trying to find a horse dilemma

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itroteverywhere

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Hoping this is in the right place (I'm a HHO lurker, don't normally post!).
I am in a dilemma about whether to loan or buy a horse and was just wondering what peoples opinions are.

I've just finished my A levels and although I was supposed to be starting my university course I got offered a place to train at a renowned dressage yard for a year. I have been offered to take a horse with me, so find myself in the situation where I need to find something suitable for a year that I can train and progress on - as part of the scheme I should be riding to medium level or above by the end of the year. I will be riding the horses there but it makes sense to bring something if I want to get the most out of what is a chance in a lifetime experience for me.

The problem I find myself in is whether to loan something for a year, train it up, and then go through the heartache of just handing it back (particularly if its value increases - will be schooled 5 times a day and competed regularly, and this is something I have gone through before), or try and find something to buy when I have very little funds available. If I was to buy something, I would either have to sell it by the end of the year, or find other suitable arrangements as I will most likely not be able to afford to keep it. Loan horses seem to be impossible to find, especially as I'm looking for something nice with the ability to progress.

I have been phoning around my contacts and had the possibility of borrowing a friends PSG horse, but he;s retired and is one of those horses that is forever on/off lame, so not ideal. Another friend has also offered to take me abroad, as she knows of a nice horse for sale that would be suitable, but I just dont have the funds (my mum thinks I should take out a loan but it would be a nightmare if something went wrong). I also cant take the horse I am currently schooling for his owner, as that would be taking away a livery from the yard owner and I dont want to cause any upset, as for her that would be a large amount of income that she would lose.

What to do?!!!
 
Well, it is a tiny budget, although I'm sure several people will tell you here you can buy a superstar for that;)
Going abroad might have been an option, but when you look at £500 to bring something over, it doesn't leave you much cash to buy anything decent, even if you went into my parts - central or eastern Europe, that would maybe get you half decently bred youngster, but nothing really special.
How about buying something green over here, schooling it for a year and then selling on? It doesn't have to be a superstar, as long as it straight enough and put together roughly the right way, I'm sure you can improve it enough to at least get your money back when your placement finishes...
I don't think I would loan, as you say, it's tricky to find something anyway, and if you do, you will bear all the cost of keeping it and then won't get any monetary benefit from it's increased value...

I think I would buy, even if it was a TB from Ascot.
 
Personally I would not take out a loan to buy a horse - after all, something could go wrong and you loose the horse and still have to pay off the debt.

You will benefit from having the horse on loan so although it is a shame that you would have to 'hand it back' after, you will have benefited from it too.

Have you asked on the BD forum? There are often people on there looking for loan homes for all sorts of horses. If you are happy to have something fairly green, I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be willing to loan to you given that you will be based at a top yard, be under careful supervision and the horse will have top class care.
 
I think buying would make the most sense.. it's just the risk involved really. Should I decide to buy, as I am only there for a year and then I will be off to university that gives me very little time to find something, and then sell it. If I couldnt sell it (bearing in mind economic climate) I would be pretty scuppered as I wouldnt be able to afford to keep it and I wouldnt have time to keep it as I would be going away to university. I could loan it out, but then that's a whole different kettle of fish, and again I would have to find a suitable home. Unless I was to turn it out for a year or more, but that would seem like a waste of a horse :confused:

On the plus side, where I am training they sell a lot of horses, so there would already be interest from people, but I would assume that the sort of horse I would be selling would be for a totally different market...

It's frustrating because I could offer such a good home, and absolutely 1st class livery and riding etc. I suppose if I was to loan a dressage schoolmaster ie. an advanced horse, that would be ideal as I wouldnt neccessarily be increasing its value and I could get the maximum out of the experience. But again - very hard to find!
 
Based in buckinghamshire - don't want to post the name of the yard directly on a public forum but it is well known, as is the rider that runs it.

I took a youngster out on loan a couple of years ago, but it was very green and naughty and sad to hand back after all the hard work I had put in - not a bad experience, just not something I would like to do again. But as you said, I would be gaining from the experience...
Also I wouldnt want something too young, as I only have a year with it, from previous experience there is only so much you can accomplish with a young horse without pushing it too hard, too young. Maybe I will be lucky and find something more established.

The BD forum is a good idea - I will look into that now, thanks for the advice :)
 
I'd buy, you would probably be able to sell at the end for more than you bought for, and if not could loan to someone, maybe the next person doing the program you are doing....

For £2000 you should be able to get something reasonable but green which would be ideal. I wouldn't worry about borrowing a bit of money if you need to as long as you insure the horse well. Afterall this isn't a hobby/leisure horse you are looking for it is career development.

In your circumstances I think I'd be looking around for ex-racers, you can get them very cheap and they often have bags of talent. If you could get one that isn't straight off the track then you would save a bit of time letting it down, I used to ride one that had been at stud for a while after coming off the track and as a result she was much more chilled as she'd been out in a field for a couple of years.

In fact it would also be worth speaking to the ex-racer rehoming charities they might have something that you could loan for a year.
 
I know one of the other girls at the same yard bought a horse for under 2k and sold it for 10k, 18 months later. But then these things do have a certain amount of luck involved.
 
 
Indeed a certain amount of luck is onvolved in making that sort of money on a horse. However, the horse you (maybe) buy, will have good training and be being sold from an excellent environment and that in itself will add money.

Either options would be fine I think - the loan, well as you say, its experience for you, either to have a school master to advance on, or a youngster to improve.

To buy, you can get a reasonable horse and bring it on to sell in the timescale you have.

Great opportunity, good luck.
 
i bought a horse for under 2k who i have had several people comment on is going to be a superstar when schooled up....!

so they are out there... just have to look!...

mine was pure luck though :)
 
Go to the racehorse rehoming people, they sell horses as well as loan them. They have been started back onto their riding career and will mostly be adult horses ready to progress. Darley sell theirs rather than loan them and they are very cheap indeed.
 
Thanks for everyones help - I have come to the conclusion that the best sort of horse would be a fairly established ie. elem and above loan horse (I am yet to come across one but will keep looking!).
 
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