Who’s bought incredibly unsuitable horses and had it work out?

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LadyLexicon

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Just for a bit of fun rather than advice…

I’m currently considering an incredibly stupid decision. I’ve got the horse of my dreams on trial, only she isn’t, because she’s so anxious. However ridiculous and daft anxious behaviour aside I adore this mare and am thinking of keeping her, and buying another bloody horse, because when you find a mare you click with, it’s quite rare. Even if she’s not at all the straight forward horse I wanted 🤣

Anyway, anyone else made knowingly daft decisions/ended up collecting horses!??
 
I had one that was bonkers, but I didn't know was bonkers when I bought him, it took three years but he was worth it in the end.

If you already know she is daft before you purchase it is a question of how mad you are and how much of a risk you're willing to take 😅
 
I bought a very green 4yo TB for my first owned horse - if that counts? Best temperament ever and it worked out fine, but I did know we’d need a ton of help!
 
LadyLexicon said:
Just for a bit of fun rather than advice…

I’m currently considering an incredibly stupid decision. I’ve got the horse of my dreams on trial, only she isn’t, because she’s so anxious. However ridiculous and daft anxious behaviour aside I adore this mare and am thinking of keeping her, and buying another bloody horse, because when you find a mare you click with, it’s quite rare. Even if she’s not at all the straight forward horse I wanted 🤣

Anyway, anyone else made knowingly daft decisions/ended up collecting horses!??
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Yep, over the years bought more than one eminently unsuitable but irresistible creature - and turned out just fine. Good luck!
 
LadyLexicon said:
Just for a bit of fun rather than advice…

I’m currently considering an incredibly stupid decision. I’ve got the horse of my dreams on trial, only she isn’t, because she’s so anxious. However ridiculous and daft anxious behaviour aside I adore this mare and am thinking of keeping her, and buying another bloody horse, because when you find a mare you click with, it’s quite rare. Even if she’s not at all the straight forward horse I wanted 🤣

Anyway, anyone else made knowingly daft decisions/ended up collecting horses!??
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She's bound to be more anxious if she's just arrived on trial. It's a HUGE thing for a horse to move homes. There's another thread about a dealer who was sending horses out on multiple trials. That would be enough to make any horse anxious. There's a good chance she'll calm down once she knows where she is and thinks are settled. So keep her, but don't buy another horse? She may indeed be your dream horse but it's just early days.
 
Anxiety can always always be pain so get your vet involved or if you think you'll keep her no matter what, don't get your vet involved before you start insurance 😬

My horse was a silly thing to do, on paper. Not backed, not vetted, overweight, history of neglect. My first horse of my own. She's turned out to have expensive and stressful, if not world ending, soundness problems. I can't afford another easier one 😂 But she's the light of my life so 🤷‍♀️ no regrets!!!!
 
LadyLexicon said:
Just for a bit of fun rather than advice…

I’m currently considering an incredibly stupid decision. I’ve got the horse of my dreams on trial, only she isn’t, because she’s so anxious. However ridiculous and daft anxious behaviour aside I adore this mare and am thinking of keeping her, and buying another bloody horse, because when you find a mare you click with, it’s quite rare. Even if she’s not at all the straight forward horse I wanted 🤣

Anyway, anyone else made knowingly daft decisions/ended up collecting horses!??
Click to expand...
3.5 yrs ago I got a complicated pony who was very worried all the time and hadn't stayed anywhere longer than a year. Best thing I ever did, he's a perfect angel 😄
 
On paper mine was a stupid buy, I hadn't ridden or owned in probably 3 years, albeit I have been riding all my life, and I went out and bought an unbacked, largely untouched rising 3yo from Facebook, unseen. I did have him vetted but a lot of it just had 'unhandled' written across it. I also then took him to a yard that I hadn't been and viewed, as I had been to try a share horse on it probably 10 years before and they had someone viewing the space the next day, so I asked YM if I could just send her the deposit for the space on the phone, but again luckily I love the yard I am on and the YM actually ended up helping me back Dex too, so lucked out in both! 😂

As it turns out it was the best decision I ever made, but there have been ups and downs for sure and I have had to ask for help many times!
 
I did, and like you it was eyes wide open.

I got an unbacked 3 year old, fully aware I was completely overhorsing myself and I wasnt capable of bringing him on. However, I had time and resources to give him the very best start. I had endless friends and trainers available. It was never my intention to ride him for a couple of years. He was very sensible and keen to learn.

For an anxious horse consider the TRT method. I'm not sure if fully understand it but it seems to be very effective.
 
🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️

Ok, in my defence, I didn't actually know he was unsuitable when I bought him. Ironically, I had been to try a few youngsters and decided they were too green for me, and I wanted more of an experienced all-rounder I could crack on with. I've since had several trainers stand in front of me and tell me I'd be much better off with a 4yo as I was basically tasked with untraining a whole load of bad habits instead 🙈

Don't get me wrong I love the absolute bones off that little horse and I have zero regrets buying him, but my god was it a journey. He was hot, reactive, unbalanced, had limited brakes and bolted with me when he was anxious. I'm not ashamed to admit he absolutely terrified me for a period. But I invested in him, got a very good trainer, and in turn, he made me a much better rider, and we came to understand each other. For all his flaws, he has also given me the confidence to do things I never would have achieved - he has guts and heart like I have never known and makes jumping fences that used to make my legs tremble feel easy. I learned to embrace his over-enthusiasm for life and love him for it, and stop trying to micro-manage him, and he learned to trust me, and in turn became much more relaxed about life and less reactive. He still has a sharp side, but he genuinely does not have a bad bone in his body, and 99% of the time, I trust him to look after me.

I never considered selling him, call me daft, but I bought him during a very difficult time of my life, and something deep down told me he came into my life for a reason, and we needed each other. Watching him learn to trust and relax and come out of his shell has made all the bad days worthwhile (and there's been plenty). Don't get me wrong, I do often fantasise about how life would be with a nice easy horse, but then I take one look at him and know he's not going anywhere.
 
I bought a batsht crazy 4 year old, he was by a son of Cruising, so quirky as hell. Spooky, erratic and massively talented, but the attention span of a retarded gnat. He had massive separation anxiety, and just anxious constantly, stressy and he had a massive temper too if you rubbed him up the wrong way. I was clueless and not a good rider.

First time I rode him it was like all hell broke loose. Luckily I had my instructor there. We couldn't get him to stop racing into jumps, and everything had to be fast fast fast.

He'd spin under you and teleport out from underneath you leaving you sitting on air, then on your arse on the ground. He'd look down at you when he'd done it and I swear he was laughing.

But we just clicked. I worked hard with him on flatwork and we both loved it, he could be flashy when he wanted to and adored showing off. Did dressage on him for a good while and he took off galloping around the dressage arena on his first day out for shts and giggles. Got the hang of it eventually. He was big and brave out cross country. Loved showjumping but would throw in a dirty stop if you weren't paying attention. Teach you a lesson. Most of my friends were terrified of him. I'd rarely let anyone else ride him because he'd take it out on me for days after for putting him through having to allow someone else on his back. Put my partner up on him once and he threatened to deck him, but they came to an agreement after that.

He mellowed a bit as he got older. We had a mutual agreement that he'd look after me providing I looked after him. He had a heart of a lion. There's nothing like a Cruising bred horse to show you the holes in your riding. I learned stickability from him! He used to feel like he was about to explode at any given moment under saddle.

I sadly had to make a decision to put him to sleep at nearly 17 years old a few years ago. Still miss his quirks!

I ended up getting a little showjumping mare while I had him to prove I could ride. She was a godsend!
 
ElectricChampagne said:
Spooky, erratic and massively talented, but the attention span of a retarded gnat. He had massive separation anxiety, and just anxious constantly, stressy and he had a massive temper too if you rubbed him up the wrong way.

First time I rode him it was like all hell broke loose. Luckily I had my instructor there. We couldn't get him to stop racing into jumps, and everything had to be fast fast fast.

He'd spin under you and teleport out from underneath you leaving you sitting on air, then on your arse on the ground. He'd look down at you when he'd done it and I swear he was laughing.

But we just clicked. I worked hard with him on flatwork and we both loved it, he could be flashy when he wanted to and adored showing off. Did dressage on him for a good while and he took off galloping around the dressage arena on his first day out for shts and giggles. Got the hang of it eventually. He was big and brave out cross country. Loved showjumping but would throw in a dirty stop if you weren't paying attention. Teach you a lesson. Most of my friends were terrified of him.

He mellowed a bit as he got older. We had a mutual agreement that he'd look after me providing I looked after him. He had a heart of a lion. There's nothing like a Cruising bred horse to show you the holes in your riding. I learned stickability from him! He used to feel like he was about to explode at any given moment under saddle.
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I think you might have owned my horse in another life 😁
 
ElectricChampagne said:
Haha! Love it! I learned so much from him.
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Exactly that! I've always said while he might not be the Badminton Grassroots horse I hoped for as it's taken us so long to get as far as we have, none of it was wasted as he has taught me so much and made me a completely different rider.
 
I did the opposite - bought a very suitable horse. He was everything I wanted and everything I needed but we just didn't work out. The first few months were great, if slow, and then it all went wrong and we lost trust in each other. He was a head purchase - I had spent over a year looking and was really picky but he ticked all the boxes and I thought the connection would come. I sold him after 2 years and bought my current boy. He was the first one I saw and the second I sat on him I just knew he was the one - he also ticked 99% of my boxes so that helped, the only question mark was he was a couple of years older than I'd have liked. You only have to read my posts to know how much I adore him.

The sensible way of looking at this is that even buying one that's ideal on paper can go wrong so why take even more of a risk on one that you know is wrong. The other way of looking at it is the whole horse buying thing is a bit of a lottery even when you're really careful so you may as well go for one who has your heart!
 
Annagain said:
I did the opposite - bought a very suitable horse. He was everything I wanted and everything I needed but we just didn't work out. The first few months were great, if slow, and then it all went wrong and we lost trust in each other. He was a head purchase - I had spent over a year looking and was really picky but he ticked all the boxes and I thought the connection would come. I sold him after 2 years and bought my current boy. He was the first one I saw and the second I sat on him I just knew he was the one - he also ticked 99% of my boxes so that helped, the only question mark was he was a couple of years older than I'd have liked. You only have to read my posts to know how much I adore him.

The sensible way of looking at this is that even buying one that's ideal on paper can go wrong so why take even more of a risk on one that you know is wrong. The other way of looking at it is the whole horse buying thing is a bit of a lottery even when you're really careful so you may as well go for one who has your heart!
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This.

I know you are looking for positive experiences but I am ever overly cautious. I purchased a horse that I was warned was quirky and sharp.
Thought it’d be fine. It wasn’t.
The quirks ramped up to being unmanageable and ended up being a pain diagnosis and retirement.

If you are willing to take a risk go for it.
But the heartache and headache is too much for me.
 
LadyLexicon said:
Just for a bit of fun rather than advice…

I’m currently considering an incredibly stupid decision. I’ve got the horse of my dreams on trial, only she isn’t, because she’s so anxious. However ridiculous and daft anxious behaviour aside I adore this mare and am thinking of keeping her, and buying another bloody horse, because when you find a mare you click with, it’s quite rare. Even if she’s not at all the straight forward horse I wanted 🤣

Anyway, anyone else made knowingly daft decisions/ended up collecting horses!??
Click to expand...
I have a similar situation except I didn't buy another horse - I've just kept him!
 
My first pony (I was 17 and had been riding anything and everything I could get my hands on) was a nutty Welsh/Arab/TB grey gelding, who scared the pants off me, never went anywhere slower than a sideways canter, with flying changes thrown in for good measure BUT would jump anything and everything (flat out of course). What I should have done was re-start, school and sell on. No chance, I loved that boy and his courage, learned how to cope with him and competed every weekend i possibly could. Later on he showed 2 teenage loaners the ropes before coming home to me to be broken to harness (at which he was surprisingly sensible). Stayed with me till pts aged 32 - and I still miss him today.
 
Ahh these have all made me smile and realised I’m not the only nutter. I know it’s daft, but I also know it’s not everyday you come across something that you just get. I’ve got a few more weeks of the trial to fully make up my mind ☺️

I’ve had her vetted already and think she would certainly improve with more time. However I’m sure she’s always going to be a wimp 🤣
 
How d you feel about her? If you don't buy her will you always wonder where she is, if she's ok? Will every other horse you look at have you thinking that it's not her? If the answers are yes then go for it, if you like her that much you'll find a way around problems and work things out so that it works for both of you. I've been there and I don't regret a moment spent on them.
 
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