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Buying a Horse, It isn't the Color of the Horse…By Tracy Porter
Buying a horse is the easiest part of the process; if it doesn’t meet your needs, selling it is the
hardest part. Nothing is worse than waiting an eternity… finally fulfilling your dream of owning a horse and ending up disappointed. It doesn’t matter how much knowledge you have
or don’t have… it is still your responsibility to be informed.
You are the buyer…caveat emptor!
Many good horses are passed up because of people’s inability to make a decision based on what
would be the ‘best horse under them’, not their ‘appearance up on the horse’. It’s not the color
of the horse that is important! Appearance, yes if one is considering conformation. Remember that horse in the plain brown wrapper might be the one you’re overlooking.
How about this ad I ran across?
If any members of your club has a SMOOTH GAITED horse, any breed, color – anything
but a lot of white, no sorrels or bay.
A great match is a horse with these ingredients: training, soundness and looks. If you have all
the ingredients and the color, too, GREAT! But don’t make a decision based solely on the color, breed or sex of a horse. That’s like buying your dream car - a great body, but the engine
doesn’t run.
How does one begin to look for a horse?
Make a check list.
- Find a good vet before you start to look.
- Find an honest, knowledgeable horseperson; perhaps one that does not have a horse to
sell. Or one that values his/her reputation and the future welfare of his/her horse.
- Size: How large or small do you really need your horse to be? It might sound cool to have
a 15h horse…but can you mount without a mounting block?
- What temperament and characteristics are you looking for in a horse? What is important to you?
- Do you have a breed preference? Gaited, trotting?
- Write down your goals. Why do you want a horse and what do you want to do with it?
- Honestly evaluate your ability and past experience.
- At what pace are you comfortable riding? Slow, medium, fast?
- Age. When buying a horse for a child, when one adds the horse and rider’s age – it should be between 25-30.
- Amount of experience/training. A solid foundation is invaluable! There are exceptions,
but what is important is that regardless of the training and how well you click with it…learning never ends. It is important to get and stay in a program with someone that will
make you a better horseperson/rider.
- Start your list with these major categories: Soundness, Training and Looks. The looks of the
horse are the least important, but you do want a horse that pleases you. Under these headings, make a sub list with the most important considerations on top and the least important at the
bottom. Under training, everything is important! A new, first time horse owner should learn on a horse that has good ground and saddle manners rather than trying to learn/teach a green horse
or one that needs to be retrained.
Several years ago a parent stopped out wanting to buy horse for her child, a young horse so they
could bond and grow up together… “If you want your child to grow up (i.e. live!) – Buy an
older, well trained horse”. Recently a lady stopped out looking for a place to board; although,
she’d never ridden, she was planning to buy a green broke 2-year old (a very flashy paint). I
suggested this was probably not a good idea, her response was “but I’ve trained dogs”. I really wanted to ask how many thousand pound dogs she’d trained!
Never shortchange training/learning… a bargain horse might not be a bargain. There’s no such
thing as a free ride. Horses are expensive, high maintenance critters. Whether it is the daily care
or what you need to learn to keep him in peak training performance…even if it’s just trail riding
. With every ride you take, you’re training…be it positive or negative. Yes, you must consider yourself a “trainer”.
What kind of bit is he ridden in? If it’s a super stopper…he may not stop without it (or even
with it)! And you should be asking yourself…why does he need the super stopper anyway?
How about if tosses his head or can’t keep his feet still? These are all red flags telling you to
find another prospect to look at. What has he been up to…has he been ridden consistently or is
he a pasture ornament? Where’s he been ridden? Ring, trails, pasture, parades, in traffic, the
remote wilderness near Jatai in Brazil? Where will you ride your new horse? Where are you WANTING to ride in the future?
Does he have any specific health needs? Require special living conditions? Medications? If he
is an easy keeper…is he really… or does he have Cushing’s/thyroid symptoms? What condition
is he in? If he’s unthrifty, you can beef him up but that quiet old nag suddenly is a souped up Jag a few groceries into your new relationship.
Does he have good sound feet…What is a good sound foot? If he’s shod, he’s lame. His hoof
should have nice concavity, low heels and a short toe. His hairline should be at 30 degrees. The bars and sole should not be dead or overgrown. The bars should be neat and uniformly
slope down to the mid point of the frog. The frog should be healthy and robust. If the toe has a dish, the hoof has been allowed to overgrow, tearing the healthy lamina attachment of the hoof
wall away from the coffin bone.
If the horse has high heels…the coffin bone is stressed making the tip (or toe area) of the coffin
bone the weight bearing point instead of spreading the weight through out the entire lower portion (ground level coffin bone) as intended by nature.
Any vices: chewing wood, wind sucking, pawing, weaving all are as bad as biting, kicking,
striking, bucking, head tossing, rearing, bolting and jigging. Do you really want to deal with a cribber, a horse that’s more than part beaver? Best to move on to another prospect.
Buying a horse is an event that should not to be rushed. There is much to consider, doing
research, finding knowledgeable, honest help and having a list of requirements will help you find the RIGHT horse. It takes just as much time, effort and money to feed a good horse as it
does a bad one…. so make sure that the total package works for you and fills YOUR needs! AND don’t forget, you should like him and he should like you; however, you have to earn his
respect and trust by being consistent in your handling and riding skills.
HORSE BUYING CHECK LIST!
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