A word of warning about on-line auctions and site unseen purchases

Me, too! My waist is a perfect 3’6". :grin:

4 Likes

this must be breed specific?

Here is my daughter who is 5ft10in on her 14h even Morgan mare, mare is also shown in open shows so has her pony card

9 Likes

My mother, who I no longer speak to, was always pulling her Trakx out to show him off as her “17h foxhunter.” First of all, she foxhunted on him maybe a half-dozen times before she quit because she ran out of hardware to hang on his head. Secondly, I pissed her right off by just happening to have the measuring stick out when I knew she was going to pull that BS, and slapped it on him when he got pulled out. 16.2. Still a perfectly wonderful and large size.

3 Likes

I love showing this one! Same day, the bay is 16.1 and not necessarily narrow, he was in a MW tree and 52’’ girth… The grey is 13.1 on the nose in a 3XW :laughing:

22 Likes

That’s obviously a tall adult with a long torso on a chunky pony though- look at the length of her torso vs the pony’s neck and head and how far the saddle extends back on the pony’s ribcage and you can easily see that. And she’s riding very short for a dressage saddle.

I very regularly get sent video of someone who looks that big on a horse that is supposedly 16hh and the rider is only 5’6" or 5’4" when I ask. Next I’ll ask if they sticked the horse and how large a girth or blanket it wears. They always say no stick, just guessing and that they apparently don’t know what size girth and I don’t waste my time driving to see those horses.

I know there is the rare shorter modern sport horse or TB who will take up the riders leg, I own one. But I’m not driving 2 hours on the off chance that some horse in a 15sec facebook clip is one.

12 Likes

I love the dappled chunker!

4 Likes

Bought one horse in an online auction and never again! Advertised as having been ridden and driven SAFELY all over the place, brave and willing. He got to me and initially handled the move very well and seemed pretty chill. Until I tried to work with him, at which point he completely exploded…bolting, bucking, etc. I kept at it for about 4 months, trying to slowly bring him along. Bucked and bolted EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR 4 MONTHS! At one point I was introducing him to the lines in order to line drive him and it was clear he had never felt a line in his life. And he had supposedly been driven. Finally hired a trainer and he continued his wayward ways. Trainer got him somewhat rideable, but to this day, 7 years later, he is still a bomb waiting to explode. Now I see the word SAFE in an ad and become extremely skeptical. I think horse people may have a different definition of the word than I do!

In another situation, when I was considering a horse to buy, I was told horse was 12 yrs old. Thankfully, I did some research and discovered an old YouTube video of the horse with the caption, “Doing pretty good for being 20 yrs old!” Ha!

I will never buy anything again that I can’t see for myself,

11 Likes

Let’s play guess the horse height. I am 5 foot tall
Proportionately shorter torso than leg length. Horse is a big barreled chonk. Takes an extra wide tree.

3 Likes

I’ll guess! 16.1? Maybe 16?

1 Like

I wish ! 16 hands is my perfect size for taking up my short legs and accommodating my little T. rex arms. When I bought him in 2016 at barely turning six he was advertised at 16.1. He sticks at 16.3. And he rides big. It’s been a learning curve. To ride a big bodied warmblood who is a total push ride I try to ride about 2 holes longer than I’d like. I’m not at all a size queen. I think the horse who makes you feel effective is the perfect mount. About 15.2/3 is my sweet spot. But he’s my dream horse. And perfect in every other way

2 Likes

Ahh ok! I can totally see 16.3 but I thought since he was so wide it might be a ‘trick’ :rofl:.

2 Likes

If I were to buy a horse sight unseen and a couple of years back I was looking and made some rules.

  1. Pay a nearby trainer (in your discipline) who had no skin in the game to drive out and evaluate the horse - extra points if your trainer knows them and will do it as recipricalfavor and you pay your trainer (who will end up working with the horse so they do not want a nutcase)
  2. Ask the farrier and vet that work on the horse and have in the past - They know, owners tell them the horses issues. If the owner will not release then walk away (Or hit Block on your computer)

I thought I had more rules but I can’t remember what they were. Maybe we on this board can start a checklist for online purchases?

  • Have a lot of risk tolerance
  • Spend only what you’re willing to light on fire, and have more to burn as well
  • Have pretty loose criteria, or choose “dealbreakers” that are easily, concretely verifiable on video or at a vetting
  • Get some sort of contract/bill of sale that details the horse in question (at least gender, color/markings, registration or papers, chip number, the like). Easier to pursue a fix if the horse that steps off the trailer isn’t the same horse at all (it happens!)
  • Be ready to be surprised
  • Don’t do what FiveStride does and buy sight unseen based on a 3 second clip and a few pics :woman_facepalming:t3: (okay, I actually have no regrets on that horse but do what I say, not what I do)

How’s that for a start? :joy:

10 Likes

I bought my heart horse sight unseen and it worked out great. So I thought I’d get lucky again. Not a chance! I made several errors and I own this mistake. The horse was 4 years old. His pedigree with a breed I am very familiar with looked safe, sane and athletic. He had been to a few shows showing in hand and did well. I wrongly assumed by his pedigree and conformation he would make a great dressage horse. When he got here, the first day I lunged him he came at me and bit me in the arm breaking the skin, reared and continued to act aggressive. My heart sunk and I knew I made a big mistake. I had a trainer working with him for 6 months and he remained obstinate, aggressive and totally unwilling. The last straw was when he bolted so quick and for no reason that he dumped me and I think I cracked some ribs. Thankfully the trainer who sold him to me had a right of first refusal in the contract and I sold him back to her for less than half of what I paid. I was and am so grateful to have him off my hands that the loss of money. There will never be another sight unseen for me…lesson learned.

4 Likes

Very good points are being made here about rider-horse fit that goes well beyond height alone. Height of horse or rider.

Back width. Barrel shape (slab-sided to roly pony shaped). Long back, short back. Neck length, or lack thereof. Large or small headed. How the legs are proportioned. All of the details that affect how a horse moves, and how a rider fits on them.

And how do all of these details feel to the rider, with their own body proportions?

I look fairly average. But because my body proportions are not quite the usual (as is true of the rest of my immediate family with proportionately long torsos and long thigh bones), I just don’t fit the way many other riders do on a horse.

In contrast, riders who are of very different body proportions, have a different ride experience than I do, on the same horse. It’s different for each of us as to what we need to do to most effectively use our lower leg and upper body angles. Etc.

I have ridden a very broad range of horses ranging from medium pony to draft, including TB’s, ASB, Walker, Friesian, QH, draft, average backyard errata, crosses of every kind, etc. etc.

At this point in horse life, I know what horse shape & height works best for me. Temperament, too. That’s what I’m choosing for a long-term commitment ride. :slight_smile:

2 Likes