Searching for a horse is so depressing

I am off for another viewing this week its my day off probably half a day in time and petrol so I will be well hacked off if its another wasted journey. I have emailed spoken to owner so lets hope its all true!!!


But I dont hold my hopes up and have thought about cancelling it even as I am so fed up!

Also why do I drive past fields of lovely cobs wondering why they are not all for sale!!

When you read the adverts it does make me laugh would excel at ABCD or potential ....but they havent actually done these potential or excelling things??!! I would have thought someone buying or viewing would see a horses potential?

urghh you are certainly not alone..
 
I am advertising my boy at the moment, he is young and has not done a lot, so someone could buy him and school him on, no he is not a potential show jumper or anything world beating but I have to point out his current stage of development and the level he could hold his own at if he is schooled.
The one word I hate, is "stunning", does that mean I will be stunned by the poor conformation or the one eyed monster inside him?
 
I have 13.3 mare which may be suitable (depending on how experienced you are) she is 6 but was only broken in this January. She has mostly just been hacked out but has been in a school and popped a few small fences. PM me if you are interested.
 
how about we pair up the people who are fed up of looking with the people who would love to be looking (youonlyliveonce, me, etc.) and send the latter out for a pre-viewing?
 
Moaning is more than fair: what's the point in advertising a horse as for sale when you're not happy for prospective buyers to ride him due to a suspected behavioural issue? On the upside, at least you found out now and not too late.

Don't be disheartened. Better an empty house than a bad tenant and all that. Just think how much fun it'll be telling us about your new horsey when you have him/her! You'll be convincing us all that the search was worth it to find 'the one' for you?! 80)
 
It took me over a year to find a suitable horse...I had failed vettings, useless owners, lost my grazing, travelled goodness knows how many miles....and still didnt get the perfect horse. Ive had him for 3 months and he's been lame for 2 months, he wont load, hes totally different from when we got him...but you dont give up...!
 
foxy1 said:
In the video the horse is lame on it's right hind leg.
Click to expand...

I think I disagree with that, having just relooked at the video. The horse is barely in trot, so not really using itself and the trot section of the video is very short, and on a corner. The clearest view is the short section when it's trotting away into a jump and it looks level there.

Obviously you'd really want it to be trotted up on a hard surface, in a straight line, to be able to give a more definitive answer.

Also saw this one. A bit older but smart little horse.

http://www.horsequest.co.uk/advertisment/6596
 
I know exactly how you feel! I've finally decided to move on from my lovely 14.2 allrounder and buy my first horse. The first one I tried I fell off! So many of the horses I tried were not as advertised, and I had loads of trouble trying to find one that wasn't completely green or inexperienced. Eventually I found a lovely little horsey after about 3 months of searching :D so don't give up searching!
Just keep on telling everyone what you're looking for and maybe put up a wanted ad? Word of mouth generally produces the best results, so ask round local riding/ pony clubs and you might unearth some horses that aren't on the market yet :)
 
KittyJay said:
how about we pair up the people who are fed up of looking with the people who would love to be looking (youonlyliveonce, me, etc.) and send the latter out for a pre-viewing?
Click to expand...

A friend of mine has just swapped her lovely dressage 4 yr old gelding for an older horse that can event as her friend just wanted to do dressage and had a horse with a talent for jumping.
So an idea would be to swap/part swap with someone if both parties were happy with the other. Saves time with selling then buying. ;)
 
foxy1 said:
In the video the horse is lame on it's right hind leg.
Click to expand...
I could not see it was lame on off hind, but it does look like a horse that has not done much for a while, no muscle development [or topline as we now call it], the rider was pretty tiny and had no contact, but at least the mare was willing, I would have liked to see it do a proper jump
 
Have any of you thought about using an Agent to assist you in finding our perfect horse? I did and would do again as she was brilliant. She knew exactly what questions to ask and really dug into a horses background.

I am from Channel Islands so horse buying is a nightmare as you have to plan trips and see as many as you can. When you spend money on flights, hire car etc it gets expensive when the horse isn't as described.

The first trip I made (without using the agent) out of all 7 horses I saw only 1 was truly as
described. The second trip (horses organised by agent) all 5 horses were perfect and not one wasted trip. She was truly brilliant. She separated the wheat from the chaff. Yes you pay for her service but you save time and money in the long run.

I won't out her name in here in case it's seen as advertising but she is a member. PM me if you want contact details.
 
I can thorougly understand how you are feeling.

My friend (and sometimes myself in the 'joining in to support' process whislt skiving at desk) have been to see many animals, she is lucky that budget isn't so much an issue she has a good sized budget.

But where is the nice schoolmaster?

She has travelled 3-5hours at a time to see 'the perfect horse' only to be disappointed.
I think out of the dozen or so, one or two fit the bill but she didn't 'click' even when things looked OK. She found one she liked but it had sold by the time she got home from viewing!

She is looking for 15.2-16.3hh safe, calm horse for hacking and dressage and not too chunky - well schooled (amazing what people call well schooled!), and non spooky (appreciates all horses react).
Age immaterial, must be gelding, sound, good to handle etc..
I think basically what everyone else is looking for.

I think she started last November time looking.
I suggested putting an advert online for 'wanted' but she thought there were so many already did sellers really read these.

It's a patience thing I think, not what I guess you want to hear when you're ready to get going in the saddle!

Keep thinking logically and in time the right horse will appear.
 
Starting to lose count of viewings 12 or 13 and slowing it down due to being so miffed at wasting time etc

Am looking tomorrow at a horse and am not even looking forward to it ..but it sounds like a goer...UM! I will report back as to what happens/if it is as described etc etc. Trying to drum up some enthusiasm now!

As when I hear this today ....

mad horse that dumped a rider who was viewing it(quite annoyed to hear it was for sale, as it is a mad horse) How could people even expect someone to ride such a nutter. Appalling. It has dumped quite a few riders too. I keep thinking that could be me on a viewing being told it is a good horse etc etc.&NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE

Arent I miserable!!!
 
It seems that there's a lot of people on H&H who are going out trying 12+ horses so can some of you please say (without names n places obviously) what the reason was that you didn't have said horses. I'm intrigued. Thanks for sharing in advance. :-)
 
Peanot said:
It seems that there's a lot of people on H&H who are going out trying 12+ horses so can some of you please say (without names n places obviously) what the reason was that you didn't have said horses. I'm intrigued. Thanks for sharing in advance. :-)
Click to expand...

1. One was a buckeroo!
2. The other too small (gutted as he was llllllllllovely :))
3. Behaviour problems and ears pinned backed if you went near him
4. Cribber (which isn't so bad) and also what appeared to be a bad case of sweetitch covered up on the tail and couldn't be ridden in the school as only liked hacking
5. The owner decided not to sell afterall when I said I wanted him - very upset :( but I can understand - we're human and sometimes we change our minds.
6. The next one is on saturday......
 
Peanot said:
It seems that there's a lot of people on H&H who are going out trying 12+ horses so can some of you please say (without names n places obviously) what the reason was that you didn't have said horses. I'm intrigued. Thanks for sharing in advance. :-)
Click to expand...

I ask lots of questions and my biggest requirement is 100% traffic.
But when I go its not! The seller convinces me it is on the phone or email so I go along. But I find out it went on a road in traffic once in its life.

Also told its not strong or silly. I comment looks like it wants to go for a good gallop(it has head in air and is pulling hard). I then find out it tanked off across a paddock with previous viewer who was accompanied by instructor..but they blame the potential customer who was by now in tears and who they say couldnt ride......SO I end the viewing and leave. Its not the quiet cob that I was told about.(Oh I was told it was the rider who was demonstrating the horse that she likes to do things correctly but she spent about 10mins getting the hot horse to calm down). She looked tired. This is not a youngster but a heavy cob.


The adverts dont match the horse. In fact I have been told to ignore whats written in the ad when I now go to view. Which is good advice.
I have met two out of the 12 who were truthful though and completely honest. One was too small and the other was just not my kind(although he really didnt do anything wrong at the time the ground was like bricks and I never got to hack him out. He was a bit nervy on the ground and I was told not to hose his back end ever). Put me off ...but he was a good boy in the menage.
 
I don't know all the ones she viewed, just ones I attended:

1) Horse was nervous to handle
2) Horse not schooled by any stretch of the imagination and was yanked in by the mouth and booted forward by rider
3) Horse unsettled on hack (she got off and walked it back)
4) Bad feet, no manners and horrendous white marks from a saddle (which I assume were photoshopped out on photos)

I know bolting was one, and another she had said she wanted and the owner changed their mind about selling.

Peanot - please pm me about the horse (mare I know) perhaps she will consider a mare afterall this experience!

Agree that adverts DO NOT match the horses in reality,
 
Smallhorses said:
I went to see a Welsh S D. He was really stunning. When I entered his stable he kept putting his ears back which I assumed meant he was a little nervous of me but he did it to the owner too. He has to have a special diet and must come in certain parts of the day and doesn't like being schooled or he rears. The owner wasn't keen on me riding him until he had a session with the behaviour therapist. I am sorry for anyone who thinks I am being a bit of a moaner :(
Click to expand...

Did you not speak to the owner before you went to see the horse? If so, either she lied, or you must have asked the wrong questions!

Maybe write down the sort of horse you would like - size, age, what you would like to be able to do and your experience - then perhaps match that to some ads?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top