Viewing horses - your worst experiences

QR - I went to see a horse that was described as well schooled, ready to compete, jumping a nice sized course, etc etc....

It was a nice looking horse, but couldn't even canter a 20m circle, bucking/refused at every single fence (oh, it's never done that before, but this isn't it's usual saddle... and only my brother can jump it... and hasn't done in weeks...) Oh, and it bit me
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I think I can safely say, it was definitely NOT worth £6,750 then...
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Horse was actually very nice so I asked the owner if I could see her ride him, she responded that she would have to ask his permision, he refused so we left.

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That is hilarious!!!
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Oh, I've got another one!

Went to look at a mother/daughter share, little 15hh mare. They knew full well that my mother was a novice and that I wanted something that could do a few pc competitions as well. Anyway, she got on and the mare was being a bit well 'frisky' and she then galloped it round and round and round the school about 12 times until the mare 'calmed down'. I got on anyway and before I jumped asked whether she was okay to jump in both trot and canter to be told that 'I never trot in to jumps because in the ring you only ever canter.'

????

Yet another.... went about 3 hours away to see a horse that was a 15.2hh Irish horse that had been there and done everything. When we got there, it was true, he had been there and done everything, but was more like 16.2hh. Being only 5" 2, my legs didn't come pass the saddle flaps. Bought him anyway as he had the most lovely temperment on the planet!
 
I went to see one advertised as bombproof, ace in traffic, no vices - the paragon of horses! Turned up, rode it in the school, fine. Asked to go for a hack so the owner came and walked with me. Went to walk past a guy washing his car with a hosepipe and it freaked big time, reared and f*cked off with me. I ended up bailing out onto a grass verge. She led it back and put it in the stable where it started cribbing. She went " oh it's never done that before" and then walked off, coming back with - a nearly USED tub of anti crib bite paste
 
went to view a 7yr old who had apparently done everything.

Went first time - horse was quiet, lovely... but I wasn't convinved it hadn't been lunged loads first

went 2nd time... horse was nuts and threw me - I broke three ribs!!!!!
 
My worst experience was with George, and I bought him.

The person I bought him from was a charlaton who treated horses badly. She ahd some stupid-ass odd job man who decided to drop the side of a shed into the school while my husband was trying him out, resulting in husband falling from the horse. Horse was kept in his stable almost 24/7. She wouldn't let us bring lorry into the yard to load, so we had to load next to the road and George took off, so she got him back and kicked the sh*t out of him, scaring him up into the lorry. I felt sorry for him and bought him; I regretted this for the first 18 months of owning him, but he is now the most wonderful, trusting and kind horse I've ever known, and I love the fact that it's because of the kindness and quality of care he received from my husband and me over the last 6 and a half years.
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Oh actually, the worst one was last September, before we bought Lanky. We were looking for another horse after our mare was PTS, and in hindsight we just were not ready for another one that we didn't know anyway.

We went to see this horse that I saw advertised on the CHAPS website. He looked lovely. His name was Whispering Royal Jacob. When we got to her yard, the woman said no one could ride him as he hadn't been ridden in over a year due to her back injury (no doubt caused by him!) which she'd had operated on. She took her top off and showed us the scar! She led him upto a round pen on the grass and said 'if he takes off, I'm letting him go cos my health is more important' which is fair enough, but she seemed scared of him and it was as if she was expecting him to. All the way up to the pen, she kept tugging on the lead rope and saying 'behave' in a really aggressive way, when he was doing nothing wrong! We got to the pen and she did join up with him. We asked her to ride him and she refused and said he needed a lot of work before anyone got back on him.

We went back down to the stable and she got the saddle out to show he didn't mind it. She put it on and ran it up and down his neck and he was fine... but he looked/seemed doped. He cowered to the back of his stable and everything she was doing seemed pretentious, even down to what she was saying. The girl that was with her couldn't seem to withold her laughter any longer so she went off to sit in their tack room. We knew then that it was all a big fluff-up. She told us we could take him on trial, but in the next breath she said someone had had him on trial and sent him back ruined (I didn't trust her not to pin the same thing on us... she asked for a large deposit). I asked to see his passport and she didn't want to show me! She reluctantly got it and I mentioned to my husband that I would phone the last owner and the breeder to get more info about him; she got all defensive and said I couldn't phone them, so I just considered she'd made that up as well.

We told her we would phone her to let her know our thoughts and off we went. As we left, we could hear her shouting really aggressively at the young girl who had gone off laughing. Presumably the young girl had failed at her part in the woman's little game.

She was aggressive, scared of the horse and the horse scared of her, and I did not trust her one little bit.
 
Oh god, we've got loads - 22 to be exact
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We went to see a lovely filly by Lord Of Arabia - from her photo, she looked a stunner, and my dad used to shoe her sire so I'd have loved to have one of his foals
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When we got there, she was covered in cuts and grazes, some old, some new. We were told she'd 'fallen off the ramp', but that was a blatant lie - she was absolutely terrified and cringing in the corner
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The poor girl was only 4 and we'd have loved to have bought her, but she was for sale at £4000 and they wouldnt budge - it was just silly money, considering she was barely broken. I often wonder what became of her
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I fell in love with a stunning chestnut called Jaffa
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We got home, rang to make an offer - only to be told the owner wasnt happy to sell if he was to be ridden by a child (I was 12) - although the viewing had gone beautifully and I felt he was 'the one', they wouldnt hear of us having him
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Oh and then there was a '15.2 7yr old Selle Francais' who turned out to be a 16.3 rig of nearer 4 years old
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My instructor wouldnt let me near it but wanted to ride it himself just for the sake of it
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The horse bucked so hard, it kicked its two hind shoes right off
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But my instructor stayed on
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Has to be the one I saw recently. Was a pure bred Andalusian, looked fine in the pics. I turned up to find it in their garden... they had lost their rented grazing as the fence had all fallen down! So they were keeping this 15.2hh horse in a small garden right in front of their house! It did have a stable there though at least which was half normal.

The horse was a mess close up. Was only a 7yo but it was grey and covered in black scars including big ones on its face as if it had been beaten up. They claimed they were going to bath her before I came but she was absolutely filthy, her mane & tail hadnt been brushed in months and the daughter had hacked her tail right off under the bone "because it was too long and annoyed her"...!!!!

It got worse from there on. The daughter was extremely honest telling me how she galloped the horse to and from school daily in Spain, how the horse often bolted, reared and napped with her etc.!! I thought the daughter was lying as didnt want her horse sold but her mother stood there and did not disagree once! She threw on an ancient bridle (with what she called "a spanish bit" when actually it was a plain rubber snaffle...) and lept on bareback whereupon she booted it in the ribs to move, hauled it about to move and stop. It was awful.

I refused to ride it as this poor horse had no clue. It had never ever been basic schooled. They wanted £3500 for it originally, down to £2800 when i saw it. I emailed them a few days later explaining that I was horrified and offered them £500 as a good will gesture to take it away! Never heard back of course. I really really hope it ended up in a nice home.
 
I also went to try one that I couldn't get more than a slow trot out of
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It also span if you tried to do your girth of stirrup on the right hand side. Sadly it was sold to a dealer with a really bad reputation in the end.
I also saw a bolter, that was meant to be snaffle mouthed.
What worries me is all of these were described as suitable for nervous riders.
 
Its so sad some of these stories, that people will put other peoples lives in danger and other peoples childrens lives in danger in this way!!

i once went to try a horse that was for loan, and it was advertised as a good all rounder, although i was looking for a 15.2hh this was definatly a 16.2hh, bit big for me.
I couldnt get it to move at all, kicking, whipping, nothing worked.... in the end they took one of my stirrups of to use it to chase the horse with!!! Im convinced it was doped!

I have also been to see a horse recently that was advertised as an All rounder, when we went to see her, she had the most bumpy of legs ive ever seen, and then when the girl rode it, it was lame. Needless to say it never came sound!

The only other problem i've ever had is to book to go and have a look at a 14hh, to drive all the way there arrive any they then said, oh sorry we've sold that one, what do u think of this 15.2 instead (at the time i was 13yrs old, so 15.2hh wouldve been gigantic on me!!)
 
When I was 14 went to look at a pony. Rider was away at college. They wanted me to ride it along a main road. I insisted on going in the field first. They opened the gate and it took off rodeo style! I lasted halfway across the field then fell winding myself and with my hat peak stuck into the ground so hard that I couldn't get up! A groom later told us it hadn't been out of it's stable for two weeks!
 
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