By: Aprylsnow
What do you want from your new horse?
Before you go looking for a horse decide what kind of horse you want. Are you looking for a horse with show potential or just a companion? Are you experienced or novice? Do you want to breed the horse? What kind of personality do you have? What kind of personality would you like your horse to have?
If you plan to show or you must look into the breed of horse you want to show. Research their bloodlines and show history if they have any. Conformation and breeding play a large role in how well an individual horse can accomplish a task. For example, if you plan to barrel race, you would probably not want to buy a Clydesdale, since they are not built for speed, but you may consider a Quarter Horse, Thoroughbred or possibly and Arabian. Once you have decided what breed of horse is most suitable for the task you would like to perform consider correctness of overall confirmation.
Correct conformation is extremely important for your comfort and safety as well as the horse's. Incorrect confirmation can inhibit a high success rate for certain jobs you may ask a horse to do. If the horse's conformation lends to tripping/stumbling a lot, that is not a good sign of a conformationally safe horse. Horses with poor conformation are also inappropriate for breeding.
Personality also needs to be taken into consideration. If you are a timid or novice rider a calm, well trained horse would be more suitable and enjoyable to ride. If you are a strong, experienced rider you may be interested in a young, green horse or one with a lot of spirit. Unless you are a very experienced horse person and are looking for a challenge avoid problem horses, biters and kickers or horses that just appear generally mean. This may have come from improper care previously and can be difficult to fix. They are also quite dangerous and less than pleasant to be around until their habits change.
Always buy a healthy horse. Have YOUR veterinarian do a repurchase exam before making a decision. Sick, lame, and very elderly horses may have underlying issues and may be the reason it is being sold.
The test ride - Buyer Beware
If you are buying a trained horse always take it for a test ride. You may be surprised how different the horse is under saddle than from the ground. Ask to tack the horse yourself so you can observe problem areas when grooming a tacking up. If the horse kicks or tries to bite when tacking you may want to consider another horse. Never assume the horse is safe and ask to ride in a horse friendly enclosed area if at all possible. If that is not possible ask to be lead around before releasing the horse. Buying your perfect horse should not be life threatening.
I have included three true buyer beware incidents and I am sure there are many others:
My sister-in-law was looking for a horse, she was an experienced rider, yet she was asked by the seller to mount a horse inside a stable, which is already a BIG no, no, but from time to time even experienced horse people get careless. She mounted the strange horse and gathered the reins as the horse started to move forward before she was ready. The horse reared and fell over backwards on her. It was only a miracle that she sustained very minor injuries, but it left hollow distrust of horses in her mind. This was a case of a horse that had some issues. A rearing horse is very dangerous.
Another incident happened when I was looking for a horse at the age of 13. I went to look at a green Thoroughbred fresh off the track. His ground manners were good and I was experienced, but did not realize as soon as I mounted the horse he was released by the owner and bolted. We were headed for a hay elevator and I bailed to avoid being smashed into the hay elevator. All I got was a brush burn and felt the horse would be a wonderful challenge (my parents had other ideas), but also had to get a tetanus shot, since another horse at that barn had died recently of the disease. This was a case of an inexperienced horse trained to run and an unsuspecting rider, who should have asked to be led around on the horse before being released. In both cases a safe riding area would have been the best option to insure some sense of safety during the test ride. It also demonstrates that experience may not prevent such occurrences.
Many years ago my brother was looking for his first horse, the next step after his pony. When he test rode he was in the pasture near the barn. The horse was nice enough and my parents bought him. Once he was at our farm he displayed a dangerous habit. He was barn sour. My brother was uncontrollably taken to the barn a few times and my cousin received a fractured skull when the horse bolted towards the barn and he fell off. My brother quit riding altogether and I decided to sneak out and ride the horse. I was taken to the barn many times and my most memorable time was when I was thrown in a bed of large rocks and watched the horse jump over me. I will never forget the perfect diamond shaped spot he had on his belly which matched the diamonds on his nose and rump! No one ever suspected he was so spoiled, since the test ride was near to the barn. You may want to ask the owner to do some riding for you to prevent this type of incident. Ask the owner to ride away from the barn and observe resistance and odd behavior. You never know, the owner may be having the same problem and that could be the underlying reason the horse is for sale.
