Has anybody else bought the wrong horse?

I think EVERYBODY that has bought and sold horses has made a mistake or two, and by everybody I include professionals buying a project, or for their family, or an instructor recommending a horse to someone. Horses are living, feeling, thinking creatures, and they have a say in what is going on too! I have made at least one, say one and a half (I'll explain shortly), horse buying mistakes. A number of years ago, I bought my daughter a lovely youth show paint mare. She was well trained, sound, and had nice gaits. By the time we had her at home for a couple of weeks, she turned into a nervous wreck. The change started on the ride home, and I do believe she was drugged. We rode her for about 6 months, and sold her to an adult rider, so it worked out ok. Now I would have tried her on a calming supplement, but they were not as common back then. I am now leasing a horse for my youngest daughter that is a bit of a handful, I do not think he was drugged, but he sure had more issues than presented themselves on the weekend we tried him out. She is learning a lot from him, and will be ready for another horse in a year or so, and we can return him, so it is again ok.

Everyone makes mistakes. It is noticeable when a person buys a wrong horse, but who knows how many "prefect for you" horses a person passes up? No way to tell on that one. But when you have it right (I have a 3 year old that I bought as a yearling that is turning out wonderfully!), it is a beautiful thing.

My last two horses--which covers the time from age 12 to now (almost 25) were bought as greenies who knew nothing, so that wasn't really an issue...I didn't have to break any habits or adapt to a different style.

My mom just bought a new horse a few months ago after much debate. She had been riding/showing her older, dependable gelding who was as solid as they come but not particularly pretty or fancy, and it was limiting her ability in the show pen. She was ready to move up. We found this horse who had plenty of AQHA points, was safe and reliable yet was a little bit fancier than the previous horse. She tried him out and although he had a lot of "buttons" she didn't know (ie, he had a spur stop, and her old horse didn't), she really liked him. We brought him home...and the problems started. The biggest is that he's been lame for weeks, beginning a couple of weeks after she brought him home (and we had him thoroughly vet checked, so that wasn't something we could have prevented). It's been different issues. We knew he had been injected before so we weren't particularly surprised about that and needing to do it again, but it's been a struggle to keep him sound. We also discovered he had ulcers. She's also struggled much more than she expected with riding him--I think she was expecting a much easier, "pushbutton" horse and he's really taken advantage of her. Not dangerous at all...but not winning ribbons in the show pen, either. I don't think he's the "wrong" horse for her, but I think it's much more of a challenge and not as easy/immediately gratifying as she was expecting.

In her case, she's asked our trainer to work with the horse some to figure him out a little so he can help her better (and also to correct any bad habits she's allowed the horse to develop) and then he helps her learn to ride him better to make him do it the way he knows how. She's also working closely with the vet and farrier to resolve the soundness issues, and we're hopeful that when he's 100% sound some of his training issues will resolve.

Well from an Aussies perspective. The only reason why The Sheikh is going alright here at the moment is because they have only just brought Woodlands, whose horses all had outstanding breeding and with Hawkesey and Darren Beadman the Crown Lodge team were unbeatable, (150+ wins last season they were together), but as soon as Hawkesey shut down his Brissie stable i knew something was up. Peter Snowden who is now top trainer for Darley Australia is a great trainer and to train 47 winners since they started is pretty good. Then there's Kerrin, suspended twice within a few weeks. The only stable I USED to follow was Crown Lodge and the team run by John Hawkes, and I used to win alot of money to, but now it'll be Hawkesey, Bart and Gai.

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RE:

Has anybody else bought the wrong horse?

I suppose I'm a bit of a saddo, wanting some re-assurance, but I just wanted to know if, like me, anyone had bought the wrong horse for them? How/when did you realise? What did you do about it?

Our first horse was our biggest mistake:

We wanted a horse which the whole family could ride, but bought a 16.3hh Sports horse, because a friend said my Mum would really benefit from competing a horse like him, and my Mum really liked him when we went to see him (little did we know he was actually doped!). We brought along a mentor who said the horse would be great for us, and we had him 5* vetted. We got the thumbs up from both, and bought him.

He was a work animal, and we wanted a pet, and my little brother (aged 7 at the time) wanted to ride him! And my mum was recovering from a bad horse fall, and she didn't need a horse with that much power.

We realised a few weeks after - originally we thought we just needed to get to know him, and that he was homesick (lol).

We found someone to reschool him, and sell him for us, and now he's enjoying his new life as a hunting horse for a whipper in, and we bought ourselves a very flashy show cob, for twice the price which suited us twice as much!

We've had a variety of horses since him (we currently have two), and looking back, it was mainly our inexperience; we would probably be able to handle him now!

EDIT- Lots of people are saying "keep the horse and try again!", if the horse really isn't ideal for you, keep it for a few more months to see whether it changes, then you might as well sell it straight on, and buy another before the problem gets too bad.

Our horse was older, and thefore was not going to re-learn his job. It wasn't a case of not being able to handle him, it was just that he didn't suit our needs, and at one point actually caused my little brother (who was standing outside the stable at the time, and wasn't even talking to him) to need to go to the hospital. Which was not what he was sold to us as - he was sold as an "ideal mother-daughter share, great with children"

I've personally never bought a horse that didn't click with me or was too much for me. Although, I must admit, my first horse (which is my one and only horse that I currently have) we bought without having any professional advice. We were still relatively new to owning a horse. I had taken 4 years (2 times a week, and leased during the summer) of riding lessons, so I thought I could handle a horse of my own. We knew nothing about him, and we didn't even have a vet check him until our lease was almost up (we leased him for two months to see if we clicked or not). We were also buying him from a local family whose daughter said she used to jump and show him. He had been out of work for 2 years before we saw him. She also had no proof that she had even rode him. When we went to see him, he had an abscess, and he had no ground manners. Lucky for me, all of his behavior problems were easily fixed with a little work. We found out later on that he also wasn't fully trained, but armed with an awesome trainer, we have been working on him and he has started to show his full potential. He is still a work in progress. He is still an amazing horse that has a great, willing attitude (laid back, but still has spunk and attitude) and a puppy dog like disposition. He is really eager to please! We are such a great match, and he is just right for my skill level. He is such a good boy. I'm so glad that we bought him! He has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. Luckily, I ended up with an awesome horse! I was extremely lucky in this case.

There are a lot of people who make the mistake of not bringing along some horse experts, and they end up with a horse they can't deal with or get rid of. My advice is to always bring along a horse expert and a vet because without them, you don't know what you might end up with!

Honestly, you need to wait and see if this is buyer's remorse or something is seriously going wrong. I got my latest horse two weeks ago. About a week ago, I got horrible buyer's remorse and I was totally convinced that the horse was the worst choice I possibly could have made. I was crying for hours, and wishing so badly I could have gone back in time and put my foot down. But, I managed to compose myself and keep riding him. Yesterday, we had our best ride yet. He was a star. Now I wouldn't even think of selling him! So I suggest you wait to see how it plays out before you get totally convinced it's the wrong horse. After all, buyer's remorse is very common and very convincing, but often you will get out of it and be happier than ever. Good luck!

I find people buy the wrong horse when they're unrealistic about their wants or abilities, or they are outright lied to by the sellers. EVERY buyer needs to take an experienced horseman with them to evaluate the animal before purchase. That horseman should be very familiar with the buyer's level of riding and objective about the buyers goals.

In other words, if a 12 yr old wants a 17hh OTTB but has only lessoned once a week for a year, then the mentor will have the tact, wherewithall and gumption to say "No. This is not the horse for you".

After the mentor approves the horse, then the buyer needs to have an experienced equine vet make an evaluation in the form of a prepurchase exam.

It's people who go off by themselves with little experience who often buy the wrong horse. Since I'm pretty realistic about my riding, and always have been, the answer is No. I have not bought the wrong horse. Not to say I didn't come pretty close with the one I have now. I bought him as a 3 yr old. I was an experienced rider with over 30 years owning, riding, showing, buying and selling horses. I was a riding instructor to a bunch of clients who jumped 3'3" regularly. I coached at shows and judged. So I thought -- arrogantly -- that I could finish this 3 y.o. by myself with the help of regular supervision from trainers. A medical situation took my attentions from the horse for about a year, and when I put him back in work he was just too much horse for me. Six different trainers threw their hands up in the air and told me they couldnt' ride him. One even apologized for not being able to make any progress with him.

It took a drastic change in his environment, a lot of soul searching on my part, and dropping my expectations of MY riding abilities before he became the horse of my dreams. It took nine years.

Many people would have given up, and many did tell me to send him off to someone else. He may have made someone an excellent jumper or derby horse, but I was old and weak and not as brave as I once was. I had lost my eye for distances, so I changed my career focus for us. That, and sending him back to the woman who backed him as a 2 y.o. (and knew how deep his bag of dirty tricks was) was able to help us over the hump.

If you can do that, you may have a chance. Otherwise, sell it.

........

Will never understand TD when telling a personal event that actually happened...

Well I ended up with 2 broken ankles from my first horse - he has a story behind him as he was a rescue. We went to the sales to buy some tack for my sister's horse and kinda couldn't leave him there as he was in a bit of a state. We bought him without seeing him move apart from in the ring :-), He was supposed to be my sister's as she's a lot more experienced than me but for some reason he just didn't click with her and completely clicked with me so I kinda got a horse. We discovered he's been race trained after about 6 months of us riding him by him taking off with me the first time we put a bit in, he took hold and ran. (He'd been in a hackamore while we sorted out his mouth which was a mess). In the process of our misunderstanding, ie me pulling to slow down and him thinking I meant to speed up (I was pretty novice at the time) I came off and made a mess of my ankles.

It was in no way the horse's fault, simply a misunderstanding and he was way too much for me. The result of it all was he went out on loan to a more experienced rider - I wasn't going to sell him and risk him falling in bad hands again as he'd had a tough life before I got him and he went to a lady who became a friend and got to go galloping on beaches and had lots of fun as well as getting retrained.

I now have a young cob mare who is loads of fun but not quite so sharp.

Yes. I brought my first horse, and she was lovely when I tried her. I tried her again and took my instructor. So, we brought her after my instructor gave the thumbs up, we brought her. We took her down to a nice yard, but there was no one there so I had to rely on my instructor to be there to teach me as my Mum isn't horsey and I'm only a kid. So, she was slightly spooky, but nothing I couldn't handle. So, we decided we'd move to another yard so I could ride more often, and it was great for a while. Then she bolted, and violently through me into the fence. It took a while, but I got my confidence back up. But then she spooked at a jump and I got knocked back down (slightly, but it wasn't a bad fall). So, she kept spooking but I managed to stay on,untill I was violently thrown off into the fence a second time. But then, I was recommended a feed suplument called Magic (NOT A DRUG, JUST FEED WITH EXTRA MAGNISIUM) and now she's just like the pony I brought. We did our first clear round jumping yesterday,and went clear on 2/2 rounds. I was so pleased with her and am so glad we didn't give up on her.

So, don't worry if you have a difficult horse, there is something you can usually do to fix it (although it can take a while!)