Viewing a horse for sale

[sarahmac77]

Hi all, after years away I have been back riding for a year at my local school (one hour a week, painful for someone who lived on a yard as a kid/teen) and I am venturing to buy a horse. I've only loaned before or been the recipient of over ambitious owners who got bored and palmed them off on me... anyhow...

I wonder if anyone knows of a guide/list/set of instructions about buying. Obviously if it's close to me I can ask an instructor to come with me to check the horse out but if i travel further, any ideas, as i can't really expect them to travel 4hrs to see something with me? Hire a local instructor? Visit once myself and return with someone else when I have found something I think is 'a good fit'?

Obviously I will get the horse vetted but any other hints/tips/links to how to buy? I've already worked out the dodgy yards and the unscrupulous dealers near me I think!

Any help appreciated. Or if you want to sell me something over 16.1hh in SE, that'd also save me trouble! Hah.

S

 

[PeterNatt]

I tend to put the word about locally that I am looking for a horse. i.e. I put up 'Wanted' notices in the local tack shops, contact the local instructors, farriers, vets and all my equine friends but also check the web sites such as Horsemart, Horsequest Preloved and Dragon Driving. I have a long list of questions which I ask over the phone and if I do a viewing I always arrive early. I ask to groom and tack up the horse myself and see the horse ridden before I get on. I also ask to see the horse ridden on a busy road so as to check out it is o.k. with heavy traffic. When viewing I take one of my equine friends with me.

 

[mini_b]

Your instructor will likely travel with you providing they’ve seen evidence it’s worth a punt and suitable, you’re paying them for travel so if your dream horse is miles away, approach them about it

id want to see proper side on/front conformation pictures and videos of it doing what you want to do with it before wasting anyone’s time.
if you want to jump, you want to see it jumping, if you want a dressage diva, you want to see it doing that beautifully.
If it’s sold as a project, you want to see that it’s at least soun

if it has a competition history, look that up.
Vet records - see those if you get that far.
Get bloods done at vetting. Extra expense but worth it should you have problems...

learn to read between the lines on the adverts so you can sift through them quickly. key phrases like green, not novice ride, quirky, check out what tack they are in, it they are being ridden “strongly” etc etc

if you get to a viewing, you want to see EVERYTHING. Brought in from field, handled, feet picked up etc, all the usual day to day stuff before you even think about seeing it under saddle.

if the current owner won’t ride it. Red flag for me. You would want to know why. Don’t use yourself or your instructor as a crash test dummy.

I take someone experienced in BUYING horses to guide me.

There are good dealers and bad dealers like there are private sellers desperate to get rid of their mental nag and others who are genuine and don’t have the time/outgrown/progressed outside what the horse is now capable of.

If you want to go down the route of a dealer you have consumer protection, I’m not from SE but I’m sure HHOers can recommend/suggest some worth having a look at.
Private sales are best through word of mouth, eg tack shops, pony club/riding club, hunt etc, horses often don’t get advertised.

Good luck!

 

[Winters100]

Agree with both of the above. I would add always worth checking the social media of the owner to see if they have videos of the horse, and if you are able to buy locally ask around among your horsey friends - chances are that someone knows the horse.