Selling - Would you vet the buyers before letting them ride?

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burtie

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Obviously if selling a safe allrounder or RC horse you wouldn't as it should be exected to behave even if the rider is quite novicy but I was thinking about if you were selling an expensive youngster or any top comp horse in it's prime.

I must confess I would. I would want to know exactly what level they had ridden and competed at and their experience of riding that type of horse before letting them on board. Especially with a youngster as they could quickly and easily be very put off by a nervous or heavy handed rider. Wuold you expect this or would you walk away if a seller quizzed you in detail about your riding before letting you on board?
 
Difficult one, depends on the horse and the money. The more expensive the horse the less people able to buy it, and for the top competion horses most of the people buying probably aren't going to be the people riding it. So if you already have a very limited market do you limit it even further.

If a seller did start quizzing me about my riding a lot it would make me suspicous of the horse, that it had some sort of problem. Fair enough to ask what you want to do with it. When I enquire about a horse though I do hope that I have asked the right questions to work out if it is sharp or difficult. I phoned a horse yesterday and the woman wanted to know how heavy I was (the horse was a 16.2 MW) and it mde me think there was probably something wrong with it.

I don't know how successful you would be as people either over estimate their skills or think they are rubbish.
 
I'll bet you do. Some years ago the Tee's were selling Robert Smith's ride Tees Hanauer. They are only a few miles away from where I live and it was terribly tempting to pretend to be interested in buying him and go and try him out! (Sadly, the £85,000 was a tad out of my price range!) Actually, I was very pleased when Robert bought him hemself.
 
A good way of going about it is to put the buyers off the horse as much as you can.
I started doing this a while back, and have greatly reduced the number of no shows, joyriders, and cack handed bags of sh#te that come to try(or not) my horses.
 
I vet every single potential buyer on the phone BEFORE I even allow them to come and visit the horse LOL!!!
 
I think it's a good idea to ask questions of the buyer and try to find out a bit about them - after all if you aren't bothered about who buys the horse you can't be very attached to it and that might put people off. At the same time though, without seeing someone actually ride it is impossible to tell if they are any good or not. People who have never competed in their lives can be excellent riders and there are people you see every week at shows yanking their horses in the mouth and flapping about like novices - just because you have been affiliated for 10 years doesn't make you a talented rider.

I would be more inclined to chat to the person and get an idea of their personality - I think that shows you more about how they will treat the horse and what consideration they will make for the horse when riding. You can also get an idea of their depth of knowledge which will be a good guide to their involvment with horses previously.
 
TBH I let them sit on a horse Im selling- I think that you can tell what they are going to be like the second that they sit on the horse. I have let people trot just one circuit around the arena, and then pulled them off if its pretty obvious if they are capable or not. Its all about the way they behave around the horse, how they get on,and how their 'seat' looks in the saddle.
Some people may have no competition experience to speak off or no record, but can be the most amazing riders so I think that everyone is worth a go!....
 
I have never competed however I am a very caring, conscientious rider and I'm having flatwork lessons with an absolutely fantastic instructor who was taught by Molly Sivewright and I am putting my everything into them, not because I want to compete but because I want to enjoy a good partnership with my horse. So you really can't judge people by their competition experience alone. Personality has much more to do with it.
 
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So you really can't judge people by their competition experience alone. Personality has much more to do with it.

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Strangely enough, I would have said ability and not personality had more to do with it. I know what you're saying though, just because you don't have a desire to compete it doesn't mean you're not a capable rider.
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On the other hand though, why would someone who has no desire to compete be interested in paying money for the type of horse being marketed to do well in top class competitions? Bit of a waste of money when you might as well buy something un-produced and bring it on yourself.
 
I vet them on the phone too! I always ask them exactly who would be riding the horse, their experience / if they've competed (to what level) etc. but I say it in a nice way - basically tell me about yourself so I can tell you if I think my horse will suit you! You can work out who are timewasters a lot of the time..... Im really picky about who buys my horses anyway, I only let them go to homes I think the horse will suit and be happy. So if someone tells me their daughter is "extremely confident" then I take that as she's a cocky stroppy kid who I dont want near my pony!
 
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