When viewing or selling a horse.....Your views....

H

H-J

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 June 2006
Messages
6,386
Location
Essex
www.piczo.com
So when you go to view a horse to buy how long do you ride i for?

I will always get on something and ride it on the flat and if I dont like it on the flat and confirmation etc I wont bother to jump/hack etc as it isnt fair on the horse. If I do like it and jump it etc I will prob ride it for anything up to an 50mins ish depending on age.

And the other side when you are selling a horse......

I have been on the receiving end of someone who didnt like my horse (my darling Golly who was PTS) he was a 4 yr old who had so much natural talent on the flat he could shoulder in, half pass, counter canter changes and do them well. But she said he wasnt progressed enough at 4!!! when she called back but still rode him for 35mins then let her daughter who was a bad rider ride him for 20mins. As the owner I should of said something but kept quiet!

What do you think about this from both points of view??

Being in this position again and with a 5yr old I will most definitely question people more and ask if they like b4 I go on and ride and b4 they ride as it simply isnt fair on the horse, it makes me angry!!
mad.gif
tongue.gif
 
I have sold horses, and let people thrash the arse (not literally) out of them. Though that was when I was young, and not assertive enough.
Until enough was enough, and I threw someone off my horse and yard for hauling it in the mouth, when she was a super little horse.

So now, I too ask questions on ability. I am in the process of selling one now, a very talented little horse, and I find myself putting people off even before they come to see him.

I wont let someone jump my horses unless they can ride on the flat.

Also, if I go to see a horse, and I dont like it on first glance, I politely tell the owners its not what i'm looking for not to waste anyones time.
 
Will walk away if I dont like it after 5 mins of seeing it being ridden- just no point in wasting my time or the owners time.
Sometimes you will obviously just know straight away.
Likewise if I think that I quite like what I see when the owner rides it, I will get on but will know in 5 mins wether I like the horse or not.
If I do like it I honestly dont see why you would need to ride it for more than 15 mins on the flat and say another 20 mins jumping??
If anyone trying out a horse of mine started going on and on for ever I would stop them!Also would get them off the horse asap if I did not like them or liked their riding.
 
When I sold my last horse the people that first decided they wnated him had watched me ride for 30 mins then only rode him themselves for 10 mins. In this time he galloped round the school and she could not stop him!! She went on how he went when I rode him and when I tried to explain that I didn't feel he was right for her she dismised it saying he would be fine. Fortunatly for him he failed the v etting as he twisted himslf out in the field the nioght before. I then found a fab girl that hacked schooled and jumped him on 3 different occasions before deciding to buy him.
 
I have bought and sold quite a few horses over the years and am still shocked by alot of people's ethics.When i go to view a horse either for myself or a client i always ask many questions before i even consider travelling to look. However that only works when the questions are answered truthfully!!!! One of the questions is in my opinion a simple one to answer and that is 'Does the horse have any stable vices?',so when i went to view a horse with NO stable vices i was a bit annoyed to say the least to arrive and find the horse wind sucking terribly. When i questioned the girl about this her answer was that he didn't do it all the time only when in the stable!!!! On the other side i once had a lovely little horse for sale who was a real star,people came to see him rode him,jumped him,hacked him and even came back for a second ride before they said 'He's lovely but too small' well he was 16.1 in the advert.16.1 on their first visit and believe me he hadn't shrunk!!!! I think buying and selling horses will always be frustrating,but if people were honest about what their selling and buyers were honest about what their looking for and their ability alot of time could be saved!!
 
It depends if I really like it like I did Cruz and the one I went to try the otehr day I took them both on a little hack.

And one I went to try a couple of years ago that sadly failed the vetting
frown.gif
I took it XC schooling so that was probably ridden for about an hour by me and the owner then travelled and XC schooled for about 40mins so it all depends.

I always make sure I ask lots and lots of questions b4 I go and view and more often then not it has a BE record to check, so when I go and see and think I really dont like I will always have a little sit on as my mind might change.

I think it was down to age I didnt say anything when these people rode my 4yr old, as I would definitely not let that happen now, I will question these people tomorrow as well as it isnt fair on young horses...well any horses
 
I was selling one & buyer arrived & asked where he was & I told her in the field. I gave her a head collar & pointed him out. She was very surprised, but it showed her he was easy to catch, We tacked him up & may daughter rode first so buyer could see the buy move then changed over & she rode him. We went up the field & set up some jumps.....my daughter jumped first & then we put them dwon for buyer & she popped a couple. She had another ride around on him. I told her she could hack out if she wanted but she said it wouldn't be necessary....he would hack alone or in company I told her.

The crunch came when I told her she only had until 6pm to decide as if he wasn't sold by then he was being part exchanged for another who was in an adjoningstable. She said thaks & would be in touch & walked away. I turned to partner & said that I'd like them to have him....minutes later the buyer waklked back onto the yard...they'd only got as far as the carpark & decided to have him. There was no arguement over money & a week later I took him to them.
smile.gif


This was a really easy sale, I'd been absolutely honest & so had the buyer. I'd not even had time to advertise him....the buyer phoned me from my tack shop. I'd mentioned wanting to sell him in there & they'd come in & asked for a horse like mine. Oh...I bought a bottle of wine for the guy in the tack shop to say thanks.
grin.gif
 
Have had no experience selling, but buying I would prob want to see horse in stable, brought out, brushed abit, tacked up. Then ridden for 15/20 mins by owner/rider-jumped as well. If I liked the horse, I like to ride for 20 mins plus some jumping. I do believe that you can tell pretty much straight away whether its a 'yay' or 'nay'. I would then like to come back another time to hack out etc if I liked the horse and go from there.
 
When I was viewing recently - I only rode two of the horse I saw.

The first one I rode for around 5 mins - new instantly that she was not what I wanted.

The second I rode for around 30 mins I suppose. Rode him in the school - was happy - then proceeded to pop a few fences (which they kept jacking up
crazy.gif
) - and then I was invited to take him out for a short ride around the block. I bought him.

My philosphy is - only ride it if you like it. Stop riding it if you don't like it. Continue to ride if you do like it - but be respectful of the horse and the owner.
 
I walk away the minute I have decided the horse isn't for me, be that the minute I see the horse, after watching it trot up etc, seeing someone else ride it or after I have ridden.

I agree that it is a waste of everyone's time to carry on and certainly very unfair on the horse.
 
I had a lady call about my horse for sale at the moment (in my signature) its was about 4pm and she wanted to come and see him that afternoon - I being completely honest told her that he had already had an hours hard dressage lesson at 1pm and i thought it was too much for him and not fair as he was tired !! she proceeded to say 'well if you dont want to sell him fine' and put the phone down - i was so schocked that i called her back !!

Then they came and said oh he isnt big enough - as said before he is 16.1 (with a high wither) and rides much bigger - didnt they realise that before they came !!

What anoys me more is people that come you get them out ride them they ride etc etc say oh he is really nice ill be in tough - then nothing !!!! if you dont like him just say there and then !!
 
When I was looking a few months back I always called back to say it wasn't the right horse - usually people like to try a horse out properly as not always do first impressions count. It is hard for people buying too and when parting with thousands of pounds then too bloody right I'm going to be fussy and nit pick. The simple answer is to ensure that one buys the right horse in the first place - then there wouldn't be any need to be constantly buying and selling.
 
current horse, spent 3hrs, in the school, in a field, and then driven to a xc and round it
Solely because it was the one look (he was in england), and needed to get it right.
In that same trip went to look at one (a whole 6 inches smaller!) and hated it, so jumped it once to see if it livened up then politely handed it back to the dealer who, although obv. wanted a sale was happy enough not to have wasted time. A nice horse, just not the sparkle my boy has.
He came home with us!
Normally an hour is all it takes for us to get there, meet seller and be driving off the yard.
 
[ QUOTE ]
When I was looking a few months back I always called back to say it wasn't the right horse - usually people like to try a horse out properly as not always do first impressions count. It is hard for people buying too and when parting with thousands of pounds then too bloody right I'm going to be fussy and nit pick. The simple answer is to ensure that one buys the right horse in the first place - then there wouldn't be any need to be constantly buying and selling.

[/ QUOTE ]

I completely understand that but if someone says there going to call and doesnt it is annoying - im more than happy for people to come back with trainers and hack him etc too !! ive tried to be honest - i bought him to compete showjumping as a just broken 4yo but he seems to prefer dressage which isnt my thing though i am starting to enjoy it !!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top