When to buy dd her first horse.

[NotSoYumMum01]

Hi all,

My dd loves horse riding and has lessons which she really enjoys . She's had loans and shares and now she just rides her favourite horse at the stable . When do I buy her ,her first horse? The stables she rides at has one that she loves riding for sale and they still want him to work in the school. Dd is 14,am I rushing into buying her a horse ? Im not horsey at all , I am willing to pay for everything but is this a stupid idea because dd is the only one in the family with horse knowledge xx

[Gabilan]

NotSo in theory dressage is the basis of all the disciplines so a horse or pony that can jump should be able to do a reasonable dressage test. In practice a lot of horses prefer one or the other. Some just find flat work rather dull and in a one-day event will spend the dressage test whizzing around looking for the jumps rather than concentrating. Horses that have been over-faced with jumping (i.e. asked to jump bigger fences than they can cope with at the time) can really lose confidence.

But you should be able to find a good Pony Club all rounder that's quite capable of doing both. My inclination, even though you have a good budget, would be to go for something a bit older, established and tried and tested. Flashy doesn't matter if you have something kind and reliable that you can trust.

Disclaimer: I am biased. The first time I saw current DHorse I thought he looked a bit rough and too heavy. Now I know how honest he is, I think he is the most handsome horse out there.

[OrlandaFuriosa]

Ooh I love dressage. Used to watch the English team be coached by my Latin teacher. So magic.

[NotSoYumMum01]

That's amazing orlando dd loves dressage and is getting rather good at it x
gabilan I'm rather lucky in a way dd isn't too fussed with how the horse looks,just interested in one that right for her. Her riding instructor has suggested we make an agreement with the seller to see if dd can have the horse for a couple of weeks before we buy him so we can see what they're like together