Not A Novice Ride

[Rustnot]

I started riding again during covid after stopping as a teenager and am now keen to take on some more commitment. I have looked for a loan/share but haven't found anything suitable.

I am now seriously considering buying my own. I could keep it on working livery at my current yard. This would suit me because there would be plenty of people around to help. Some of the shares are DIY and I just don't have the time or experience for this.

I've ridden a lot of different horses at my school - some sparky connies, typical riding school plods and a couple of ex -racers who have been off the track for a couple of years. I can jump a 60-70cm course on the right horse. I hack a lot, but on quieter ponies.

I have started looking at adverts and every advert I see seems to say the horse is not a novice ride and I am not sure what that means. I am no expert at all, but I'm confident and would carry on having lessons a couple of times a week. I have never competed because I don't have my own, but I would love to do some low level competition, so when I see the happy hacker ads, I am not sure they are the right horses for me either.

I will have a longer conversation with the owner of the yard and what she thinks might be good for me, but I'm interested to know what others think. If you've ever advertised a horse as not a novice ride - what do you mean by it? I really don't want to over horse myself, I want to find a horse I keep long term and can have lots of fun with!

Not a novice ride can mean everything from a forward going horse to an utter nutcase! If you have never owned your own horse then you are a novice, prvately owned horses are a while diffrent ballgame to riding school horses. What a riding school would class as a competent/advanced rider is very different to an experienced rider out in the real world.

You would be best with a steady Eddie, schoolmaster type to show you the ropes and avoid anything that says it isn't suitable for a novice.
Horses can be quick to take advantage and can sense nervousness etc.

I'd say most horses are not a novice ride. To give an example, mine is lovely, and I'd put a novice on him happily with me supervising, but if I were to sell him I'd probably advertise him as not a novice ride. When I first got him, he was very unsettled by the move, and napped a lot out hacking to begin with. He also gets quite strong if we are jumping in a field. These are things that are easy to deal with, but if I had been a nervous novice could easily become a big issue and made us both miserable as he takes confidence from his rider. In your shoes I'd keep looking for a share, or look for a schoolmaster to buy. It is really hard to get started if you weren't brought up with horses, but stick with it, it will be worth it.

You are definitely right - but when I look at 'school master's types there seems to be adverts for horses who are so well schooled on the flat, really capable of lateral work and jumping 1m+ ...which is not where I'm at.

Is it better to go through a dealer? I know there will be people at my yard who can help me through the buying process, but I feel like I need to at least have some ideas of where to start looking.

To make things more complicated you pretty much can't believe anything on an advert for a horse anyway. Half the schoolmasters for sale are probably lunatics. The best way to find a horse is by word of mouth, but a good dealer would also be a good idea.

What the other posters have said.

Just on another note, I'd be cautious about having my own horse on working livery anywhere. I'm guessing this means it would be used in lessons. A non riding school horse can quickly go sour when it's ridden continuously by novices. I wouldn't want mine being kicked and jabbed in the mouth by people who are learning,

Dealers can be worse, so many unscrupulous ones around BUT if you can get a good one they can help find you a suitable horse.

For someone who has never bought a horse before never look at a horse by yourself though, always take an instructor with you.
The whole process of buying horses is painful and even experienced people can get caught out. The best way is word of mouth, usually good instructors will be able to source decent horses through their network.
As an aside, I would never keep a horse I owned on working livery. You lose all control of who rides and as another poster has said, horses can quickly go sour. Could you not look at Part or Full livery instead?

Perhaps dealer/word of mouth is the way to go. I could look at full livery instead of working, but realistically I'd have to find a sharer. That is probably better than having lots of different people riding them. In ideal world I'd start with sharing, but I guess as has been rightly pointed out above, I am still a novice really, and not many people want to share with a novice either. Maybe I need to be a bit more patient and the right share/loan will come up.

We were recently in a very similar situation. Looking for a loan for my daughter was virtually impossible. We tried for about 18 months. 99% were advertised as “not a novice ride” and her age was also a massive stumbling block. I totally understand that from an owners point of view but it makes it so difficult to take the jump from lessons to ownership. We ended up buying instead and despite the eye watering cost, it’s been the best decision. By total chance we landed firmly on our feet with an amazing dealer who has been absolutely fantastic. There’s a Facebook group called dodgy horse dealers. Search for a reputable, honest dealer on there. They’re out there and they’re worth their weight in gold but the stories about the dodgier ones are just shocking. So many people get mis-sold and ripped off. Always, always get a vet check before buying, see the horse being caught in the field, tacked up etc and ride in and out of the arena. Take an instructor with you too if you can. Good luck x

We sold my daughter's first pony to a novice Pony Club child. She was a cob with a lovely temperament but also capable of jumping a course of 60-70cm. My daughter took her to u/a competitions. The pony wasn't a talented jumper, but she was perfect for a novice.

I would advise you to ask your yard manager to put feelers out for you or recommend you a dealer they trust. That's how we find my daughter's ponies. It's too risky to just find something yourself when you don't have experience.

I would also advise against working liveries. Some riding schools work the ponies too much and also you have no control over who rides your pony and how. When you fist get your pony, you need to be the one to bond with it. You can always get a sharer if you need someone to ride the pony when you're not there. Put the pony of full livery if you can. It makes life much easier.

Horses teach you patience, from searching for your unicorn to losing shoes the day before you've got a competition planned through to sleeping with them in the middle of winter on colic watch.
Don't rush your search or you risk making an expensive mistake. The right one will come along eventually. Use this time to learn as much as you can, get stable management lessons from a BHS yard and read as much as you can about horse management. You never stop learning and that's the great thing about horses, the more you learn the more you realise how little you know.
My only concern is whether you have fully costed it out ie you want a full livery service but can't afford it. Have you budgeted for:
6 weekly farrier
monthly feed
regular saddle fitter + physio (average 3 times a year)
twice yearly dentist
Yearly vaccinations
Monthly or yearly insurance
Lessons (essential for new owner)
Tack for horse + clothing for you

If you buy a horse they usually don't come with a wardrobe so you need to budget for this on top of cost of horse. Pre-purchase vetting is between £250-600 depending which one you want.

If you’ve ridden only at a riding school you will be a novice. The quirky ones there will probably just be normal horses…
Also there is a big difference from being able to ride a quirky horse once in a while and being the person responsible for that horses schooling etc, things can go downhill very fast if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Im also always a firm believer in underhorsing than overhorsing. It’s better to be a bit bored than terrified.

In terms of not novice ride I’ve seen it on everything from, absolute angel but green, or really sweet horse but pops an excited buck on a fast hack, to AP McCoy wouldn’t have got on this, racehorses that have had no reschooling just their plates taken off and in once case… something that had broken someone’s back.

A good dealer, for the novice market I like Juliet Clarke and Emily Chambers, is imo a safer bet than privately for your first horse.

I'm also a novice and before I got my part loan I would have characterised myself as confident like you. My part loan has shown me that being confident with riding school ponies doesn't always translate to being confident with non-riding school ponies. My pony's owner would call her a novice ride but she's not actually that novice-y for a novice! She has her quirks and will take the piss if she thinks she can. I didn't think I had time for DIY livery and hoped I would find a full livery pony but now I'm so glad I went down the DIY a route with my loan because I've learnt SO MUCH by doing DIY and I also love doing the chores as much as I love riding (apart from maybe soaking hay lol). I would keep searching for a loan and be honest about your level and how much time you have. When I first took on my loan I asked to go along with the owners at first to learn how they do all their jobs and I just do them like they do now.

Basically, from one novice to another I would say get yourself a part loan on DIY if you can and learn more about horses and how to care for them etc. i don't think it's a good idea to get a pony on full livery without knowing how to care for them because you still need to be able to make decisions about their care and your confidence will be knocked if you've got a pony on livery and you're clueless about how to actually care for it. Even having conversations with other liveries at the yard will be awkward if you don't know the basics of care. Added to that it's really important to build a bond with any horse you own or loan and that starts from the ground not by simply turning up and riding 3 times a week.

I would also adjust your expectations a bit if you can. I was also fantasising about all the fab trips out I would have with my loan but I've actually found that I'm not even confident enough to hack her on roads on my own yet so I'm focusing on riding in the school and building up slowly.

It's an amazing hobby and sport- nothing brings me peace like it but it's a proper little bubble of a world. I would try and build your horsey network, get lots more experience and then think about buying because I think then you're much more likely to get the sort of pony you're looking for and know what you can and can't tolerate in terms of behaviour and health etc.

After retiring my older mare I now ride what would probably be classed as a child's pony (13.2) - is she a novice ride? No way. She's safe but very forward. She'd never chuck you off and if you fell off it would be your own fault! But is she suitable for a novice? no - simply because she is very far from a kick along plod and she's far too whizzy round a course of jumps for a novice to cope with. Anything suitable for a novice is likely to be very steady away, very forgiving and not likely to turn inside out if a pheasant flies out underneath it. These types may be a bit boring for the more experienced rider, but absolutely worth their weight in gold especially if schooled, balanced and able to jump (these are also likely to expensive!).

You need to tap into the local horsey networks if possible, and most definitely get onto all the local Facebook equestrian groups. Avoid dealers.

I would also say, buy the horse for the rider you are not the one you want to be.
If you want to compete, fantastic, do not buy a competition horse.
Competition schoolmasters are not “schoolmasters” for noivce riders, they’ll be horses for experienced riders who maybe competed on ponies or had the nice RC allrounder who want to do something a bit more serious 99% of them would be far too much for a rider straight from an RS.

You need the step up from an RS horse, which is rare as hens teeth (and expensive, if someone can offer you one for any less than 7/8k unless it’s about 20 years old I’d be running very fast away from it). Might not be as glamorous or pretty as the nice warm bloods but far less likely to become an issue or be too much to ride

I’d really really recommend loaning first, even if it takes ages to find the right one

I would absolutely concur with everything said above about not overhorsing yourself but especially buy the horse for the rider you are today and not the one you’d like to be in 12m time.

We have had our cob ten years now, and actually he was the paragon of virtue type that you are looking for. When we tried him out I did worry that he was too quiet/steady but decided (after my son had got scared of a loan horse who we took on in poor condition and then got a bit spicy when he was fit and well), that actually super steady was the way to go and if he outgrew him ability wise then there are always a lot of people looking for that first step into horse ownership and need a kind forgiving pony. It’s also a lot easier to jazz them up a bit (with fitness/fast work etc) than try and tone down something more fizzy.

Along the same lines, don’t have to fixed an idea on breed/type- look at the horse in front of you. We set out wanting to buy a solid coloured (ideally bay/chestnut after loaning a grey!) with minimal white, registered m and m…. We have a mainly white coloured cob…

It was the best decision we ever made. I thank my lucky stars for him every single day. My son has long outgrown him, so he’s mine now and we’ve done so much together. He’s never going to be a world beater but he’s happy to try anything with a smile (without me feeling like I need to take out extra life insurance!).

I would also think about part livery over working livery. As above, my pony could do the job of a school pony and would happily take someone just off leadrein up to BD Novice… but I wouldn’t want him to have to put up with beginners pulling him about, banging about on his back etc.

Thank you everyone -you have given me a lot to think about. It's probably time to stop trawling Internet ads and to start speaking to people to see if they know anyone who is looking for a loaner or if they know of anything suitable for sale. Deep down I know how important it is to find the right horse, otherwise it's a very expensive mistake and I'll lose my confidence.

Completely agree with the above posters and just yo add - even the lovely cob my daughter got as a novice and whom we sold onto another child was A LOT more forward than any riding school pony. She has an amazing temperament and is safe (as a pony can be) but she was still an adjustment from riding school horses.

@Rustnot I'm sure you've already done this but join the local equestrian Facebook groups near you and put an ad up for a part loan. Depending on where you are in the country you might be surprised by how many responses you get. You can specify what you're looking for, how many days etc and go from there. I've ended up with a part loan of a pony but I'm the only one who rides her. It's great because it's mega flexible but I'm learning so much. When I'm ready for my own I think I'll look back on this time with a lot of fondness. Also definitely get lessons on whatever you end up with. It makes a huge difference.

If you can find a friendly farrier and ask him to ask around, they go to all the local yards and are a good source of information.