When you bought your first horse...

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dozzie

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What mistakes did you make that you wouldnt do again?

I will start!

The first horse we bought was a 2yr old colt. My non-horsey parents wanted to keep me interested I had had a pony on loan which had bucked me off and I wasnt allowed to ride for two years.( I think they regret it now LOL!) . I led him up and down. Picked his feet up. That was it. We bought him. £200. LOL! That was probably quite a lot as you could get a really good first pony for £400. So we probably paid well over the odds too.

It worked out but I look back and realise how lucky we were.. but we made lots of mistakes along the way and if i had him now as a 2 year old I would do things differently but you live and learn. He is my 34 year old LOL!

So come on...what mistakes did you make?
 
Parents bought the first horse for sister and me to share, without anywhere to keep him! Fortunately Dad knew a couple of the local farmers and one of them let us keep him in the field with their kids pony and let us have a stable to renovate. :) |It was a good job as we bought him to be delivered the week after we tried him! We were incredibly lucky with our first horse, he was retiring from pulling a landau on Blackpool prom, he was stiff, would only canter on his left leg, BUT he was safe as houses and looked after us for the eight years he lived with us. :) A footnote to that is that a friend has just bought a first pony for her children, from the son of the man who we bought our first horse from and the pony is living at our place :D (she is as good as our first horse too)
 
My first horse was an ex-racer straight of the track...........say no more :rolleyes:


In all seriousness he has actually taught me a hell of a lot and I wouldn't swap him for the world now :D
 
Well my first horse is the one i have now :) ive had him nearly 3 yrs i luv im :) ... when we went to see him we had to try him out on the gallops and he hadnt been rode in months as he was turned out after p2p a couple times (to slow) and we could bearly get him to canter haha ... but we rode him for about 15mins and then was told he could jump didnt nap rear buck etc ... vetted next day then next day got dilivered at yard ... and was he the horse from hell! Napped everywere, reared, bucked, refused poles on the ground, couldnt canter on the right rein n was just awful ... he through me off SOOO many times but now i must say hes what i always wanted :) jumps meters (better than x poles i must add) is a luvly wee dressage horse and the hacking is coming along eventually so if i was to do it all again i dont think id change anything!
 
NicoleRobinson said:
Well my first horse is the one i have now :) ive had him nearly 3 yrs i luv im :) ... when we went to see him we had to try him out on the gallops and he hadnt been rode in months as he was turned out after p2p a couple times (to slow) and we could bearly get him to canter haha ... but we rode him for about 15mins and then was told he could jump didnt nap rear buck etc ... vetted next day then next day got dilivered at yard ... and was he the horse from hell! Napped everywere, reared, bucked, refused poles on the ground, couldnt canter on the right rein n was just awful ... he through me off SOOO many times but now i must say hes what i always wanted :) jumps meters (better than x poles i must add) is a luvly wee dressage horse and the hacking is coming along eventually so if i was to do it all again i dont think id change anything!
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I think you would though! I think you would test out certain things more thoroughly and ask different questions.I had a horse with foot problems and now I always look at the feet first. Then the legs and I work upwards. :)
 
I was 12, he was 2. I ruined him and held him back :( Luckily he doesn't seem to mind and we're slowly catching up :p
 
Those stories are lovely!

1/ I've had my first horse since March last year and I'm 50 in December!!

2/ She was bought on the rebound from a failed vetting of another.

3/ Thought she was a quiet plod caus she looked rough and sad and was cheap. Was in fact 7yr old BSJA grade B (AES) who'd chucked!

4/ Gotta be the best horse in the world now;) and has taught me sooooooo much and gives. gives, gives!

5/ I love her far to much and my whole life revolves around her, in fact she has left me OCD and I wouldn't have it any other way:D:D
So she's probably going to break my heart some day:(
 
my parents both grew up in london, and were totally unhorsey. When they moved to yorkshire for work, met and got married they both wanted horses. They had a handful of lessons with the instructor I still use then went and bought a highland cross pony (dad is 6'2"!!) to share. He'd been broken to harness, but never ridden. They kept him in the garage next to their cottage, and rented a field of a local farmer. with the instructors helps they got him going enough to hunt, but he refused to even attempt jumping. About a year later they bought his half brother who was almost totally unhandled, uncut and after he threw a tantrum about being left behind and jumped the gate out of the field to follow them down the road, they called him Rumpus!

the first horse I bought, I'd been exercising for a friend for about a year when he decided to sell him as "he wasn't fast enough!" (would you be carrying a 20+ stone out of balance man who rode on his hands?). I leapt at the chance. In all honesty I paid over the odds for an 11 year old horse who at that point wouldn't jump, had never been competed ever, was scared of his own shadow and you couldn't clip. I paid £3500, and didn't even get shoes with him!! Now though he's the most awesome horse on the planet (even if i do say so myself!). I wouldn't change a thing. I'd rather pay over the odds for a horse I know and know that I can improve, than pay over the odds for an unknown though.
 
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dozzie said:
I think you would though! I think you would test out certain things more thoroughly and ask different questions.I had a horse with foot problems and now I always look at the feet first. Then the legs and I work upwards. :)
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Suppose i probably would actually lol mine was diagnosed with a chipped nav bone end of last year so i guess i would probs start at the feet to tbh :/ mine had flared cracked feet when we got him so that probably didnt help in the long run! But thank goodness its all worked out now :)
 
My first experience of 'buying' my first horse was unfortunately a bad one. In hindsight if i had been a member of this forum back last september i would have already known that the dodgy east sussex horse dealer was just that, dodgy and i would still have £350 which i lost on a deposit after the vetting failed. On the plus side, i probably would have ended up with a horse that was far too much for me at the time and the whole experience would have gone down hill from there. :(

After trawling through more adverts i found Ronnie - a very green 15.2hh, 4.5yo coloured cob gelding. I have to say, for someone who had only started riding again after a 6 year gap he probably wouldn't be the most ideal first horse, he can be quite strong and a few months ago i did hit the desk head first onto tarmac on a road.... ( :P ). I would never change him for the world though and i'm so glad the vetting failed on the original horse and i lost the £350 because i would have never found my boy and he is so worth it! He's taught me more about riding and good horsemanship than any book or lesson! :D
 
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A nightmare, in more ways than one! I was 11 (I think?) and she came from a riding school and I fell in love with her (Lindy Lou). BIG mistake - she didn't like being on her own and napped and reared for Britain. Chucked me off on the road when she reared up and I came off backwards...horrific! Had loads of help from various people, but to no avail. She had to go and I found out that, even in her new home, she was a complete pain in the a**e.

Does that make me feel better?...I doubt it, as I really was far too young to have a horse as my parents weren't horsey and I had no back-up!

Lesson learned - don't get a horse/pony when you are completely incapable of managing it. You may think you are experienced (well at 11 you are a "know all"!!!) - unless you have the support of a horsey family - it may not work out quite the way you wanted it.

PS. I'm just a tad over 11 (??!!) now and I think I have learned my lesson.
 
I was I think 14 when mum and dad decided it was time for my own horse, mum and dad arnt very horsey but ma sister had always had a horse so i was really excited. (too excited) We went to view a 14'2 red and white cob called red robin - the most gorgeous coloured ive ever seen - he was stunning, well i rode him and i loved him to bits he was great, we went out on the roads with the mans stallion with us and we even popped a few jumps. So we bought him there n then for £2500. tut tut tut. Went to get him a week later and he loaded into the lorry straight away and off he came to us. WHAT A NIGHTMARE. Got him back and after a couple of days he was an absolute nightmare, he napped, he bucked, he rang off when u tried to get on him, he was nasty, wouldnt stay in his stable, was scared of everything. A year on we ended up selling him as he chucked my sister of and trampled her, What i learned was get every flipping horse drug tested! It was our own fault completely and I now have a Maxi cob called Bella and I love her to pieces - we regularly compete and I have even got my own yearling now - Alfie. He did teach me a lot having something like that for a year and tbh I am so confident with horses now coz of the stuff I had to deal with from him that it really has helped me.
Good news is that the lady we sold him to managed to re break him in and sold him on to a nice new home which is good, but we had just been deflated by him haha x
 
Person came & knocked on door 'I heard you want a pony?'
Went to see pony... rode him, he napped to the gate but otherwise walked, trotted, cantered, popped a x pole, stopped..... had no idea why he had a martingale on, person who asked if we wanted pony in first place came with us (she had sold it to people selling on few months prior) and asked if he was doped?!?
£210 (£10 for the bridle!) he came home...
He bucked, bolted, napped, jibbed, never been schooled, didn't jump, was headshy, spooked severely, had few manners, was a prat to bath.... spent most of my time falling off him!
7yrs on, I can stay on most things :D And he still tries to buck me off! :p
 
Ashleigh_ said:
My first experience of 'buying' my first horse was unfortunately a bad one. In hindsight if i had been a member of this forum back last september i would have already known that the dodgy east sussex horse dealer was just that, dodgy and i would still have £350 which i lost on a deposit after the vetting failed. On the plus side, i probably would have ended up with a horse that was far too much for me at the time and the whole experience would have gone down hill from there. :(

After trawling through more adverts i found Ronnie - a very green 15.2hh, 4.5yo coloured cob gelding. I have to say, for someone who had only started riding again after a 6 year gap he probably wouldn't be the most ideal first horse, he can be quite strong and a few months ago i did hit the desk head first onto tarmac on a road.... ( :P ). I would never change him for the world though and i'm so glad the vetting failed on the original horse and i lost the £350 because i would have never found my boy and he is so worth it! He's taught me more about riding and good horsemanship than any book or lesson! :D
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So you put £350 down and the horse failed the vet. Seller takes £350 and still has the horse. There is something wrong there. That is a weeks wages for many people, if not more.... That is one cheap ad! :( I would like to earn £350 for 2 hours work but tbh could only, until now, think of one way to earn it!
 
Well with my first horse we belived the dealer we bought off that he had passed the vetting the week before without any issues (duhhh!!). So when he started bucking, rearing and throwing me off we decided to sell, to find that he was lame (again stupid!) and wouldnt pass a vetting! So he went off to market, for the next owner to see our details in the passport and get in contact with us (after buying him off the dealer that bought him at the sales!). Turns out he has ataxia and kissing spine. Never did that again - always 5 stage with Xrays and even then as i have just found out on my current horse they sometimes mean nothing!!
 
dozzie said:
So you put £350 down and the horse failed the vet. Seller takes £350 and still has the horse. There is something wrong there. That is a weeks wages for many people, if not more.... That is one cheap ad! :( I would like to earn £350 for 2 hours work but tbh could only, until now, think of one way to earn it!
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Sorry this will be useless i'll explain best i can because of the ban on discussing horse dealers :(

Oh trust me i know the worth of £350. I've been putting birthday, christmas and any other aquired money in a bank account since i was about 6 to save up enough money to buy and have a small reserve pile for a horse. I am 18 this summer and although my mum helps me out with any vet fees i pay for the upkeep of Ronnie myself.

After going to see the original horse before i got Ron i put a deposit down of £350 on the condition that it passed the 5 stage vetting with an independent vet, the viewing went really well so i was keen to 'reserve' the grey gelding. Said gelding failed at the second stage with heart/breathing problems from a very reputable and well known equine veterinary practice in Sussex. Dealers claimed that the vet had got it wrong and there was nothing wrong with the gelding and refused to pay back deposit going against agreement. Many a solicitors letter later and some very VERY nasty abuse my mother decided she would rather reimburse me the £350 quid herself rather than run up a bill taking said dealer to court. I latterly found out that many people had had issues with the dealer and his reputation was appalling. We reported him to the necessary people and cut our losses :(

(Sorry, after re-reading all that i think i sound quite rude! :o Please don't take it personally, the whole issue still makes my blood boil as i'm sure you can understand xx)
 
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Mine was fab and I got the pony of my dreams :) I still own her now, but she's now out on loan giving a young girl all the fun I had on her.

I waited, my parents offered to buy me a horse 2 years before I ended up getting her. I'd nagged for years like any horse-mad girl doing the 'I want a pony' thing. Parents said they'd get me one if I did well in school, which I did and they then said I could have one. I then decided it wouldn't be fair getting a pony and starting college as wouldn't have time for it as well as courswork so turned their offer down! Shocked me as much as them I think! For years whining about wanting one, then getting the chance to, and then not!

Anywho, I said instead I wanted to take a reschooling project I'd been working with at work to pony club camp that summer instead, so they, still shocked, agreed and I had a week of fun at PC camp with a superstar of a pony.

Year on, after 6 months of working with another mare I'd ended up with that I'd broken in for the owner, she came up for sale. I'd lost her twice due to various glitches with her being suddenly put on loan, etc, and then she was put up for sale instead. To my shock, I hadn;t even asked my dad about it, he came out one night with 'how much does he want for her?' I didn't know so asked, but was given a silly amount of money he wanted for her. Dad asked what he'd bought her for, so found out, and he said no more than 'Offer him that and if he accepts, she's yours.'

Needless to say I was one very happy bunny! And she was the best pony I've ever ridden to this day, though it may biasedness. But she did dressage academy with me, flying changes, the lot. And would tackle any XC fence or jump put in front of her, even top of the wings on a lot of occasions! She really was just the perfect pony ever. Sadly, she's 14.2, so I outgrew her and finally put her out on loan last year as felt she'd given me everything she could and vice versa...so felt it right for her to go to a smaller rider to give a girl the pony of her dreams, like she had done me :)

I'm set on breeding her in a couple of years time ghopefully, but for now, she's not ready to retire!
 
He wasn't my first, probably about the eighth really, we had multiple horses floating about the place, my mother used to come home with them. The first horse I bought with my own money (well, actually Grandpa helped out a bit, OK a lot) was when I was 14.

He was a 16.1h 7/8 tb from an SJ yard in Exeter.
Bit too big for me then, he'd still be, I kind of stopped growing at a smidge over 5'1":D

He didn't do anything wrong, true gentleman, took me through all the PC teams. What I did do wrong was to loan him out when I went to college, the thieving gits disappeared with my horse and apparently several others too. I was devastated, just one of the reasons I do not loan horses.:mad:
 
The first horse I bought myself was a real bargain. I had him for over three years, had loads of fun, won loads of rosettes and then sold him for three times what I paid.
 
My first horse. Bought the first one I saw. It didn't occur to me to question the fact the horse had lost a shoe the day of the viewing. Didn't question the lumps and bumps on the legs thoroughly enough. Didn't question horses past enough. Believed far too much, and even when they were two hours late on delivery it didn't occur to me that it could be my new mare NOT the other horse in the trailer that was the bad loader.

She reared hacking alone, had atrocious feet, was difficult to jump, didn't load...the list goes on. She was clumbsy in the field, a poor doer...

I learnt so much from her. I learnt that horses don't always stay sound. That your dreams can all fall through. That horses are difficult, fickle...and how to bandage virtually every part of any leg.

I also learnt that I had more strength than I ever realised I could, and how much horses mean to be. Looking back, on paper, I should never have bought her. But despite all the pain I went through, I wouldn't have given it up. I learnt so much from her, and because it was so difficult everything I did achieve with her has been made all the more special.

It's been 10 months, and I still miss her every day.
 
She was a well bred show pony that had gone on to be a boy's PC pony. I met her when she was 17 and she knew every trick in the book. By that time her owners had retired her and my friend was keeping a horse at their farm, she suggested we could bring this pony back in to work and ride out together. I paid meat money for her.

The pony had fully mastered the 'buck and drop the shoulder' routine and chucked me off at least once a week for the first year, every bit of open grass was a race track, jumping was unnerving as it tended to rely on speed, she was unstoppable out hunting and a bit of a head case at shows.

I loved her to bits and we had many happy years together until her Cushings became unmanageable - that pony taught me everything and nearly 20 years down the line I still miss her.

But boy, was she the wrong type for me to buy!
 
I honestly wouldn't change a thing. I bought my first horse 8 years ago just before my 40th birthday, having had horses on loan for years before that. I'd just decided the night before that my loan horse wasn't working out and I was going to give a month's notice. I was telling my friend when one of the instructors on the yard came over and told us that she was selling her horse and really hoped she'd find a nice home for him. She suggested I rode him - I wasn't too sure as I hadn't really decided what I was going to do yet, but she said give it a go as I might not like him anyway. Obviously I did though. I had 3 weeks trial so I could do a bit of everything with him so I was very lucky in knowing a lot about the horse I was buying.
He is quirky, and some days I he drives me insane, but we have had great fun together, and hopefully lots more to come!
 
Ashleigh_ said:
Sorry this will be useless i'll explain best i can because of the ban on discussing horse dealers :(

Oh trust me i know the worth of £350. I've been putting birthday, christmas and any other aquired money in a bank account since i was about 6 to save up enough money to buy and have a small reserve pile for a horse. I am 18 this summer and although my mum helps me out with any vet fees i pay for the upkeep of Ronnie myself.

After going to see the original horse before i got Ron i put a deposit down of £350 on the condition that it passed the 5 stage vetting with an independent vet, the viewing went really well so i was keen to 'reserve' the grey gelding. Said gelding failed at the second stage with heart/breathing problems from a very reputable and well known equine veterinary practice in Sussex. Dealers claimed that the vet had got it wrong and there was nothing wrong with the gelding and refused to pay back deposit going against agreement. Many a solicitors letter later and some very VERY nasty abuse my mother decided she would rather reimburse me the £350 quid herself rather than run up a bill taking said dealer to court. I latterly found out that many people had had issues with the dealer and his reputation was appalling. We reported him to the necessary people and cut our losses :(

(Sorry, after re-reading all that i think i sound quite rude! :o Please don't take it personally, the whole issue still makes my blood boil as i'm sure you can understand xx)
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Dont worry I didnt think it sounded rude at all!:) I totally understand how you must be feeling. :)
 
My first pony who i still have as a retired field ornament (very cute though :D) he was very good when i got him yet we kept him on a farm with a really not nice atmosphere and the owner who fed and put out in the mornings always was shouting and balling at them, when we realised me and my mum would go up before school but he was forever on edge, around the yard and when we moved a year later i once hacked back through the farm and was walking down the lane and saw the guy who was nasty to the horses and spun round barged past a friends horse and ran up off the lane, got under control and managed to get past the guy with reins about 3 inches long. May be a coincidence but it really makes you wander...

Another thing i regret was hacking out in huge groups of ponies and my little guy seemed to think he was a race horse and literally would almost give himself heart failure with the effort of getting to the front and if they came near him he would just spurt off again, but once i moved he just calmed down, they get into the wrong mindset sometimes even the most bomb proof sweet little ponies witch is how he was for years after we moved. Serves me right for going riding in huge groups, i was only little at the time though.. lol!
 
Just bought my first riding horse about 10 days ago - a very bad experience!

Still reeling from the shock of it at the moment and dealing with authorities!

So the best piece of advice I can give is don't buy from a dealer but from a private seller who knows the history of the horse. Ask to see the passport and check it fits in with what you have been told. If available take the details of the previous owner and contact them to confirm what they know about the horse.

Get it "vet checked" it doesn't have to have a full vetting but be suitable for the purpose you want. I can't belive these people who pay a fortune for a full vetting when all they want is a happy hack (by the way I'm happy hacker n proud of it:))! Probably my saving grace as the horse I have bought is physically suitable to happy hack but if I'd want to jump or pc like his advert said he has I would of been very dissappointed!

Belive me I never thought I would have been bitten on the butt buying a horse - If it can happen to me it can happen to anyone!
 
I was 15 when I bought my first horse. My parents aren't horsey, although my Mum did have a few lessons after I started riding. She was one of the the liveries on a yard I helped at.

Owner was pregnant, so wanted to sell. I took her out for a hack, she spook over and over, right across to the opposite pavement, jogged constantly. Totally unsuitable for a first horse, so I said no.

I said I would carry on riding her for the owner to get her fit to sell. Got totally hooked, she failed the vetting with laminitis, so I got her better, then finished the vetting. She is now a field ornament, 21 years on, we have had a blast together other the years :D
 
we brought a nappy 7 yr old and we tryed and tryed with her but we had to give up plus she was a head shaker! now we have a 13yr old fleabitten grey we have had her for 2 weeks now and we adore her she never puts a foot wrong.x
 
My first is my current...he is an ex racer. :o

He has taught me so much though and I don't know what I would do without him - non-horsey parents really dont understand how much they mean to us do they?! :D
 
My biggest mistake was to sell my gorgeous first horse when i was 16 because i was going to college. I actually had more spare time when i was at college than i ever had.
I got him when i was 13 after riding since i was 6 and had worked at a riding stables since i was 10. He was a 14.1 hh 15 year old arab x welsh (mainly arab).
He was a big step for me as he was lively, very very foreward going, very strong. He wouldnt lead on a headcollar and lead rope as previous owners rather than leading him to the field would chase him down the track.
But about 50 snapped headcollars and leadropes and a rope headcollar later that problem was solved.
He was super fit and in summer we would ride for 2 hours or more every night. He thrived on work and would have been a super endurance horse if he would have travelled in our trailer.
He was a bit too much for me jumping wise, he would jump 3ft 6 like it was a pole on the ground, but he was very fast and very strong. I have very poor upper body strength and so i didnt do as much showjumping with him as i could.
I had 3 super years of fun with him and i still miss him every day.
We sold him when he was 18 to a young girl who competed seriously, i know he will have loved it, he loved competing so much. But he had a cracking 3 years with us living the life of reiley!
I had a gap from riding after having him for 7 years, and in march this year i bought my second horse, who is a bit of a charachter....but we are getting there!
 
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