Would you do this ?

[tryingtogrowarosegarden]

DD has been looking for a project pony for a while - has worked in job both days of weekend and saved money to afford this. Have worked out she can afford grass livery for summer months. Her plan was to buy a project to produce over summer and sell before winter. (All doable, yard we are at has excellent facilities to enable pony to have a wealth of experience and time)

We haven't had much luck so far finding something suitable, she has just been offered a pony for free (no cost) as owners are urgently relocating and it can't stay where it is. Pony is lami prone - managed with soaked hay, front shoes and presumably managed or restricted grazing but recently has been suffering due to its location with breathing, current location is next to a busy dusty road and it's not suitable for pony any more. Vets suggested a change in location and possibly managed by supplements but have no more information than that.

Would you consider taking pony on at all? Obviously the pony would need to be back to full heath before considering option of selling or loaning out - that's assuming it's not fallen in love with before then

Hell no.

No, I’ve had a pony with breathing problems and they only got worse. There aren’t many roads that are so dusty they could make a pony that ill either. You take it on, they move away and you are stuck with their problem.

Absolutely not, no.

Not as a project for resale, no. Recurrent lami is always going to limit a horse's value and also mean you have to vet potential homes super carefully and keep an eye on horse in future to ensure his/her welfare which isn't what you want really from a quick project. If you have the will and facilities to keep the pony potentially indefinitely then I'd consider it, as lami can be manageable with care and attention, but not if you really want to sell on.

An ideal teen's summer project always used to be something fundamentally sound and with a good temperament that just needed to see a bit more of the world before going on to virtually any kind of home inc. novices, I am guessing though with prices the way they are that these type of horses aren't that easy to find? Where is she looking?

That's exactly my gut instinct, to be fair.

Your absolutely right, she is looking for pony that cheap, sound and wanting to have a lovely time whilst learning new stuff. She is looking all over Facebook, has several people experienced looking for her and vetting each one. Just spoke to my friend who agreed it's not right either.

But the ponies that have barely even been sat on, with hardly any education, are still too much? Or sadly too far away, or we seen them and they've not been sound

Hmm, she might need to think a bit more left-field in that case, how about an ex racer - you do need a lot of time/patience to bring one on and maybe starting from scratch now, selling in autumn and turning a profit isn't realistic but if she has experienced help and is a good enough rider then they make super riding horses and you can still pick a nice model that's had some restarting done for low-ish 4 figures if you know where to look - ask on H&H as there's several experienced people there that can recommend trainers/middle men that do things properly?

Or dragon driving, lots of cheap small cobby types on there if she's lightweight, again you'd need to be very picky and skeptical but they can turn into nice sorts with plenty of time and attention?

Cheap will always equal issues and in today's prices this is even more true.
Please don't get an ex-racer if she is looking for a short term ie a few months over summer, project. They need time + patience and you have to be prepared to deal with potential health issues eg ulcers/KS etc. Plus good luck trying to find a cheap ex-racer nowadays!
The days of cheap projects is pretty much over unless you are very lucky!

Wouldn't get an ex racer, I know they are not easy, plus she wants to produce a family pony.

Have check dragon driving but will keep looking.

Or not necessarily cheap, just reasonable for a project.

No.

What are you looking for size wise?

@evilelsa
Between 12.2-15hh, age wise 15 and under, don't mind young, green, out of work (with good reason), even actually don't mind newly backed, quiet, willing pony - her aim is to bring on to a lovely family pony with help of 2 younger sisters, and a schedule of opportunities over the summer the pony could be introduced to at a level it will understand. She plans to sell, (obviously not before it's ready and safe) and do same again, next year with aim to eventually buy her forever horse. She has already produced some lovely lo ties for other people, now she wants to do it for herself.

What’s her budget?
Prices haven’t really come down from their covid peak and so few people breed for the family market they will not be cheap.
TBs are bred to an insane excess hense why there are so many of them so cheap. But a lot of them, especially the ex NH ones are more sensible than you’d think!

Sounds risky to me to bet on selling before winter and adding value, there isn't that much summer left and if the pony was out of work would need slow start walking for set weeks etc.

I wouldn't do it. It's hard enough to turn round a project without having the extra pressure of a fixed time period. I used to buy nice green youngsters and plan to sell in 6 months and it normally worked fine, the odd one was here too long but I've got my own facilities so it wasn't a huge expense. I didn't look for ultra cheapies tho, they always have some issues and are too unpredictable.

Thanks for the advice and opinions, we not to not take on the free pony and DD has settled on a different one, that we viewed on weekend, was originally a higher price but owner liked her so let her go for less, it doesn't matter if she keeps her longer than planned and ends up selling next year, probably better, she is a nice pony who will have lots of fun learning.

That sounds good @tryingtogrowarosegarden much better not to have a fixed turnaround period

This.

Also a nicely started, quietly backed pony shouldn't be a project for an inexperienced teen. Sorry OP but if she's desperate to add value in four months she could end up ruining it.

Oh that sounds more sensible.

Out of interest (no judgements, just interested to know) do some yard owners not have a problem with their liveries producing ponies to sell from their premises? It isn’t allowed at ours as it counts as “trading“ which is against the rules we sign when taking up a place.

@Cherrymuffincake202 the livery yard are good friends also, they've been helping her look for something suitable.

Fair enough! Sounds good!

( I am not allowed to do this from mine but in EU not UK. )

Did the owner who negotiated because she liked your dd know that this was a short term home to sell on? It's a nice idea but in reality there isn't much money to be made on one individual pony by the time you factor in the keeping costs, especially if paying livery rather than having your own premises. I bought a cheap project for dc in November and the money I've spent on the saddle fitter alone as the beast keeps changing shape, I could have saved and got them a proven schoolmaster 😅