How on earth do I find a genuine first pony!?

[Delamero]

That isn’t £10k...
Or do I accept that we might have to wait for the market to quieten down?
I’ve put wanted ads up on the pony club, refresh Horse Quest daily and told everyone we are looking. I’m not prepared to buy unseen which has hampered things but surely sellers would prefer to meet the people buying their beloved pony?
Anyway any suggestions of pony finders, dealers or ways to find a 12-13.1 first ridden for a very slight 7 year old. I’ve tried SMP ponies.
Everyone is apparently looking for the same thing and they are like hens teeth

I just bought a pony and this is what I did.
I looked on all the websites everyday, several times I was not the first to ring and the pony sold to first to view. So HorseQuest, Horsemart, hunting classified, equine pursuits, horse and hound, pony club classified, right home right horse and preloved.
Than I joined as many Facebook pages as I could find including the pony club ponies site and kept a close eye on them.
I treated it like a job spending time each day to try to be the first to enquire.
Then look at how you enquire, if messaging tell a bit about yourself and include your number so you don’t just send an abrupt message asking for price and location. Some people will prefer to actually speak to you on the phone before you view. I sold a pony recently and genuine sellers want to get an idea of what you will doing with the pony to know if it will suit you.
Having said all of the above it took me time to find the right pony and I spent a lot of time kissing frogs before we found the Prince. The right one is out there if you look hard enough.

One of my ponies was being an arse at Pony Club the other day. I joked that I was going to sell him and I was instantly surrounded by a flock of mothers asking how much I wanted for him. The market has far more buyers than there are decent ponies. You have to be quick off the mark calling round adverts, be prepared to travel, and accept that ponies are more expensive atm. I've had friends with nice ponies up for sale recently, and other friends wanting to buy, and the buyers have often refused to look at them because they are 'too expensive.' The only people I know who have bought cheap ponies in the last year have either bought projects or ones unsuitable for their child. Keep going though, there are ponies out there, it does, as a pp said, have to be approached like a job.

What’s your budget? They are like gold dust so you are t going to be picking one up for £2k in this market

Most of the go through word of mouth, so keep in touch with pony club religiously.

Yes do also ask the local dc and local instructors and decide what you will compromise on, as no pony is perfect. Could you handle things like sweet itch, difficult to catch, wind sucker etc and if your budget is lower consider an older experienced pony.

Budget is probably no more than £5k. I’m happy to take an aged pony with a couple of minor health issues above a greener younger pony. As ultimately I don’t think my daughter is that brave and too novice for a 5/6 year old.
I try to tell people a bit about us; experienced home, other horses, pony club etc. But I think you’re all right I’m just not quick enough or determined enough. Mainly as I thought it would be a bit easier. Literally one went on horse quest on Saturday by Sunday morning it has come down. I imagine because they were flooded with enquiries. I was waiting til a reasonable time to call!
I’ll put some time aside tomorrow to hit the Facebook pages...

You have a decent budget for an older pony, keep going and you will find something.

What area are you?

@Delamero

That isn’t £10k... Or do I accept that we might have to wait for the market to quieten down? I’ve put wanted ads up on the pony club, refresh Horse Quest daily and told everyone we are looking. I’m not prepared to buy unseen which has hampered things but surely sellers would prefer to meet the people buying their beloved pony? Anyway any suggestions of pony finders, dealers or ways to find a 12-13.1 first ridden for a very slight 7 year old. I’ve tried SMP ponies. Everyone is apparently looking for the same thing and they are like hens teeth

Do u know anyone at your local riding school or equestrian centre? They may have contacts which can help with dealers etc and they may also be able to advise if your paying over the odds. With some schools you can pay a qualified instructor a small fee to make an assessment of suitably along with the vet eval.

If you're willing to pay the subscription fee try Golden Ponies. The lady there is very good at matching people looking for ponies with ponies looking for homes. That said, she can't bring down the prices or change the mismatch in supply and demand for first ponies. But perhaps there are things you can compromise on or advantages that you could offer a specific type of pony.

Have you asked instructors and farriers as they often know what's coming up.also worth looking at the boards at feed shops and tack shops as well as putting a wanted card up.

We recently bought and it is very hard out there. We ended up practically doubling our budget.

We asked everyone we knew to keep an eye out for us. Anyone who was recommended we messaged, and offered to send videos of DD riding, asked current trainer to accurately describe her riding so I could pass that on, and made it clear we were ready to go.

The one we bought I rang one morning and arranged to see it that day, said we were definitely interested, arranged vetting straight away etc. You just have to move really quick (DD was delighted to have an afternoon off school....).