Viewing Horses Far from Home...

Lippyx

Lippyx

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Just wondering really...

If you lived in the South and saw a horse in the North, would you get on a plane and view or see if someone could view for you... say someone on here?

Was looking on the ads (as you do when your bored!) and saw a gorgeous horse in Aberdeen, but then thought, if I really wanted to view, how would I do it? And if it ticked all the boxes, how would I arrange for it to come home?

Just interested really... :D
 
nope unless i was proffesional or something like that i bought my pony from a place just down the road :) and the other ones i looked at were all around my area
 
I've just put my mare out on loan, and I got so fed up of people ringing up, arranging to come and see her from a distance (not right across the country either, only two or three counties away) then cancelling with some lame excuse at the last minute, that I decided not to bother with anyone from outside my home county. I'd have done the same if I was selling, I really can't see anyone going to that much effort to try a horse.
 
Hi If it was me I would want to see/try the horse myself as we all have different ideas and bond with different horses. I would jump on a plane etc (if i had the money) arrange a vetting with a vet recommended in the area. Im sure transport could be arranged with a reputable company. simples:) or is it ?
 
Theres seems to be some really good horses up north! And well priced wish I lived there :p

I would probably go up by train spend a few days there and look at 6- 10 and go back and look at favourites then after second viewing if I like would by and get transported proffesionaly to my home :)
 
I wouldnt, simply because I cant afford it! Transport is usually around £1 a mile from most companys and if you do it yourself you would still have to stop for the night and stable it!! It would impact my budget too much. I would rather find one near home and be able to afford tack when i get it home :P hehe
 
I'd do a lot of talking to the owner, get some videos etc, then ship it down, or up in my case. If it didn't suit then I'd sell again - simple.

I am waiting for a mare now, she's coming up from Iowa in a shipment with my Trainer. Palomino half sister to my Paint. If we don't like each other I'll breed her to Zeus, already have a prospective buyer for her;)
 
Lochpearl - I told YM I wasn't prepared to pay 4k based on her health issues. I had to text her as she didn't answer her phone! Not ideal I know, but didn't want her to think I was wasting time etc!

I also found out at weekend that Horlicks' back issue is caused by cr*p confirmation behind, and that she would need a good farrier to solve this, so maybe its for the best. If someone has her vetted I doubt she would pass without an if, but or maybe!
Don't get me wrong, if YM said she need rid of and offered her to me for £1 then I would reconsider!!

Thanks for asking!!
 
I went to view Lady in Essex, which was a 4 hour drive, then i bought and collected her a few days later and the journey back was about an hour longer due to speed restrictions :)
 
I saw a photo of Farra on the internet and thought this is the one. I then spent a very long time on the phone to the owner, (several hours on several calls) saw more pics and she looked and sounded perfect.

Arranged for a vetting and transport, took a plane from Stansted to Edinburgh and then a long drive in a hire car up to Kenmore via the sheeptrack that the SatNav put us on!

Arrived whist the vet was doing the vetting which she passed and then rode her out, she was exactly what we wanted, a safe hack and a fantastic temperament, plus being a young Clydesdale mare which are few and far between down South. I handed over the wad of cash that was inside my bra, did the paperwork and she was ours. She was picked up the next day by Eric Gillie and arrived back in Essex four days later.

It was a risk booking the vet without seeing her, but well worth the time and expense of going to see her and I would not have liked to have bought unseen as we wanted something to be very like Cairo was in terms of nature.

I think if you spend a lot of time seeing pics and videos, talking to the owner who is hopefully honest, then yes it is worth the time and expense if you can't find anything close. I have yet to see another like Farra for sale in the two years since we bought her.
 
Well, I drove to Holland so distance isnt much of an issue. I would personally want to try the horse especially for my level of riding.
 
I think if you are looking for something specific and don't want to wait forever for it to turn up, you need to be prepared to travel. I drove a 9 hour round trip last weekend to view a horse. Fortunately she seems worth it. For the vetting I'm just using a vet from the area but its just too far for me to go and watch the vetting. If the vetting goes well I'll just set off early in the lorry Saturday to pick her up. Any further away and I'd be looking at going down one day, staying in a B & B and back up the next day. :)
 
I always considered the orignal cost of visiting (petrol) and the transport costs and vetting costs into my budget, so generally kept to a 100 mile radius when we were looking. Thankfully we found one that was only 25 miles away, so transport costs were small as my friend collected for me as it was not far. If we had of had more money to spend, then we would have travelled further, so really that would be my answer - it depends on what you are spending, although saying that, now we have our horse, I would have travelled far further to get him....... :rolleyes:
 
I'm from Aberdeenshire and last week I got a flight from Aberdeen to Heathrow and went to view horses in the South East. It was cheaper than driving. There arent many horses up here that were suitable or any dealers. Out of curiousity which horse were you looking at? PM if you like. I may have viewed it as i've seen quite a few up here.
 
Lippyx said:
I just saw this little lady:

http://www.horsemart.co.uk/advert/2_yrs_4_mths_16_0_hh_skewbald_tb_x_aberdeenshire/107621

And thought if I really wanted her, how would I go about viewing/bringing home.
She's so sweet looking!
Click to expand...

She is gorgeous! Havent seen her as wasnt looking for a young horse.

So I reckon its best if you view the horse yourself rather than relying on someone elses word. I'm not sure how much you can spend on viewing the horse. If you were to fly from say Heathrow to Aberdeen you'll be looking at around £100 return flight. The flight takes not quite an hour and half.

As for transporting the filly back to Essex if you buy her, it will probably be about £350+Vat. I have my new gelding coming up from Sussex next week for that amount with Eric Gillie who are very reputable.

I noticed the areacode for the contact number is an Ellon number so they will only like about 15-20miles from Aberdeen airport so i'm sure you could ask them to pick you up or something.

When I travelled down to Sussex I went to 3 dealers and saw about 8 horses in the 2 days I was there.

Hope this helps!
 
I travelled 7 hours in the car to view my yearling lol my excuse is that i wanted something really unusual and i got that haha but when we went to collect him 6months later we had to do it over a weekend because of all the travelling, bout 8hours getting down there and then about 10 hours pulling him back - i think i was really lucky that he was so well behaved in the trailer and so calm mainly because he liked his hay haha but he did really well. I think its more the thought of getting the horse back to you more than getting you to see it. you've got to think of both points :) x
 
I'm in Hertfordshire and bought my 3 year old Dales when she was 6 months old, from Preston, Lancs, my Connie from Manchester and my 2 year old Dales from Glasgow! Off to Wales on Friday to look at a Highland for a friend. I flew to Glasgow but drove to see the others.
 
JoJo - What a shame!! I was only looking as I thought if it was a genuine sale of a genuine horse, then I thought it was a very good price.

Mind you, after looking on a certain website last night, I came across another little beauty...

No... stop it... I must not look!!
 
I'm in Glasgow and I bought my 6 month old colt from an online advert on another forum. We were planning to go see him in the Cotswolds but then the snow arrived and we were cut off for nearly 6 weeks. I had him vetted and paid for him without ever seeing him. However as he was so young I didn't need to ride him, the stud had an excellent reputation with a very helpfull and honest owner. He stayed on livery at the stud and we had a lovely weekend going down to visit him. Then when he turned 1 Gillies brought him home for us. It was £450 but I was prepared to pay the money for him to have the best journey possible. He came off the lorry calm as you like and completely chilled. This weekend I am driving 12 hour round trip up north to see a riding horse. I am prepared to travel because although through long discussions he sounds perfect I am not prepared to take the risk of not trying him. We might not click at all and it's too much heartache if it goes wrong. If you do your research and ask as many questions as possible you can make sure your trip is worthwhile.
 
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