn out with mares and geldings - if it turns out to be a lie, you can go back to them on that point.
 
We bought a riggy gelding as well, tried attacking the other geldings, protecting the mares, calling out if mares were away from him. He has settled down a lot. Mostly they all run together now, mares and geldings (initially he was seperated by a fence). He is no where near as bad as he was. I have not done anything at all to effect a change. He is 13.2hh and attacked my 16.1 hh gelding when first together, and they are now best friends.


I have heard that some of the products do help to settle them, but you will probably find he settles in with your horses in time in any case.
 
You've had it a week... horses are not machines, their behaviour can be unpredictable.

In a sale from a private seller, you dont have any legal right to "send a horse back". Just think how many private sales keep their horse on a livery yard... you just expect them to magic up a space at a livery yard because you dont want the horse anymore?

As said previously, we do not want to get rid of the pony as he is lovely in all other respects. Unfortunately, YO has made it pretty clear that if the test shows he is infact a stallion with undescended testicles, we would not be allowed to keep him at the yard!

The pony was advertised as a gelding and passport states its a gelding. We have no information on who owned the pony when it was gelded so have no details of which vet signed it off, and the passport was issued when he was eight years old.

If the blood result shows that he is actually a stallion with undescended testicles surely I would have some redress as he was sold as a gelding?
 
"If the blood result shows that he is actually a stallion with undescended testicles surely I would have some redress as he was sold as a gelding? "

Yes you probably would have in this circumstance. However, in my experience I have found it takes some horses/ponies longer to settle into a new home/routine and a week isn't a particularly long time.

Also, was gelding previously kept in an all gelding enviroment? or in a mixed herd, if the former, maybe he just isn't used to being with ladies and therefore would be better in a gelding only herd and isn't riggy at all.

Some are just better in same sex herds, my mare generally will mix with geldings/mares however, she is a complete tart and really does harass geldings so is kept in an all mare field instead - to give the boys some peace and quiet!
 
He has actually only been kept with mares for the last 3 years - no geldings anywhere in sight!

How do I go about getting him used to being with geldings and not so protective of mares? We have never had this problem before :confused:
 
I have a pony gelding, he was a rig so cut late, he is fine turned out with a mare or a gelding but not both, he attacks the other gelding as he is "protecting" his mare. He has got worse not better on the few occasions they have been put out together and are now always separated.

If your new pony is similar I think you will need to keep him well away from any mares, it may be hassle changing fields round or even moving to a more suitable yard but there may be no choice, unless he can live with a mare of his own.

Give it some more time to see if he will settle but be prepared to make changes if required.
 
Top