Buying a horse that's right for you.

Great post. I've been there, done that. I survived...barely haha.

Also that little kid on that palomino is a pretty good rider! Looks like that horse needed some pushing to do those spins though

Thanks guys, and thanks to whoever stickied it already (I'm assuming M2P?).

Wallaby, you are one of the lucky ones for sure. I think a large part of your success though is that you seem to have a natural feel that not too many are born with. You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you talk about Lacey considering how it could have turned out.

Liz , thank you .

Sheza, give the little guy a bit of credit , he's only 5. One thing I liked about that horse is that he seemed to know when it was okay to speed up and when he made the decision that they were going plenty fast already.

*Standing ovation*
Fantastic post, Jen. Glad it's been stickied.

Why, thank you, Allie.

Great post Smrobs. Well thought-out as your posts always are.

I LOVE that video of the palomino and the little boy. Great horse! Great little horseman in the making!

SO glad this was stickied.
I would say about 60% of the horse people I know have horses that were aquired for the purpose of trail riding, but are now pasture pets because they bought a horse beyond their experience to be able to handle. It drives me bonkers. If you are a timid rider or a newbie, why did you buy that young green horse??
I know someone, honest truth, who got a yearling filly and would sit in the stall with her and send her loving vibes, thinking it would make her easy to train. This horse is now a dangerous 7 yr old that bites, rears, and is a general bully. And by the way, the horse is a MINIATURE.
You Cannot train with love alone.
Yet, in their defense, the aforementioned horses sure are pretty.
Excellent post, smrobs.

Beautifully put!

My very first horse was much like the dead broke you describe, lazy, and could be described as boring. (I loved him still though. He WAS a good horse for an 8 year old). Then when I was 13 I got my mare (my once in a life time horse). She was alot hotter than what I was used to. She'd never been ridden in her own 13 years of life (Atleast that's what I was told), She was a bit hard to handle, mainly because no one bothered to handle her, and needed a stud chain to control her, etc etc. As a 13 year old, I was probably in way over my head. Working with her every day, I finally managed to get her to be a good horse. Granted, for anything I couldn't handle, I had my father (a man that'd been working with horses for 40 or so years at that time) step in. After a year or so, maybe a little less, we took her to a fun show, and she did beautifully, we were in the ribbons in both of our classes. 3rd in equitation and 4th in pleasure.

I will be the first to admit that I honestly wouldn't want to repeat that experience, the top to bottom again if I had the chance to reverse it. She was originally too much horse for me, but with a bit of work, became the perfect horse for me. I will also admit, that my pariticular situation is *Far* from the norm, and should definitely be avoided. Now however, I am very confident I can handle a horse like her again on my own. (Note that we were both 13, the horse and I, and I am now 23, so that was over a decade ago.)

Testify.
Getting bucked off hurts more than just your pride.

At the barn I recently started boarding there is a BEAUTIFUL Percheron mare.
The BO was telling me about her, and apparently she belongs to a young girl who had never before owned a horse.
The girl was told by an obviously misinformed person to buy the biggest horse she could find because they were the most gentle.
So, she went out and did just that, ending up with a 19.2 mare, way out of her league.

On a trail ride this past weekend, she fell off at the trot and cried the whole walk home(on foot.)
:roll:


The point of this post: Seek help from an EXPERIENCED person when buying a horse if you yourself aren't experienced!
Posted via Mobile Device

Holy crap!! I didn't even think about discussing the size thing and how, even when they are incredibly well mannered, a large horse is infinitely more intimidating than a standard one.