April 2008 Archives

Often I have been asked for help finding a horse for a student, their first horse, and of course I am happy to help, but first we must consider several things.

First - we have to talk money. People sometimes get so excited about owning their own horse they forget about all the other not-so-fun stuff. Horses cost money; my husband calls them "hay burners". Even if the horse is free, you will still owe board, feed, fierier, teeth and of course the vet. And what if you are a first time horse-owner, there is the cost of the pipe coral, for those with the back yard, tack, barns for storage, and feed.

Second - how expensive of a horse do you want. I try to impress upon people that you really get what you pay for, it you are looking for a Champion horse with titles; you will pay the "Champion Price". However, the only good thing I have found about this economy is the price of horses has gone down. My goal for the first time rider is the backyard horse. This horse would probably not be registered and may have no formal training, has lots of miles on the trails, and probably just eats hay (don't even get me started on one of those fancy diets). A good starting budget for such an animal should be around 1,500.00.

Third - let's talk temperament. This is the hardest part. Too often the wrong combination is made because..."he is so pretty...", "ah, I can tell he is sweet and really likes me...", and my personal favorite, "I want to get her a young horse so they can grow up together". The magic number is 21, in my opinion a new rider's age plus the age of the horse should equal at least 21. A child of seven could probably handle a horse that is at least 13 years old. The younger the rider, the older the horse...it just makes good horse sense.

Fourth - time to shop. So once you have called on the horse, he is the right age, and he is in the right price, it's time to go and see him. My advice, take your trainer (if you have one) the first time you go to see the horse. I can't stress this enough, chances are you are going to fall in love, and if call your trainer just to validate what you have already decided, you are wasting everyone's time. RIDE the horse. Would you buy a used car without driving it? I was never as stunned as when I was told by a student that he didn't ride the 3-year old Clydesdale, but the owner did and he was really well trained. To which I had to respond...they are professionals, they can ride anything, can you? Consequently I only saw him ride once, and the poor horse stood in the stall for the next 3 months, untouched. If you have a trainer and they are willing to go with you, listen to them, they have seen you ride and have an idea of your style, if they are a good instructor they will direct to a good buy.

Fifth and final step - be patient. There are good horses out there, but these days there are a lot of people trying to make money selling horses. In order to do so they have to buy them cheap and sell them fast. That means they won't know the horse very well and there are those who will tell you anything...including my favorite..."he's bomb proof, I put my three-year-old grand daughter on him" to sell that horse.

Happy horse hunting...
Mary

mhollenbaugh@pe.com