Would You Take The Gamble??

Not too keen on his legs tbh, defo ask to see a vid! At the end of the day if that's what you're looking for and he seems to fit the bill, for that price I would go for it! :)
 
Am something of a fan of Appy's, who tend to be a bit upright in the hocks, but he looks very upright and I don't think I would fancy that one tbh.
 
I'm far too nervous to post any of my opinions about horses, except, possibly, Arabs; I'm pig ignorant compared with the expert horsewomen/men on this forum and would get pounced on and eaten! However, I did think the following, bearing in mind his age and the current economic climate in Ireland: rather long skinny legs for the rest of him, upright pasterns, odd sized and shaped feet, which may cause/have already caused problems. Lovely colour and markings, very eye catching. Thought he looked anxious and rather tense.
However, I bought a starved, broken in body and mind, dreadfully scarred and with disasterous feet, straggly looking 6 yr old Arabian off Gumtree, sight unseen, because I could not leave such a totally empty looking, hopeless animal with the owner who was also in the picture, who had caused this. He was reckoning on getting better money " from one of you kind ladies in England than I will from the meatman". He was right. Horse came over two years ago, and I didn't expect him to live. Thanks to calm, old fashioned management and handling,and eventually riding, he is a truly spectacular horse who excells at everything he's asked to do and is all round gorgeous. He is by a very famous and highly regarded sire out of a dam who has won a great deal in ridden showing in all the best places. The previous owner didn't know/care about his breeding, he could not read the passport, but got a friend to read out the letters. I did know about it.
So, the moral of that long and winding tale is, go for him if he takes your fancy!
 
Burmilla said:
I'm far too nervous to post any of my opinions about horses, except, possibly, Arabs; I'm pig ignorant compared with the expert horsewomen/men on this forum and would get pounced on and eaten! However, I did think the following, bearing in mind his age and the current economic climate in Ireland: rather long skinny legs for the rest of him, upright pasterns, odd sized and shaped feet, which may cause/have already caused problems. Lovely colour and markings, very eye catching. Thought he looked anxious and rather tense.
However, I bought a starved, broken in body and mind, dreadfully scarred and with disasterous feet, straggly looking 6 yr old Arabian off Gumtree, sight unseen, because I could not leave such a totally empty looking, hopeless animal with the owner who was also in the picture, who had caused this. He was reckoning on getting better money " from one of you kind ladies in England than I will from the meatman". He was right. Horse came over two years ago, and I didn't expect him to live. Thanks to calm, old fashioned management and handling,and eventually riding, he is a truly spectacular horse who excells at everything he's asked to do and is all round gorgeous. He is by a very famous and highly regarded sire out of a dam who has won a great deal in ridden showing in all the best places. The previous owner didn't know/care about his breeding, he could not read the passport, but got a friend to read out the letters. I did know about it.
So, the moral of that long and winding tale is, go for him if he takes your fancy!
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Pix or it didnt happen :p
 
Nice eye, pretty face etc aren't a way to make an educated guess at long term soundness or possible potential/training. Confo is.
 
Quite a mixed bag then! Just for those wondering, he would more than likely be a short term project rather than a long term one to keep. If that makes a difference! He's not the only one I'm thinking about and I'm going to Ireland in December as it is, just quite liked him as thought he was something different.
 
To my fairly untrained eye his legs are too straight and too skinny for his body! I do like a spotty but if you are planning to sell him on maybe wait for something more quality... Although I am sure having an eye-catching horse can make all the difference.

Youngster wise there are loooaaads available under 1k at the mo.
 
I'm no expert on conformation and would appreciate why more experienced people are saying "rubbish". His legs do look very slight, his front legs look too far forward but as his toes are too long then that might look better when trimmed. If the average riding club horse is only doing about 10hrs work per week, then is his conformation so poor that he'd break down at that level?
 
Personally I would never buy unseen. Unless I had money to throw away.

I haven't read any of the posts on this thread other than the first OP's one - and I would say that on the picky side of things this horse has long sloping pasterns which are not quite symmetrical to the shoulders, which appear a bit upright.

I'm far far far from any expert though!
 
Skewbald1 said:
Just for those wondering, he would more than likely be a short term project rather than a long term one to keep. If that makes a difference!
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Actually it's especially more important that you buy a horse with good confirmation if you are looking to produce and sell on - after all you need to give yourself half a chance at making your money back at least.

Producers of youngstock will look to buy absolutely the best animal they can for the money they have. And if they can't find anything good enough, they simply won't buy. You can put all the work in to something you like, but if confirmationaly it's defect you are always going to struggle to sell on for any sort of money.

It would be interesting to see photo's of the mare you are proposing to put in foal, as you say her confirmation is good - but I do worry that perhaps you're not aware of what is good confirmation and what is not.......
 
Agree with amymay ergarding it being more important wvt sell on. When I bred for myself, there were faults which I deem acceptable, when I breed to sell my opinion doesn't matter, buyers want correct conformation so for example we went to see a very good stallion, but he dished, which as the resulting youngster was to be sold for eventing was out of the question so we didn't use him.

Another word of caution, I knew a woman who bought a youngster (suposedly 4) unseen by photos. He arrived, & has had nothing but problems over the past 10 years despite very light use. Permanently lame, no cause found & still so depite nerves to feet being cut. His teeth were checked by dentist one day. His head conformation was so bad dentist told her to pts as would never be right, & if she did could he have his skull to show students as so bad. This was year after he'd arrived, dentist asked how old he was, told 5, informed owner he was just rising 4. Horse at yard was nicknamed cut 'n' shunt as front end didn't match back end. Now this lady isn't overly bright in her dealings with horses, but it could happen to anyone who buys unseen.
 
As you said. More pics and videos.

If I liked him and only 3 figures, go for it :) Assume buying unseen is due to travel? I would. I'd work out something on money though, or get references for them to ensure that you wouldn't send the money and not get a horse!
 
Ah, didn't see it was to sell on.

I'd be far more careful on that. OH's family used to import from Ireland to sell on with no problem, but used reputable dealers and sent back any they didn't want. I would only buy for myself for a life home unseen.
 
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