The horse you regretted...

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I regret not being able to have two horses as I’d have bought the wee colt I was interested in as well as Faran. He was a lovely leggy black Welsh D with a silver flecked mane and a white tail.

I learned he passed away from colic at 18months old. He went for half the price Faran did and if Id had my own land or a better job I’d have bought him.

 

[Tarragon]

I regret selling a special pony to the wrong person as they offered to pay more
I should have stuck to my gut feeling and chosen the better home.

 

[tiga71]

It wasn't for want of trying but I regret not being able to rehome my old horse, Izzy's, dam. She was called Cheyenne and was taken in by the rescue when she was in foal with Izzy. She was sent off on loan to a local riding school once Izzy had been weaned and was there for many years. It wasn't a bad riding school but not a great one either, in terms of the care of the horses. They made sure they got their money out of them.
Years ago, Izzy is 23 now, I said to the rescue that I would like to have Cheyenne for her retirement. Not to ride, just to love her and give her a lovely retirement with the one on one care that she never really got. The RS knew I wanted her for retirement but kept working her. I found out from one of the grooms that she was put down because she couldn't work anymore, even though a few of the grooms had said to the owners of the RS that I would have her.

I still get angry about it. She deserved a good retirement not being worked into the ground.

 

[charlotte0916]

There was one I tried that I turned down as she had ‘too many issues’. Ironically the one I brought instead who was exactly what I was looking for on paper has turned out to have the exact same set of issues and potentially more. I really clicked with that mare, she simultaneously felt like putting on an old pair of slippers and made me laugh during our first ride. I found out recently that she sold to someone I know within weeks of me thinking about selling mine and inquiring about her. I have since wondered if it would be hugely cheeky to get in touch and let them know I’d be keen if they ever consider selling.

 

[millikins]

When we had our first pony there was a woman on the yard with the most beautiful 7/8 Arab which she let me ride out to accompany my daughter. I adored him and I think he liked me too, he was black, beautiful and a proper old fashioned type. Then her life fell apart, she was left with very little money and had to sell him asap. She even offered him to me for free but at the time, as a single parent I just could not afford two. I don't worry about him, he went to someone from an Arab rescue but he was my dream horse.
And another was a little Sec A/Arab mare that we went to try as a second pony (funds better by then). She too was beautiful, a rich dappled bay but she rolled when my daughter rode her. I don't blame her, she was in her turnout paddock and her tack very obviously didn't fit but it was too big a risk for a child's pony and my daughter had already been through a difficult time with our first before they gelled. I worry about her, I continued to see her advertised with her price dropping

 

[tda]

One of the first few foals we bred was sold as a weanling, when she was 3 i was offered her back for the same money, but the timing was awful, my dad had just died and my mum had Alhzheimers and i was nearly main carer, so i said no.
She has since disappeared off the face of the earth, passport never updated so guess she was sold without it ?
Hope to find her again one day

 

[JGC]

Well, I've had (still have one) four horses and they were all the first horse I saw - two of them when I wasn't even looking for a horse ... (I know I'm not the only one here).

But I have been a tried two since September and neither passed the vetting - but I think an awful lot about the first. Her hoof balance was off in her near fore and the vet was pretty sure the 1/5 lameness was from arthritis. She is 9 and hasn't done a lot. I think about her a lot - not helped by the fact that the girl selling her said she would keep me updated (it's been a month since last contact). I keep wanting to get in touch and then stop myself. I just think so much about what will happen to her.

 

[catembi]

Aarrgghh, NB, now *I'm* regretting that you didn't buy the poor little chestnut, and I wasn't even there...!

There are none that I regret *not* buying, but quite a few that I do regret buying!

 

[Spotherisk]

I regret not taking on a friends lovely coloured gelding, at about three years old. She had shown him quite a bit in hand and he was just a lovely person to be around. I couldn’t have afforded two at the time and so he went to someone else who didn’t listen to the original owner and just chucked him out naked. He didn’t thrive, colicked and died. It would have been over 15 years ago.

I also regret a black cob which a rider we were then sponsoring was selling on behalf of someone. I only ever saw one photo of him in trot in a dressage test but he really stuck with me. Probably ten years ago.

 

[pistolpete]

Just thought of another. A lovely coloured for sale up in Ayrshire. Logistically impossible to go look while my other half is so anti me having another but I loved the look of him just from his pictures! Called Tickety Boo! Loved the name too.

 

[scats]

I went to view a young coloured a few years ago. I really liked him and had a second viewing but he was funny to mount and having had one that had issues with mounting, I decided I couldn’t be bothered with that again and walked away.
I’ve seen a few updates about him over the last few years and he turned into a seriously smart little show jumper.

I also put a deposit down on a mare once, then changed my mind for a few reasons and pulled out (obviously lost my deposit, understandably). I wish I’d bought her after all.

 

[Caol Ila]

Also, the one that wasn't pregnant. I don't have a specific horse in mind, but it would not have been pregnant.

 

[Jayzee]

There is only one and fairly recently that I really regret not buying.

A lovely chesnut rising 4yo beautifully bred mare who I really liked but decided to go for something that was ready to go. I've thought about her a lot and she would have more suitable that what I did end up buying. The seller was a lovely lady who was emigrating and she had been beautifully handled and allowed to grow, not something I have been able to find since.

 

[HorseMaid]

A few years ago I was at Exeter horse sales and in amongst the ponies was a beautiful little TB mare. I had a chat with the owner who was a nice farming type chap who'd bred her and she'd been on his farm apparently her whole life (I took that with a pinch of salt) - but she was just beautiful, a beautiful light golden Bay, quite dainty, about 15.2hh, very gentle. 7 years old and done nothing. I often wonder what happened to her.

 

[Cloball]

There was a gorgeous grey Arab for sale for pennies pre Covid who sounded ideal and had been left at a livery yard. If I had known how prices were going to go I would have been braver and moved heaven and earth to at least view him. Bit it wasn't an ideal time and I wasn't keen on a grey. He sounded lovely.

 

[LadySam]

I still think about the one that got away when I was retraining and rehoming OTTBs. He was 4 years old, about 17hh, grey. Absolutely gorgeous. Half brother to Winx. He'd been purchased by Godolphin as a yearling for $280,000, given the best training but after three barrier trials was deemed too slow and retired before ever properly racing, which is how he ended up with us. He was very full of himself, aware of his size and hadn't really been taught proper manners. His handling manners improved very quickly because none of us ever put up with any nonsense, but his working manners left a lot to be desired with a couple of trainers refusing to work with him. He could be a bit of a pig, bucking and kicking. I saw him more as a young, cheeky smartarse so I took him on and started him again from scratch from the ground. We clicked and got on incredibly well. He was very intelligent and with his brain focused on things that made him think, the petulance stopped and he started really enjoying his work. Turns out he had a natural talent for poncing about in an arena, and with a little more muscle and bone than the average TB he looked completely at home doing it. Absolutely stunning. Had Champion Show Hunter written all over him and I would have gone back into the show ring with him to prove it, even though I don't really care for showing.

I wasn't in any position to buy him or keep him. So my $280,000 juvenile delinquent turned well-mannered, talented, dashing gentleman with the mind as sharp as a tack ended up being sold for $2,500 to a lady in Canberra for low level dressage. I'm sure she will have dumped his terrible racing name and we don't have a passport system here, so I've got no chance of ever finding out what happened to him. But I still think about him a lot. We would have had so much fun.

 

[Lois Lame]

There was a mare I saw advertised somehow, a black mare of about 15 hands, up in Sydney. I talked my husband into the very sensible idea of travelling 200 miles for a look-see.

He took the video camera at my request. We met the mare, the lady owner, had a nice talk, we watched the mare saddled and bridled in a little tiny yard and the owner said that she uses this little yard because the mare doesn't tie up very well. And that's okay. Any horse I tie up tends to somehow escape when dinner has been eaten. Not sure how I can be that hopeless (or that clever) at quick release knots.

I think the owner rode the mare first, then I got on.

Well, I was worried. My gosh, this mare wanted to take off (in my mind). Yes, we were walking, and yes, we were in an arena, and yes, no one else looked worried. Husband filmed away. I spoke of not feeling very safe so the owner put me on the lunge and we did a canter. I declined to ride the mare at a walk back up to the little yard because for sure she would take off.

I declined to buy her. I said I don't feel safe. She's too much for me.

"She's just a foward-moving horse," said the owner.

We got home and after a cup of tea and a lie down, I watched the video. Everything looked fine! I said, "She looks fine. Why didn't I buy her?"

"That's what _____ [owner's name. Mary?] and I were wondering."

 

[hollyandivy123]

I regret not buying one that failed the vet ??‍
I know he went on to do really well, and I think maybe was just lame on that day, or the vet (it was the sellers vet, the only practice I could find in the area that would go and do the vetting for me) maybe just was biased toward the seller and they didn’t want me to have him?! Who knows.
I sat on him, and IMMEDIATELY thought ‘yep. This is my horse’. He was a 17.3hh Holsteiner, Curt Cobain SR was his registered name, and he ticked every single box I had on my list of ‘dream horse requirements’. He had big shoes to fill after I lost my horse of a lifetime, and I think he would have done that.

i had a horse vetted by my local vet once..................got told he was a cracking cob by the vet and he nearly failed him as his misses would have loved to hunt him and was just what they were looking for...............kept him over 27yrs and we lost him at 32, he was such fun

 

[Brownmare]

I don't regret not buying any, mainly because I have a bad habit of buying the first one I view anyway ? but there are two I regret selling. The first was a pony I had when I was 10. He was a sweetheart but refused to jump a thing so was sold to what we thought was a permanent home. Sadly I drove past him looking over a stone wall 20 years later and had to go back and see if it really was him. I managed to track down his owner who had just sold him but, bless her, cancelled the sale on learning he was 34 not 19 like his passport said! Turned out the poor lad had been sold to a riding school, then sold on to a loaner and ended up in Melton market where he was bought by a bin end dealer then this lady picked him up for her kid but (funnily enough at 34) he was a bit slow and wouldn't hold weight. She gave him back to my Mum and we were able to give him a few years of happy retirement so I at least feel like we made it up to him.
The second was an ex-chaser I was given as a project while the mare in my avatar was off with a ligament injury. The plan was to turn him around and use the money from his sale to buy my mare a new saddle for when she came back into work, which I did, but then sadly lost that mare to a broken leg only a few months later. I was so gutted, and I often think of that chaser, he was such a dude, hunted like a dream, acted like a donkey for my 3yr old son to sit on, was rock steady in traffic etc etc but he went somewhere in Buckinghamshire to do dressage so I hope he has had a good life.

 

[Northern]

I still think about the one that got away when I was retraining and rehoming OTTBs. He was 4 years old, about 17hh, grey. Absolutely gorgeous. Half brother to Winx. He'd been purchased by Godolphin as a yearling for $280,000, given the best training but after three barrier trials was deemed too slow and retired before ever properly racing, which is how he ended up with us. He was very full of himself, aware of his size and hadn't really been taught proper manners. His handling manners improved very quickly because none of us ever put up with any nonsense, but his working manners left a lot to be desired with a couple of trainers refusing to work with him. He could be a bit of a pig, bucking and kicking. I saw him more as a young, cheeky smartarse so I took him on and started him again from scratch from the ground. We clicked and got on incredibly well. He was very intelligent and with his brain focused on things that made him think, the petulance stopped and he started really enjoying his work. Turns out he had a natural talent for poncing about in an arena, and with a little more muscle and bone than the average TB he looked completely at home doing it. Absolutely stunning. Had Champion Show Hunter written all over him and I would have gone back into the show ring with him to prove it, even though I don't really care for showing.

I wasn't in any position to buy him or keep him. So my $280,000 juvenile delinquent turned well-mannered, talented, dashing gentleman with the mind as sharp as a tack ended up being sold for $2,500 to a lady in Canberra for low level dressage. I'm sure she will have dumped his terrible racing name and we don't have a passport system here, so I've got no chance of ever finding out what happened to him. But I still think about him a lot. We would have had so much fun.

PM me his racing name, I might be able to find out where he is

 

[poiuytrewq]

There was one, I always still think about him and what if.
He wasn’t for sale but at the racing yard I was working on. He was my boy, no one else ever did him, even getting him off the Walker people would skip him forward and get something else because he was mine.
He went to run his last race, we practically had the trailer hitched up for the following day to collect him.
I went into work that evening to an incredibly apologetic boss who explained that he was so sorry but the owners had met an old friend at the races who’d always liked the horse and upon mentioning it was his last run she asked if she could have him and took him home there and then. I never saw him again. Really upset me at the time, I hear he is much loved and very spoilt.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Back in 2009, a grey araby type gelding appeared in the field opposite ours. He had been bought by someone for his daughter in an attempt (futile) to give her an interest in something other than men and drugs. He was a dear old soul, may be 20's, very poor, had been clipped out and had shoes that had been on a long time. He had a welsh 2yr old in with him. She used to turn up, dump a feed of nuts in front of each of them then clear off again. He got thinner, the pony got fatter. My sister and I both really took to him and would have dearly loved to have taken him on. However it was very unlikely, given the reason he was there, that he would have been for sale and in any case we weren't in any position to take on a horse needing a lot of care and possible vet visits. Jan 1 2010 he was found dead in the field. I have so regretted ever since not at least having made an attempt to buy him.
The other regret I have is a white mule that came up on Dragon Driving soon after this. He was about 13.2 and was shown with a man riding him and in harness. His expression was just like the grey pony. So kind and patient but resigned to his fate. My sister and I were both smitten by him but common sense ruled unfortunately and we never even inquired about him. He was cheap too, only about £275. Sometimes I really dislike common sense.

 

[MagicMelon]

Ive honestly never regretted my decisions. Ive regretted selling some but not not buying. I trust my gut instinct and generally it works out well. To be fair though Im not a huge horse shopper - I dont go and line up a string of horses to go and see which many do, I usually end up with a very small short list (I ask a LOT of questions beforehand). I think most Ive viewed is 2 horses before buying the next one.

 

[windand rain]

Just remembered sold my beautiful hanovarian to a friend who was going to give him a lifetime home a few months later she sold him I assume for a lot more money I guess he will be long gone but would love to know what he achieved as he was extremely talented but took some getting to know. I know he hated hard heavy hands but was uphill and strong so it wasn't the best combination

 

[I'm Dun]

Ive honestly never regretted my decisions. Ive regretted selling some but not not buying. I trust my gut instinct and generally it works out well. To be fair though Im not a huge horse shopper - I dont go and line up a string of horses to go and see which many do, I usually end up with a very small short list (I ask a LOT of questions beforehand). I think most Ive viewed is 2 horses before buying the next one.

Same here. I usually buy the first one I see, and the most I've ever viewed before buying is 3. I alway read the horse searching posts with interest as its the opposite of what I do. It sounds so stressful and unpleasant!

 

[TwyfordM]

Bought the dam of the colt I wanted to buy.

Mare was welsh D, ride and drive traveller pony. We never got her going again as she was too mentally damaged. Then eyesight issue in one eye made the spooking worse. The more we tried the more she would fight and she wasn’t a naturally nasty mare so we stopped

I was talked out of buying her foal, sire was a coloured cob. Told I wasn’t experienced enough to bring on and unhandled baby and that at least mare had some handling/training.
Foal ended up very smart, no idea what happened to him as he was sold

 

[scruffyponies]

Lovely honest looking little fell mare being offered free outside of Reading auction by a family who could no longer keep her. A good, honest family pony, with no family. 20 years ago, and I wasn't in a position to take her. Hope someone did.