How much would you pay...

[Pommbear]

Hi all, I'm currently in the 'blindly in love' stage of buying a horse so need to be brought back down to earth. How much would you pay for:

• 14.2 12 year old heavy cob

• safe to hack alone or in company and fine in traffic

• forward but not strong

• in current home is a hack/the kids occasionally plod round the field

• never been schooled but will lunge okay and pop a jump...ideally I'd like to bring on the schooling but not sure if it's too late for him to learn at this point (for example....I tried a circle....was more of drifty wiggly hexagon)

• is stiff and unfit but this can improve

• vets had a look - picked up hes slightly pigeon toed but otherwise no concerns

• sweet nature and generally a nice person

• loads of feather - has mites but the jabs keep on top of them

• doesn't come with tack

Anyway!

So they're asking 5.5...thinking of offering 5

Is this crazy?

Hi,
I say a dealer - not a professional dealers yard. Just someone who buys and sells, she has a few on the go at various yards at any one time.
She was intending to keep this boy until end of summer, get him fitter and out doing bits before selling but just doesn't have the time so is selling now. She's a friend of a friend which is how I've become involved.
Looking back at my previous posts - I dont think stiff is the right word. More just that he's unfit and lacking some muscle mass that would need building up again as he comes into more regular work
I have no concerns at all of him being drugged. It was my vet who has done the vetting - I mentioned arthritis and he was not concerned

If he walks brightly along and is interested in life without being either ridiculously spooky or a miserable plod then he sounds nice.

"not a professional dealers yard. Just someone who buys and sells, she has a few on the go at various yards at any one time.
She was intending to keep this boy until end of summer, get him fitter and out doing bits before selling but just doesn't have the time so is selling now"
That's a red flag to me to be honest,

I am seeing a lot of red flags here. The dealer (if she buys and sells horses, she's a dealer - check her on the dodgy dealer Facebook pages) telling you the family really wanted a nice home for him - but they sold him to a dealer, so they can't have been that concerned about who he was going to. He's stiff, not done anything for a long time, can't ride a circle - you've ridden him in his home where he's presumably comfortable. He may be completely different at home. What work has he apparently done before he had his period of time off work?

For £5k i think you could find a fit, supple horse without the stiffness that can do what you want him to do. If you're looking at a horse and feeling like you are rescuing him, then that should be setting off alarm bells. If they've given him bute to get him through the viewing, it might not be immediately obvious. when that wears off, and he's lame or arthritic, you'll have a horse who can't be ridden and is in pain. He may be fine. But it's a lot of money to gamble. Once the horse is sold, the dealer can wash their hands of it.

Do you know the family he came from or is all info from the dealer?

Yes, that's what they all say isn't it.

I wouldn’t touch this with a very long barge pole

I think I am going to end this thread here as it is causing me quite a lot of stress and there is such a mixture of opinions

Please no further comments (and if there are I won't be coming back to it)

Need to.take some breathing space and think about a few things

There are too many ifs for me. Just a few thoughts but mites are a nightmare and the injections that keep it under control are really expensive as you pay for a call-out and dectomax injection three weeks apart. I can't use straw bedding because of them but I'm permanently applying pig oil and sulphur, deosect fiprotec etc. you may find that you need to clip the feather off to get rid of them.
I feel that if he just needs bringing back into work that the dealer would have that to charge more and if he's so safe etc why has he ended up in a dealers yard rather than being sold on to someone they or their instructor knows.

Why comment on a month old thread when the OP said she won't be reading any more posts?

I would have said about 4K for a hacking horse. But then part of me thinks you can't put a price on safety and you are right, plenty of people want to only hack and aren't interested in schooling or competing. Most cobs with a bit of feather have muted so that will need to be taken into account. He sounds lovely. As long as he passes a 5 stage vetting I'd be happy enough.

Ahh! Didn't realise was an old thread.