The things I have learned.....

[Brownmare]

I'm loving these stories! I am terrible for buying the first horse I see as I love a project so I have to be reeeally careful screening adverts. My best viewing as a buyer was one where the owner told me straight that she wouldn't be letting me ride as she didn't want me to end up in hospital! I bought the horse, he is still with me (now retired), is a total sweetheart and only had me off once when I was an idiot and booted him in the ribs to get out of the way of a jump wing I had ridden too close to when not paying attention.
Another I also bought when told I couldn't ride her because she bucked constantly. I saw her lunged in tack and it was blatantly obvious her saddle was too tight. She never bucked once with me.
As a seller I once had a girl run my exracer into the school gate to stop him! (He wasn't strong) She then asked to hack him out but I said no they weren't suitable for him. I had 2 phonecalls after they got home saying how much they wanted him and asking for another viewing! One horse I thought would be a nightmare to sell as she was super sensitive and knew her own mind actually sold at the first viewing to someone who took one look at her and made me an offer! (Horse and owner bloody adore each other, it must have been love at first sight!)

 

[splashgirl45]

some of these stories are amazing....i must have been lucky with mine as they were all as advertised and hardly changed at all when i got them home... sorry that you have had no luck yet SLH..... you are right to take a break , the right one is out there somewhere... just may take a bit of time to find....

 

[Upthecreek]

Loving these stories! Buying a horse is a minefield and you hear so many horror stories, we must all be bonkers to put ourselves through it 🤣

Some of the ads just seem too good to be true and that often turns out to be the case! If you view a horse and it is unsuitable for whatever reason (possibly because it failed the vetting) and you decide not to buy it you are a ‘time waster’ or a ‘joyrider’.

Sometimes you feel you will never find the right one, but he or she is out there somewhere. You just need a little bit of luck and to be able to see through the bullshit. If it’s meant to be it will work out.

 

[JanetGeorge]

Janet do you only have youngsters for sale, or do you have ones more established too? One of yours lives near me and when I'm looking for a new one I'd like an ID but I won't have the experience for a baby.

Ooh - which one? I try hard to keep up with them all - but theodd one slips away and doesn't give regular updates on my FB page, lol. Most of mine are youngsters, some are just backed and ridden away. But a few slightly older when they go bum hign and need time off to finish maturing, then need more work to make their 'standard' match their age.

 

[Melody Grey]

I used to work for a riding school which was also a dealer's yard back in the day. We sold a shetland to a family who seemed quite well to do, not exactly a cheap pony but suitable for their needs as novices, lovely set up at their house etc. I offered transport to which they declined as they didn't want to put us out and they'd collect....turned up the next day with an estate car...had to re-think that sale!!

 

[JanetGeorge]

I used to work for a riding school which was also a dealer's yard back in the day. We sold a shetland to a family who seemed quite well to do, not exactly a cheap pony but suitable for their needs as novices, lovely set up at their house etc. I offered transport to which they declined as they didn't want to put us out and they'd collect....turned up the next day with an estate car...had to re-think that sale!!

lol, that would suit a Shetland if the seat was taken out. My first pony was an 11hh Timor cross - Dad took out the back seat of his Chevvie - she travelled fine! Only problem with Trixie - she had been a professional trick pony. When her owner died, the aids to her tricks (counting, nodding or shaking yes and no etc) died with him - so I spent the next 3 years learning how to avoid being tricked, lol.

 

[still standing]

Looking for my last horse, I decided to do it differently and placed a 'Wanted' Advert in an equestrian weekly. Ads girl cheerfully tells me I can have 3 week's placement for the price of two, so I go for that, thinking that'll give me lots of callers and choice. After two weeks, I was dreading the ring of the phone! Ad had said simply: Wanted Warmblood or WBX for Dressage, around 16 hands, 5-8 years old, must have good paces. Plus my mobile number.
I had some questions prepared to ask callers and write down the answers.... I have kept them and for a laugh, from time to time, I look at them again!

Very first call offers me a 4 year old ex-hurdler 'just off the track' as not fast enough but 'has lovely paces'. Next was looking to sell her hunter as the season was over, 'he's 14 now but would make a lovely dressage horse now he's slowed down a little'. Another wanted £16,000 for a four year old WB, never been to a show, no competition record but has 'great potential'. One caller described his horse as an Irish Draught and when I said I was looking for a Warmblood, he said ' He gets very warm after he's worked hard'. Honestly, he said that!
There are lots more, but you get the gist. So yes, horse hunting is not easy.

But persevere, the right one is out there. I did find my 'horse of a lifetime' finally, via the above advert.

 

[Snowfilly]

lol, that would suit a Shetland if the seat was taken out. My first pony was an 11hh Timor cross - Dad took out the back seat of his Chevvie - she travelled fine! Only problem with Trixie - she had been a professional trick pony. When her owner died, the aids to her tricks (counting, nodding or shaking yes and no etc) died with him - so I spent the next 3 years learning how to avoid being tricked, lol.

Years ago, we bred a Shetland x welsh a foal, who contracted meningitis at a week old. I can't remember exactly what the treatment was, but there was a series of injections that the vet had to give daily. We had transport but he was so tiny it seemed pointless to use a lorry; he travelled on the back seat of the car the first two days and as he got stronger, stood in the footwells. His dam was completely unconcerned with us stealing her baby and by day 3, walked him over to the car to load up!

He recovered fine.

 

[Ellzbellz97]

drove about 2 hours to see a grey show cob gelding......................they pulled a chestnut mare out of the stable

This made me giggle, I would have loved to seen your reaction???!!!

 

[hollyandivy123]

This made me giggle, I would have loved to seen your reaction???!!!

actually the first thing i said was ....................."that's not grey"........................... their reply we should him early we thought you might like this one which happened to be TB as well and not very cob like

 

[skint1]

What sort of horse are you after? I know of a lovely one that I would have snapped up if he was 5 years younger. He's only 15 so not that old but the next horse I buy will probably be my last so I want one that's going to see me through at least 15 years.

Hi Annagain, would you mind pm-ing me the details of this?

 

[SatansLittleHelper]

I put a really silly ad on FaceAche which gave everyone a good giggle...and lots of offers of various (read various as "random"..!!) horses but nothing has come of it yet but I amused myself if nothing else 🙄😋😂

 

[Orchard14]

I recently just sold my horse and had someone book in a viewing with me, they said they were travelling quite a distance (from Stafford to Malmsbury) and this was the only time/date they could make. I cancelled plans, hired two arenas as we don’t have one at home, one dressage and one with show jumps and a xc course for them to try him on. Waited and waited and called and called and they never showed. I was fuming.

 

[HEM]

Walking down the passageway of an American barn, we were told to mind out for the first horse in the row as he might nip at us as we went past. Horse grabbed my OH by the shoulder and tried to drag him over the door ...... horse had been "rescued" from the meat man - I think they shouldn't have bothered! Luckily, the one we had gone to see only tried to cow kick us out of the stable......
Been to see plenty that were definitely not the height they were meant to be (all considerably smaller), and definitely not sound either.

I had a similar experience accompanying my cousin looking for a horse. On our way to see the horse she was looking at we had to walk past "Teddy" he was gorgeous and such a sweet looking eye, I commented on this on the approach to Teddy's stable and was told "He can be a little grumpy sometimes I wouldn't go too close" following the advise I walked straight past (at least 1.5m between me and horse) Well Teddy jumped (yes, jumped all 4 hooves of the floor), bucked, reared tried to bite us, broncked a bit more and then settled to the calm looking horse once again once we pasted.

Can be a little grumpy my arse! I have never seen a horse do anything like what he did. Needless to say my cousin did not buy the other horse...

 

[Shavings]

before travelling to England on the ferry i messaged a number of sellers and dealer with what i was looking for, height , age, needed to be safe, needed to be suitable for novice! must be pretty quiet to mount as i have an old knee injury which doesn't allow me to mount at speed.

got to one yard was show horse in question, seemed to be rather fidget in the stable the comment was passed " oh he is always like this and settles once out" so owner tacked up and took round to the school, she was to ride first, wile trying to the mount said horse went up and over

that will be A NO THEN...

 

[Tarragon]

Well the first pony I actually bought, I bought on the basis of an add on the breed page, some recent photos, a few phone calls to the owner and the fact I liked his name!
The first time I saw him was when he was delivered by his owner and he walked off the trailer.
He was unbacked (well, he had been "sat on") and 7 years old and was being sold from the field for £250 somewhere on Exmoor. So I bought him unseen and not formally vetted. My thinking was I didn't have much too lose and there was something about him and his story that touched me.
That was 14 years ago and he is one of the family and we have done everything I ever wanted to do together. To be honest he is probably still only worth £250!

 

[Fiona]

We once went to view a 12hh pony for my son (who would have been about 5 at that stage) that lay down in the arena with him on board....

We knew the seller too from PC

Fiona

 

[Upthecreek]

We once went to view a 12hh pony for my son (who would have been about 5 at that stage) that lay down in the arena with him on board....

We knew the seller too from PC

Fiona

Once tried one that got down to roll whilst being ridden 😂 Sellers you know are often the worst!!

 

[Pinkvboots]

In my younger days I worked for a dodgy dealer who bought crap and we basically were expected to get on anything, I was riding a huge chestnut mare we had for sale In front of the buyers, they wanted to see her jump our cross country course so off I go the thing just got faster and faster and we jumped every thing at a flat out gallop and it did about 4 laps flat out until I managed to stop it by running it into a hedge, they wanted it and took it on the same day

 

[Pinkvboots]

A friend of mine went to view an Arab gelding quite a few years ago advertised for £750 he was cheap for the quality so she did think that he was probably a handful, the seller was a young girl so after a chat my friend says I would like to see him ridden, girl says she is too nervous but says she is welcome to get on him friends obviously says no thanks, so the girl offers to lunge him and it's clear that she is petrified of him so friend offers £250 She accepts so they took him home, she got her instructor to get on him and he really wasn't too bad sharp but no way dangerous.

His actually belongs to me now I have had him 5 years and he can be quirky and has an interesting character but I find him fairly easy, I can imagine with the wrong management and being handled by a complete novice he could potentially be trouble for someone. But he was still a bargain.

 

[Jaffa]

.....since trying to buy a bloody horse...!!!!
(Still no horse, still attempting to save...please no links to horses, much as the help is appreciated my brain is fried..!!!)

1. People are full of 💩. The blatant lies I've been told and excuses/reasons for sale make me truly believe that alot of these people missed their calling in the creative writing sector. Seriously.
Example: Viewing horse...owner says yeah she's lovely but can have the odd moodswing, you know what mares are like. Friend wanders by and says to owner you sold that crazy f+cker of yours yet? Owner laughs it off as "friend" (probably EX friend at this point) procedes to tell us how this "lovely" mare wouldn't be too shabby a rodeo horse from time to time. Owner says it was just once...blah blah no thank you very much..!!!🙈🙈🙈


6. People have no idea how big their horse really is.
Example: I went to view a 3/4 ID that was "definitely" 16.3hh. Great, thinks me...gets to yard and is greeting by Bilbo Baggins and his trusty steed. All 15.2 of him 🙄🙄🙄 Also, I think his mother "might" have been sniffed by an ID once but clearly he swiped left...

I'm sure others will have had equally "interesting" experiences....feel free to add yours, I could do with cheering up..!!! 😂😂😂😂😂

Goodness this has had me in tears laughing, absolutely brilliant.

 

[huskydamage]

When selling a 10yr old PC pony it took off from the jumping field and bolted back to the stables. We arrived back breathless to the yard for the girl to have a huge grin and say "Buy it Grandad". He did.

Sounds like my pony, she bombed off with me flat out across three fields, I had never ridden a 'fast' one and had no clue how to stop her. She was a grumpy 'bitey' and had no tail. But I just absolutely loved her. Still feel the same 16yrs later (I have better brakes now 😂)

Also the 'bilbo baggins with the 15.2' line 😂😂😂😂

 

[huskydamage]

Went to take a client and their daughter to view a 14.2 family allrounder.
Pulled up to the gate to be greeted by the owner who was on crutches with leg in a cast and missing two front teeth.
We didn’t stay long.

These are gold 😂😂 loving this thread

 

[LaurenBay]

I recently just sold my horse and had someone book in a viewing with me, they said they were travelling quite a distance (from Stafford to Malmsbury) and this was the only time/date they could make. I cancelled plans, hired two arenas as we don’t have one at home, one dressage and one with show jumps and a xc course for them to try him on. Waited and waited and called and called and they never showed. I was fuming.

I'd be fuming too. Did you at least get to enjoy the facilities yourself?

 

[Orchard14]

I'd be fuming too. Did you at least get to enjoy the facilities yourself?

Yes I got on and rode him myself and we had a great time but because of the delay in waiting I only had about 25 minutes left of my booking. That was the first time I’ve ever felt puffs of smoke coming out my nose.

 

[Ddraig_wen]

We once went to view a 12hh pony for my son (who would have been about 5 at that stage) that lay down in the arena with him on board....

We knew the seller too from PC

Fiona

I ride a 30yr old who has a sense of humour who occasionally does this. He did it once in the ring at a county show in hand and twice with my friend riding him. He hasn't done it for a while though

 

[Fiona]

I ride a 30yr old who has a sense of humour who occasionally does this. He did it once in the ring at a county show in hand and twice with my friend riding him. He hasn't done it for a while though

He sounds a bit like Benjamin in Caroline Canters Home

Love Caroline Akrill...

Fiona

 

[Errin Paddywack]

lol, that would suit a Shetland if the seat was taken out. My first pony was an 11hh Timor cross - Dad took out the back seat of his Chevvie - she travelled fine! Only problem with Trixie - she had been a professional trick pony. When her owner died, the aids to her tricks (counting, nodding or shaking yes and no etc) died with him - so I spent the next 3 years learning how to avoid being tricked, lol.

When would that have been Janet? Back in the late 60's I knew of a little black trick pony, called I think Dixie. Her owner was Carl Dane who specialised in training trick animals.

 

[JanetGeorge]

When would that have been Janet? Back in the late 60's I knew of a little black trick pony, called I think Dixie. Her owner was Carl Dane who specialised in training trick animals.

lol, early '50s - in Sydney. The owner was a patient of my Dad's - and dying. The only thing he cared about was a good home for Trixie. He used to take her up in the lift at the big city Department stores to help drag kids (and parents with wallets) into the stores at Christmas. Apparently she was part Timor pony - don't know what the naughty part was.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

lol, early '50s - in Sydney. The owner was a patient of my Dad's - and dying. The only thing he cared about was a good home for Trixie. He used to take her up in the lift at the big city Department stores to help drag kids (and parents with wallets) into the stores at Christmas. Apparently she was part Timor pony - don't know what the naughty part was.

That was a quick reply. Shame it wasn't the same pony, hadn't realised it wasn't even the same country