Buying daughter's first pony - help please!

[XelaM]

Hi, I hope someone can offer some advice.

My daughter (12) has been riding for years, is a member of Pony Club (D+/Silver level 1 at the moment). She is very confident and does low-level jumping and dressage competitions (although nothing major).

She volunteers at the yard where she rides and the yard is both close to our house and her school, so she could be there every day (she already is anyway even without her own horse).

She is desperate for her own pony, but I have been speaking to the yard for many months now and they say that the prices have gone up significantly in recent months and that I should budget £8-12K minimum. In any event, even with that budget (which to me sounds huge) they are still struggling to find anything.

We are just looking for a placid happy hacker/Pony Club type of horse. We are in North London, but obviously willing to travel. Does anyone have any recommendations of reputable places to approach and where to go if the yard can't find anything? I would of course get the yard to check the horse etc etc once we find it, but I wouldn't even know where to start.

That budget is crazy! I would never pay anything like that for a pony unless it was a national level pony eventer type!!

Good ponies tend to get sold via word of mouth round here (north of England) with the best never coming onto the market. Facebook local horsey groups are always useful, also try the Pony Club website- and just keep looking.

It's not easy finding a reliable safe pony but they do exist. You just have to hunt far and wide, and maybe try some Wanted ads on your local FB groups as well.

@RatherBeRiding Thank you! Personally, I thought that budget was crazy too. A few years ago, a winning race horse was sold for £8000 whilst I was at the races, so not sure why a happy hacker would cost the same. Maybe it's the yard charging a huge commission. It's a very big yard

I will try Facebook, but if anyone has any personal recommendations as to who to approach - please let me know. Happy to chat via pm as well

You might also need to be prepared to travel! Preloved is worth a look - prices not as crazy as some of the selling sites. What height are you looking for? 14.1/14.2 very popular as can also be ridden by smaller adults. Quite a few chunky 13.2 types on Preloved and also a lovely 15 hand mare in Wales at a very good price.

Oh wow thank you! I will have a look. 14.2 hh was actually exactly what we were looking for but 15 hh would be good as well. My daughter is tall and growing, so no point going for anything small.

Get some proper advice - maybe book a couple of sessions with an independent who can assess your daughter away from her current set up.
Going over 14.2 can size her out of some children's classes. 14.2 is generally more expensive. 14hh in a bulky native can take up a lot of leg and so work for a taller rider for longer.

I don't like the sound of the yard giving you advice - they may be excellent at teaching and keeping but that budget is astronomical for a low level pony club type, even allowing for London and commission.

As I say I would look outside for a bit of a second opinion then go from there.

Has she had her own pony before or even loaned? Are you horsey?
To be honest at her age I would be looking for a share or a loan pony for a novice owner. Helping out at a yard is great experience but it's a whole different ball game when you have to make the decisions. If your not experienced yourself with horses even with the yards support it will be challenging. She will need to be there twice a day 7days a week without fail and you will also need to be there. She's also at an age where school pressures are only going to increase. Might be worth looking at a 50:50 share agreement with someone rather than take on such a huge responsibility yourselves.

@Bufferingkisses Thank you! I will look into getting a second opinion. It's a very well-known big yard, so I expect they add a huge commission.

@Dobbyafreeelf I am a completely non-horsey person, all I do is drive my daughter back and forth to the yard and wait for her She has had a pony on loan over lockdown when she was not allowed to ride unless livery and is honestly at the yard every day. We are looking at a working livery, so the horse would be working 10 hours per week with the trainers (or someone else) and if my daughter can't get to the yard, the horse will be taken care of (it's included in the monthly price that we would pay - obviously nothing at this yard is cheap). Many of her Pony Club friends have got their own horses and some recently acquired

What sort of yard is this? A riding school? I wouldn't touch working livery with someone else's bargepole to be honest - your pony is likely to be overworked, have all sorts riding him/her which really won't be good. Is there much choice of livery yard near you?

As pp said - a share, if you can find one, is a good compromise - you won't have the total responsibility or the outlay of buying a pony which may, for many reasons, turn out not to be suitable. Even if it's only a couple of days a week the experience will be invaluable.

Oh dear sounds like you are about to be taken for a ‘ride’ — they will have you overpay for a pony that they will then use at their discretion, perhaps for other lessons or with other clients, and you will never know.
Most first ponies go for about 4K but that is really for first time, never jumped, just moving into competition type thing. It sounds like your daughter is in a different position as she has a ‘bit’ of experience, and is taller than a young beginner (thus requiring a 14.2 + hand) but she still needs a ‘been there, done that’ school master.

If she has been doing pony club, then I would suggest asking around other pony club parents and trainers as a first stop. The best ones are found by word of mouth. I would also ask those pony club people where they suggest keeping your pony / training with. Where are you based? Please feel free to PM me if you want and I might be able to help you out.

I don’t mean to slag off your current livery situation, by the way. It is just that if you are a really novice parent it is very easy to get taken advantage of. If you have friends (parents) with ponies in livery at this yard already I would definitely ask them how they are finding it, who rides their pony when the child isn’t there, quality of care. Is there turnout every day, good farrier, etc.

8 - 12 k sounds like a budget for someone who really wants to start competing at a national level. Not necessary for a first time owner. Doing some pony club shows isn’t the same thing. I would also ask your yard if they know of any pony shares or ask some of the parents at the yard.

And, unfortunately, summer is the prime time for pony buying so prices probably do go up. If you can, wait it out until school starts again or the winter. Not as many people looking then…

I too would be extremely cautious of a working livery type agreement. You will pay a premium for a riding school type pony and then not have the use of it when it is needed or has been used by the school. And what if the pony is injured due to overwork in the riding school? Who pays the vets fees?
These type of agreements benefit the riding school and not the owner in pretty much every case I have ever heard of. The successful ones have been those that don't want the riding side of having horses.

If I were you I would shop around a bit for yards. Go and see a few different ones and what options they have. Then look at full livery packages for the horse or assisted livery if you can manage it. But I would stand by my original post your daughter would most likely benefit most from a share or loan arrangement. If she wants to have horses long term then she needs to learn how to look after them properly and putting the pony on working livery is unlikely to serve her well.

I think one of the issues you may have is that, at the moment, demand is outstripping the Ponies available at the size your DD will be needing.

I also wonder what your description of a happy hacker actually means.

We are shortly going to have to sell our Horse as GD is off to college.

He is an absolute star and has taken her through from 13-16, but has really stretched her in those years. She has had to learn to manage him and bring him on to achieve his potential in the ring. He has repaid her attention by being very forgiving and patient. In the process her confidence and riding skills have developed in leaps and bounds.

We have already had several enquiries about him, despite the fact that he is not yet up for sale. They are coming from people who have seen him in the ring, out at the local cross country venue or in the arena.

He wont command £12k, but his price will reflect the work GD has done with him and his current capability. More importantly the price will be determined by us finding the right new owner for him. His happiness is far more important to GD than money.

A long way of saying, that you really need to put feelers out at the Yard and at your local Equestrian training / cross country venue. They will know the best Ponies in your area and will also know those that are well behaved whilst being capable of developing with your DD.

We have never bought a Pony or Horse through an advert, always through personal recomendation. Moreover, we have been endlessly patient waiting for the right one to come along !!

Wow that sounds very expensive!! Had a quick look around us in Ireland and found this as a comparison... www.donedeal.ie/ponies-for-sale/14-2-pony/28446264..

Sorry, not horsey at all, but I get sent notifications from the 'School Notices' website and it very often has ponies for sale in it.

www.schoolnotices.co.uk/for-sale/equestrian

I wouldn’t go near a working livery arrangement in a month of Sundays. I’ve only ever seen them take advantage of more novice owners.
Full livery on a nice yard.
Prices have shot up and 14.2hh is a popular size as it’s perfect for most M&D shares. But 8-12k is ridiculous. You’ll find one from 5-7k easily

I’d also highly highly recommend speaking to a dealer called Juliet Clarke. Straight as they come, really specialises in the type you’re taking about and has a reputation most equestrian professionals would kill for

I agree, working livery is a recipe for disaster. The busy times at the riding school, weekends and evenings, will clash with the times your daughter wants to ride. It won't feel like your horse with 10 different people riding it every week. You may as well part loan a horse from the riding school instead.

£8-12k is a totally over the top budget for a reliable first horse. I'd pay that for a county level competition horse.

Jo Wakefield of Springfield Farm in Orpington on the Kent/South London border is a good dealer to contact. She is very honest and won't sell you an unsuitable pony.

I mean, yes £12k is crazy but £8k not completely out of the ball park as you'll be looking for what everyone else wants, a safe, sound, fun schoolmaster type in the 14.2 ish range - horse prices went through the roof over lockdown and haven't really come down since unfortunately. So while in 2018-19 you could almost certainly have found what you wanted for half that price, your ex racehorse comparison unfortunately not valid in today's market. I think budgetting for upper 4 figures and being delighted if you find something at the lower end would be sensible, thing is if you buy her a 'cheap' horse for £3-4k but it turns out to be unsuitable you could easily spend the difference on vets bills, loads of lessons, professional schooling etc, or have to sell on at a loss, plus the school certainly won't have him/her on working livery if not quiet and steady so that will be added costs, so while I totally understand your at the prices don't stint too much on the upfront cost would be my advice...

I don't know which of the North London schools your DD is at (you don't have to say here if you don't want to out yourself although you can PM me if you like!) but I'm familiar with most and would say they all work their working liveries hard, a whole variety of people will ride them including plenty of absolute beginners who will be unbalanced and tough on their backs and mouths, and it is a tough life for a horse. Not all will stand up to it physically and mentally, so if you are set on that as an option you need to be even more careful about the type of horse you buy. I would say a better option would be either to share as others have said, or to buy your own, keep on part or DIY livery and get a sharer yourself to help with the jobs and cost - potentially paying the yard to have one of the staff school for you occasionally plus at least weekly lessons.

If all this sounds like way more £££ than you were expecting, then perhaps consider now is not the right time for your DD to have her own, and think about funding her horsey passion in other ways? The great thing about where you are is you have access to lots of yards in and around London and there's loads of 'extra curriculars' she could do e.g. school master lessons at one of the big yards, camps/holidays, clinics, hacks out in Trent Park or Windsor. I know she's probably desperate for her own but so are many many horsey teens and not all sadly are able to, it doesn't meant their parents have failed them as it's often the wisest thing - it's good motivation for them later in life anyway!

Meant to add, depending on how tall your DD is/how much she's likely to grow, you could save yourself some money by going down a size, something under 14hh will certainly knock a bit off the price and if she goes for a chunky native/cob type will be able to carry her well into her well into her teens/young adulthood unless she gets very tall or heavy.

Also consider an older type (late teens) so long as sound and healthy, and/or one that has blemishes or minor medical conditions like sweet itch, these can be a bit of a pain to manage hence why you can get a substantial discount but so long as horse is well looked after won't shorten their ridden career substantially... I reckon you could get a teenaged native with some blemishes but fundamentally sound and safe to go low level PC and hacking for well under £5k even at today's prices if you move quickly and can travel - but do bear in mind if you tell the seller you plan to keep on working livery many will run a mile as they won't want their trusty old friend being knocked around by beginners!

Wow thank you guys so much for all the insight! I didn't realise a working livery is a bad thing. Sorry don't have time to reply to individual posts at the moment.

We're in North London.

For those who recommended dealers - thank you! I will definitely get in touch

As for the height of the horse - my daughter is actually sometimes given 15hh horses as she's tall for her age. She has ridden a 15hh today in fact

If yard is TP then they have always been blisteringly expensive! Even a few years ago they were selling hairy cobs for twice the price of everywhere else!

Have a look at horse quest ad reference 256275
Exactly the type you want and £4250

@dogrilla Yep!

@lastqueenofscotland Oh I'm looking it up now!

Basically the yard sre looking for you to buy a very expensive horse for them to use. Nice work if you can get it.