does this look like a good deal and a good horse?

[ohne]

No on both of them. I agree with others if you are looking to learn to ride find a good barn and take lessons there. Both of these horses have poor conformation and neither of them look good under saddle. of course that could have more to do with the people riding them, a competent rider might do wonders for these horses. not that either of them stand any chance of going to worlds or being show horses for that matter.

Craigslist is not a good place to buy a horse. the people selling on there are often less that reputable. This should be obvious by their inability to properly spell the breed of horse they are claiming to own. If you are serious about finding a horse try dreamhorse.com you have a better chance of finding quality.

 

[w c]

I'm going to take it a step further and say do not buy a horse off the internet at all because there is not one single website out there that guarantees their ads are truthful (how could they) and the internet in general is a lousy way to buy horses and a great dumping ground for problems - dreamhorse too, in any case a novice can't tell a good horse from bad or a suitable and appropriate horse from not suitable and not appropriate(it could be fine for someone else but not beginner appropriate). Buy a horse your instructor finds and recommends and approves of - AFTER a few years of riding lessons.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Sorry wc, I have to disagree.

The internet is a GREAT place to start looking for horses. The buyer is the one that needs to go out and actually do the footwork once they FIND a horse they're interested in.

If the horse doesn't pass the meet-n-greet, drop it like a hot pot.

 

[Roll farms]

There was once a girl who *wanted* horses since childhood...who dreamed of one day owning a horse....who married a nice guy, and bought a place in the country....built a small barn, bought a few goats and llamas, and then decided, "OK, I'm a farmer now, I'm ready for a horse."
She had ridden other people's horses a time or two, and ridden on trail.
Her new Father-in-Law had lots of horse knowledge, though...so he could help her out.

She saw an ad in the paper for "2 horses, $800.00" in the dead of winter, and thought "What a bargain!" and went to look at them. The seller told her "The mare is broke, the gelding is green broke" and the wonderfully nice man even offered to deliver them if she'd take them that weekend...how helpful!

Those 2 horses (turned out to be large ponies, btw) soon bullied her and had her 'trained'. She basically had to dump their feed in the feeder in the pasture and run, to keep them from crowding her and knocking her down. She even lost her muck boots in the mud a few times, trying to keep from being stomped to the ground.

By spring they'd torn up the small barn (that really wasn't meant for horses) and had taken down the fence twice.

When warm weather came, she tried to saddle the 'broke' mare and ride her. Every trick she knew to get a horse to 'go' failed to work. Finally she snapped the reins and took the worlds shortest and bumpiest ride. The mare was NOT broken.
Her husband tried to saddle the gelding, but he would have none of it...a bridle / bit sent him into the air....green broke he was NOT.

They wouldn't stand for a farrier, the vet nearly broke her arm trying to float their teeth, and basically the girl ended up DISLIKING horses in general and wondering, "What the heck do people even WANT these things for???"

Long story short, the mare (which was supposed to be open / unbred) ended up being pregnant and foaling...she died 2 days later. The gelding was sold for $100.00 to the farrier's son as a 'project'.
The foal, having been hand-reared, was imprinted and mean as a snake (no idea on what the breeding was intended for, but it sure wasn't done to get an even-tempered animal), and she was sold as a yearling for $200.00 to a family who vowed to send her for training.

The moral of this story is, sometimes you want something SO BADLY that you make bad decisions that can end up souring you on the experience so much that I...I mean that girl.. ...grew up and doesn't even WANT a horse anymore.

 

[w c]

I'm sticking to my story, ropo, except to add what I should have written before - the internet is not a good place for an inexperienced person to choose a horse, s/he should let a qualified and honest instructor or trainer select an appropriate horse that the instructor has seen in action, being a good beginner's horse - FOR YEARS. The biggest mistake people make is shopping on their own when they don't have enough experience to tell what is appropriate. A great many people are not honest when they sell a horse. Too, many people simply don't realize what can go wrong or what their level of ability is.

A man brought a horse in to sell - big huge strong field hunter. He said, 'I can't control this horse, I can lift 200 lbs with my arms at the gym, but I can't control this horse'. The agent first tried to explain that riding a horse was not about arm strength (with a few scary type images in mind as he did) but the guy insisted a man of his strength should be able to control any horse. So he asked him, 'who's been helping you with the horse?' 'Oh no one, I don't need lessons. I took lessons for three months when I was seven'. People often don't have enough experience to know these kinds of ideas aren't true. In fact, the man who SOLD him the horse told him a big strong feller like him could control ANY horse. The seller flattered him and he believed the seller (a common tactic).

To be honest, I've seen even quite experiernced people duped on the internet. It is an even better way to dump a bad horse than the pre-internet method - send him far enough away where no one knows the seller or has seen the horse 'in action'.

Right now, we are in a bad market. Horse sales have been down for several years now, and to top it off many people have lost jobs or had their hours cut (some of the boarding barns around here that usually have a year waiting list are 50% or less full) - so the markets are flooded with horses that have been sitting around for a long time with no training and no handling, with lamenes, or with other really bad problems. The market is just full of these.

I cannot even begin to count the number of horror stories I've heard like the previous post, some of them far worse - people crippled or even killed. Generally, because people get taken in by a completely dishonest seller - and granted that person could be down the street, he need not necessarily be using an internet ad.

An experienced person can generally spot those guys a mile away, or after a short conversation. But not always.

My suggestion is to buy a horse locally, a horse someone more experienced than you has seen over and over at the kind of shows where you want to show, or doing the type of thing you want to do. But my suggestion is also not to buy a horse until you've taken riding lessons for several years, and preferably, also leased a horse, first half lease then full lease. Get an idea of what it's really like to take care of a horse every day.

 

[patandchickens]

Sorry wc, I have to disagree. The internet is a GREAT place to start looking for horses. The buyer is the one that needs to go out and actually do the footwork once they FIND a horse they're interested in.

Personally I'd phrase it differently altogether.

I do not think it is at all a good idea (batting average is woefully low, and % disasters woefully high) for an inexperienced person new to horses to be horse-shopping for themselves at ALL. On the internet, on tack-shop bulletin boards, whatever.

Yes, sometimes it works out ok, but often the opposite.

As far as inexperienced people who against all common sense *do* choose to shop for their own horse, or people with some-but-not-decades of horse experience, there is still one big pitfall to internet horse shopping as opposed to looking at written very-local ads. The internet makes it real, real easy to look at horses located many hours from you, and get all excited about them. People seem a lot less apt to walk away from something 'not-quite-right' when they drove 4 hrs to see it than when they drove 40 minutes. I truly believe that I see a higher rate of "Obvious Bad Idea Purchases" among people buying at some distance than buying very locally.

JME,

Pat

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

But, the internet is a good place to START looking for the horses.

I'm not saying don't take anyone who is knowledgeable in horses. By all means, take your trainer or family member or even vet if you want to, but the internet should only be used as a tool to get connected with people who may have the horse with the disciplines that you are after.

 

[Eliza]

Like anything, buyer beware, buyer beware, buyer beware. If you know what you're looking for, know what you're looking at, Craigs list can be great. I bought a horse over the internet (something I would NOT recommend) after months and months researching bloodlines speaking to the breeder, studying photos ect, and even so, this is a horse I love BUT he's not one I would have purchased. He is everything his bloodline stands for; he is CMK breeding by Bazy Tankersly, but he he will never be a top dressage horse - first level maybe.

Best way to buy is to take lessons from a stable/training barn in the discipline you are interested in and then LEASE a horse. You can show, ride, and move up/advance and have a long thoughtful time to look and work with your trainer.

Live and learn.

 

[patandchickens]

But, the internet is a good place to START looking for the horses.

Nope, sorry, I'm sticking with "beginners should not BE looking for horses" Really really. Even if (best case scenario) they do enlist an experienced (like, *really* experienced, with many many horses over many many years) person to come along to try out horses, beginners tend to pick the most-inappropriate ads and totally ignore the ones that would actually be much better prospects.

JME,

Pat

 

[w c]

I agree with that - beginners shouldn't be looking anywhere on their own.

How anyone can be taken in. A trainer friend of mine and I both found a horse on the internet we thought looked good for me. Beautiful video, and a nice record of show wins. Right age and level of training. Show record validated with the national organization. Not cheap.

When I was about to start the process of buying, a judge contacted me. She said she could not stand idly by and let me buy the horse. It was a chronic rearer and very dangerous. The show wins were not from an occasional show but just the results from a few shows out of almost 80 shows, where the horse had not reared and reared and reared. and it had not reared because of a very, very forceful warmup, at shows where the people felt they could get away with that. Yes, once in a while it would not rear.

The internet makes it easier to misrepresent horses. But the older tactic - sending the horse far away where no one knows him, was pretty effective too. Beginners are very vulnerable to all these tactics. They got taken for a ride often enough pre internet!

Mostly, sellers can appeal to the rider's ego. Even if the horse obviously has a problem, the seller has an angle. S/he will often go on and on about how your 'gentle approach' or 'more skilled approach' is just what he needs. Or the chronic lameness 'just needs time'. They don't call 'em 'horse dealers' for nothin'! Of course if you find a good one hang on to that person!!!