How to best prepare when buying horses?

Read this before you buy your next horse or pony!!

When looking to buy our next horse or pony, what do we as potential buyers need to do to make sure we are best prepared for the process. What questions do we need to ask to find out all the information we need when looking to buy our potential next horse or pony?

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail“

Benjamin Franklin

Buying a new horse or pony whether it be for the first time ever, or adding a new one to your string is always a big commitment, not only financially but they are also very time consuming.

Do not fret, Horse Search is here to help.

We cannot afford to miss out on finding out the vital information on our horses and unfortunately when we get excited and see a beautiful steed in front of us our heart sometimes over rules our heads!!

FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out

Fear of missing out is dangerous in the horse world, we hurry through buying a horse in the fear someone else will come along ahead of us and buy the horse before we get to. We need to learn to take our time when looking to buy a horse (If we miss out on one there is plenty of others out there). We must ask all the right questions and make the most out of any viewings we attend.

Be sure to also check our ‘Dangers of buying a Horse Unseen Blog‘ for top tips on how to safely purchase without viewing

Make sure you take the time after a viewing, to go away and take some time to discuss, maybe get other opinions, or watch back videos and just think about things before you make that final decision to purchase.

Most people in the excitement of viewing a horse forget to ask the important questions. I would recommend that as a purchaser you have a list of questions to ask (you can copy and paste, or print out the list below and add it to the notes in your phone to then write down the answers as you ask, I can guarantee you will forget what is said afterwards otherwise.)

 Take some time, think about what you really want and what you really need. And write it down, ask the questions so no stone is left unturned!!

Below we have listed questions that you should add to your own list when first calling about a horse to help you find out all the relevant information and determine whether it is the perfect equine partner for you. (You may want to add or remove questions depending what’s important to you, e.g if you never hack then you may have no need to ask that question)

Top questions to ask when looking to buy a horse

• Why is the horse or pony for sale?
• How long have you owned him? (Could you speak to owner if at a dealer yard on sales)
• How many previous owners has the horse had?
• Has the horse had any vet call outs, or serious injuries in the time you have owned him, if yes why?
• Is he open to vetting?
• What is he like to travel? (Trailer and Lorry)

• What is he like to handle (e.g. clip, farrier, tie-up, catch, turn out )
• What is he like to hack, alone and in company?
• What is his competition history and results? ( Can you check the competition record) This can be done easily if the horse has been affiliated with BE, BS, or BD just by finding out the horses competition name)
• Does he have any stable vices?
• Does he have any skin problems? (Sweet itch, Sarcoids, Melonamas, etc.)
• What is it like to ride? Is the horse hot and off the leg or lazy and more placid.
• What other experience does he have? (Do you want to hunt? has the horse hunted and if so how much?)

Get as specific as you need to, it’ll sound very interview like but could potentially save both yours and the sellers time being wasted if you get to a viewing and the horse isn’t right, but you think ‘Oh I should have asked that’. And if that does happen, add the question into your notes ready for next time!!