Suitable for Pro or Amateur - define amateur for me please

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Amateur is someone who doesn't earn money from riding. Assuming your daughter doesn't earn a living by riding horses then she's an amateur and if the horse doesn't suit then its not suitable for an amateur. :)

To me, suitable for pro or amateur in an advert means useful enough for a pro, sane and forgiving enough for an amateur. I'd be disappointed and feel misled if the horse wasn't these things.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
 

Baggybreeches

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I read adverts the same way as Spotted Cat. They need a firm system to produce them as they are talented and maybe sharp. They will take the piss if allowed and will not tolerate a random ad hoc approach.

Yes I would say this too. There are the likes of Sarah- Jane, Gamebird and Baydale on here who are all amateurs in the true sense of the word, but on the flip side there are a few 'professionals' that haven't got an ounce of the experience of them.
But in general terms a Pro/Am horse is likely to be fairly high maintenance. For geniune amateurs (weekend riders) I would be looking for a RC type of horse.
 

Baggybreeches

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I think TarrSteps speaks a lot of sense and I have that sinking feeling that perhaps I was naive in thinking suitable for pro or amateur meant relatively straightforward.

Mare has been ridden by a good pro, then sold to a relative novice, jumped at local unaffiliated level, then gone back to pro's yard on sales livery, where daughter and I showed up to buy a horse suitable for Pony Club.

Not on here to sort horse, just wondering was I naive, expecting too much, or slightly taken in. Or as TarrSteps has said, horse needs more of a pro set-up so pro person not really thinking of the average person.

Reading between the lines here, I would say that the horse has perhaps 'jacked it' had some time away doing unaffiliated stuff which is all pleasant and easy, and was then thought have it's head straight when in fact it is quite happy being a RC horse.
The Pro obviously wants the most money for it which is going to be as a pro/am horse and nobody told the horse that the goal post have been moved again.
I would send it back personally, horses should be fun if you aren't doing them for a living.
 

TarrSteps

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Was the horse DEMONSTRABLY doing the job you wanted when you bought it? Did you see it hack in similar conditions to what you want? Did your daughter jump it etc at more or less the level you required?

Is it eating a similar diet, living similarly, and being trained similarly? Have you had the usual checks?

The most interesting opinion to me would be that of the person who has taught it in the past - why does he/she think it's not playing ball?
 

Jesstickle

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If I saw a horse advertised as suitable for pro/amateur I would assume it was a serious competition horse. I wouldn't expect it to do anything else, unless they advertised that it did.

People I know who have bought that sort of horse dont really care whether it will hack out, good in traffic etc.

I wouldn't expect it to be a pony club, have a go at anything horse. I also would expect a buyer to want it to compete, in whatever it did.

Completely different from the usual good in traffic etc etc etc.

I personally would never even ring about such a horse.

Funny how we read the same adverts and see different things in them.


I'd read it that way too. If good enough for a pro to be interested it is going to be waaay too much for me to handle and I wouldn't call either.
 

DuckToller

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Was the horse DEMONSTRABLY doing the job you wanted when you bought it? Did you see it hack in similar conditions to what you want? Did your daughter jump it etc at more or less the level you required?

Is it eating a similar diet, living similarly, and being trained similarly? Have you had the usual checks?

The most interesting opinion to me would be that of the person who has taught it in the past - why does he/she think it's not playing ball?

Old trainer did let slip an interesting comment, but again I didn't think anything of it at the time, and obviously he is a professional trainer and can't be drawn into any dispute, along lines of he said, she said etc.

Horse hasn't jacked it in, but is proving tricky at times :)
 

HotToTrot

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Oh no, nasty situation. I would say that a horse suitable for pro or amateur has the talent to go far in its target discipline, but can cope with having several days off (if an amateur got caught up with work/family, etc) and is sufficiently forgiving to interpret an imprecise aid/dodgy stride.

I would expect the pro-am description to refer to its ability to compete with a pro or am, and would take it to mean that it could indeed be competed by a pro or an am. I would not expect it to mean that the horse was good to hack/handle but I would expect the description to cover behaviour relating to competition - e.g. not silly spooky, doesn't refuse to go in the ring, etc. By saying the horse is suitable for a pro, I think the seller is implicity refering to its ability to be a good, straightforward comp horse. However, it is a statement of opinion, not of fact and it'd be impossible to say definitively either what it meant or whether the horse fitted that descrption.

I've just bought one who I think is suitable for either pro or am. The week before I got him, he placed in a 1.30 (so cld be competed by a pro at that level). I took him to BS, mootled round some smaller classes, left him on his own tied to the trailer, gave him to the unhorsey hubby to hold, had my share of dodge shots and he didn't seem to care. He is sharp, he's fwd and he spooks (but still jumps whilst spooking!) but (touch wood!) it's nothing puts me (a v untalented am) off.
 

9tails

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Suitable for amateur = not for me, hot as the gates of hell
Not a novice ride = could possibly be for me, if not already ruined by novices
Novice ride, stick your granny on = definitely not for me, slow as a tortoise and I'd do most of the work
 

Archiepoo

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personally i dont think its anything to do with how the horse is advertised, if your having a personality clash then send him back if thats an option. its ment to be fun and if hacking is your thing but not this horses thing your better off getting out now.
 

LowenKi

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This is very tricky. I've loaned my pro/amateur competition horse to somebody in the past and it all appeared well and good... until a few months in it turned out she was expecting said horse to go out competing once per month and behave 'dope on a rope' style despite not doing much else. Unfortunately, as I thought I'd made perfectly clear before she took the horse on, said horse needed a 'full time job'! Her version of full time work and a focused environment/regime was completely different from mine! I think in reality she considered herself a 'serious competitor' but in actual fact, I would class her as a riding club weekend rider! She didn't appreciate the difference in the types of horses that suit these two environments. The trouble here is that everything is subjective... and what one person considers as a competition/sport horse, is often entirely different to the next person!
 

humblepie

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Just a little story - there was an exracehorse came into the yard where I keep my horse and I was quite tempted by him but went off him as I felt he would be too much for me - he was naughty in the horsebox and bit diffcult in the stable, and had quite a nap on him although did well in the few competitions he did and was obviously talented. He went to another yard to be sold and was advertised as suitable for an amateur. Mutual friend had a word with the owner and said thought that should be removed as felt more of a pro horse as could easily go the wrong way. Advert changed, horse now with pro and doing really well, moving up through the grades.

Not sure what that adds but probably again different people's interpretation of who may come to look at a horse if advertised as suitable for an amateur.

I would personally expect it to be relatively quirk free and generally straightforward.

Hope OP gets sorted.
 
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