Why can’t I find a pony!

[isheisnthe]

I’ve decided to take the plunge and buy my daughter her first pony. I’m looking to spend up to £5k and I’m in the south east. I was thinking maybe a section D or Connemara between 14.2 and 15.3 but I just can’t find anything, and anything I have found always seems to go or the people selling don’t actually want to sell it as they don’t reply!! Any top tips would be appreciated! We have a livery yard set up waiting to house our new pony but no pony 😢

The one that's rising 3, unbroken and on for £6500? Not really suitable for OP's purposes I'd have thought but does illustrate why £5k for a connie is going to be a challenge!

Well dear reader (for the Bridgeton fans!)I think we have found our pony - passed vetting process today and in budget… watch this space …

I was going to say that I think posters saying it's not possible to buy a nice sound pony within your budget were exaggerating. We sold ours within your budget and she was a great pony with no medical or behavioural issues at all and the girl we sold her to absolutely adores her and does everything with her. It's definitely possible to get lucky with feckless sellers like us 😀

Did you end up buying the pony? How is it going?

Yes we did, and it’s going great so far! The very early mornings are a bit of a shock to the system but other than that all good 😊

Connemaras are super fashionable so what you are looking probably costs ,£12-15k.

A friend of ours bought something similar at 14.2 which was advertised for £14k and they got it for half price as it failed the vetting.

Everyone wants an all round schoolmaster who is bomb proof.

We had a whizzy Welsh A who was too forward for most kids so had to sell her for a dong even though she is a total gem.

How exciting! Tell us more 😀 What pony is it? How did you end up finding it? Photo tax!

Ah that’s great. We must’ve bought our first pony around the same time. We’re two weeks in. I love it too - so much more than I thought I would. Thankfully somebody else gives pony it’s breakfast at 6.30 (absolute godsend) otherwise I’d be feeling tired too.

We didn’t get a bargain though so now completely skint!

Ha, possibly that one. I scrolled by very quickly as live abroad so don't read her ads but follow her because she's fabulous. Just noticed she had a connie for sale. So definitely not suitable. Wow, 6.5 for an unbacked youngster is a lot, even for a fabulous connie.

Here you go!

https://www.olx.pt/d/anuncio/lindo-d-pony-baio-pone-portugus-IDHl6tU.html

(I love a bit of horse shopping!). Even with transport costs he's well within budget.

Oops. Should have RTFT!

And a holiday to Lisbon thrown in for good measure!

Has anyone had any luck buying a pony / horse from Ireland? How did it go and what are the costs of transporting them home?

Two of our ponies came from Ireland. Although we bought them once they were already in the UK, we have recently taken one of ours to Europe, so I may be able to help with the cost. You need to get an Export Health Certificate from vet, blood test and we had to pay for a Carnet from the Chamber of Commerce, but I think that's only for a temporary, not permanent move. It all cost in the region of £2000 give or take (and that's with our own lorry) but the Carnet alone cost around £600. I would speak to Go Equine who are brilliant in arranging all paperwork and will let you know the cost of permanent move.

Normally when coming from Ireland they come through NI instead. Saves the import costs. Don’t need any tests. Costs in the region of 500 depending on both your locations

Was just going to say it's gotten more expensive since Brexit but mostly people go via NI so there's no import duty or VAT to pay. Probably up to about £1k for the transport depending on where in Ireland and where in UK and whether you want your horse on a big shared lorry or private or small group (would not recommend big mixed lorry).

Couple of things to note, Ireland is still a really good place to go to look for green or unbroken youngstock, either sports horses or more ordinary native or cobby types, simply because there's far more of a breeding industry out there so much more choice, but I wouldn't particularly recommend it for someone looking for a first or novice-friendly horse. An experienced horse that's done all PC activities will pretty much cost you the same over there as it would here and you then have the transport costs. A newly backed 4/5 year old will be considerably cheaper and easier to find than the same type in the UK but you do have to exercise common sense on whether a green youngster is actually what you want and not get carried away by the thought of a bargain. Even those that are sold as quiet and having done a bit of everything, hunted, competed etc are usually in fact very very green. They may have actually done all the things the seller says but not all that much of them or only very low key (as you'd expect/ hope from a 4 year old really) and often with a very good rider on board/put through a very professional set-up. It's a whole other kettle of fish putting them through a long ferry and lorry ride (where they often arrive looking very poor and ulcery) and throwing them into an amateur/ novice home.

My yard owner has just bought two nice cobby freshly backed 4yos over from Ireland, with the aim of using in the RS or selling on if they don't suit that life, the quieter one is sweet and rideable by the yard staff but very gangly and wobbly, will need some time to strengthen up and gain experience before he can do much proper work, may go through a bit of a teenage phase, probably will be at least a year until he's doing his 'real job' of hacking and client lessons. The other came off the lorry eyes on stalks, hatrack-y and stressed, almost certainly riddled with ulcers, then proceeded to bang a joint and will need probably 3-6 months in the field before being completely restarted. That's the kind of gamble you face buying youngsters from across the pond, fine for a pro with facilities and the ability to give them time, but I wouldn't be that keen as a one horse amateur myself!

When I bought our pony from a long way away (500 miles) I Amazoned protexin quick fix to the dealer who gave it to the pony before travel then some to the transporter who gave more the morning after the over night stabling during the journey. Dealer was shocked how well he looked stepping off when he got to us as had warned he might lose.

I've had a few friends do it - some with lots of success, some less so.

Foals and youngstock have all been great, and exactly as described.

Another friend bought a 6 year old, who was a lot greener than described, and despite passing a vetting she had to be retired within a year due to suspensory issues.

If you can work out who the better English dealers are importing from and go directly to source it's ideal. We have a well respected local seller who sticks 5-15k on their just imported cobs (I enquired about one, after being told he was 'reasonably priced' - I'm not sure 18k for a lightly backed 14.3 cob is reasonable!).
Now people know where she's buying from a lot of people are cutting out the middleman.

Yet again agree with everything Maxelly says re buying from Ireland. I did it a couple of years ago unseen, and got a lovely mare but my god she was green, incredible hack, completely unflappable, but found schoolwork hard and it took a long time for her to get her head around cantering in the school.

I think if you want a Connie, a quality unbroken ISH it’s great. (My mare was neither of these things but she was so cheap and so pretty…)
Id say from a lot of experience (I used to work at a dealers centuries ago that would buy wagon loads from Ireland), and more recent experiences of friends, what would be described as “green” would be “lightly backed” at best in the U.K.; lots and lots of horses who’ve been sat on and trotted up and down the road a few times.
Forward often seems to mean “has absolutely no idea what any aids from the hand means at all.”

Forward is definitely subjective!!

@D332015 would that be MPF by any chance? She seems to have a different definition of ‘reasonable’ to many people 😬

I bought a nice 4yo from Ireland. Cost about £500 for transport.

EDIT sorry OP I hadn’t RTFT, good luck with your pony!

Check out the Dodgy Dealers page on Facebook and use the search facility. There are plenty of recommendations for the good dealers as well as the huge number of run-a-mile awful dealers, and the many scammers from Nigeria using fake profiles and photos stolen from other Facebook users to advertise and ask the unwary buyer to pay a deposit before viewing (you never do this).

You don’t need to fixate on a native pure-breed. We had DD’s Welsh D mare from age 9 until we lost her at 29, they had an interesting relationship which worked for them, but she had all the typical Welsh D mare quirks and you definitely couldn’t put a novice on her. We also bought a beautifully bred 5 year old Connemara gelding when DD was 15, she did well with him but I kept him for my competent younger DD to move on to and ended up selling him as they couldn’t get on together at all.

The easiest pony we had was an older Irish part-bred, a true schoolmaster who’d done all PC teams and came with full history through all his Pony Club homes.