Horse Shopping

Buyers finding horses is so much easier than sellers finding buyers. Horse shopping is always exciting, but then it becomes a not-so-fun process of weighing the pros and cons of each horse to try to narrow in on a decision. Even less fun for me, is that fact that the next purchase has a lot to do with selling Apollo.

Most of the professionals say it takes them 60 days to sell a horse. I'm not a professional so I'm guessing people like me average longer. I've investigated but can't afford to place Apollo with a trainer/horse dealer to facilitate the selling process. Plus, that would leave me horseless, which would suck.

Now, I could buy another inexpensive greenie now, without selling Apollo first. In fact, I looked at a nice 4 year old thoroughbred yesterday. Or I could wait to purchase a horse until I sold Apollo allowing me to invest the money from the sale into the next horse. This would allow me to enter a higher price range and get a horse with competition experience.

The pros of buying another greenie:

• I really like working with young horses - it's fun and rewarding to see them grow
• I also enjoy creating & fixing my own problems, and not inheriting someone else's mistakes
• I like have money in the bank
• I wouldn't feel like I was sitting in the waiting room, twiddling my thumbs until Apollo sold before getting on with the next horse

The cons of buying a greenie:

• I start all over at the beginning, teaching a young horse the basics (again), when what I'm severely lacking is mid level riding experience, competition experience, and learning more advanced concepts.
• I don't know if a greenie will turn into a cross country machine or simply like eventing, which means I could end up back here again in short order. I'm sensitive to this considering that Apollo did not like cross country and I started dreading the most fun phase. (What I learned from the experience is not to wait so long before selling.)

The pros of buying a BN or N event horse:

• I'll know they jump cross country which will increase my confidence and take away doubt
• I can pick up where I left off with Apollo in regards to both riding and training
• I'll quickly gain more eventing experience at the beginner novice and novice level, something at the moment I am severely lacking in.

The cons of buying a BN or N event horse:

• Price - requires a much more substantial investment
• I get to inherit someone else's training (this could be good or bad)
• I have to wait to sell Apollo; depending on how long that takes, I could be waiting around for the rest of the year. Plus, any horses I am looking at now will be sold and the hunt will have to begin anew.

So far I have looked at 2 very strong horses. The first is a 5 year old Thoroughbred gelding trained by Sally Cousins. He's currently going novice - and doing so very successfully. Riding him was a blast. After just 20 minutes, I TRUSTED him. I screwed up a ton of fences and he still jumped them for me - even when a runout was perfectly presented. He was strong - a totally different horse than I am accustomed to riding. This means I would learn from him and our partnership. That was exciting. He is over $10k. I could scrap together the money to buy him before selling Apollo, but it would deplete my savings. The thought of depleting my savings and being responsible for 2 horses worries me. A decision like that takes a lot of confidence that everything will work out in the end.

The second horse is a 4 year old Thoroughbred mare. She's a really nice type - as soon as Becca and I saw her we liked her. Plain bay, nice expression, good temperament. She's very sensitive to the leg but would connect with the bit in a nice way. Canter was balanced in one direction but not the other - just learning the basics of jumping. Her current owner did one xc school with her last year as a 3 yr old, but we weren't able to see her jump anything cross country. She was very forward and eager to cross rails (but as I learned with Apollo the ring doesn't always translate to the xc course). She also appears to have one funky front leg; turns in a little. Our ride got cut short because of a thunder storm, but my favorite image of her was her owner cantering her across a field on her way home. In that moment, I saw the potential I was looking for. She's only $4k. I could buy her today without a problem.

It's just weighing the pros and cons. I have a third horse lined up for next week. A 6 year old Thoroughbred currently competing at Novice. He's priced at $7500. It's an attractive price, but it's unclear if he will be suitable for me. There is a chance he may be too much horse. We'll have to see.

Here's a video of the 4 year old....