Ready made horses, yes or no!

Daisychain

Daisychain

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Just wondered how many people on this forum generally produce their horses from scratch? Do you think this is the most rewarding way of doing it, or do you always like to buy the ready made job, or would you be to nervous to produce a horse yourself, do you think it helps if you have always ridden schoolmasters or do you think you are more gutsy and skilled to do it yourself, just abit of food for thought really as people always seem to want instant success!!
 
Now that I've had something that knew a little bit (Boss was establisehd xc at RC open level when I got him) I'd prefer to produce my own.
Taking on something more established is often taking on someone elses problems. It can be quite good fun fixing these problems and getting a better horse out of it but some horses are beyond repair.
 
I have always produced them myself and although I wish I could afford a made eventer I often wonder if we would adjust to each others styles as those I start from scratch. I would also be worried that I wouldn't be able to ride it as well as it's previous owner.

I really enjoy the producing and get a lot of satisfaction from bringing them on myself.
 
When i bought Archie he was meant to be ready to go and compete, however as most people know he certainly wasnt!! i had to go right back to basics with him, starting from lunging him for 3 weeks before i could even attempt to get on him. It was then a slow process from there. I suppose i have basically produced him, as altho he had the foundations there (ie he could walk trot and canter and new what a circle was!) he'd never been anywhere, hacked out, seen a jump, done any competitions etc.

I like the satisfaction of producing myself, and i cant wait until i can get on mini-Bloss and produce her myself too! Altho thats a very long time yet!!!!!
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I have loved producing Grace to the level she is at now... when I first got her she had been backed and then turned away for over a year due to lack of rider and the need to mature.

I have enjoyed bringing on a young horse more than I ever thought I would do... I can't wait to do it all again with Troy
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I know my forte isn't the patience and sympathy required for breaking, so I don't buy unbroken horses. However as long as that's been done I don't mind if they haven't done much else. One day, when I retire from eventing, I am going to buy a proper show-jumper and have fun learning how to do that properly! I wouldn't say producing a horse is more rewarding - but it's the way most people have to go about it due to funds!
 
As I work full time and for me Show Jumping is a hobby I much prefer buying an older horse I can just go out on and have fun with from the start (that was the plan anyway
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). There is nothing wrong with instant success as I see riding as something I do for pleasure and due to my job etc I haven't got the time to produce a horse and it doesn't matter with an older more established horse if you don't ride or school it for a few days due to work commitments.
 
i am thinking about this atm-and i thinkn deep down i like rpdusing my own
i have done so with millie and its been very rewarding, i have learnt an awful lot, have a lovely horse at the end of it and no one can take away from me the fact i have made her that way myself.
 
I have produced my last two horses from pretty much scratch. I produced Fiddler from a rising 5 year old and i was 12 - that was very satifying but hard work as i was just as inexperienced as he was but with lots of professional help he turned out fantastically! and i produced Hattie from a 4 year old and 18months on she is everything and more i ever expected her to be!
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Love producing them from scratch as its so exciting waiting to see what they will muscle up and turn out to be!
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i've never had a made horse. have had one that knew a fair bit about SJ before i bought her to event, but she knew nothing about dressage or xc, and i got a lot of pleasure from bringing her on. also took my first homebred to 2* level, and no-one else ever rode her... that was very rewarding, as i knew she was all my work, good and bad! i'd love to have a 4* eventer handed to me, of course, but i can't see many people queuing up with them at the moment, so i'll keep plugging on...
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Nothing at all wrong with buyng a ready made horse so long as the horse and you click - it is much harder IMHO to find a horse you click with that is ready trained than one that is green. There is a horse I keep looking at on Horsequest but it has only ever had one owner and is now approaching 10 - she broke him too and I haven't been to see him because I reckon he will prob have probs adjusting to a new rider and new way of going...

As for me, I more than likely will not ever break anything myself again as I have my boys to think about, so I would want anything I buy ridden away with the basics established (steering, w/t/c in some balanced fashion and handling manners in situ - don't mind if they haven't started jumping, if they need flat schooling to work correctly, I just want someone else to have established that they are not a nutter
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Mine has been produced 100% myself, so noone else to blame for his faults than me!!!
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he had been sat on a grand total of 4 times when I brought him, knew stop and go, and had met a pole, but it was me sitting on him the first time he went over a pole under saddle!! Love it, although is very frustrating at times, HUGE learning curve, but i dont think i would as satisfied doing it on something taht had been there with someone else....
 
I definitely like doing it from scratch. They're such fun at 3, 4 and 5 when it's all new to them, and really rewarding when you can get to a level and see how far you've come. I particularly like it with my Baydale boys as I have normally seen them from foals through to 3 year olds, which is when I buy them.
 
I think it depends entirely on your situation and what you want from your horse.

If you have the time, patience and experience for a youngster then it is satisfying to bring them on and develop together. However if you want to be able to compete straight away or just want to have fun without the complications of having a green horse then its great to have a 'ready made' horse. Its also nice to have a horse that knows their job when you're learning so if you make a mistake they can help you out.

As someone said it can be harder to adjust to a horse that has always done things a certain way so it's not always the easy option.
 
Saf is all my fault, from the breeding and the day she was born
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I have loved every min of the experience and proud of some achievements and sad that she may be going better with someone with more experience.
At the end of the day she has exceeded my wildest dreams, I never expected to start eventing aged 40
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and we have managed 4 placings this year
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I would still like to have a ready made horse if ever the budget allowed esp for the dressage to see how it really is done.
*dreams of rich man to have it all*
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Like Saf there is nothing better than going from choosing the breeding, to being there at the birth to sitting on your baby for the first time, and then your first competition together.

I'd love a really serious dressage schoolmaster for once but I love starting babies too
 
I would much prefer to produce something myself. IMO its more satisfying when it all goes right, and you only have yourself to blame when you cock it up.

When I eventually get the horse i keep saying im getting I will do everything myself. I would consider something that has been sat on but I would much rather start from scratch than sort out someone elses mistakes.
 
weezy, i sold my homebred, the one i'd produced all the way, on horsequest, and she went to a lovely lady for an easier life, to be a hack and dressage schoolmistress, and had no problem at all adjusting to a new rider (full month's trial, plus i will buy her back if they ever want to sell.) as long as it's been ridden sympathetically and is a genuine and happy, pain-free horse, i don't think they have any prob at all with a different rider tbh. so, i'd go and see the one you mentioned, worth a look surely?
 
No-one in our family has had a ready made horse unless it was schooled by us..
I handed over my Welsh Cob to all three kids who had a wonderful time haring round XC courses on my dressage trained cob..
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I recall my daughter asking to have one of the youngsters instead because it was too easy to win on him..
The sons both gave up aged 14 but my daughter carried on, we have only ever bought her one horse who is Layla, and had she not grown so enormous she would be competing her too, but the home bred horses are the ones we need to be out and about on to persuade others to buy youngsters from us.
I actually think a ready made pony is a great idea, and any child gains huge amounts of confidence from one, but horses are a different thing.
We do find anyone who has only ever ridden school masters can't ride one side of the baby horses, or anything with much oomph, my daughter however is used to teaching the youngsters from birth to competition, and it makes you very versatile.
We pretty much follow the same route with all of them, lungeing, long reining, hacking straight out on the road in company, then alone after around three days, then start doing some schooling for a short time on their return home from the hack every day. Once they are strong enough they get lunged in the pessoa, and then fine tuned in two rein lungeing on a circle.
They pop over any poles on the floor in the school from the beginning, and do logs, ford the river etc as soon as they feel they won't explode..
from there they do gridwork then some indoor SJ, then a few XC schooling sessions with a sensible companion.
After that they are ready to do HT, though there is never any pressure re time or winning until they go happily round 2' 3" 2' 9" easily.
By the time they go eventing we would expect perhaps a pole down sj and a clear Xc, if we don't get that we would be disappointed.
Jonty went from being bred here to jumping round Novice /Intermediate height courses with no rider other than CCJ, she made a fair few mistakes with her such as not being disciplined enough in her flatwork schooling, and paid for it later!
It's obvious they have both learned a lot from each other which had we just bought an experienced horse would never have happened.
I think a lot depends on how confident the rider is; if you have any worries about jumping bigger fences then there is no shame in buying a schoolmaster, but it's far more satisfying to make your own horse..
 
My boy was ready made. He came from my trainer as a school master.

Hes the first ive had that has been... all my others, with exception to my very first horse, were youngsters.

Tbh, i dont think i have the skill or confidence to produce a young horse to the standard i would want. My confidence shatters quite fast and i could just see it being a complete disaster
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For example, if i wanted to buy a youngster tomorrow to bring on to the level jack is at.. id need to be able to produce to PSG. If i wanted to go higher.. id need to produce myself a GP horse. I'm realistic and thats not going to happen.

We will be looking for a new horse for me in the next couple of years and the prospect of a youngster has been mentioned. If we go that route, it will go into training with someone else until its old enough that it wont be as easy for me to mess up ;p But in all honestly, id prefer to buy something older, with more miles on the clock and that already knows its stuff.
 
PF is pretty much my own work... the good and the bad!! Even the Bossy Old Fart acknowledges, and I've learnt LOADS from her and the Ginger Beastie. I sometimes think I'd like to have a 'play' as Santa_Claus says, on a really well-trained horse, but it sort of takes the fun out of it; I don't SJ just to win, I like trying to sort out gliches, iron out problems, etc, etc although I don't pretend for a minute I'm great at it. I think I'm just about competent!
I don't think there's anything wrong with getting an established horse, but I'm really really irritated by people I know who've bought a horse who's been there, done that and got the t-shirt, bring it down a grade and are then smug about how well they're doing... well DURRRR!
Course, I might just be jealous!
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Its all down to the individual obviously. Personally I never buy "ready-made" horses. All mine have always been green 4 / 5 yr olds (oldest Ive bought was a very green 8yo). Probably because I hate forking out a lot for horses (I think most are a rip off!) and they're cheaper when green / unbacked obviously! I LOVE bringing on babies, its the best part. Its so interesting to see how they react to different situations and watching them develop is so rewarding when its all your own work. If I had the choice, Id do nothing but bring on babies. Right now though one of mine is doing well at BE and BSJA so certainly isnt a baby anymore (9 this year) but Im actually quite enjoying not being right down in the tiny baby classes anymore. I still have another horse who's 6 but still very immature so its ALWAYS a learning curve with him! I think Id always need to have 1 horse to be "playing" with.

Im no pro though and just do it for myself. I am realistic and know I cant bring a horse up to any amazing level by any means. Its been mainly ponies which Ive backed to sell on as nice pony club types so they're very easy as don't need to be schooled absolutely amazingly. Ive brought on my grey from having popped 1 2ft course when I bought him, to BE novice and BSJA fox but our dressage is still shite as Im not good enough at it! I dont have any ambitions to go any bigger than Foxhunter although would like to do a BE intermediate but TBH Id just be over the moon to get round the XC than worry about getting a good dressage score! It all depends on what you want to do with a horse at the end of it.
 
I've never really had a ready-made horse either, of my two junior horses one had only ever done showing and the other had done a bit of pre-novice but nothing more than that, so bringing them on to 2-star was all my own work and very satisfying.

That said I never really had a 'baby' either until I bought Charlie as a 5 year old a few years ago, and although he was very trying in a lot of ways I did get a lot of satisfaction from getting him from a green baby which had only been jumping a couple of months to intermediate-novice level eventing.

Missie is my youngest to date, I bought her in february as a 4 year old backed for only 5 months. I do find it very rewarding when she goes well and it's nice having a blank canvas, but at the same time I worry a lot that I'm not producing her as well as I could be and that I'm going to 'ruin' her!! I would love to have a dressage schoolmaster as bar a couple of sessions on a prix st georges horse about 10 years ago I've never ridden anything that could dressage above novice/elementary level so I find teaching youngsters lateral work, extensions etc difficult as I'm not really sure myself what it should feel like when done properly!
 
I think everyone needs to bookmark this thread and refer to it when none of you can sell your competion horses. Reading this thread there is a very limited market for horses that have actually competed or are a bit established at what they do. The majority of people wouldn't buy them as there is no pleasure apparently in doing well on a horse that you haven't trained from a scratch or even better bred.

So looking at it economically a horse that can actually do the job should actually be priced less than a horse that has never been sat on as there is a far bigger market for that type of horse - market forces, supply and demand etc.

I am wondering if it is worth getting my horse fit again as I obviously won't get any enjoyment out of competing her as she is a been there done type.
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Mandy I wouldn't say there is no pleasure in winning on a school master, I just think it very much depends on the individual person. several of my friends wouldn't think of getting a baby and that is the right decision for them. For me it's not.

Personally I would prefer to compete youngsters for ever more at British Novice/Discovery than take on a schoolmaster to jump 1m30s, because for me thats what I get real satisfaction from. Others want the progression and want to reach the top and the best way there is on something that has been there done that.

I think its also to do with the fact I have always had youngsters for myself. I have been lucky to have the ride on a few 'ready made' horses and ponies over the years but I have just always found my own more fun and satisfying, I suppose also because I wasn't having to live up to anyone else's results!
 
Actually there is alot of pleasure bringing on a youngster, but to be honest i couldnt possibly be able to afford a ready made super dupa horse!! I think this is where most people replying to this thread come into, good genuine schoolmasters always sell well.
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100% my own, there faults are my faults. Nice to get the reward for when it all actually works well as well, only thing is i can't use the excuse when it doesn't that its someone elses fault.
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