Thinking about getting my first horse

[CoopCrazy]

Sadly I have to agree with others.. I made the mistake of buying my first as a 3yr old ( we were told he was 6 and dead broke) When I got him he had been on pasture with 1500 other horses so was very thin and malnurished .. I had my trainer help me to ride him and everything was great until I got him fattened up .. Then found out my 6yr old dead broke was really a 3 yr old green broke.. Luckily I had a great trainer and went on to win hundreds of ribbons with him(not bad for a $700. horse) but i'll tell you I was scared the first few weeks after he got healthy. Boy was he a handful...

 

[patandchickens]

Sorry, but very seriously, for a first horse (especially since you are inexperienced), green = bad, auction = bad, horse you can't try out = bad, choosing horse on basis of breed or appearance = bad.

As far as drafts or draftXs (haflingers and fjords included), have you actually WORKED WITH many of them in the past? You need to be aware that, on average, they are a bit of their own particular personality. The great majority are *wonderful* horses but they tend to be a bit oblivious (e.g when standing on your foot or walking right straight through a pasture fence or when you are TRYING to tell them to do something) and a bit inclined to just keep slowly rollin' along at their own pace and in their own direction irregardless of what *you* want. This temperament is not for everyone. So unless you have a fair bit of draft experience and *know* you usually get along well with them, I would advise not getting too stuck on the idea of a draft or draftX... wait and see how you like 'em when you try 'em out.

You really, really need an experienced local horseman to go along with you to look at horses. Many SERIOUS mistakes can be avoided this way, ranging from avoiding buying horses with significant health problems (or at least avoiding wasting money on having them vetted only to be told you wouldn't want 'em) to avoiding buying horses with significant behavior/training/compatability problems that you are unable to recognize yourself from the short tryout that you get.

Also, if you are going to be keeping the horse at home, please consider getting *two* horses, as they generally are much happier that way.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Our very first horse (You guys will absolutely cringe) was a 6 year old, mostly green broke, auction mare. We were lucky enough to be able to try her out before purchasing, but my family was inexperienced, I was very young (about 8 or 9) and the whole situation could have turned out very badly! Luckily, our horse turned out to be a great one. We lost her at 13 years due to an accident and I will never be able to replace her. I did a lot of stupid things, and she did too but we learned together and I was lucky to have that experience, as wrong and dangerous as it was. I was never seriously injured while working with her and we came an extremely long way through 4-H. I trained her all by myself and she was a pretty darn good western pleasure/gaming horse before she died.

However, I would not suggest purchasing an auction horse as your first, even though my family got very, very lucky. Right now there are a lot of free horses out there, many of which are fully broke! Some might be a bit older, but that is fine. My personal saying is "I'll take a LAZY horse over a CRAZY horse any day!". If you are just looking to get back into riding gradually, and you will have the land to potentially purchase more horses in the future, I would suggest going with an older QH, thoroughbred, paint, standardbred, or something of moderate size to be your first horse. Many times 4-Hers will go away to college and sell off their project horses cheap or occasionally they just give them away. You might have luck calling your local county 4-H building to find out if anyone has horses for sale. Also, check out craigslist and any other of the many horse classifieds websites. Dreamhorse.com is the one I used to look at.

Luckily in your area, horses are cheap and easy to get, so I would say you should not have any problems finding one to fit your style! Then when you feel confident with your riding skills, you can purchase a more advanced, perhaps a bit less trained horse to work with and show (if that is your desire).

I just thought as well, a lot of times, at least in my area, auction horses are often drugged to behave in the sale ring. We once ended up with a late gelded, nasty horse from auction who was an angel the first couple days we brought him home. He turned into satan after that! The point is, with an auction animal you just don't know. However, private "dealers" can be just as nasty to purchase from. There was this one we visited after my horse died and she would run the horses on the trail just before you arrived. Of course they were well behaved! They were beyond tired. So just be careful out there, and see if you might be able to bring someone knowledgeable about horses with you to shop.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Just another small addition...

A draft horse will most likely require special shoes, and larger tack, all of which is can be very expensive. For a new horse owner, this might be a little bit daunting and the joy of owning a horse will go right through the window when you have to spend 1,000s on tack, and shoes, and even everyday things, like feed buckets that have to be larger or trailers that might need to be taller. The cost of owning a larger animal was enough to turn me away from owning a draft. Even though halflingers are drafts and they are very nice animals, many of them can be small. When I was looking, I just didn't feel right on a 14H-14.2H pony, even though the horse was more than capable of holding my weight. If your husband is tall, he might not feel right either. I did come across a couple larger 15H halflingers, but they didn't have that same draft look. They seemed more like a cross than anything else.

My main suggestion though is not to focus on breed, color, etc. That limits yourself way too much and often times you'll pass up awesome deals on great horses just because they don't fit exactly what you are looking for. When I first started looking for another horse after we lost my first, I said no chesnuts. Well if I had stuck to that, we would not have ended u with the great boy we have now!

 

[Cara]

Just wanted to point out that buying a horse that is NOT from an auction doesn't guarantee a good one either (but i'm not saying to buy one from an auction, absolutely don't!). Many people on BYC have heard about the tribulations with my 'mistake'. I was looking for an 8-12yr old gelding, I ended up buying a 4yr old mare that 'anyone can ride'. We did many things right, the sellers caught her once we got there, they rode her, my husband saddled her and rode her, and I rode her. She has good conformation, no health issues, all the paperwork was good.

Unfortunately when you're buying a horse things don't often go to plan. It was a horribly windy day in October and the ground was muddy and slick. We couldn't do a whole lot with her, and since it was 150 miles each way to their place we took a leap. Sometimes you'll have the seller's screaming kids interrupting your conversation. Or they'll have a 30' round pen to ride in and nothing else. They'll have horribly ill fitting tack, an aggravating horse-chasing dog, or some other complete inconvenience.

We bought the mare because she didn't do anything wrong and was the best we'd seen. My husband liked her, I didn't, just because I got a bad vibe from her. He thought she would be better for me than a dead broke quiet horse as she would be more of a challenge and I wouldn't outgrow her. I was looking for a horse to rebuild my confidence, and that doesn't usually involve a 'challenge'. We learnt soon after buying her that his idea of gentle and mine are two very different things. His idea of a boring horse is my dream come true.

We do still have her but the road hasn't been smooth, and it would have been a lot more enjoyable with the right one. She is very feisty and full of attitude. Don't buy the 'best you've seen', particularly when the worst bolted off with you and you walked home. Only buy what you absolutely know is the right one, because it's a lot easier to walk away than to own it and have to do something with it.

 

[hunterjumper999]

there are several horse 'dealers' in georgia that while are kind of sketchy in that they are dealers ...have decent horses.

the advantage of a dealer is that you can 'return' your horse if it is not for you for a credit ( usually full) on your next horse.

of course the downside is that the horse is from someone with MANY horses and you could get a horse that people return over and over again.

 

[Cara]

Horse dealers can also be like some used car dealers in the sense that they only know what the previous owner has told them. They might try to be completely honest, but they just don't have much background information to go on.

 

[herfrds]

I would stay away from dealers aka horse traders. Went to look at a horse advertised by one in my area. Horse was completely buddy soured that I could not have trusted him with either of my kids. Guy tried to convince me that this mare with a young foal was safe to approach. I'm not crazy.

We bought for our daughter last summer a small horse. He is turning out alright for her. Took a lot of looking but we found a good one.

 

[Cara]

They also have a vested interest in selling the horse ASAP. We're brutally honest when selling a horse as we want the best for the horse, as are many private sellers. We'll tell someone if it's not worth their while even coming to look, we don't have overheads to pressure a quick sale.

 

[Kelly G]

Quote:
Well...hmmm...I have had mostly Saddlebred & Morgan showhorses my whole life. I enjoy the low-drama of my draftie.

Fjords and Haflingers will not require bigger stalls, trailers, buckets, tack etc. Siggy is 14.2 (average for a Fjord) and fits wonderfully in a 12x12 stall. This is him next to Stanley - my American Saddlebred: