I am looking for a 14.2 + second pony for my 11 yo son. Can anyone recommend a good dealer? I am particularly interested in a Connemara - there is a dealer nr. Gatwick (not sure I am allowed to name names!) that seems to have good feedback in forums, but pricey.
I have had a very bad experience myself recently with a private sale - horse went wrong within first week of ownership with arthritis in the neck. Nothing picked up at 5 stage vetting and had the horse pts eventually. Despite the vendor being from a very high profile Gloucestershire family, big in the polo world (polo royalty you could say) and the Beaufort, she was not for taking the horse back under ANY circumstances. Obviously when she said that she loved the horse so much she would have him back in a moment if there were any problems, she was lying through her teeth. However, what's worse is that I believed her!! What an idiot. Anyway, if the vendor has no morals and won't take the horse back even if it has a pre-existing condition, the only recourse with a private sale is to prove 'misrepresentation'. However, to do that, you would have to go to court, which I couldn't afford to do. Of course, I was not covered by insurance because of the 14 day exclusion clause. So I now have no horse, no money to buy another and have had to give up riding myself as a result. You live and learn.
Anyway, I have always bought privately before and avoided dealers like the plague, but now I have had such a rough time buying privately, perhaps dealers aren't all that bad - at least they are covered by the Sale of Goods Act. I agree that the ideal is to buy locally, from someone you know (or at least know 'of'), but what do you do when what you want simply isn't available?