04/09/2024
HOW TO GET A BEGINNER SAFE HORSE
1. Save up enough money to buy a quality horse ($5k+ for a basic family horse) and be prepared for the ongoing expenses of horse ownership. Do not buy a cheap horse. You get what you pay for, and it might be injury or death.
If you're going to do PPE's, save about $2k for that purpose on top of your purchase budget. If you need the horse transported, budget about $1.50 per mile for that.
Save up enough for horse training and as many lessons as you possibly can. A year's worth or more would be great. A decent horse can probably get by with a professional training session between once a week and once a month.
2. You should be working with and taking lessons from a trainer before you buy. Do a lot of due diligence to make sure it's a competent trainer. Plenty of people out there calling themselves "trainers" with questionable knowledge, experience, and decision making.
There are bad, selfish, and sleazy trainers out there too who will steer you wrong to get a commission or to get the horse that they want for themselves with your big budget or to keep you in training or any number of bad things. Just be careful.
Pay your trainer to help you select your new horse. They should help you evaluate the horse's temperament, training level, suitability for your purpose, and spot any obvious lameness or red flags. Listen to your trainer! When they say not to buy that beautiful, dreamy paint stud c**t that you feel a connection with, don't buy it!
3. Avoid green, young, project, problem, abused, rescue, etc horses. Look for terms like lesson horse, kid horse, family horse, gentle, bombproof, kind, dead broke, been there done that. Don't look at the horse's color. Only its temperament and training matters.
4. PPE's are never a bad idea, just remember that they are not cheap and they add up really fast if you have several horses fail! It's not terribly uncommon to have 2, 3, or more failures when you do extensive exams and now you're out a couple thousand with no horse to show for it.
Tailor the PPE to your needs and budget. If you're buying a $50k+ performance horse, for sure do a complete and thorough PPE, lots of xrays, draw blood, etc. - have the vet stop immediately if they find anything you can't accept, which will save you the money for the rest of the films etc. Set aside several thousand for the PPE's ahead of time, on top of your purchase budget.
But if you have $5k for a kid/family/trail horse, you're probably good with a basic health and lameness exam with some flexions, or maybe even no PPE.
Consider too, the age of the horse. Few horses past the age of around 8ish will be problem free, fewer past age 10, and virtually none past age 12-15. If you're buying a 15+ year old kid horse, don't expect a clean PPE.
But don't fret too much. If you're buying a basic kid horse, you don't necessarily need a clean PPE. Tell the vet your intended purpose for the horse and let them make a recommendation based on that.
5. Don't be afraid to buy outside of your area. It widens your pool of prospects and exposes you to great barns with great horses. It's perfectly fine to send a deposit AND to buy sight unseen - IF - you are buying from a well-established, reputable barn. MOST of our horses at our barn sell in this way.
If the seller tells you there is urgency, it's probably because there is. I can't count the number of times multiple buyers are interested in a horse and the ones that don't move fast miss out on the horse and get mad. If you like the horse, then by all means move quickly. The horse is not yours until you've paid, or placed a deposit down with the seller agreement to hold the horse for you.
Look at the barn's page and see how long they've been in business and what they do. If they're well-established, professional, and have been selling horses for years, you're *probably* good. If it's some random person on FB, then just walk away from them and go over to the reputable sale barn.
6. If you're meeting the horse in person, set your appointment right away. Try the horse once with your trainer and take however much time you need, within reason. Or buy it from a good place based on the video. Realize that the horse might sell before you have the opportunity to come meet it.
7. DO NOT buy from a private party.
DO NOT buy from a horse flipper.
DO NOT buy from an auction.
DO NOT buy from a kill pen.
DO NOT buy from a rescue.
ONLY BUY FROM A REPUTABLE SALE BARN!!
With a private party, you are at the mercy of their knowledge (or more likely ignorance) and level of honesty (usually low). To put it simply, they usually either don't know or don't tell you. You'll be driving here and there and everywhere to look at privately owned horses and taking a big gamble. They have nothing to lose and if you're unhappy with the sale, they'll just block you. Just buy from a reputable sale barn!
Horse flippers buy a horse for cheap, mark it up, and post it. Flippers post it within a few days of buying it, they make up a story about it, they don't know anything about it, they have no scruples and are the ones who will lie about and drug a horse, or do anything to make a sale. Your chances of getting a good horses here are slim to none. Just buy from a reputable sale barn!
Auctions are among the worst places for a beginner to buy a horse! Flippers sell here, people dump horses with problems, horses are drugged for lameness or temperament, you have limited ability to evaluate the horse before purchase, and you're stuck with whatever you buy, like it or not. Don't do it! Just buy from a reputable sale barn!
Kill pens are nothing more than a scam to make you feel bad and open your wallet. Kill pen horses come from those auctions I just mentioned. They are the ones that went for super cheap because the savvy people at the auction didn't want them. The kill pen bought them for retail resale, they are not going to slaughter. You just took all the risk of buying at an auction compounded by buying the horses nobody wanted at the auction, and you're actually supporting the kill buyers not harming their businesses. Don't be fooled. Just buy from a reputable sale barn!
Horses end up at rescues for a multitude of reasons, most of which are the same reasons you would not want the horses for yourself. Some "rescues" buy the horses at auction. Many or most rescues are just another form of scamming people with unwanted horses and sob stories. If you just want a pasture pet, sure, I guess. But if you want anything more...just buy from a reputable sale barn!
Reputable traders and sale barns are the best way to go. They are equine professionals who source their horses carefully and take all the risk on themselves, with their budgets and experience instead of yours.
They don't offer sub-par horses to the public. They make sure the horses they sell are healthy and sound, and they spend a great deal of time riding, training, and getting to know the horses.
A sale barn's reputation is on the line with every horse that they sell and they're probably doing what they're doing because they actually care about people, horses, and the industry as a whole. They want to see you happy with your horse and successful. If you have a problem, they will probably work with you to resolve it. Buy from these people!
8. DO NOT let your horse sit with no handling, exercise, and/or riding. He should get exercise every single day and should be ridden as much as possible. A professional should ride him at least once per month to keep him sharp, maybe more while you work on your skills. You saved up for this expense in step 1 before you bought him, remember?
9. When you buy your lovely new horse from a great sale barn and he's wonderful when he arrives and everything is going great, but then 1, 2, 4, or 6 weeks later he starts to have behavior issues...YOU are the problem!! You are un-training your trained horse or mishandling his management.
Horses are sensitive, living beings that respond, positively or negatively, to their environment, feed, and handling. Don't turn viciously on the sale barn and drag their good name through the mud over your own lack of experience. They didn't drug the horse or misrepresent what he was. He wasn't abused or mistreated. You messed him up.
WORK WITH A TRAINER! Keep your horse in training until you have the skills to handle him without causing bad habits or behaviors. It takes a long time.
If you contact the sale barn about it, they have no obligation to help you solve the problems you created, refund your money, or take the horse back. If they do help you, and they probably will, it is a precious gift because they care about you, the horse, and the industry. Appreciate it. If they don't, they are well within their rights. Take personal responsibility for your actions and work to improve your riding and handling skills.
10. I'm adding this here because it's important too. Let's say you have followed all of the above steps and done everything perfectly. Great! You have set yourself up for the greatest probability that you will have a good experience.
HOWEVER. Anything can happen. The horse could die the very next day! He could get sick, injured, or die during or after transport. We've had sensitive horses drop 100lbs during the stress of transport! He could develop arthritis, laminitis, navicular, or any other ailment at any time. He could colic. Even the most comprehensive vet check can only check the horse on THAT DAY. Anything can happen, even the next day, and you can't possibly test a horse for every possible eventuality.
Here's the kicker. Whatever ailments a horse suffers after you purchase him are NOT the responsibility of the seller. Read that again. Whatever ailments a horse suffers after you purchase him are NOT the responsibility of the seller.
Owning a horse carries risk. Risk of illness, injury, or death of the horse, and your own injury or death. When you purchase a horse, ANY HORSE from ANY SOURCE, you assume ALL of these risks. You are mitigating your risks by following the above advice and you can mitigate some financial risk by insuring the horse (I only really advise this for horses valued at $10k+, but it's up to you). But you cannot eliminate all risk. And eventually, every single horse will suffer some ailment and ultimately death. Maybe tomorrow, or maybe in 20 years. These risks are yours and yours alone. Don't beat up the sale barn over stuff that happens to your horse after purchase.
Purchasing a horse can be a stressful process with lots of things that can go badly. So stack the deck in your favor by following the above steps. Horse ownership, on the whole, is a wonderful and joyous experience unlike any other. I wish you all the very BEST on your journey with horses!
