To buy or not to buy? dilemma! (pics)

it seems that you have been chosen...

no brainer really :)

look forward to you posting her "home" & then growing up piccies... and the stories of how wonderful she is...

good luck!
 
Have to ask why would you buy a pony like this when you can likely buy a fully passported NF pony at that age for the same price?

Would have thought long term for your daughter you would want something with as much potential as possible?

I was speaking to one of the most experienced breeders of forest ponies at the Beaulie Road sales last year. She said one of the most heartbreaking things is that the ponies who look more woebeggon/underdeveloped/unactractive get "rescued" frequently yet the better built, better developed, better pony go to the meat man because people think they are the ones that will "be alright".

Don't let sentiment overule your judgement. Get the best pony possible for the money you have.
 
I think this is a better picture of her front legs standing...well the bits you can see!
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Aarrghimpossiblepony said:
Have to ask why would you buy a pony like this when you can likely buy a fully passported NF pony at that age for the same price?

Would have thought long term for your daughter you would want something with as much potential as possible?

I was speaking to one of the most experienced breeders of forest ponies at the Beaulie Road sales last year. She said one of the most heartbreaking things is that the ponies who look more woebeggon/underdeveloped/unactractive get "rescued" frequently yet the better built, better developed, better pony go to the meat man because people think they are the ones that will "be alright".

Don't let sentiment overule your judgement. Get the best pony possible for the money you have.
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Good point there. My daughter is only just 10 but is really quite stocky and tall. I was going to start looking next year for a project that would be approx 15hh which a NF wouldn't really reach. This height is great for the both of us to ride. It is her temperament that has attracted us to her over everything. The NF's there all see so very skitty.
 
Aarrghimpossiblepony said:
Have to ask why would you buy a pony like this when you can likely buy a fully passported NF pony at that age for the same price?

Would have thought long term for your daughter you would want something with as much potential as possible?

I was speaking to one of the most experienced breeders of forest ponies at the Beaulie Road sales last year. She said one of the most heartbreaking things is that the ponies who look more woebeggon/underdeveloped/unactractive get "rescued" frequently yet the better built, better developed, better pony go to the meat man because people think they are the ones that will "be alright".

Don't let sentiment overule your judgement. Get the best pony possible for the money you have.
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Agree with this and looking at the extra photo I do not like her front limb construction.
 
Gwena said:
Good point there. My daughter is only just 10 but is really quite stocky and tall. I was going to start looking next year for a project that would be approx 15hh which a NF wouldn't really reach. This height is great for the both of us to ride. It is her temperament that has attracted us to her over everything. The NF's there all see so very skitty.
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Not sure about this, might have changed since I was young.

But wouldn't 15hh put them out of pony classes if your daughter wanted to do competitions like that?
Thinking mountain/moorland ect.?

I'm sure there's somebody on here who knows the rules, perhaps they could clarify?

A 14.2 forest pony is capable of taking an adult and there is the slightly grey area of them being registered young and growing quite a bit. My last pony was registered at 13.2, he stopped growing at 6/7 and he was nearly up to 14hh.

Again I don't know what happens in those circumstances.:confused:
 
Youve been chosen, if you can afford to keep her you have to buy her! I think shes a very pretty, honest looking horse, speak to your daughter in depth with pros and cons and see what she says and if she still wants her ide put in a cheeky offer of 200 because tbh 350 for something young, unhandled and not good breeding sounds rather alot to me. I just got a 9yr old pure bred luso mare for 300!
 
I'd just ask my vet to comment on her off hind. Yes she is very bum high but that is youngsters for you.
 
In all honesty? you're letting your heart rule your head a bit.

She's placid because she has cob in her IMO. You could buy a filly of the same breeding (x cob) for about £100 anywhere else.
A forester of the same age will cost you the same, and you will be encouraging good honest breeding. The youngsters ARE flighty, because they're from the forest and their dams have taught them to be wary of humans. They're wild ponies. But they're incredibly easy to tame and break in.
There's a field full of traveller cobs behind my house. ALL of them will approach you and follow you round, though most are never handled. It's their nature.
 
ponypilotmum said:
In all honesty? you're letting your heart rule your head a bit.

She's placid because she has cob in her IMO. You could buy a filly of the same breeding (x cob) for about £100 anywhere else.
A forester of the same age will cost you the same, and you will be encouraging good honest breeding. The youngsters ARE flighty, because they're from the forest and their dams have taught them to be wary of humans. They're wild ponies. But they're incredibly easy to tame and break in.
There's a field full of traveller cobs behind my house. ALL of them will approach you and follow you round, though most are never handled. It's their nature.
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This.^^^

If you have the money, spend it where it will help to ensure that responsible, regulated breeding carries on.

The price isn't even that cheap currently for that age.
 
Ditto eggs on the off hind. Could be coincidence but every pic its right under. The hoof also looks boxier than the near hind, but hard to tell accurately without her stood square. Something not right anyway.
As for the heart or head, my head says her confo is a gamble, & she isn't the best you could get for even that money. As for my heart? My horse of a lifetime I got when she was 2 & I 10. I was viewing a nice pony for sale at a yard, when this odd looking scared pony legged it round the corner trailing a broken leadrope. Not abused or anything, just nervy, green, & wouldn't be tied up. She avoided attempts to catch her, but ran straight at me, & let me catch her & calm her down. I just fell head over heels. Her looks, I know have the experience to know were signs of good future looks. At the time, she was an ugly duckling. I loved her all the more because she wasn't the nicest looking, I just felt protective because nobody else liked her. She did actually become a swan, & 22yrs later I've never once regretted my decision, made with no input from my head. Likewise my daughters pony, logically stupid, bought on emotions alone. Again, the best choice I could have made.
 
As others have mentioned, her rear hind looks very boxy.

Difficult age to assess confo, as they do go through some very ugly stages.

Only advice from me, is that a good horse costs the same to keep as a bad one. So dont buy just because shes a bargain.

Good luck with your decision:)
 
Gwena said:
Thats all my friends have been saying!!! buy her!

Conformation wise - how do you think she looks? Her feet are covered in mud so look a bit boxy - but I think thats the mud. She appears to have a good shoulder. What do you think she is? I'm assuming she's half NF, she's not as cobby as some of the other ponies he had and doesn't appear to have too much feather. Apparently on her passport she's called Longslade Elfin.
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They are boxy, it's not the mud. Otherwise, common but not nearly as bad as some i've seen on here, sounds like she chose you so you probably should take her home!!
 
I think that you can get very bogged down with confo though. My stepson's first pony had pidgeon toes, cow hocks, parrot mouth, long back, but wrapped up in a pretty dapple body and section A head. She was a great pony, winning at all classes at lead rein and FR level.. As long as its not terrible with initial problems, buy what you're attracted to.
 
Well we did much the same, I went to look at apony for me but a NF unbroken etc took a liking to my son. Pony was 3, son was 10. They just clicked and we bought him home a week later. His back is a foot too long, his neck at least 6 inches too short , very upright hocks but good feet :) .
We paid 500 and wow what a bargain. He is now rising 8 and on all the pony club teams. he has won at the Kent County Show, qualified for Cricklands, trailblazers, Dengie etc this year so far. he has cleared a 4 foot 1 inch puissance wall with my son having a broken toe so no stirrups. He regularly competes at 3 foot plus and he is only 13hh. I am sure that we got lucky but I do believe in fate and this little monkey will never leave us ever. Son will be 16 soon and loves his boy so much, we accept that his conformation may affect him one day but that will be with us and under our control. They might have a go at horse agility which will keep him busy when he cant ride him anymore
 
Oooh moral dilemma now. I'm going tomorrow & will look at all the ponies. Will report back in the afternoon.
 
I would say that as a poorly marked coloured she's not that cheap for her type at all and seeing her standing there next to the liver chestnut and the black, she would be last one I'd choose! Sorry!
 
One of my youngsters has a foot which suddenly appears to go boxy when he needs trimming. A good trim does normalise its appearance again. He has never been lame or unsound. She is very young too and not sure she or the others would have had a farrier very regularly?
 
marmalade76 said:
I would say that as a poorly marked coloured she's not that cheap for her type at all and seeing her standing there next to the liver chestnut and the black, she would be last one I'd choose! Sorry!
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Exactly this. She's not cheap at that price - she's an expensive way of buying future heartache. I don't think you CAN be too hung up on conformation at this age as it's all you have to go on. I agree with whoever said that you are letting your heart run away with you and not really thinking. She's not pretty, she's badly put together and you're going to have to put a lot of work and money in to get her to the ridden stage. I would at least get a vet to look her over and give their opinion. Whilst that may seem expensive it could save you heaps in the future.

I actually can't believe quite how many people are telling you to buy just because she put her head over your shoulder and your daughter likes her! My choice from the pics would be to look closer at the black, and I can't see much wrong with the chestnut either?
 
Aarrghimpossiblepony said:
Get the best pony possible for the money you have.
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When people say this sort of thing, I always say it's flesh and blood, not a used car....

If OP has the money and the means, then I say go for it. If OP had come on here to say she was a first time buyer, and had had 2 riding lessons, and the pony could live in her back garden, then I'd be advising against it. As it is, she seems to have her head screwed on.

She's not going to personally go to hell just because she chose this one and not a Horse of the Year contestant...

However, we must all be hard-hearted in this cold world of unscrupulous breeding and unwanted ponies, musn't we...? No-one is allowed to bring a little sunshine into their lives anymore, by simply being human.

There is a time and place for 'being sensible', and once in a while, I like to think we can do what human's actually do best when allowed to, and that's being a Steward of the Earth, choosing to become responsible for an animal.
 
DragonSlayer said:
When people say this sort of thing, I always say it's flesh and blood, not a used car....

If OP has the money and the means, then I say go for it. If OP had come on here to say she was a first time buyer, and had had 2 riding lessons, and the pony could live in her back garden, then I'd be advising against it. As it is, she seems to have her head screwed on.

She's not going to personally go to hell just because she chose this one and not a Horse of the Year contestant...

However, we must all be hard-hearted in this cold world of unscrupulous breeding and unwanted ponies, musn't we...? No-one is allowed to bring a little sunshine into their lives anymore, by simply being human.

There is a time and place for 'being sensible', and once in a while, I like to think we can do what human's actually do best when allowed to, and that's being a Steward of the Earth, choosing to become responsible for an animal.
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If you had read my earlier post you would have read that an experienced NF pony breeder is seeing good ponies going on the scrap heap as sentimentality at the sales is saving the bad.

Yes there is room for compassion. But in the current economic climate that's condemning ponies whose breeders have followed all the rules and have the best interest of the breeds at heart.

There are too many indisciminately bred ponies/horses on the market. Only got to read here for a few days to pick up on that.

It's not a matter of being sensible and walking away from dodgy bred ponies/horses. It's more the case that unless people do, the good breeders will go under and the breeds will suffer.

How can they compete with breeders who shove a bunch of youngsters out on fields until somebody comes along and feels "sorry" for them?

If you can't buy one good/one bad at least try and save the good because that at least might have a future if it all goes wrong. it also helps support those breeders who care enough to ensure they do know what they are breeding.
 
The right hind has a very bad broken forward hoof/pastern axis and would worry about what has caused this to happen in such a young horse. As she is obviously unshod the hoof is growing according to where she is putting/carrying it for her own comfort. Would suspect there is definitely a problem higher up. Just because she is cheap the vet bills will be the same! Personally I would not touch with a BP especially where there is a child concerned. Would not want to put a child through that possible heartache. And yes I appreciate that even expensive ponies have problems but it is all about minimising the risk.
 
On the plus side, she will grow into that head and you've fallen for her....

On the minus side, I'd agree with the others. She doesn't have a matching foot, which OK you'd expect with a youngster who has led a semi feral existence but in her case the feet have been affecting her growth in other ways - I'd hazard a guess that the feet have actually caused some of the limb issues that the others have seen. Now in a youngster whose parents are known, you could study the parents and the siblings and see if there was any sign (even a small one) of them being back at the knee or whatever, and then if their legs were all good then you could have decided that she was worth the gamble as she's young enough to correct. But you don't know her parents so you can't study their conformation.

Also she's been around the houses a bit already with not the best of care, so in addition to the BOGOF risk you've got the risk of worms and other diseases that she may have picked up.

And no she's not that cheap. FWIW I didn't pay an awful lot more than that for my youngsters - fully papered and registered and having been properly looked after from birth. The market is hellish depressed at the moment and the good breeders do need support.

ps If you do buy her (or another youngster for that matter) we will need pics as she grows :)
 
She looks very sweet but I wouldn't want anything with front legs like that, I think you can get better for your money.

And no, horses aren't like used cars, they're worse!

You get attached to them and form a bond with them so imo you owe it to yourself to get the best built horse you can afford (obs. with nice temperament too!) to save yourself the heartache of something that is always lame.
 
It's simple, can you afford her?, can you afford to keep her?, are you going to enjoy having her? If you can answer yes to all of those then have her. I did exactly the same as you two years ago, hadn't even gone to see horses but was camping on a farm that breed miniatures, have been going to this farm for years but never had any interest in miniatures at all. then the summer of 2011 was walking my dogs around the farm and a little chestnut filly came running over to say hello. She did the same thing everyday, before the holiday was over I had bought her. never regretted it, I adore her. The only problem is I now have three miniatures. :D They seem to multiply somehow.;)
 
You could do better. You could do worse. As OP isn't a dealer or a meatman I don't really like the advice given by some that she should detatch her emotions - purchasing an animal that you will care for everyday for a number of years should be an emotional commitment! OP if you feel a connection with her then don't ignore it but understand that there may be some issues there. Some good objective views here but I wouldn't be looking for perfect at that price (or the 200 that you will offer ;))
 
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