Buying a pony

[Newuser75]

Is anyone else looking to buy at the moment?
We are finding it an absolute nightmare! Just wanting to moan really!
We are being messed around left right and centre by sellers and that's after spending every day checking horsequest etc for new adverts as all that's coming up seems to be competition ponies or just back 4 year olds at dealers yards.
I'm not sure how anyone ever actually buys a horse at the moment!

Where are all the genuine all rounders who have been outgrown? Seems they have vanished 😂.

It’s awful, I feel your pain. Even our YO with years experience has struggled. We've had some bad purchases too so I have no idea what I’m doing. We have our third now and hoping this works out. We found him after putting up a wanted advert.

Are you PC members? Lots get sold through the clubs - the good ones have families waiting in the wings for them.

We have bought a couple of ponies over the years and I've never known it be like this. The genuine ponies/sellers seem to have vanished.
I'm not keen to buy from a dealer and I won't buy unseen.
Yes, member of pony club and riding club. Nothing about at the moment. It's really soul destroying!!

Sympathies, yes I think it's hard. I know a few people looking for that elusive mother/daughter share or teen/tween novice-friendly all rounder and they're finding it really tough, lots of failed vettings and horses nowhere near as described or downright unsuitable. People are probably somewhat more risk averse these days than they used to be, especially where it comes to their kids which is understandable but it does mean if you absolutely want a horse which is 100% safe in all ways you limit yourself somewhat even with a very healthy budget. Being an old gimmer I am also sometimes surprised by how much vetting people expect to do these days as standard (I do understand it sometimes is driven by insurance), when I was buying kids ponies 20 years or so ago we'd generally do a vet check but it was quite basic, bloods and genetic testing and x-rays and so forth were firmly in the high level comp horse camp. Not saying this is wrong, per se, I've bought many an unsound horse in my time with all the subsequent heartache and hassle and expense that entails, but equally a lot of vets these days do seem to take the approach of looking for problems rather than making a balanced assessment of fitness for purpose, and of course often enough if something,even quite a trivial something is noted on the vetting, that's it for insurance purposes and naturally enough people don't want to take that risk.

Ultimately I think the root cause is there just simply aren't enough of the type of horses the amateur/leisure market wants being bred in the UK. Not world beaters, not blood horses but nice sound hardy fun animals for RC and hacking type purposes. We used to be able to reliably look to Ireland to fill the gap but since Brexit that's harder and more expensive than before. And it just isn't commercially viable to breed that sort of horse at scale in this country. I've told this tale before on MN but my aunt and uncle used to run a small hobby farm breeding Welsh hill ponies, 5 or 6 broodmares max at a time, they'd keep a nice filly for showing and to continue the line but the colts and less nice fillies were sold as yearlings or 2 year olds and made really lovely family ponies. The stud never turned a profit but by the mid 80s it had stopped even washing its face in terms of costs and by the 90s they had to give up entirely as it was a money pit. In today's money yes you might make £7.5k for a well educated and produced but not show quality 5-7yo welshie suitable for a child's or family pony, but your costs to get there from conception through foaling costs, keep of youngstock, professional standard backing and starting and bringing on might be easily twice that, it just doesn't add up... And so hence why when you're looking to buy the market is full of failed or unsound competition -bred animals or poor quality indiscriminately bred stock, that's just the reality of what is being largely bred in this country (responsible small scale breeders aside but by their very nature there aren't many of these!).

I'm in the opposite position, had my pony on sales livery at a lovely yard with a great reputation. Been there for five weeks and not a single viewing. The sales market is just dead in the water. She's very reasonably priced as well, about half what she would have been a year ago. I think I'm going to have to get her back and keep her over the winter, try again in spring. It's really hard though as making the decision to sell is so hard in the first place !

Yes I would say you are probably right about the reasons behind the lack of low level allrounders.
We bought our last pony about 4 years ago and there seemed to be a lot more to choose from.

This time round we haven't got anywhere near the vetting stage! Keep getting messed about by sellers at every turn and it's really frustrating.

With regards to vetting I would say that perhaps people are a lot more litigious now which leads to vets being even more cautious. Just in case they get sued! I know our regular vet hates doing vetting in case she misses anything.
They are after all only accurate on the day and I do agree that the further you look the more you are likely to find.

I'm really surprised to hear that. I know a couple of other people looking and they are having similar problems to us.
If it's a nice 14-14.2 send it our way 😂

Just to add, prices still seem to have held, if not gone up! Depending on hight, a solid all rounder is now £10k plus for a pony. £15k for one that can jump and even them, is likely to be younger.

It's crazy isn't it.

@Newuser75
Sorry she's only 13.2 or you could have her !

That's a shame. If only my child wasn't so tall 😂.

@maxelly I agree, bringing them on is so expensive, without the costs of breeding and gelding I paid over £1k quite reasonably for a yearling. Since then there were 3 years of keep, farrier (quite a challenge at first and not for faint hearted), dentist, massive worm burden to bring down, first travel in trailer and lorry, first show and all the prep for that which was always going to be eventful, vaccines. He is now in initial work and wonderful and a brilliant family and herd member. There is a lot of work to do before he would be a rounded pony, including first road work, first jump with a rider on. It makes young started horses look far too cheap. I always buy youngstock now but clearly it takes a lot out of you to do that, the results are thankfully so good and I have a small yard of sane, polite and sound ones thank goodness. It takes an enormous commitment and daily work to get a horse to that level and is massively undervalued. I also haven't vetted since 2000s, which is 4 horses/ ponies ago, have a good luck at a suitable type and take my chances. I am sorry to say that I think passed around horses without proper guidance or commitment shown to them are never going to be suitable or be in the best mental place to work for an amateur. But we don't pay the people who do this skilled and dangerous work enough to be able to do it and they left the industry and were not replaced. Its a structural issue caused by not valuing enough our sane and suitable horses and the people who produce them.

@maxelly I would add rereading your post that my youngster came from a small family studio which has 6 broodmares. A native breed also but not show quality for visual only reasons - wrong markings. It isn't a coincidence that its a similar set up to what you describe where temperament and quality stock are prioritised. All ponies sold without any ridden work and part of a livery yard which will help keep that stud in profit hopefully. I see so many of the broken down unsuitable competition horses in the hands of amateurs you describe sadly and it isn't fair on either. I did once make that mistake myself and had that horse until he died but it isn't one I would make again. As an equestrian community we are waking up to the fact that we need kind and sensible horses but for so long they have been undervalued.

I'm not even that focused on the prices of them. We have a decent enough budget. It's more the fact that a, I can't find any suitable ponies (probably the reasons that have been mentioned aren't helping but where are the outgrown ponies going? There were plenty around only a couple of years ago).
B, when I do find something that sounds suitable you either get completely messed about, they are sold unseen before you can get to a viewing or the person doesn't actually have the pony and is trying to scam you!
It really wasn't like this when we bought our previous pony.
Maybe my child should pick a new hobby 😂

No I get you, forgive my pontificating, didn't mean to imply you personally aren't paying enough. TBH I don't believe the end consumer paying more for the 'finished product' is the solution to the supply issues mentioned as that will just end up with all but the very, very rich priced out of horse ownership entirely, as it is it's very expensive.

I slightly wonder if social pressures around animal welfare is playing a part here, anecdata only but I certainly have heard more judgement on social media and on my yard about people selling on outgrown or unsuitable ponies than there used to be, particularly of older horses or ones with minor health issues. People commenting on horses 'being passed on to an uncertain future', saying that they keep all their ponies forever and implying any responsible owner does the same and so on. Don't get me wrong, I think that's great if you can keep a horse through their retirement and of course it's not right to pass on a lame or sick or dangerous horse but also I personally never kept a fit and healthy pony if I had no rider for it, I'd rather they went to do a useful job for another family than be a field ornament with me, but maybe people think more of their horses as pets now rather than working animals? Or perhaps tend to loan their horses or only pass on to friends rather than selling on open market? Guessing only though, the time of year may play a part too...

@Newuser75 I do sympathise with that it sounds hard. An awful lot do go through Pony Club, I have bought 2 that way, another through a local recommendation instructor that was in pony club before it was advertised or mentioned for sale anywhere else and the youngster was a direct message from me to the breeder asking if they have any for sale. Is there a decent PC branch near you?

We are in the pony club and have asked around. Nothing at the moment. Thought they would be popping up now before winter hits but not yet!

@maxelly ah no I didn't take it like that. I was just thinking that we had a decent enough budget , plenty of experience, lovely instructors, a keen kid and still can't find anything. They must be hidden somewhere 😂

We are selling my daughter's absolutely perfect all-rounder 14.2 (I even made a thread about her on here recently). If you're anywhere near North London happy to chat and arrange a try-out. She's a really lovely pony who my daughter has done everything on.

That's really kind but we are the complete opposite end of the country 🙈.
So frustrating!
Are you having similar issues selling?

I agree it's a minefield.

I can't believe how many people appear to buy ponies unseen and lots of the dealers have 4/5 year olds for a couple of weeks and the put them up for sale which I don't want for my dd. A pony is going to behave very differently for an experienced dealer than an 11/12 year old.

There don't seem to be many ponies around the age 10-14 mark where they have a bit of experience.

I think we have found a pony (currently loaning it) at our existing yard. She is great to ride but can pull moody faces in her stable.

I posted about her on here as I was unsure. We've started loaning her and have until May to decide if we want to buy her. She's bombproof out hacking and a school mistress and the elusive 14.2 so at the moment I'm thinking better the devil we know.

Definitely better the devil you know @Blankscreen but if you buy her do look into whether there is a reason for the faces.

Sounds like a great set up @Blankscreen - you can really gage how you get on. We had a chestnut mare who would pull faces and didn’t want cuddles but my gosh did she look after my kids in the saddle. We took her everywhere and did everything. We only had her on loan - I wish we had bought her when we had the chance.

Ah that's a shame. We're having problems getting anyone to come and view. People just make loads of enquiries but don't actually come for a try out, which I find really strange. We never had this problem when we were selling our previous pony and this one is a much much better pony. I'm not sure what's going on 🤷‍♀️

This pony is a chestnut mare 😂.

She literally transforms the minute the bridle goes on.

I've had her saddle and teeth checked and has had the physio and all ok.

She can just look a bit grumpy sometimes.

@XelaM that's strange isn't it?
Maybe there are a lot more ponies for sale down south.