Monday, December 10, 2012

Horse shopping: The ones I won't be looking at

Thanks, everyone, for all of your thoughts and comments on Tucker. You have all given me lots to think about! I'm definitely looking at other horses, but as I said, the pickings are slim and, uh, suboptimal. Let me show you some examples.

First off, how about a nice OTTB? Like half the blogs I read are about OTTBs that are eventing, so surely there's something out there. In fact, there's a great organization near here called LOPE (they sponsored the show we went to this fall, where Saga won the Ex-Racehorse award) that helps place OTTBs. So I checked out their web site...

Of the 31 geldings that are listed, 9 matched my age and size criteria. But almost all have things like a "slight tendon bow" or "racing ankles" or "knee surgery to remove a bone chip" or "completely sound following recovery from bowed tendons". EEEP! There were one or two that I called on but they  only have track training, and one was "out to pasture letting his hooves strengthen" (?!?!).  I'm just not willing to take the chance on one of these guys, no matter how much heart they might have.


Next up, we have a 4 year old breed stock Paint. He's got a super long back and you can see in the trot picture of him that the angles between his front legs and back legs don't match at all. There are a couple of videos, and I don't really like the way he's pulling himself along. He certainly doesn't seem like he'd be good prospect based on his conformation and movement.


For $7500 we have this guy, who has a cute expression in the picture, but watch the video. He's got something funny going on in front - you can see it especially well when he's trotting to the first fence. We also have a 4 year old gelding bred for polocross... now I can't find the video but suffice it to say he had something odd going on in his hind end. But wait, how about a 2 year old RSPI gelding? He's bigger than I want, at 16.3 hh, and he's still got some growing to do. I figured he was worth a look, until I watched the video. Tell me what you think you see going on there.


I had the opportunity to try out a lovely gelding who went to the 2011 AECs at Training level with a pro rider, and he's jumped around all the Prelim courses in the area. He was bought earlier this year by a junior rider as a jumper, but it didn't work out. They are selling him for a super-crazy discount (let's just say this guy originally cost more than a car) because they just want to be done with him. He was everything I expected a Training level eventer to be - tried hard, liked his job, knew his stuff. But after every jump, he bolted off with me. It seems to be a pain reaction, my guess is in his back, but probably being caused by something wrong in the hock or stifle (70% of back pain in horses can be traced to hind leg problems). His current owners are not willing to put the $ into him to figure out what's wrong, and I'm not going to take a chance on a horse that's got something like that going on. Poor guy.

There's a 7 year old Azteca gelding who seemed from the video of him jumping that he might be worth a look. I called up the trainer, and it turns out he's only been going English for 30 days. He was reining-trained before that, and so he won't touch the bit. I've already retrained two horses who were trained like that (Cash and Red), and they never really get over it. So thanks, but no. A coming 9 year old Paint gelding who looked quiet o/f in the arena, but y'all, he's almost NINE and he's basically green-broke. And a coming 8 year old QH who looks nice but really hot o/f. I'm sure that's something I could work on, but I'd rather work on it with something younger. And on and on.



And y'all, these are the NICE horses. The actual possibilities. These don't include the ones that look like this or this or this.


P.S. When photographing your horse for a sale shot, please don't get a picture of him just after he's done peeing. Really.

22 comments:

  1. Oh dear... that RSPI gelding paddles like a duck. Shame, he seems cute.

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    1. I'm not bothered by paddling (my guy will save his entire life raft with the way he paddles), but the riding? scary... Isn't that horse two anyways? Too much to mess with.

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    2. I was actually having a hard time telling is he looked off because of the paddling, or if he really IS off. And yeah, he's 2.5. Seems like doing a little walking under saddle - with a LIGHT rider - to install steering and brakes is not a bad thing at that age, or some in-hand work, light longeing, and ponying on trails for exposure, but riding that big, young guy in such a tiny space seems like asking for a lot.

      Besides, I am always suspicious of confo shots where the horse is wearing a saddle and leg wraps. What exactly are you trying to hide, hmmm?

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  2. I definitely don't envy anyone who is horse shopping. *shudder*

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    1. Thanks for the words of encouragement, LOL!

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  3. I just have to say that Lilly is seriously offended that you won't even consider mares. She's inconsolable!!

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    1. Someday I'll do a post about why I don't get along with mares. Besides, you DO know that mare is a four-letter word, right? ;)

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  4. I think you should buy Tux :] I know we're probably too far away, but you guys would be perfect! http://www.dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1841327

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    1. TBA, Tux is SUPER cute! But I want to foxhunt and event too, and the bigger/heavier guys just don't do as well on the long gallops. Besides, he looks like he's going to be a fab dressage horse for someone who wants to focus on that!

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  5. Just for the record paddling does not hurt you in the show ring. Seen many upper level horses that have a paddle. The RPSI to me looks like a classic big young horse who is figuring himself out. Thats a small space to be cantering in at that age and he did great! He looks weak all over but that comes with work and maturity, I wouldn't be working him that much give his growth expectations.

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    1. I agree that he does look like a young horse figuring himself out, and that tiny round pen is way too small for him. I do like the look on his face, he's trying really hard. He may well be worth a look, but I really don't want something that's 17+ hh... I can barely get on 16.2hh Saga from the ground, I'd need an extension ladder to get on something that big!

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  6. Horse shopping... yikes. I do it for fun when I'm not in the market, but actually looking is scary.

    None of your current options sound fun. You've probably already done this, but have you specifically asked your trainer(s) and friends about anything they might know that's available?

    I got my guy through a client of my trainer's who wasn't even advertising him. :)

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    1. SB, yeah, shopping is only fun if you're just looking! And yes, I've asked trainers and friends to keep an eye out. I was offered a very nice young Trakhener for $25K... um, no. I'll keep trying though!

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  7. Yikes, that horse really paddles. I would have serious concerns about his soundness over time.
    I guess I'm the only one that still likes the draft cross?

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    1. Terry, the draft cross is still an option. I just wanted to entertain folks with the OTHER "options" out there. Which are not really options, lol!

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  8. Good luck with your horse search. I think the right one will come with time! It's hard for me to pick some things out (cars, clothes, etc) but I just have to see the right one and "clicks." I'm sure when the right horse comes along that it will click too.

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    1. I'm definitely hoping for a "click" - but of course you have to meet the horse first, and I won't even be going to see any of these. I guess it's good to be able to cut down on driving time, but still, the pickings are sliiiim!

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  9. Honestly, I think Columbo and Landon are worth a look in real life. Landon may have been coping with the roundpen. I clicked on a liberty video of him and he did not seem to be paddling. What he DID do was throw flying changes and canter and trot with a beautiful uphill balance. He is REALLY tall though!

    As for Columbo, I do not think he looked off, maybe just a little bridle lame or distracted before the first jump. He looked very chill and easy to pilot. I also found his canter to be very balanced (although lacking pizazz) and his front legs look nice and straight in the standing shot with the rider.

    Sometimes it is good just to go look. You might learn of another horse who is for sale, but not advertised. I went with my friend to look at two horses, neither of which we liked, and then ended up really liking a third that we did not know was available.

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    1. Val, I didn't see the liberty video of the RPSI gelding, so I went back and looked at it. You're right, he's very nice except for the paddling. And his Daddy is a GP jumper! Now if only he were 4 inches shorter...

      And you're right that it doesn't hurt to go look. However I'm trying to limit the amount of driving I'm doing - all of these horses are at least 3 hours away, which equals a full-day trip to see each one (naturally none of them are anywhere near each other, lol!). Time-wise, I cannot afford to see *that* many horses - at least not right now. So I'm trying to see in person the ones that are real possibilities. This just goes to show how important (for the seller) good confo shots and good videos are to a buyer like me.

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  10. I have never advertised my horse for sale, but sometimes when people post things like this I'll reply. I always thought I was a bit crazy on my asking price, but really probably not when you start looking through the ads. I have a sportbred 7/8 tb, 1/8 shire that is green broke to walk and trot. I always told people that I would sell him for $4500, which I thought was a good deal because all of his siblings sell for over $10k when they get finished out. No one ever took me up on it, of course he's 7 now so now it is a bit ridiculous how little he's done. What was holding me back was finding an affordable trailer that was tall enough to haul these sporthorses around. But now that I finally have that trailer I'm going to get him finished by a pro and then see if I still want to sell cause looking at your choices I'd be nervous I'd ever find another eventing prospect (in AR by the way, which could be worse than TX).

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    1. EM, I looked at a similarly bred horse for a similar price. If he's got good confo and movement, is a good height, and is a good citizen, that seems like the going rate. But if he were mine, I'd find a pro trainer to put some time on him and keep him for myself! Nice horses are HARD to find!!!

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