The worst viewing you've ever had?

I've had several terrible viewings in the process of finding my current horses, but this one stands out for me in terms of being the biggest waste of time combined with the most deluded (and plain dishonest!) sellers I have ever encountered!

Horse was a 6 year old who'd supposedly done a lot of hunting, was a safe, well-mannered ride, needed some more schooling but had all the basics there and was ready to go. Turned up to find a bedraggled, morbidly obese (I have never seen such a fat animal before or since!) horse, who hadn't seen a brush in God knows how long and hadn't even been sat on in 18 months...so, y'know, really fit and ready to go as they'd assured us. :rolleyes: We'd driven 3 hours to see him though and he was quite sweet and looked like he could be smart with some work so we stuck around. They threw what appeared to be their only saddle (between about 6 horses of varying sizes) on him, son adopted a death grip on the reins and rode him up and down a muddy track in a field (about 5m wide) before a very steep drop down. We established that horse could walk in straight lines, he went to trot and horse tried to b*gger off back to his field, despite death grip on reins. Then it was my turn. They suggested they put him on a lead rein first 'as he was a bit fresh' (excellent :rolleyes:) then when they established I could ride they let him off the lead rein, only for the owner to spend the entire time shouting at me to 'shorten my reins' (I had what I felt to be a perfectly acceptable contact and have never been one for washing line reins!) until I was nearly riding the poor little horse off the bit rings. Established that horse had no concept of what a circle was and was stiff as a board, it napped and when I asked it to trot it took off with me before having a tantrum when I tried to ride it away from its field. I rode him back, handed him over and said no thank you and that maybe they should warn people it hadn't been sat on for 18months!

Thing is, couldn't really blame the horse for any of that. He was terribly green, had clearly never had a thing done with him other a few months of hooleying around at the age of 4, and that was the first time he'd been sat on in 18months, on a track in a field that was more like a cliff face, in an ill-fitting saddle in the peeing rain! Can't blame him for being put out! Had the potential to be a nice little horse really with a bit (well, a LOT!) of work...only thing was, they were asking £5000 for him and thought I was entirely unreasonable when I suggested that he might not be worth that much! (Try £500!) Apparently someone from their local hunt had offered them £8000 for him as a 4 year old (really? :rolleyes:) I suggested they should probably have taken them up on the offer!
 
I was looking for a loan horse about 6 years ago and had a lady phone me up. She had a lovely wb that was going to waste as she was busy with her youngster. My mum and i arrived and we went with the owner to get the horae in from the field. It was on its toes all the way from the field but it was near bonfire night so i put that down to fireworks. Tacked it up and watched the owner lunge it (apparently she had a bad back). Moved really nice. I got on and walked around the school. I was told it wasn't a novice ride and forward going (that was fine as thats what i was looking for). I quietly asked for trot and the horse proceeded to flat out gallop around the school. I managed to get it back to walk and calmed it down. Though maybe it had spooked. Tried again and exactly the same happened again. After 20 mins amd lots of me considering which side to bail out i stopped it. Got the usual its never done that before. Got in the car, burst into tears and told mum i was never ever riding again. I have never been so scared in my life.
 
Looking for a safe childs pony around 13.2hh. Had a nightmare journey including an hour in a stationary traffic jam in boiling heat, followed by arriving at the address only to find that the pony was actually at another address 45 minutes away. Having been through all this we decided to try the pony even though I didn't much take to it - perfectly nice looking but didn't trust its expression, it had slightly rolling eyes.
I rode her and was pleasantly suprised by how well she went but felt she was too forward going and quick off the leg to be suitable for what we wanted. Stupidly agreed to putting one of my daughters on though decided to keep her on the leadrein.
Even more stupidly didn't give any advice to daughter as I expected her to just sit there and be led. Cue daughter giving her a rather hard nudge to walk on and the pony going straight up on its back legs .... three times. Daughter came off and it took five minutes to calm pony down.
What got me was the seller then spending the rest of the visit looking me straight in the eye and telling me she would be the perfect pony for us as I could have total faith in her never doing anything that would result in child falling off .... er, what was it that had just happend?!
 
Most viewings I've been to have been up the side of a mountain, along a muddy track with a ridge in the middle that scraped the bottom of the car and totally b@ggered the exhaust pipe.

Worst was a recent one where I went to see a Haflinger; picture looked gorgeous, sun was shining, looked fab.

Reality was traipsing a mile across a muddy field which was so steep you just couldn't get a footing and kept sliding downhill; pony was absolutely filthy all over. Then when we did get it back to the yard they chucked this awful synthetic saddle on it which was basically coming apart at the seams, and the stirrup "leathers" (synthetic naturally) were so badly cracked across that there was only a tiny bit holding the thing together.

The horse itself had awful movement and really jolted you around; after two circuits of the school I'd had enough and said so. But the person selling insisted on my trying it outside on the road. It didn't want to leave the yard and said so, napped like a pig so that was that.

But having read about the horrors other viewings on here I think my experience was pretty tame in comparison.
 
loubymiller said:
I was looking for a loan horse about 6 years ago and had a lady phone me up. She had a lovely wb that was going to waste as she was busy with her youngster. My mum and i arrived and we went with the owner to get the horae in from the field. It was on its toes all the way from the field but it was near bonfire night so i put that down to fireworks. Tacked it up and watched the owner lunge it (apparently she had a bad back). Moved really nice. I got on and walked around the school. I was told it wasn't a novice ride and forward going (that was fine as thats what i was looking for). I quietly asked for trot and the horse proceeded to flat out gallop around the school. I managed to get it back to walk and calmed it down. Though maybe it had spooked. Tried again and exactly the same happened again. After 20 mins amd lots of me considering which side to bail out i stopped it. Got the usual its never done that before. Got in the car, burst into tears and told mum i was never ever riding again. I have never been so scared in my life.
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Sad way to learn about never getting on unless they or someone else rides it, whatever the excuse, horrendous thing to happen :(
 
I went to view a horse back in January I think it was. The horse was 2 hours away so asked plenty of questions as not to waste a journey and I liked the sound of it so off we went.

We had arranged 1 pm and we arrived just before 1, I noticed when we pulled up the horse was being ridden, cantered around and jumped!
We queried this to be told we were late so they would ride him anyway! We werent late at all.

Anyway ventured down into the school and the rider brought the horse over to stand. Then when she asked it to move off it tried to double barrell me and my mum!:eek:

She then said he needed ridden everyday of the week to be kept sane and we even asked on the phone about if the horse was not ridden for a few days for some reason would they be ok, to which there reply was he doesnt change!

Needless to say we left in a hurry after a 2 hour drive rather annoyed and headed to mcdonalds at the nearest service station :D
 
went to view a young but apparently well schooled pony that could jump well, had been to many shows, 'no lumps/bumps' etc... all the usual, turned out it went round the arena like a motorbike with a flat tire, was petrified of jumps and a schizo on the road, had splints, a huge whacking lump on the poll.. for some reason I bought her :S ?!?! for 3 x what she was worth... think it was because we'd viewed so many and were truly fed up! didnt notice blemishes until after though.. she is now as close to perfect (at what she does which is a bit of low level everything and being very tolerant!) as she can get bless her.


before this I viewed a hopping lame showjumper .... a 14hh that was actually 12hh :o ! A blemish free horse covered in sarcoids, a 'novice ride' that charged around at 200mph, a first pony for my sister, who is a great rider but was nervy then- the owner was not impressed that she couldn't get the pony working like an international dressage horse and told her she wasn't suitable... and more I can't quite remember!
 
Queenofdiamonds said:
Mazz that is truly AWFUL! This is what happens when morons like that are allowed to own living things.
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I know! I felt absolutely terrible for the poor little thing - yeah sure, I hated its guts by that point, but well aware it wasn't her fault she was so messed up! Owner was telling me how she'd been bought for her younger daughter and couldn't understand why she had never shown any interest in the pony (I WONDER WHY?) so possibly she had literally done nothing in god knows how long... I really hope she found a good home in the end, hate seeing horses/ponies alike gone wrong thanks to their brain dead owners! :mad:
 
Worst for me was when I went to view a local horse about 10 years ago. Got there and mare was in field so owner asked if I wanted to get her, give her a brush and tack her up. She was a lovely looking mare and was fine bringing in, grooming and tacking up. Owner said to me 'hop on' and I was tempted although, I always like to see owner ride first.

I lead horse from stable over to yard and stood her near mounting block for owner, she had no sooner sat on saddle and mare did one almighty buck. The owner came off and said to me 'not sure what's wrong with her, she's never done that before'. She may not have done but being a bit of a wimp I just said she wasn't the horse for me.
 
Before I left for uni I was looking for someone to loan my competition horse, Diamond Abstract.
Now Diamond was a REAL character, he was a rig and ex-stallion (he did not have a good enough tempermant and was therefore gelded!), with a terrible temper and a very arrogant personality. Not to mention that he was a 17.2 Irish Sports Horse.
So anyway, in the advert I stated that he was a very prominent and experienced competition horse who had an endless amount of talent etc. etc. (for that reason alone I didn't want any novices!!) however I then went on to honestly mention his tempermant. That being that he was VERY unpredictable and with no prior warning he might 'flip', be it on the ground or when being ridden. An example is that once he kicked down the stone wall of his stable in order to attack his neighbour, needless to say he moved stables!!
So yeah, big, scary, unpredictable, highly strung and terribly sensitive 'stallion'. I made sure to make this very clear to potential viewers.
So one girl contacts me, seems sweet. I was hoping for someone who was already established in BD/BSJA (he'd was registered with both) however she seemed eager and experienced.
When she came she seemed alright, until she got on his back.
She just could not get him going forward at all, I mean my big flashy dressage horse honestly looked like a beach donkey! After a lot of huffing and puffing she finially got him into canter, and rose a mile out of the seat! She was flapping around in the saddle like something not right!! Honestly I didn't think that people could even bounce that far out of the saddle! Thankfully it was a very hot day and Diamond was in a cripplingly lazy mood but it could have been a disaster!!
Needless to say I politely told her that I thought that she would be better off with something a bit smaller and sweeter.
I have to admit though I was annoyed, why do people make out like they are experienced when they aren't? :confused:
 
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I've actually been the crigeworthy seller once!

I had a mare that had been out of work over winter due to work commitments and been turned out. Barely touched her other than vet popping in to do her teeth and jabs and farrier visits.

I rode her home a week prior to arranging a viewing so she could settle in.

I was selling her from field so didn't feel the need to do anything with her. Figured they would want to see her handled blah blah so left her until they came down so they could see what she's like for everyday handling.

Got her out, trotted her up and she was lame! Cringe!! She wasn't lame last week, honest!!
 
The worst viewing I had was the one where I ended up in hospital and was in and out of hospital for over four years after and ended with my life considerably changed.
 
Ohh I want to join in!
Selling-Had a lady ring re my 13.2hh NF pony-not for the faint hearted. Claimed she was a competent rider, into NH would hack mostly. Sounded fine.

She turned up. Couldn't tack up. Got on the wrong side. Couldn't hold her reins. Had no control in walk. Then cried when he jogged. This pony normally takes the piss but he was perfectly well behaved. She got off in tears saying he was a menace and dangerous. All he did was a few strides of jog!
 
I helped one of my grooms sell her pony club all rounder. She bought him Straight off the track and had done a brilliant job with him doing all teams stuff including pony club opens, as well as hunting him.

He was an absolute gentleman and to this day one of the most laid back horses I have ever come across!

But he had raced and had a very lengthy stint in training and had won a reasonable amount, he'd been pin fired in Ireland but was sound although had terrible feet so needed regular shoeing by a competent farrier.

He was very reasonably priced at £3000 ono and we were very honest about his feet and the fact he was 12 and had had a tough life.

On the plus side he was an ideal horse for a kid coming off ponies and as safe as they come, and was an ideal mother daughter share.

Guy and his daughter come, he is an event rider local to us and they really like him. Try him twice and then Asked to take him to a xc rally down the road which we agreed but said he was not super fit so to take it easy. He was awesome, jumped everything first time, galloped in open country with loads if other horses and ponies in just a snaffle!

They had him vetted and he was 1/10th lame on a hind and commented on his feet. Fair enough they didn't want him. No problem can i understand why, the next thing they ring us back and offer £500. No thank you says groom.

Next a family come with a teenage daughter, we tell them about the vetting and feet, they don't care as have had a horse which has been returned after nearly killing the daughter!

They ask for a release on the vetting so can chat to the vet and offer some money to original vendor, he refuses!

They proceed with own vetting and make us an offer which groom accepts and is very happy with as he is going to a truly lovely home as mum will ride him once daughter outgrows!

Original buyer continues to text weeks after asking if he's still available and groom should sell to them!

No mate you had your chance and you lost him!

Groom still in contact, said horse is still sound and competing every weekend and an active PC member!
 
My worst viewing was when all 4 sets of stirrup irons and leathers were stolen...they left my synthetic rainy day pair funny enough! if you happen to be reading and have them..please do the honest thing and return them ..no question asked. Stressed in Somerwet.:(
 
5 years ago I sold my horse having lost all my confidence and went looking for a pony to get my confidence back with.

Went to see a haflinger mare - I had been very clear with the seller on the phone that I was extremely nervous and needed something safe and sane, and mostly wanted to hack alone, and I was assured the pony would be ideal. I said I wanted to see it ridden and hacked, and then if I was happy would get on board - again, all fine. Apparently the pony was regularly ridden by her young daughters.

When we arrived it was the strangest place - horses wandering round everywhere - I think the owner was a bit of a hoarder. She showed me the pony grazing in a field and seemed a bit surprised when I then asked about seeing it ridden. She reluctantly dragged the oldest saddle I've ever seen out of a shed - it was huge, clearly no way it would fit the pony, and said I'd have to get straight on as there was no one else who could ride the pony. She then proceeded to catch the pony - and two shetlands, and informed me that the pony was very attached to the shetlands and wouldn't be ridden unless they were alongside it?!?!

Safe to say, I said thanks but no thanks and left straight away. She did admit that the shetlands thing was a bit of a problem....!!
 
Oh I'm loving these :)
I haven't got any fancy stories I'm afraid apart from travelling 3 hrs to find a horse covered in sercoids. Owners responce was " oh should I have told you?" would off saved me a 6 hr round trip :(

goldenstar if you don't mind I would love to hear your experience.
 
Went with a friend to view a 'lead rein first pony' pony for her daughter, full grown man got on, it bolted round the ring for about 10mins until he could pull it up, we left before he had even dismounted! Felt extremely sorry for the little thing but no way was I or the child going to get on it!
 
The bloke that came and flexion tested one I was selling while I got tack out was a strange one. Couldn't understand why I wasn't happy and cost me 100 quid to fix the damage he did.
 
indie999 said:
As a buyer me getting thrown off on the horse that never bucked and my son dumped on a pony that never bucked.

I must just be unlucky to have got the first buck in ever!


The words are "IT HAS NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE".
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I had a similar one to that. I was looking for a ridden companion pony many years ago, now. Advertised pony was called Angel. Should have known. ;) I rode her in company and she was forward going, but fun, so I asked if I could take her out alone, as I don't livery at a yard. Owners said sure!

So, a few days later I came along and tacked her up and went out with them waving cheerio. She seemed more forward going, but manageable, until we got to the bottom of a wooded bridleway. She spun without warning and bolted back up the hill. On the way down I'd had to go round a fallen tree, but she had no intention of doing so. There wasn't enough distance between the start of the bolt and the tree, probably about 30ft or so and I had no chance. I got a facefull of ivy and tree-trunk and slid off the back door. Somehow I kept the reins, so although bruised and rather muddy, I got back on and rode her back home (deciding at this point no thanks!), with pony nice and relaxed now she was off home. I arrived back just as they came home from shopping (I remember thinking what the ruddy hell? You sent some stranger off with your pony and went FOOD SHOPPING?!?). They saw my muddy back and guessed I'd come off. Turned out she hadn't been hacked out alone ever and they didn't think to tell me. I handed them the reins and told them that they needed to do more work with her before there was a serious accident and left. Wouldn't even look at a pony called Angel, now. It's an omen! :D
 
When I went to view a mare a few years ago, I picked up all of her feet, one at a time just to guage what she was like to handle.

When I reached her hind leg, she proceeded to kick and kick quite angrily at me.

The seller just looked on and said " well, you never bother with their back feet do you now?".

Wierd!. Ok, so I will just leave her feet to get long and never pick them out daily then!!

I still have the mare now, but she has taken a lot of work to get her as she is now having her back feet handled.
 
I'm hunting now (have been for the last 5 months), highlights include:

- the 15.1 advertised by a dealer which may have just measured in at 15.1 but had the highest withers I've ever seen, making it more like 14.3 and with matchstick legs to boot *opens stable door, takes off rug, puts rug back on again, goes home* Amazingly, the dealer also had a 15.2 and 15.3 in the next door stables if I'd like to have a look since I was there anyway...

- the cob belonging to a teenage boy who when I got on set its entire bodyweight against my hand and when I eventually got it trotting (after some classic pony club kicks) it was like riding a pneumatic drill

- the 'rising 7' gelding that it turned out had been backed a year late, worked for 12 months then turned out over the winter with no work. It had only been back in work for a week when I tried it and had dropped back to being very, very green.

- the 100% perfect dream horse that failed the vet :(
 
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Said to owner of a dealers yard I had lost my nerve wanted something safe but forward going.
Horse 1 was electric and bouncy. Popped a cross pole changed rein jumped towards home oh my horse shot off on landing spun away from an upright and charged at arena post and rail. Spun at the last minute I went out the side and there was a large cracking sound as my thigh broke the top rail.

2 weeks later tried another smaller at the same yard suitable for novice. Horrid choppy little paces and as I dismounted p***sed off while I was in mid air.

Didn't go back needless to say.
 
as a seller; woman, with her young daughter came to view my arabian filly. She stated very loudly that the filly wouldnt make 14.hh [ the filly made 15.3hh ] and proceded to give her young daughter a conformation lesson using my filly as a "model". It all turned out to be a free half term trip for the family...........................
As a buyer ; going to view a Welsh Sec D travelling for 3 hrs then discovering this "paragon of virtue" wouldnt be caught or handled . He had been bought as a weanling at the sales and apart from being rounded up to be gelded had lived a life of grazing in the paddock. At 3 yrs old the owner decided he was too much for her so advertised him for sale. I'd spent over an hour on the phone asking sensible questions about the horse and everything seemed fine. I was furious.
another bad experience was going to view an endurance arab with a view to buy. Travel
4 hours +. Turned out that he had just completed box rest for very damaged tendons. Obviously a superb 100 mile prospect..................................
 
When I was first getting back in to riding after a ten year gap, I spied an advert for a Hackney mare that looked nice. She was about a 4 hour drive away, and friends and I piled in to the car and made the journey. I had been riding a loan horse for a bit, and friends always offered rides on their horses but I really wanted my own again.

Arrived to the folks place and I'd hoped to at least see the horse trotted up first (but coudln't because the field was a holey steep slope, and the driveway was the biggest jaggiest stones you ever saw). Okay. They weren't keen on trotting it up on the road (fair enough). So they said I could take it out for a hack. Bear in mind, I wanted more than a happy hacker. This was being advertised as a profesionally backed and ridden away 9 year old mare, daughter been riding it for some years but now has no time.

I saw it tacked up and it was a bit swishy with it's tail, and lifted it's feet a bit threateningly, but never mind....Wifey had a colored cob and said that she and I could go out together. I suggested that I'd like to see the Hackney ridden by HER first so I could see it's paces, so I asked to ride the cob. That was okay, the hackney walked out okay.

We got to a field, swapped horses and I rode round the edge of the field a bit and suddenly it dropped it's head and bronced and bronced til I hit the deck. Determined to not let go of the rein, I held on for grim death - it broke my finger and did get away. Twenty minutes of chasing it round the field (and mightily pissed off) I did catch it. I got back on,:eek::rolleyes: and realised just how it had no steering whatsoever.

Brought it back to the owner's place and I was told later that my friends had been getting the rundown about how it doesn't load in to a lorry, it doesn't hack out, it doesn't do this or that...it rears, naps and generally is a miserable thing.

By the time I'd got back to their house, I'd already decided I wasn't interested. Wifey suggested that I should take the horse for thirty days to trial it (erm, NO) but I'd be responsible for travelling it both ways. Double NO...four hours in car about 6 hours in lorry, for a napping, nasty bucking miserable mare.
 
I forgot to add being asked to try a horse intended for showing on a triangle shaped hill field that was less than 1/2 acre and full of rabbit holes.

And the horses that are apparently unavailable for viewing over the weekend but your Monday morning viewing appointment is cancelled on Sunday evening due to not-very-specific personal issues...am getting a bit sick of this one! I'm sure some of them have been legit excuses but I'm equally sure they all weren't.
 
Ceris Comet said:
Horsemadelsie..that wasn't a dealer in wiltshire was it. I had an exact same experience with a lady there .
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And me! Never did meet or speak to the owner . . . woman selling on behalf of said owner turned really stroppy when we said horse wasn't for us (after it bolted in the school not only with me but with my intructor, demonstrated that it wasn't sound by twisting awkwardly over fences, landing disunited and bucking).

P
 
Drive for 2 hours to view a 6 year old mare. Got there and it was on top of a hill, snowy, freezing cold. The mare was beautiful and if it was now I might have just bought her anyway, but at the time I was 14 and looking for my first horse. So I'd checked on the phone she would ride it first then I would... Got there, asked her to ride it - said she had a bad leg and never rode anymore. Oh and we only have the stony track going down the hill to ride on. No thanks!

Went to view a 15.3hh clydesdale x mare, been there done everything, sounded fantastic. She must have been 15hh at a push and a lightweight, definitely not a MW as they told me on the phone! Got on and was bolted with around the school, just could not stop for the life of me. Again, it was probably a lack of experience on my part, I'd never ridden very forward going horses before. But still! I've never been so fast on a horse in my life, I can still remember the sound of the air whooshing past... the owners calmly stood in front of the horse after 5 minutes and it stopped dead, I dare say it wasn't the first time it had happened!
 
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