To buy or not to buy?

[user1465477093]

Sooooo I'm a middle age horse rider looking to buy. Owned own pony when was a kid and have been sharing recently.

A horse has come up for sale at the yard I ride at and debating whether to buy:

Pros: Had a try in school in wall & trot and did like her..she hadn't been ridden in weeks and was fine. Will take time to build my confidence on her as am like that with any new horse. She's a decent price and already settled at stables.

Cons: Can be temperamental, eg napping leading in from field. More routine & better handling might help as she's had a child owner. Needs remedial shoeing on back legs, but this has helped stop a bucking habit. Hacks in company but think issues on her own.

I'm interested but guess am worried she may be too much of a challenge...on the other hand she has had a child handle/ride her for a few years! Won't be able to ride her again before have to decide.

Help any advice welcome! 😊

If you want to hack out on her you need to try out hacking out on her.
Mares can develop bad habits as they get older, so if she is older and she has bad habits you’re probably going to have to live with them and the question is can you happily live with them. My last horse was a bad catch, purchased knowingly with that fault, sometimes we were both exhausted by the time I tacked her up. I got the better of her after the first winter though. No catch no bucket and she liked her bucket.

What do you mainly want to do - hack, school or something else? To be honest the napping, bucking, remedial shoeing (why?) and not hacking on her own would be enough to put me off unless she's a huge bargain, and probably not even then TBH. Not hacking alone is a deal-breaker for me, I'm ok with them being more confident in company or not foot-perfect alone but they have to be able to go out on their own, hacking is what I mainly do and you can't always guarantee other people to ride with.

I'd walk away TBH...

I’m not sure how remedial shoeing stops bucking unless this horse has some fairly major issue so a vetting is an absolute must . The not hacking alone would also be a huge concern if you are wanting to hack .

The needing remedial shoeing, a tendency to buck and a napping habit to me screams there’s something wrong with that horse, sounds very like a horse who was on my yard who developed arthritis very young (interestingly he also started to refuse to hack alone having always been fine with it). Unless you want to be paying for your local vet to go to skiing for a month every winter I’d not touch this horse with a barge pole

i assume you'll have it vetted?

How old is the mare? I'd be wary tbh - the fact you can't hack her alone before buying would be a big red flag. What sort of money are we talking? You need to be very honest about your abilities as a mate who is fairly used to having things her own away may well resist any changes!!! 😂

Sorry to add to the chorus of doom but you say shes a ’decent’ price … vet bills for cheap horses cost the same as those for more expensive ones and she sounds like she’s in need of quite a bit of vet investigation

I would get an easier horse for the first horse. If you can't hack alone you will be constantly looking for someone who can fit with you or you won't be able to go out

Thanks all. I think deep down I know it's best to walk away! But sometimes you just need to get some input to confirm that! The hunt goes on...😐

Walk away..... First horse needs to be easy to handle and safe to hack alone minimum. This horse sounds like a catalogue of red flags in that it bucks and needs remedial shoes. Sounds like navicular or arthritis. You'll only find out if you vet it and x-ray it. Insurance won't cover pre existing conditions. If the bucking/napping is pain related you might not get her over it with just consistent handling. You fix her you'll still need the balls to ride her through the pain memory. You really up for that??
You are far better to invest more, take your time and buy the right horse for a novice/returning rider. Buying the wrong horse will not save you money as you will spend twice over on the vet/farrier/physio/trainers trying to fix it and risk losing your confidence in the process.

The bucking/shoeing thing worries me- that to me suggests an underlying issue which has perhaps been temporarily mitigated, but the shoeing won't have solved the root cause, and it could get worse. For that reason alone, I'd walk away.

I would also be dubious of people trying to rush you into a sale- if you want to hack, you should be able to try the horse hacking etc. On the same yard, I'd personally want to let someone try a few times if they wanted to, and ensure they could try everything they wanted (if reasonably practicable e.g. I don't have transport so couldn't take them off the yard).

I would also not necessarily assume a child owner has led to issues that you can automatically resolve- if nothing else, bad habits can get very ingrained, and it just seems like a lot of hassle to deal with in a first horse.

If this has made you realise you want to buy, why not put a wanted ad on facebook and reach out to other horsey contacts to see if they know of something genuinely suitable?

Definitely go for an easier first horse especially health wise, they can be an absolute money pit with their feet (or any body part really) and remedial shoes will be masking something going on underneath most likely. Don't be afraid to try/visit a few times and for more than just a walk/trot in the school. Take them out on the road, see how they are in the stable, pick their feet out, groom them, be there when they're tacked up, see their existing rider on them as well as trying them yourself etc. Then also get them vetted to make sure they're healthy.
It doesn't take too long for a horse to settle at a new yard, so I wouldn't worry too much about looking further afield for the right one, take your time till you're sure.

When i sold my horse i left her in the field and showed people that she was a dream to catch and lead etc. They saw her rug being taken off ( in a very un bhs fashion). They then tacked her up and led her to the school. i then hopped on and showed them all three gaiits and popped a jump as i wouldn’t expect anyone to hop on unseen.They then tried her themselves and We all went out to show her hacking alone then swapped at the end of the road.
The people that eventually bought her called numerous times and tried her twice more as they had a bad experience previously.
I wanted the best home for her so let people try her more than once. The people who bought her rang in a blind panic early on the day they collected her as they forgot to ask about loading.