Whats your worst horse buying experience?

[indibindi]

I'm a bit of a Beeston freak - its almost self punishment - it hurts to go there but its like tesco for horses. So I go, come away sad as hell because I won't buy just anything... but the one time I bought Dolly I felt great for months! What a buzz - buying and saving from there.

Worse viewing experience? A safe, novice connie for my 13 year old. Arrived and it was built like a brick sh*thouse, had manners you would actually die because of (flattened) and went round the manege with her rider doing the wall of death. When she managed to pull her up (3 laps) she mentioned she'd been using her to round up cows

We left. Thanks, but no thanks!

[Azrael]

Worst one I didn't buy.. had to be herded into pen with quad bike to catch and was still a challenge to get hold of, took 2 people to tack up, tried to kick me when I was trying to get on, no control at all and tried to dump me a couple of times.. and owner admitted she had to be sedated to be shod. Surprisingly enough I decided not to buy that one! Might have taken as a freebie but not paying decent money for that!

Ones I've actually bought.. teenaged coblet from sales, dodgy footed TBxWB with enough opinions for about 10 horses and lame baby coblet. But I knew what I was getting into with each one and I'm glad I bought them anyway

[smonebull]

when i was 10 i went to look at a 'childs first pony'. I could ride very well, and was very confident, just not that strong. The pony was a 13.2 hh palomino of about 8 years old, the owners said was a perfect alrounder and bombproof, so i tried the pony in their arena, fell in love and we took it home.

that week it bolted while i was in a group hack......along the A414, no response to bit, no steering just a headlong gallop and we came to a stop when the pony got tired. Amazing i didnt get hurt then...but....

we decided to keep on with the pony and school it in the indoor school to see if it was ' settling in' problems. I was riding in walk in the arena, at the bottom end it put its head between its legs and ran full pelt down the arena, did not stop at the six bar metal gate at the bottom, cleared this, i banged my head on the roof and came off outside, putting my arm out to save myself.

ended up snapping both wrist bones which rotated and came out of my skin, also got concussion. We sent the pony back and DEMANDED our money (large sum of 250 pounds back then LOL) they were aghast and said we must have done something horrible to the pony, started shouting at us..terrible experience.

[xsamx]

I went to Doncaster..(can you see where im taking this one already?!) To see a couple of what looked like very nice horses, they were being sold by a company called Horse Imports.

What we saw was far from what we expected. Around 40 horses on no more than 12 acres, all skinny, ripped rugs hanging off toast racks. I saw this one poor little mare, she had the most beautiful face but then all down her side she had the biggest deep, open wound with flies filling it.

I saw the two horses i was desperate to see, they were called Tonti and Murphy. Tonti had horrid eye infections with flies swarming in them and murhpy was just a 17.2hh skinny supposed to be hunter.

They had a stallion in a stable too small for him and it was pure filth.

We had absolutely NO idea what a reputation these people had. The adverts were all plausable, we saw the horses advertised on Horse Quest, they all looked fit, healthy and well cared for.

Nothing prepares you for that, the place stunk of infection. It was just disgusting.

No one can ever defend whatever these people trade as because i have witnessed it and the vile memory will stay with me forever, my heart aches for every single one of those horses that ever passed their vile, disgusting hands.

We reported them to DEFRA..soon after they appeared on watch dog.

[Teeni]

Well as i am sure there will be people who remember the first horse i ever bought called Katie and what happened with that. We all learn from past experiences though don't we!!!

I was very trusting in the seller (stupidly) and didn't have the horse vetted as there was nothing obvious that stood out to me or friends. Upon having the horse home, within a week a friend had heard a rumour that was she had failed a vetting a few months before. So i thought lets get this checked out. She failed the vetting big style, i burst into tears on the first hind leg flexion test it was that bad and basically the outcome was the horse was not suitable for what she was sold for and that she might not even cope with half an hour hack once a week!!! The owner knew about this but still tried to sell her as a ridden horse that was an all rounder type etc etc. Poor horse, i felt so sorry for the horse i really did. It took a month of fighting to get the owner to take her back and give me a full refund. She even got her vet out to fight her corner, but her vet said she knew the horse already had problems prior to my purchase at the time. So i think it got to the point where they knew we would have a case and go ahead with taking them to small claims court.
I also burst into tears they day they took her back knowing what the owner was like and really felt for the poor horse, but i wanted my first horse to be able to be ridden.

Lesson well and truely learnt from that one!!

I saw the horse advertised many months later for 1k less and the ad didn't state much about her ridden side. Poor thing, it made my blood boil when i saw it.

I now have a wonderful horse that has taught me loads and that i truely cherish.

[HFM]

went to view a bombproff steaddy eddy first horse. i was 15 and had done a lot of handling but could be a bit nervous on board. A local dealer was looking for us, and had just recently acquired a 14.3 connie x. Was confronted with a somewhat ugly duckling, hogged, bit underweight, bit undermuscled. He was living in and being fed oats. Got on in a field where the hunt had met the day before, in rain. Couldnt keep all four legs on the ground, nearly fell in a drainage ditch. I got off in tears absolutely scared silly, and declared never to go back.

however, went back, (typical teenager, moaned the whole way adamant i wasnt getting back on the loony) rode him in a school and he was a dream, we were then sure he was doped. I cantered around with a massive grin on my face, something id been very scared about doing for a long time. So, queue more riding, vetting and bloods taken in case he was doped (plus a lot of suspicion everytime he relaxed his bottom lip/got 'it' out for an airing ). So i ended up buying a horse who spent the first couple of weeks trying to kill me in his stable, had sweet itch and his saddle had a broken tree...this came out a few months down the line!

But i will have had my boy for five years on new years eve, and it was the best worst decision i have ever made ;D

[specialsparkle3]

Went with a friend to a VERY well known Show Jumping and dealing yard ( many years ago ) to view a " quiet, well mannered horse suitable for a novice rider" My friend had ridden for a good number of years, and was more a novice "owner" than a novice rider. I got on it first ( there was no one to show it to us ridden) Did half a circle and it went up and "threw" itself over backwards. One broken wrist, just before a majorly important ( to me) dressage comp at our local Riding Club.

[hkvevans]

When i was 11 i went to see a beautiful palomino pony, think he/she was about 14.2. Advertised as a fab PC pony! When i got there, nice to handle, friendly, and being a kid i was getting really excited! However when they started tacking it up, i noticed how complicated the tack looked, thinking back they must have had every gadget imaginable on it - weird looking gag of some sort, standing martingale, grackle noseband etc etc. They took this pony into the school and it was like a bomb, it went round at 100mph, ok, it could jump, but it was far from suitable for an 11 yr old girl. My mum wudnt even let me get on it to try. However when i arrived id noticed a very sweet looking chestnut mare with the kindest eye ever. I commented on her when they were putting the first pony away, they told me funnily enough, she is for sale - wud u like us to call her owners? 10 minutes later i was on board loving every second. 2 weeks later she passed the vetting and she was all mine. Sadly 2 yrs later we discovered she had ringbone, sound on bute, but we knew her ending. She ended on a high tho (if there is such a thing in the story to follow), we were out doing a very quiet sponsored bridleways ride and she randomly broke her leg, in walk, along one of the tracks. Although desperately upset, i glad things ended up the way they did, at least i didnt have to make that awful decision when the time came!

Following Maddie, came Chaff. Not much a i can say about that. Worst decision of my life but i love her none the less and wudnt change her for anything!!

[wozzer]

Went to try a safe "cob" at a dealers. Only 4 years old, green but willing. I tried it and it was incredibly green, but quite sweet and a possibility, if I schooled it on. Hubby took a ride, it put in a nasty stunt for no obvious reason, threw him and somehow managed to kick him in the *llcks as he sailed threw the air.

Nonetheless, I asked to see it ridden on the road Unfortunately it really was a traffic stopper - we would have laughed if it wasn't so bloomin' dangerous!!!! I must admit that dealer had some bottle to pretend to us a demonstrate it on the roads!!!!!!!!

PS: My husband was sporting an "aubergine" for a number of weeks after that incident LOL! xx

[Ryan&Dizzy]

oh god i think i could write a book! lol

well when buyinh Otto... we found an advert for a '15'2hh novice ride 15yr old quite allrounder' sounded amazing my sister went to see it (it was supposed to be a seacret i was getting a horse) and came back with the most poor looking horse i have eve seen in my life! i mean it to this day i have never seen a horse so thin! to the people that have seen the pics of Rose the french rescue that is what this horse looked like! the people had sold it as a ridden horse qand tried to tack it up for my sister to view!

he turned out to be over 30 was only about 14hh and riddled with cancer had tumers everywhere! he stayed with us for 3yrs before being PTS about 2yrs ago. and i can safely say he wasnever ridden all the time we had him but i would buy him 10 times over!

hummm i had some horride experiences trying to find what turned out to be Ryan!

hummm one of the worst was one i had rung up about and it sounded perfect and it was only about 10mins away so i went straight over to see it! got there and the woman who owned it had a back brace on (always a good sign lol) she then explained she had had an operation so couldnt ride hence selling the horse. so there was no one to show it me. so i asked her to lunge it and it looked ok so i jumped on. (like you do). there was no school so i had to ride in a very big very uneven field. got on walked up one side of the field a short way rode along turned back towards the other horses... and it started jogging and being silly. i didnt think alot of it circled and carried on it stoped as i circled so i turn back towards its friends and it started trotting as it did so ts owner shouted ' keep her head up, sit back and make sure she doesnt jump the gate!!!!' i almost died!! it was actually very uneventful! i pulled her up in a few strides and made her walk over to her owner where i got off and struggled not to kill the woman!

oh and i went to see one that was up for sale by one of the delership mentioned above was told it was a perfect allrounder i explained i was a bit nervous and they said you will be fine but he can be a bit forward (which isnt a problem) so i went to see it. got there and it took two people to tack up. it tried to kick the girl as she mounted. she got n and it galloped off at which she yelled ill just take him for a blast to calm him down... took him straight out to huge field and galloped him flat out round it then turned towards us. where i was stood there was a huge bank of rubble about 6foot tall and about as wide! the girl rode towards me and went to pull him up at which point he clocked the bank next to meand went!!! straight over it! and galloped across the yard and straight out onto the road! at which point i got back in my car!

[mags]

Never had a bad one for me ( say me who most ones bought have not been safe for me to get on when viewing, last 2 have been bought unridden)

Been to a few interesting ones when helping other ppl though. One 13.2 show pony... they couldnt find a saddle cos no one knew what saddle it had(alarm bells ringing there) then they lunged it in roller before putting saddle on then when the rider got on they did a few strides then rodeo display then carried on for ages after dumped rider.

Another pony I was first person to get on and it had no brakes, entertained my self by telling mum of 8 yr old child that pony was for that pony maybe too strong and did she want to get on and see he he. Got sworn at for that lol

Others are mostly when im with the people selling,and the horses have all actually been ok... one won burghley young event horse and was a lovely 4yr old old with outstanding attitude but bolted with rider viewing just to show horses are unpredictable and just because you've had bad viewing or having problems with new horse doesnt mean the horse has done that before(incidently the person that the horse bolted with bought the horse for alot of money to export to america

[fin]

H, probably. I went to have a look at a herd of still pretty feral ponies, and picked her, because she marched straight up to me and wouldn't get her nose out of my face, she was that curious. I reckoned she was brave and tough as an old boot even though she was probably only about six months old. So I took my son back to see her. SHe promptly sank her teeth into his cheek and left the most fabulous bruise (she was busy bossing all the other ponies about and decided he probably needed putting in his place as well. SHe's been doing it ever since too).

We bought her immediately

[joto]

2 bad experiences, once as a child went with parents to a farm to see a pony. a little boy appeared with a dog with huge scabs and open sore thing on its neck, when we saw it we asked what was the matter and the kid, calm as anything, said its STRANGLES and some of the horses have got it too. I remember this as clearly as anything. needless to say we scarpered quickly.
the second was about 6 or 7 yrs ago when i went to view an arab as a potential endurance horse. talked for ages on the phone to owner about horse and he seemed suitable, when we got to the place found him living in most of the time with loads of toys coz he weaved cribbed box walked etc i felt sorry for him and asked for him to be led out. he was LAME even in walk. i said "hs lame" girl insisted on lunging him for us to see , he was lame all the way down to the menage and, during the lunging and i eventually got her to stop trotting and cantering him. them he walked lame back to the stable. he was put back in his box and i said thanks for showing him but hes still LAME , she just stood there with her boyfriend looking at me. so scarpered from there pretty quickly too. very annoying after a long journey. also felt sorry for the poor bugger.

[suewhitmore]

Well, I've bought horses by email, fax and phone, sight unseen, unvetted, and never had any problems or regrets with any of them. Life isn't fair is it? .......

Bought by fax


Bought by email

[img src="i36.photobucket.com/albums/e10/whitmore_lusitanos/suerte21apr2007_4.jpg"]

Bought in utero


Bought by phone and email - the bay


Bought by phone, day she was born - she's never clean, so here's the clay of her sculpture - she's the one on the RHS in this pic, just coming into view

[Ryan&Dizzy]

infact sue the ones that we have bought unseen or from market have always been the ones we havent had problems with!