whats the weirdest horse viewing youve been to?

About ten years ago I went with a friend to view a 15.2 Warmblood Allrounder. Friend had been told it was quite a difficult drive to find the exact location of yard so she would meet us in Perth city and would take us herself. After an hours drive to get there and waiting at the arranged pick up point no one showed up. A few phone calls later it was decided that she wasnt feeling well but her dad would come and take us over. Looking back I cant actually believe that we got in the car with this strange man!! Anyway he was a nice man, totally non horsey and turned out he had been a dentist in South Africa (funny what you remember!)and was really interesting to chat too LOL! After a good half hours drive we arrived at the 'yard' which was basically a field on a hill and a wooden shelter. Got out car to see a huge array of grooming kit and pieces of tack lying all over the field! He pointed at the biggest of the three ponies and told us that was the one for sale. Turned out to be a 14.2 Welsh type and hopping lame! Had to about turn and drive all the way back!
A few years back I viewed a 5 year old ISH chestnut mare. The photo in her ad showed her competing indoor jumping. When I got there owner said she would happily ride her for me but couldnt jump as she had had an accident recently. Never though anything of it and said was happy to jump her myself. Jumped her, felt she was a little more green than advertised but liked her and arranged to have her vetted. My OH had taken photos and vid of me riding and a few days later I was comparing photos only to find they were different horses. Phoned seller and she admitted it was her other chestnut mare in the pic but only because it was a nice photo!! Decided not to go ahead with sale as a bit nervous at being deceived in other ways!
 
I went to see a lovely 3yo mare , by Nimmerdor,owner didn't have time for her, said I'd have her but I couldn't take her that day , as I only had a trailer, and she didn't consider them safe,I had to come back with a lorry in 3 weeks time at a 12 o'clock, not before and not after,then she would put her on the lorry herself- needless to say I walked away, but she was a lovely mare.
 
I'm looking to loan/sell my mini shettie, had someone view him who said they thought he was a fantastic safe tots leadrein pony (as he is) but that his trot is too bouncy! I honestly wanted to laugh but tried my hardest to keep a straight face, how can u expect a pony whose legs are a foot long to have a long gliding stride!
 
not exactly one of the strangest on here but thought id share it anyway-

after i had settled the contract with the owner of my lovely loan horse who is just perfect for me (a experienced rider who isnt at all nervous) she told me about the other two people who came to view her. She is a lovely owner, perfectly honest and would tell you if she didnt think horse was suitable, so she put on her ad she wanted an experienced, not nervous rider, the horse is 14 (but acts like a 7 year old) so i assume thats why the first came to view her

the first was a ten year old with her mom, (she is fizzy going into canter, owner warned her mom about this during the phonecall) she got on, trotted around quite happily though maybe struggled a bit with horses strength (even owner who has had her for 7 years still has trouble if shes had at least 2 days off) and asked for canter, horse gave a little squel out of pure excitment and the girl burst out crying, okay fair enough if she was a little nervous on a strange horse and all but surely her mom should have known a fizzy horse would not have been suitable, later told she had only had her first canter week before

second girl was totally useless rider, owner said, yard owneer said and rest of liveries who i am now very very good friends with said the same gave the most confusing instructons to horse (who needs clear aids, what i figured out when i tried her) jagging in the mouth (needs light rein contact, soft mouth) etc etc, so horse bombed off with her, finally slows her down, gets off says thanks walks off, phonecall saying could they get a contract sorted as still intrested, owner said no way im not having a totally useless rider having my horse for the 3 years im at uni (not to there faces)

some of these are just shocking tho, but the hippy dippy is my favourite i found it hilarious!! horse does not want to be ridden today
 
It's almost 40 yrs since I first went to view a horse. Sis & I still talk about the fact that the owner's son had stopped riding and taken up football. We would have done too if our parents had been daft enough to buy it for us!
There have been a few other odd viewings along the way.
But the weirdest viewing was the Clydie mare that we bought from a couple who must have thought that they'd done so well selling her to us that they could make a living at it. They were named in reports of court cases a few years later (very distinctive names, definitely them).
I rang and arranged a viewing for the Friday morning, we arrived at the address and saw a very big, modern house with its own stables and a 'For Sale' sign. The owner appeared dressed in jeans, said she had forgotten we were coming and the nanny had taken her car, could we drive her to the livery yard were her 2 horses were now kept? After a very interesting journey of about 15 mins max, during which owner took phone calls from her contact lense provider and her gas supplier telling her that her bank had refused payment, we got to the yard which happened to be the place where we'd had another dodgy viewing several years ago. Owner then told us that her husband had the tack in his car, he'd gone to one of the nightclubs that they owned in a nearby town. She borrowed tack from a fellow livery.
The mare was younger than described but just the type I like. So after trying her we left a deposit and arranged for the husband to deliver her. We gave him very detailed but simple directions to get to us. About an hour after we expected him we got a phone call to say he had decided to take the other motorway to our town and was now lost several miles away. Eventually he arrived, we unloaded the mare and paid him the *cash* that he required. Then he went home along the motorway that is only 5 minutes from our house.
 
My friend went to see a cob and the owner jumped from the beams in it's stable onto it's back and went 'she's completely bombproof' !!

:s
 
The horse I (literally) could not get out of walk was undoubtedly one of the weirdest. I have never known such a bone idle horse. I honestly don't think it was doped, one of the other liveries whispered 'I hope you like a dobbin, we all call her Donk).
 
I needed a colt foal to keep my yearling company. My only criteria were that it had good conformation, moved straight and preferably was coloured so I could show it in hand while my gorgeous, but bay baby grew up.

The weirdest experience I had was actually with the foal I bought. My friend drove and we headed off to Durham. Their directions were ropey so we rang when we thought we were close. They directed us to a tiny pit village, at which point they bundled us into their car. They drove us 5 miles into the wiilds of Durham and dropped us off. A proper hillbilly picked us up. He then dropped us at the gate to the yard and got into another car with another hillbilly. We where then driven for a good 10 mins up the side of a hill. By this point myself and my friend thought we were going to be killed an buried in the field!

There was 20 odd horses and 2 psycho sheep with huge horns. The 2 psycho sheep kept charging, and to be fair my friend and I thought we were going to get gouged. I would have made my excuses and left, as the horses were a good 100yds away, but one caught my eye big time.

Crazy hillbilly guy tried to cut me a 3 for 1 deal, but I said no! He delivered the foal a week later wilder than a wild thing! and utterly terrifed of people. Hes now the lvoe of my life even if he is a fugly 2 yr old. But by god! buying him was bloody terrifying!
 
When I was on the hunt for a fell pony we went to see 2 down in Cumbria. The first was described as a freshly broken and schooled 4yo, good conformation, would be great for showing yada yada. Got there and this thing looked more like an elephant it was that fat! Couldn't move for fat and also dished so he was a no go before we even started. But I rode him seeing as we went all that way and I was only allowed to take him for a walking hack down the road and back. Hmm. So off we toddled, mum walking next to me, we get about 100yards down the road and this thing stopped, spun and trotted back home as fast as it could. I had no say in the matter what so ever! I was then told that he did it all the time, it was perfectly normal for him and when would we be picking him up. Needless to say we declined and headed off to the next pony.

The next was again a freshly broken 4yo. He was of lighter build that elephant pony but well covered. The owner was very honest in saying that she had sent him away for 10weeks breaking and schooling at a trekking centre but believes they only put a saddle on him for the first time a week before as she had asked for him back because they had done nothing with him. So I hop on, take him for a walk round the field, trot fine. Canter- he bucked going into it but what young pony doesn't when it's first learning. So we cantered round the edge of the field quite the thing when the owner shouted down to turn right and jump what was infront of me to show me how well he could jump. Being 14 I thought "What the heck! It'll only be a little log or something". Eh Naw! Turned the corner and 3 strides later was a 5 bar wooden gate out onto the Cumbrian Fells ... By heck that pony could jump :D So we agreed to buy him there and then and we would get a transported to pick him up once all the money was settled into bank accounts. It was at this stage, after agreeing to buy him that the owner then told me that the last person to try him had fallen off and broken their collar bone but it wasn't the ponies fault, the rider lost her balance cantering round a corner on a pony that was very unbalanced and she just fell off the side. Just over a week later Jasper was home and he is my pride and joy! 9 years I have owned him for and brought him on myself. He is currently on loan to a girl who lost all confidence so he is still doing a fantastic job in his life.
 
I worked on a yard a few months ago, one of the girls i worked with was selling her pony. a woman and her daughter came one day with the girl's instructor and her horsebox. turns out the little girl had already viewed the pony and fell in love with it, instructor was coming along just to double check everything was ok as the mum wasn't horsey. they had even given her a day off school and brought the horsebox and cash, so if everything was ok the pony was to be paid for and taken home. instructor asked for pony to be trotted up, said it dished heavily which was wrong. the pony only had a very slight dish, but the instructor told mum this was very bad, it wouldn't make a difference as daughter only wanted a pony, nothing to show and it wasn't a show pony anyway, it was a little black stocky SJer!! the girl then got on, rode round arena, popped a few jumps, everything ok. instructor then announced she wanted to see it gallop in a field. she was politely told that they had no fields to gallop in since it was all grazing, all fields either had ponies grazing or sheep in them! she was very displeased at this. then she announced she wanted to see the girl trot pony along the road outside the yard - a very, very, VERY busy road with cars coming off the motorway at 70mph, half an hour before these people arrived i witnessed a BMW over-take a big lorry at a shocking speed, blink and you'll miss it! (long straight stretch of road) owner said no, it's too dangerous but can take pony to the road end and let her see traffic. so did this and pony didn't blink an eye. girl was in love, she really wanted it. they then said they weren't interested and drove the poor little girl home with the horsebox.

nowt queer as folk!!
 
Went to see a 15hh appaloosa as a project to sell on. Got there and hopefully said "Oh is that his mother"? to be told no, that's him. I had to say er.. I thought you said 15hh gelding in your ad but this is a 12.2hh mare!
 
My strangest one was a few weeks ago, spoke to a very nice lady on he phone about her 16yrs 16hh bay gelding who was in her words super chilled and an absolute sweetie but due to personnel issues hadnt been written for a few months.
Arrive to what looked like a bomb site with wreaks of buildings all around the field. Lady gets out of her car in full work uniform and heels. She calls the 3 horses in the field who came stampeding towards us through the open gate into the wreak of what I can only describe as being the floor to a past kitchen (had my 5yrs son with me and my husband and I had to grab my son to save him from 12 hooves flying at him).
Horse was more 16.3hh and had trouble in his eyes. Lady let them all walk round not tying any of them up. Her friend then turned up and they tacked up this horse that walked them around the "yard". Sensible people by now would have left but felt this was going to be a car wreak kind of moment and for some reason wanted to see. Lady jumps on him from a stack of garden chairs (she was tiny!) in her heals! Her friend then attached a lunge line was told that she always did this to take him out of the yard!?!?!:confused: followed by a very elderly looking 16hh mare
She then continued to ride him on the lunge line (mare following behind), although when I say ride it was more jump sideways! She the said he was normally very good but had not been ridden for 2yrs which according to my maths is a lot longer than they had said, and she started to tell me she had put full novices on his back (I guess she didn't like them much!) as she went flying off him in mind sentence.
I stupidly said let me have a go much to my husbands horror. Got on him to tyke would not move an inch! But after much persuading he started to listen and I walk, trot and cantered him with mare still in tow. He was very stiff and not really my sort of thing so needless to say didn't buy him. Left lady complaining about her shoes getting dirty! All together a very strange veiwing:eek:
 
im feeling a bit miffed i brought mine from the riding school id been in for 10 years and had known the mare for 3 years. much less interesting then ur stories
 
Years ago I arranged to view a 4yr old, 14.2 pony for my daughter.

The owner very honestly told me that the pony had mild sweetitch, so armed with that information we went off to view it. OMG - I have never, ever seen such a severe case of sweetitch in my life! Poor pony was turned out in a field with no shelter and was rubbed raw with no mane, barely a tail and the whole top half of its body had a different coat from the bottom half from where it spent its life rubbing on a branch :(

I asked her what she used as relief for the pony and again she honestly said that she smeared a bit of sudocreme on it but it was ok because in the winter she had a stable for it :(

It turns out that she bred the pony from a mare that she had bred from every year since and that mare had very bad sweetitch - itsn't it hereditary?

The pony had a very common head and wasn't anything special to look at but had a lovely temperament and was very easy to ride but I couldn't buy it - no way could I deal with sweetitch that bad.
 
Had a very strange one a few years ago and still can't figure it out. Admittedly I can't remember all the details now, but I do remember I went to see a 15.1hh chestnut Arab mare advertised somewhere in Kent, apparently an endurance mare that the owners had sent south on livery because she wasn't coping with the wild north and their very boggy moors.

Still not sure what to believe in all of this, but was told the livery yard owners would show her to me including riding her. I went to see her, and she was pretty much as described (15.1hh chestnut Arab mare), but was being kept in an apparently deserted yard in terrible conditions. It looked like she'd been stabled for some time, and I don't know when she'd last been mucked out. I saw no other horses there.

Livery owner (assuming it was really her) then complained to me about the owners not paying her livery fees for months and wanting the mare gone, but then said she couldn't ride her first, but would borrow tack if I wanted to ride her. Foolishly I was considering it, asking lots of questions, when the livery owner let slip she might be a bit 'cold backed'. And the only place I could ride her was in a small 20m section of the yard! All very odd.

I really felt sorry for the poor mare, she was very sweet and in a terrible situation. But major alarm bells were ringing here and I had to walk away, simply telling both the yard owner and livery owner "not for me". I didn't want to get involved in whatever was going on there.

Some weeks later, the owner called me and said their horse had gone missing, and did I know anything about it? I told them everything the livery yard owner had told me and kept my distance.

But I've felt guilty ever since. I keep thinking about that poor horse and whether I could have done something. I felt so sorry for her, and I wish I could have rescued her, or at least done something to help her, instead of just walking away. But I'm not sure what I could have done. I couldn't buy her, I didn't know what or who to believe, and the RSPCA wouldn't have been interested - she was well fed and her feet were in better condition than they should have been in the circumstances, so I was at a complete loss!

Very sad. :(
 
loved reading these!

my strangest was going to see a 'well put together, local level competition horse - easy ride' i was looking for a low level RC horse to potter about on so sounded ideal.

turned up to find a nervous, really badly put together yak - and a son who's horse it was - looking at it with pure hatred - sporting a broken wrist..... (which of course he got from playing rugby...;) of course)

so they got him out (after chasing him about to try to tack him up) and a friend of theirs got on and he promptly reared right up and started really playing about - i'd seen enough - said he was not what i was looking for and they kicked off saying i was wasting their time for not trying him ridden!!!
 
Not me viewing but had someone to view my then 16.3 ID. He had unsightly sarcoids and these people had been warned on the phone.
They turned up, got out the car with the biggest bag of carrots you've ever seen and proceeded to walk up to the horse and start shoving them in his gob! No asking, nothing. I took his rug off and the first remark was 'oh, hes big for an Irish draught'..... *cue has dropping to floor* couldn't believe it!! He was a perfect stamp of an ID but apparently 'they are normally much finer'. There was absolutely no mention of the sarcoids at all........I politely turned them away whilst cursing to myself!
 
What a great thread! My oddest viewing was travelling 3 hours to see a black thoroughbred that had never raced snaffle mouthed big jumper etc. Turned up to find a light bay emaciated tb, the owner who was only 17 and had the expression that butter wouldn't melt rode the horse but could only do one rein bcos she hurt her shoulder and couldn't jump because "the horse didn't like the jumps" (even though the ad said he'd jump anything). Got home and searched his name for racing turned out he'd only been out of racing a few months, and the girl and completely lied through her teeth!
 
I did have a bad horse viewing in reverse, my kids pony which we sold. She was a 11 hand aged mare, we had her for 7 years and my kids learnt to ride on her. She is in my profile.

Her main bad habit was nipping when saddle put on, but other than that she was good.

She had not been ridden more than maybe 6 times in the last year, and I had a 6 yr old come to try her. As she was filthy & disgusting, (a grey pony that was dark brown with mud), we spent the morning washing and grooming her. By the time the interested parties arrived she was in a thoroughly bad temper. So she was all fangs, nipping at every thing. i know people aways say, she is not normally like that.. but she was not normally like that.

The sad thing is that the little girl who started out on a lead rein with her, and had only had 8 riding lessons previously was able to walk and trot her around with no problems on her own.

Any way they bought a 14 hh pony, that when I ran into them at the Zone sporting and mounted games event, the father who was there, advised the little girl had fallen off a few times. Meanwhile our scuffy pony who had been pulled out the paddock at last minute, was the star of the day, did not put a foot wrong. I could see the dad thinking maybe that they had made a mistake. But I really could not blame them because she was so terrible on that viewing with the nipping.

I still feel mortified when I think of that day - the next pony viewing we did not wash her at all, just pulled her out the paddock as was, and that went fine.
 
Not been to - but had a lady come to view a horse we were advertising who came dressed in the shortest shorts you've ever seen, a bikini top and beach flip flops and was very annoyed when we said she wasn't getting on the horse like that. It wasn't as if she'd just turned up unexpectedly, she had booked a viewing to come see and ride him. We did assume she had at least boots and a hat in her car, but no - she thought there was nothing wrong in getting on a strange horse dressed like that as she rode her own in that gear.
 
Just remembered this one which really made me laugh.

I went with a friend to look at a horse last year. He was a big gangly dark bay thing, a bit on the skinny side but a nice temperament.

Anyway when we got there the lad showing us the horse had to hack him about 5 mins up the road to the sandschool, so we followed. He started riding, the horse went okay, nothing special- he was actually 6, but schooling-wise he was very, very green.

Anyway the lad rode him, and the whole time he was on, he remained on the left rein. My friend got on and went on the right rein.. where she was promptly told that the horse "only goes on the left rein, we wanted to get that correct before we started working on the right rein"..

..needless to say the horse had a few strops when she tried to get him to canter!
 
Had some corkers when we were horse shopping for Kal . . .

Very first I went to try was a 16.2hh chestnut all-rounder/sport horse. He was supposedly homebred by It's the Business (Grade A Showjumper). After he bolted across the school with me (all I did was ask for trot), demonstrated he couldn't canter without going disunited and then jumped some poles the floor giving them about 5 foot of air and then bolted again, skidded to a halt and I fell off I asked my trainer (has her AI and her Stage IV ridden and care - very, very experienced horsewoman) to ride him - she drove 2 hours to go see him and he did the exact same with her. Didn't think he was suitable for my (then) 13-year-old daughter and I to share!

Then there was the very lovely, extremely sweet gelding we drove another two hours (one way) to go see. Young woman selling him pulled him out of the field and explained that he had lost a little condition. When she pulled his rugs off, I was horrified - he was a hatrack - far too poor to be ridden, so we declined a trial ride. I hope he found a decent home - I suspect he was much older than advertised. Poor chap.

Then we drove to Cardiff (from the Basingstoke area) - met two men in the Millenium Stadium car park and followed them off into the deepest Welsh countryside . . . thankfully they were completely on the up-and-up but I did make sure my mobile phone was w/in hands' reach! We'd gone to try a 16.2hh coloured draught cross . . . what we actually viewed was at least 17.1hh (did I mention my daughter was then only 13 - and a titchy 13 at that). He was a very sweet horse, though, and probably made a lovely gentleman's hunter.

There was the 16.3hh 6-year-old gelding who was advertised as "soft as butter" . . . he was definitely bigger than 16.3hh, he was bolshy on the ground and when the owner rode him in the school he turned himself inside out - bucked, reared, went backwards/sideways (any way but forwards) . . . we declined sitting on that one.

There was the ex racehorse (racing name Countdown) who was supposed to be calm, sweet and suitable for novices having been retrained/reschooled . . . what I tried was a fruitloop - hyper sensitive to the aids and very stressed out - "oh the woman who tried him yesterday probably wound him up . . . " Right.

Lastly, there was the sweet little TB (who, unlike most of the horses we tried) was just up the road from us - we both tried him - he seemed sweet enough and his owner was also quite novicey . . . but, despite saying she really wanted us to have him, could never quite make time for my trainer to go and try him - it was raining, there was an R in the month, it wasn't a full moon - and all the time was hassling us to make an offer b/c someone else was about to have him and she'd rather we did. We didn't.

Finally - Kal's former owner told us that, despite having advertised him as a 16.2hh grey gelding one woman showed up to try him and said "oh - he's a bit big . . . and I couldn't be doing with all that white to clean . . . "!!!

P
 
Chavhorse said:
Have told this one before but it is a bit of a classic......

Saw what was described as the perfect horse advertised, called and asked a few questions and arranged to go view with my instructor. Instructor duly cleared his agenda for the afternoon and we headed off on the 1.5 hour trip to view.

Were greeted by what I can only describe as a "Drippy Hippy" type, who gave us a 30 minute diatribe on how stabling was not natural, any feed other than grass was not natural, a farrier was not natural (horse by the way had terrible feet and was about 100 Kilo's overweight).

She then treated us to a "groundwork display" of the pull, pull, slap the shoulder with a stick variety....(by this point my instructor had a very visible pulse in his temple!).

I then asked "can we see it ridden now please" (I was actually feeling sorry for the poor damned thing) and watched in amazement as she placed the palm of her hand between his eyes, closed hers then nodded and turned me and said "he says he does not want to be ridden today but may want to be tomorrow can you please come back then".

We made our excuses and left and spent the 1.5 hours drive home in stunned silence apart from the occasional "that did just happen didn't it?"
Click to expand...

HILARIOUS!!!LMAO:D
 
I turned up at a dealers yard to veiw (or so I thought) a 16.3 Sport horse, 5yrs old, athletic, nice looking animal.

Turned up to find a hugeeeee animal, must have been 17.2 +, feet like dinner plates...cracked, split and in an array of interesting shapes! We saw it in the school jumping a couple of fences and It did look better moving about, my mother aksed to see it under saddle (despite the fact I saw no need by this point...) and the man went "We don' do that 'ere. Y'look, and y'buy". Completely put off by this point as this did not look at all like a potential event horse, we thanked him for his time at which point he said "Well its fine I sold it yesterday anyway, the people are picking him up soon so best not cross paths"

Eh?
 
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