Strangest Viewing You've ever had???

Many years ago was looking for a confidence giver for sister and my very novice then OH to share, he was 6'2" tall and weighed about 12 to 13 stone, explained all this to seller on the phone before we set off. When we got there there was the poorest looking thin 16hh mare with lumps and grases all over her legs, "she got those in the field from the other horses" later "she's fine on her own, been turned out on her own since she got here" Owner took it in field and round the back of a hedge to get on! The poor mare could do nothing, I declined to test pilot this one and thought desperately of some thing to say came up with "she's too forward going for what we want" Wanted to buy her to give her decent food and a good chance, but needed the money for the horse we wanted.
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Mine was for a 17hh ID gelding whose owner I spent an hour on the phone to plus several emails who kept telling me how good the horse was. She said he had been a bit naughty when younger (she'd had him since a youngster) and he was only 6 so I didn't let that bother me. I told her exactly what I was looking for, and also what I WASN'T looking for. I wanted a forward going but sensible, nice tempered chap.

Anyway after a 2 hour drive to get there, we were shown the horse who was very grumpy to be fed (would have gone for you if you went in the stable or got too close) and to be tacked up. This was excused by his history of being neglected. Anyway I thought I may as well see him ridden as I'd gone all that way.

The yard owner who schooled him every day rode him first (owner was pregnant, hence the sale). This is what happened:

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I rode him afterwards but he was spooky one minute and just wouldn't go forwards another. He needed so much leg I was knackered after a trot.

Unsurprisingly I didn't buy him!
 
I went to see a 15.3hh IDxWB 7yrs old palamino done a bit of everything unafilliated, not a novice ride...got there to find a 14hh lazy welsh cob!
When i was selling my just 4yr old irish TB had a teeneager wanting a horse to do pc/rc, mum said her daughter was very good rider, was on all pc teams etc etc. my horse was jumping 2ft-2ft6 courses in trot and abit of canter, was abit green but very easy horse to ride. He was an angel for me and the girl to ride, but she only walked and trotted him, and they said he was far too green for them? well what do you expect of a just 4yo TB who has been brought on slowly!?
 
Have been to see a couple of horses that were not as advertised. There was a black mare that wouldn't let you touch her on her left-hand side and reared if you turned her left when riding, advertised as quiet first pony - no thanks.

We went to see a 6yr old coloured pony, done a bit of PC etc Well this pony was only just 4 and looking back now can't have been broken more than a few weeks. He reared every 20 steps when we took him on a hack but my sister fell in love with him and he turned into a super little PC pony.


The most bizarre viewing I have been to was when looking for the next step up from said coloured pony for my sister. We travelled for 3hrs and pulled up outside the electric gates of the house at about 6.30pm in the winter so it was pitch black. The gates opened (owners saw us on CCTV) and we drove onto the driveway which winded through landscape gardens that had little fairy lights everywhere. There was a lake with a waterfall which had twinkling lights behind it, and there was even a grotto.

Parked car and went into the house to meet the owners, The 'kitchen' of this house was the size of the entire downstairs of my house, and they even had an indoor swimming pool with flumes
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So we walked outside to the stables and I was expecting an amazing yard with fountains and statues of their horses. But no, it was a metal shipping container filled with straw that stunk so much it nearly knocked me over. The pony we were viewing was living on the conrete strip ouisde the stables because his stables was filled to the roof with imports from china
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So this pony was stood on the strip of concrete bulging out each end of the rug ("We bought the biggest one in the cheaper price bracket") looking nothing like a pony that had supposedly been to sansaw 3 times for the eventing champs. He was fat and incredibly hairy, and clearly hadn't been ridden for months. Anyway the woman brings out the tack and proceeds to cram the bridle over this ears ("Why won't it go on?"). The cheekpieces were so short the pony ended up standing there with his head on the side and his mouth wide open, so I surreptitiously dropped them down 2 holes each side why she was doing the saddle. The noseband was so high it was above his cheekbones but the leather was so stiff I couldn't budge it.

It transpired that "floodlit area you can ride him in" was a patch of ground opposite the stables with the stable lights on. It was roughly triangular, about the size of my bedroom (no kidding!) and fetlock deep in mud. The lady got a broom and rested one end on the back of a plastic chair and the other on the fence, and then she took off her white coat and laid it across the broom "so he can see it". This amazing little pony jumped the obstacle and 3yrs later we still have him
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He has been the pony of a lifetime for my sister which just goes to show that you have to look very hard at the horse and not its surroundings when looking to buy.

As we were leaving the woman squeezed his rug back on him (he was dripping with sweat
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) and walked over to a garden shed. She produced one section of hay and one section of straw and then threw them literally at him. To this day I don't know whether he was meant to eat both of them or whether he was meant to pick up a fork and lay himself a straw bed on the concrete
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Sorry just realised how long that is, was about to tell you about our second viewing of above pony but you'll be asleep by then
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When I was looking for a new pony for comepting in Driving trials I advertised for 4-8 years with three good paces. I did say more but anyway.

First horse was meant to be broken to drive and showing good paces even in extension.

So I get there and a oyung girl brings it to the stable (at a scrap yard) riding it bareback.

Tacked up we go into the filed with other horses in it. The girl can't ride in a straight line (more like a mini serpentine) does not know how to ride a figure eight showing correct change of rein. When I aske dto see extention the mother shouts "Trot as fast as you can she wants to see him extend" obviously this did not happen. I then asked to see the canter and again the mother shouts out" Ride as fast as you can to get the canter"

Then I asked to ride, only to find the horse had no idea of rein and weight aids. Would not go into canter with correct aids and I refused to race him into it.

Okay I can school him, lets see him in the carriage. So he was harness and put to the carriage on the road on a bend... Yikes... I got in the carriage with the owner and took the reins. The poor lad did not know the aids to go forward into walk. Eventually he went forward but not until I came to the T-Junction did I discover the horse did not know how to turn in the carriage.

On return teh horse was unhitched again ont he road and he was sweated up because of his anxiety. I suggested he'd need cooling off before being fed and turned out. Okay the young girl said and off seh went with the horse. You can imagine my surprise when only 5 min later she came back with the horse and turned him out...

Another horse I went to see was a mare which I didn't want but thought I'd give the mare a chance, so I travelled form Northampton to Newcastle to see it. I asked if she was okay to pick her back legs up and told yes.. Only to get kicked to SH*T... Thought she'd broke my hip at first the pain was so bad. The bloke (the boyfriend) there said "Oh she hasn't done that before" only for the horse to then attack him. The owner wasn't present" now I know why. Luckily my friends are in the north east so I went to visit them instead.

Oh and yes it put me off buying a mare.. lol

That was the first two I went to see...
 
I have had them all - lame ones, ones that were nothing at all as described, but the funniest was the horse I couldnt get to move. Sooo embarrassing! It was a 16hh warmblood mare, 7 years old and quite nice looking, described as suitable for a novice. Well YES that was certainly true. Nobody would come to any harm on it, but nor would they go anywhere. The odd thing was it didnt nap but just looked 9/10th asleep. Its eyes were half shut. It just took no notice of the leg AT ALL. I was booting it like a mad pony clubber and it would amble 2 or 3 yards and then stop. The owner told me to smack it, but really there is only so much thrashing you can do! I was bright red and sweating profusely. The horse was not. The owner then said it was better on a hack so off we went. Or rather off she went. I ground to a halt 4 paces from the stables and after massive kicks in the ribs got 5 paces. Severe whacking got me 6 and then I got off and went home. I dont think the horse was drugged as the YO (who had mortifyingly been watching my pitiful efforts) whispered 'Its a bloody donkey that one!'
 
I was selling a horse once and this mother and daughter turned up who had sounded perfect on the phone. They looked over the door and said 'ooooooooh isn't she big'. I said ' she's 16.2 just like it says on the advert'. They said 'ooooooh that's ever so big, the pony I ride is much smaller than her and I thought he was 16.2hh' End of that viewing!!!
 
Went to look at a horse for a friend, at a racing yard but it wasn't an ex racer. Nice looking bay horse got shouted over in the field, but when it got close - friend nearly fainted in horror - its back was dipped about 10 inches lower than its withers and bum, but it was so short in the back too - you couldn't have put a saddle on. No idea how they broke it in!

It honestly looked deformed, its back looked like a camel with two humps and you'd have had to sit in the gap between them! Poor b*gger!

Another friend went to look at an arab and the owner said she'd meet her in the car park of an out of town shopping centre, friend thought it was because the yard was difficult to find and that she'd follow the owner... No - owner turned up with the horses in the car park... both were for sale but one had a habit of trying to run off on the road when it saw motorbikes... apparently it liked to race them!!!
 
I had an odd person come to view my horse. They rode him and said he was lovely etc. but at the end they said "I didnt realise 16.2hh was so big. I think he's too big for me". Oh my god! The initial advert had his height so its hardly like I had hidden how big he was from her. And he wasnt "big" to ride if you know what I mean. Absolute joke.

Ive also had another person who came with his family to view the same horse. The horse was very safe to ride and when they asked if he bucked, I stated he had NEVER done even the tiniest one (he hadnt). The bloke rode him fine, but then he asked for the young daughter to ride him..... I said I wasnt very happy since the horse was 16.2hh and this girl was a 12yo twig..... but I said ok reluctantly. Well low and behold she pissed my horse off within 2 minutes of getting on and he bucked her off...... how embarassed was I......!! There's me saying totally honestly "well he's never done THAT before!", they must have thought I was such a liar!
 
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