riding school ponies

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debbielinder

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just woundered if any one works in a riding school or knows any where were we can get cheap ponies for a riding school. need to replace 12 riding school horses and ponies eventually but just 6 at the moment have looked at a fair few and most are way overpriced or not sound ( we are possibly taking the place over in a few weeks). called about the add in horse and hound thats in every week says irish horse ponies and cobs think its 495-995 its in kent they said they supply many riding schools and will send us 6 and all with a 6 month quarantee and if they are no good we can send them back. we dont want anything flash doesnt even have to look good all we want is sound horses for novice riders. being honest wouldnt usually touch this type of dealer but last resorts and all that plus these ponies need replacing asap before they keel over and die or kill some one.
 
no actually never thought of that will mention at our next meeting! our local school gets all theres from a sales called beeston in lancashire if any one knows it this place is horrible but they manage to have some nice ponies tho we didnt want to resort to this its not a nice place at all
 
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called about the add in horse and hound thats in every week says irish horse ponies and cobs think its 495-995 its in kent they said they supply many riding schools and will send us 6 and all with a 6 month quarantee and if they are no good we can send them back.

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Not sure I should help you aren't that far from my school
smile.gif


It's up you of course, but we went there when we was also first starting (from nothing) and it's just a con! They idea of testing them is to sit on it, they have nothing and no where for you to ride them and they lie about being rode everyday and you see that for yourself when you get there.

Also while we was there, some very angry came looking for him (tom I think the guy's name is) and he quickly took him away from us. We were there to buy 10 horses and we stayed a whole 12 maybe 15 minutes and we got the hell out of there.

The truth is, you have to pay good money most of the time, every now and then we get a bargain.

PM me if I can help some more!
Thanks
kev
 
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no actually never thought of that will mention at our next meeting! our local school gets all theres from a sales called beeston in lancashire if any one knows it this place is horrible but they manage to have some nice ponies tho we didnt want to resort to this its not a nice place at all

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*cough* It's in Cheshire *cough*

Again when we very first started we got 3 horses from there and this was 18 months ago!

1 sold, 1 on the for sale list and 1 was knacked, but we kept it anyway and she lives out in the field and I will be using to foaling!
 
may have to be beeston then funds not good at mo cos have to pay rent up front but the ponies have got to be replaced so will have to look into other options thanx everyone
 
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may have to be beeston then funds not good at mo cos have to pay rent up front but the ponies have got to be replaced so will have to look into other options thanx everyone

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I would go the warrenty (sp) sales, at least you have some comeback!

I would be honest and reduce the amount of clients you have and explain you have to get some more horses in and you will ring them.
 
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to be honest the clients at the mo like the horses most have fab characters, but they are a little nieve to the fact that some have health probs and are ancient

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Still, people will think better of you for admitting it!
 
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called about the add in horse and hound thats in every week says irish horse ponies and cobs think its 495-995

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Avoid at all costs - there have been many postings about this place. If you want more info - pm me.
 
I've bought ponies from beeston, but I am pretty sure it is in Cheshire not Lancashire (tho there may be two I guess?) Maybe I have become hardened over the years, but it's not that bad a place to buy from - with the caveat that you really have to know what you are looking for - I've seen doped horses, lamanitics (the comment 'oh what a pretty short stride' proves the ignorance of some of the buyers) plenty that were supposedly 4 that were in fact 2. If you don't have the knowledge, or can take someone with you who does have the knowledge, then it probably isn't the right option for you either - but then I would say that goes for the dealer too - if he were selling quality ponies, bombproof, fit etc, then I very much doubt he would be selling to riding schools as you can get far more for that sort of pony on the private market.

I would approach it from a couple of angles - if you need ponies straight away, I would be looking at some of the 'sadly outgrown' ad brigade in the classifieds, and I would have the ponies vetted. It won't be a cheap option, but probably the most practical. If the pony is fit (hence the vetting) but proves too lively for the riding school, or similar, you should be able to sell privately and get the money back. The second part would be to buy some green ponies who haven't done much and spend the next 6-12 months making them into your next generation riding school ponies. If you are anything like the yards I have worked on, there will be some pretty competent teenagers willing to school for nothing, tho I suggest it is very closely supervised. Sometimes a pony that is 'too much of a handful' will be fab in a school, where they are working 5 days a week, instead of just once a week in previous home. Likewise, I would be cautious of buying a very quiet pony - they may not be up to the rigours of working that much.

Good riding school ponies are worth their weight in gold - we would very very rarely sell ours, and if we did, it was because someone made us the sort of offer that allowed us to buy a couple more ready mades!

Another option would be to offer working livery but you have to be very selective
 
the riding school where i work gets alot of their horses from a dealer, and if they dont work out they exchange them for another until they find one suitable. im not very helpful im afraid as i dont know the name of the dealer!
they have also rescued a couple of horses from a local slaughter that have turned out to be very good and the rest are bought from private homes.
 
Or as an interim you could offer to take on loan ponies that people have tried to sell but can't, either because they're asking too much, they're not schooled very well, or blimmin naughty. The ones that are dangerous can go back.

One of our local Riding Schools has several ponies on loan with the agreement to sell in 6 months (or try to), or on Riding School livery, where the school get to use them for so many hours a week, and the owner does too. Because they are in effect on full livery, the owner also pays some keep. A benefit all round.
 
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