Advice for first horse—foal/yearling/young?

[conniemary]

@Skata

I could save the money and buy a started horse after I graduate, but I was kind of also looking for something grounding during nursing school (I’m sure I’ll be pretty stressed out!) and what’s better than a young horse for that? Though I am considering buying older after reading some of these replies.

Before buying a young one, I recommend spending more time with the babies at the facility where you will keep yours. Riding even a very green horse does not necessarily prepare you for handling a younger horse. (Having said that, different babies come with different levels of handling of course - so that’s also something you should consider when buying.)

If you aim to take over the reins in two years, go for a 2yo. But as others have said, be aware that if you need to sell you will likely sell at a loss.

[GraceLikeRain]

@Skata

It’s definitely a complete gamble, though if I buy from a reputable breeder and meet the mare/stallion and full siblings, I think the chances of getting close to what I want are higher. I’m willing to work with a lot of uncertainty. One thing that I should clarify is that I’m not saving up money for this horse over time. I have a sizable sum (above what you stated) to work with directly at this moment.

If you take the time to reread my post, you’ll see that the $12k I referenced would be a minimum of additional resources to add to whatever your current base is for a prospect.

It seems more like you are looking for affirmation of your decision than actually seeking input. The people I know who had heartbreaking experiences were highly experienced riders investing top dollar into horses from really amazing breeders (US and Europe).

Best of luck pursuing the path you have already chosen.

[Skata]

@foggythistle

Pretend you bought the horse and put all the money you would have spent for buying/training/board/insurance/maintenance into a separate bank account. Continue to ride once or twice a week. When you get out of nursing school, see how much money you have and then look for a started horse. You should have a lot more money and you can actually sit on the horse and see if it works for you.

That’s definitely another path I’m considering. It’s actually probably the better one haha.

[Skata]

@Ajierene

As long a you manage your expectations, it isn’t the doom that some seem to think it is. While I did have experience starting young horses prior to my mare, I also got a lot of comments like you are getting when I asked for appropriate stallions for my mare, since I wanted to breed her and raise a baby. The irony of a breeder telling you to not breed was very definitely lost on some.

Basically…expect nothing.

When I started talking to my trainer about breeding my mare, she said I better be happy if I get a carbon copy. If I didn’t accept that, I shouldn’t breed. While at the time I had loftier goals, my mare was pretty topped out at training level eventing and while she was correct in dressage she wasn’t flashy and had some trouble with even 1st level movements. So if my heart was going to be broken if I never got past that, then I shouldn’t breed my mare.

So, with eyes open, I bred my mare. Spent a year looking for the appropriate stallion and while 10 years later we are just about making it to Novice - we have plenty of scope for Prelim though at this point in my life I will probably never get past Training level. My baby is working on 2nd level dressage moves and jumps the moon. Our slow progression was in part due to my life and in part due to illness/injury on her part (because if she’s going to do something it’s going to be in the middle of the summer where we can also lose all or part of a show season).

So, look for excellent temperment in the parents - see them if you can (I limited my search to stallions w/in 8 hrs of me so I could go out and visit). Accept a horse that may never get past training level dressage. Accept a horse that may not like dressage at all and be willing to sell or switch passions. Other than that, if you can get out a few times a week to play with the baby for a few minutes at least and have a good support system of knowledgeable people that can help guide you through the process of raising a baby, have fun.

I will say the biggest thing about “creating” and doing all the training on my baby is that now, at 9 years old, I cannot blame anyone except myself on all her bad habits - so accept that also!

Great advice, and thanks for sharing your personal experience! I’m open to a lot of things at this point. Though I have expectations, it’s not the end of the world if they’re not met. I’m thinking things over, and may not even end up buying a baby, but it’s nice to hear about other people’s experiences.

[Skata]

@soloudinhere

That might actually be rarer than you think. All young horses have a phase where they don’t have a work ethic or the work ethic is going in the opposite direction than you want. It might occur right at the time you’re expecting to pick up the reins and take over.

It’s always better to make the investment in something you can try, if it’s supposed to be your only horse and make your dreams come true for years to come.

Good point, I might actually feel better if I could sit on the horse first. Though I would give up all of the baby-raising time, which I am interested in experiencing. My “dream horse” plans are all far down the road; I wouldn’t expect such a thing out of a first horse with uncertain future plans.

[Skata]

@fordtraktor

If you do, save the additional money as suggested and take a shopping trip to Europe and buy something super nice as a graduation present for yourself when you are done with nursing school.

I know you think it’s a good idea, but honestly it isn’t, especially for a first horse. That said, you won’t be the first person to make an irrational horse purchase… It’s really pot calling kettle black here.

Oh I think it’s a chaotic neutral plan at best I’ve thought about that route too, and while I’m not opposed to shopping in Europe, I don’t know if I would want to import my very first horse.

[Skata]

@Equibrit

Put your money in the bank/invest it. Finish your education. Wait until life is a little more settled and resume your equestrian activities.

I don’t plan on ever fully putting my equestrian activities on hold. It’s basically what’s kept me sane throughout school so far. I’m for sure reconsidering such a large purchase at this time in my life though.

[Skata]

@conniemary

Before buying a young one, I recommend spending more time with the babies at the facility where you will keep yours. Riding even a very green horse does not necessarily prepare you for handling a younger horse. (Having said that, different babies come with different levels of handling of course - so that’s also something you should consider when buying.)

If you aim to take over the reins in two years, go for a 2yo. But as others have said, be aware that if you need to sell you will likely sell at a loss.

That’s good advice—I’ll try and spend more time with the babies before deciding on anything.

[GoodTimes]

I’m an advocate for buying babies, but usually only for people who have their own farms. It’s cheaper, and easier to keep them long term if something goes wrong.

Maybe not the best choice for you. I would pour that money into a good savings account, keep riding once or twice a week. Skim over listings for sale horses when you need a break from school. In two years you should have an extra 10-20k saved up for a very nice young horse.

[Skata]

@GraceLikeRain

If you take the time to reread my post, you’ll see that the $12k I referenced would be a minimum of additional resources to add to whatever your current base is for a prospect.

It seems more like you are looking for affirmation of your decision than actually seeking input. The people I know who had heartbreaking experiences were highly experienced riders investing top dollar into horses from really amazing breeders (US and Europe).

Best of luck pursuing the path you have already chosen.

You’re right, I didn’t catch that the first time around. My bad. I am looking for affirmation—no one likes being told that their plans suck! BUT that doesn’t mean I’m not looking for or listening to criticisms, doubts, other input, etc. I’ve never said that I am for certain going to buy a baby. It’s pretty neat that you know more about my future plans than I do :winkgrin:

Regarding the people you know, I’m not surprised that they were heartbroken. No one buys a backyard rescue and is disappointed when it’s not their next Grand Prix horse. The higher the expectation and investment, the harder the fall when it doesn’t work out. I may come across as more eager than I actually am, but I can guarantee you that I’m not 100% set on this idea. It’s my money and time I would be investing into a risk, after all.

[Skata]

@GoodTimes

I’m an advocate for buying babies, but usually only for people who have their own farms. It’s cheaper, and easier to keep them long term if something goes wrong.

Maybe not the best choice for you. I would pour that money into a good savings account, keep riding once or twice a week. Skim over listings for sale horses when you need a break from school. In two years you should have an extra 10-20k saved up for a very nice young horse.

That’s a good point about owning your own land that I hadn’t thought about. Hmm perhaps I’ll look into buying a farm in the future first. But that’s way down the road, and a whole other set of problems haha!

[Skata]

Thanks all for the replies! I really do appreciate it and promise that I am listening to what you’re saying. There are a lot of “don’t do it” comments that bring up very good points. Well thanks to that, my common sense seems to have mostly overridden my baby/foal fever, and I’m 99.9% sure that I won’t go through with this idea. I may have to start a new thread in the future about what to look for in a quality, just-started dressage horse :lol:

[fordtraktor]

@Skata

Oh I think it’s a chaotic neutral plan at best I’ve thought about that route too, and while I’m not opposed to shopping in Europe, I don’t know if I would want to import my very first horse.

I bought a very nice Dutch WB weanling 4.5 years ago. Lovely breeding, excellent and absolutely respectable breeder I would buy from again in a moment, siblings successful in sport and all great temperaments, dad is a Junior Hunter winning at WEF and is a kids’ first horse type, etc.

So far this horse has been the MOST EXPENSIVE horse I have EVER owned by magnitudes, and that isn’t going away soon. Colic surgery at 3, 9 months at 2 different colt starters because she was a tough horse to get started, still needs to be in full training all the time because even a day off leads to backsliding…I did everything “right” on paper selecting her, and she is gorgeous and so so talented, but this experience is not for the faint of heart…and it certainly hasn’t been a bargain. She certainly has the talent to be an upper level horse but it’s a journey.

I bought an OTTB last year and he’s light years ahead of her in training despite a 6 month break due to EPM. he’s got a great brain and I can let him sit for a week and he’s exactly the same and safe as houses. He isn’t as naturally elastic but he has 3 great gaits and I won’t be surprised if he goes farther than she does, simply because he’s rideable with a good work ethic.

So much of it is luck. You cannot tell what a baby will be like once they start going under saddle. Stable manners so often do not translate to work under saddle. I’ve seen that so many times. And same goes for personality of parents/siblings. Sure, temperament can run in bloodlines but that’s more like a correlation than a guarantee.

[J-Lu]

Sooooooo, I traded my previous mare who showed extensively but wasn’t going to be comfy at FEI for a well bred three year old through my trainer. This youngster was bred/born at a large breeding farm and was the something like 5th cross out of one mare. One full sibling colt was kept as a stallion. Most of the foals out of the stallion are considered “amateur friendly” but my gelding was a mess. The owner of the facility was very passive/aggressive when I inquired about the breeding and the siblings and was of such little help. I know this history from her farm to me, in a home that raised him well and handled him daily and took regular lessons from the GP-level trainer who started him.

As a 3-4 year old, this horse was a mental mess. One reason I kept him was because I knew I couldn’t in conscious sell him at that time. He was explosive and hurt people.

I love him now (we did so much work and he aged), but I would not want a young him again. I tried to breed my previous mare and “rented” a broodmare who had an established record. I failed for three years against the odds.

I’m disinclined to breed again or purchase a youngster that hasn’t been started. I’ve spent so much money on breeding and training my current freak (all of everyone’s hospital bills, including mine, including the GP-level trainer who started him and the advanced-level eventing trainer who worked with him and the NH trainer who ended up really changing his brain, included) that I could have purchased a nice, reliable horse. ETA - this horse is a really talented and athletic horse, but through 8 years of life was exceptionally difficult.

People say young horses are horses on a payment plan. Bypass that and spend the money on the horse that you want if you are disinclined to play the lottery for the horse you’ll get.

Best of luck!!

[IdahoRider]

@Skata

I could save the money and buy a started horse after I graduate, but I was kind of also looking for something grounding during nursing school (I’m sure I’ll be pretty stressed out!) and what’s better than a young horse for that?

I question how much time you think you will have in nursing school. The nursing school students I have known didn’t have time to shower some days, let alone deal with a young horse.

Delay the gratification, save your money until after you have graduated and gotten a job.
Sheilah

[Edre]

I’ve seen your update indicating a likely change of mind on this, but I thought I would share my experience regardless.

I do not recommend buying a foal for anyone who only has a one-horse budget and who has specific “wants” in a horse (as an adult). There are just no real guarantees, and by the time you account for the money of the initial purchase, money that’s gone into upkeep, money that’s gone into training, the point at which you figure out the horse isn’t for you? You’re not likely to recoup lost costs. Additionally, if you’re like many amateur riders out there, your budget/situation is one that will only really allow for one horse at a time. By having a horse that ends up being unsuitable that you need to find a new home for, for most of us that means that we have to wait that much longer before we can really put our time, finances, and attention into finding the horse that is right for us.

This all sounds a bit negative, I know. I have done the foal purchase route. Frankly, while I value my experience, it’s a large part of why I do not really advise the standard amateur do it. I did a ton of research and set myself up for success with a really well respected program/breeder, knew bloodlines inside and out, really did deep research on the relatives, met the dam in person, saw the sire’s performance record and studied him at shows. Despite this, I still will not end up with the horse that I “want” on paper. Both parents are over 170cm, I will be lucky if mine ends up breaking 166 (and I am a tall rider, so height has always been something of a selection criteria for me). When I got her she was already well handled, and her pedigree is notorious for breeding animals that are exceptionally well tempered. That doesn’t mean she hasn’t still had extreme baby moments that I, as a first-time handler of youngstock with no education, had to struggle through with how to navigate.

And this is all factoring in that as a rider, I have a wide spectrum of horses I enjoy riding. I don’t mind snarky, I don’t mind quirky, I don’t mind eccentric, I don’t mind worried or marginally fearful or opinionated, super forward or a little more “eh, convince me”. If I had really purchased based on “wanting a forward thinking/energetic animal as an adult” I would be soundly disappointed with how laid back mine is now. (And vice versa is probably more common - wanting something a little more sensible/perhaps not so intensely forward or reactive, but ending up with just that.) Many amateur riders are not particularly diverse in regards to the type of ride they enjoy, or that they can really successfully navigate - and it’s compounded because, we have to remember, there is a wide gap between “greenbroke horse at 3 or 4 who has had all the basic education markers met but is just green” vs “a baby who has had no exposure or education because they’re a baby”. I rode greenbroke horses for years for my instructor and was very, very good at it. Very little of that skill set has come into play with bringing along a foal, other than being able to just hang cool and not overreact. It may come in handy when she’s doing more under saddle, but for actually having a foal? Not so applicable.

In general: If someone is set up to only be a one-horse owner, and they have a specific list of requirements of their horse, buying a foal is not something I’d really recommend. There’s no guarantees, and most of us are terrible at actually calling it when we have a horse that we need to move on because of lack of suitability… so we just end up prolonging the situation before we can really come into our own with a horse that is more suitable for us, and exactly what we want besides.

[Skata]

@fordtraktor

I bought a very nice Dutch WB weanling 4.5 years ago. Lovely breeding, excellent and absolutely respectable breeder I would buy from again in a moment, siblings successful in sport and all great temperaments, dad is a Junior Hunter winning at WEF and is a kids’ first horse type, etc.

So far this horse has been the MOST EXPENSIVE horse I have EVER owned by magnitudes, and that isn’t going away soon. Colic surgery at 3, 9 months at 2 different colt starters because she was a tough horse to get started, still needs to be in full training all the time because even a day off leads to backsliding…I did everything “right” on paper selecting her, and she is gorgeous and so so talented, but this experience is not for the faint of heart…and it certainly hasn’t been a bargain. She certainly has the talent to be an upper level horse but it’s a journey.

I bought an OTTB last year and he’s light years ahead of her in training despite a 6 month break due to EPM. he’s got a great brain and I can let him sit for a week and he’s exactly the same and safe as houses. He isn’t as naturally elastic but he has 3 great gaits and I won’t be surprised if he goes farther than she does, simply because he’s rideable with a good work ethic.

So much of it is luck. You cannot tell what a baby will be like once they start going under saddle. Stable manners so often do not translate to work under saddle. I’ve seen that so many times. And same goes for personality of parents/siblings. Sure, temperament can run in bloodlines but that’s more like a correlation than a guarantee.

Yikes that sounds like a huge PITA. Your OTTB sounds absolutely lovely though! Y’all have decidedly convinced me to re-think getting a baby. It seems that a lot of it is just down to luck, and I don’t think I want to take that gamble so soon. I’ll take your advice and sit on a horse first before buying it!

[Skata]

@J-Lu

Sooooooo, I traded my previous mare who showed extensively but wasn’t going to be comfy at FEI for a well bred three year old through my trainer. This youngster was bred/born at a large breeding farm and was the something like 5th cross out of one mare. One full sibling colt was kept as a stallion. Most of the foals out of the stallion are considered “amateur friendly” but my gelding was a mess. The owner of the facility was very passive/aggressive when I inquired about the breeding and the siblings and was of such little help. I know this history from her farm to me, in a home that raised him well and handled him daily and took regular lessons from the GP-level trainer who started him.

As a 3-4 year old, this horse was a mental mess. One reason I kept him was because I knew I couldn’t in conscious sell him at that time. He was explosive and hurt people.

I love him now (we did so much work and he aged), but I would not want a young him again. I tried to breed my previous mare and “rented” a broodmare who had an established record. I failed for three years against the odds.

I’m disinclined to breed again or purchase a youngster that hasn’t been started. I’ve spent so much money on breeding and training my current freak (all of everyone’s hospital bills, including mine, including the GP-level trainer who started him and the advanced-level eventing trainer who worked with him and the NH trainer who ended up really changing his brain, included) that I could have purchased a nice, reliable horse. ETA - this horse is a really talented and athletic horse, but through 8 years of life was exceptionally difficult.

People say young horses are horses on a payment plan. Bypass that and spend the money on the horse that you want if you are disinclined to play the lottery for the horse you’ll get.

Best of luck!!

Thanks for sharing your experience! It does sound like youngsters are a horse lottery, and we all know the odds of winning at those. Now that I’m thinking rationally again, I probably would rather spend the money on getting something nice and recently started under saddle a few years from now that I could actually try first.

[Skata]

@IdahoRider

I question how much time you think you will have in nursing school. The nursing school students I have known didn’t have time to shower some days, let alone deal with a young horse.

Delay the gratification, save your money until after you have graduated and gotten a job.
Sheilah

I’ve never had a huge issue with that—I was full-time pre-med with 3 labs per week + other STEM classes for a while, and timing wasn’t my biggest problem. Getting burnt out and bored was. Horses have helped immensely with stress relief and keeping my head on straight. On the second point, looks like that’s what I’ll be doing!

[Equkelly]

Starting babies is completely different than just riding green horses. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone unless you’ve worked extensively with a trainer that starts horses and have put the first rides on several horses. Lots of people think that because they’ve restarted OTTBs, or they can ride a super hot, super green 4 year old Dutch warmblood they should be able to start a horse themselves and maybe just get some pointers along the way. It’s not a good idea. You really need to know what you’re doing.

And even if you did want to do this and take on this project, I think you’re underestimating how time consuming it is. It’s not a matter of just throwing a horse out to pasture, waiting for them to grow up, and then poof, you get a riding horse. It takes work. You may not be riding but you’re going to have to spend time working with your baby on picking up feet, on ground work, tending to injuries, and so much more.

If you’re going to have a young horse, you need to take their upbringing seriously ESPECIALLY if you’re an amateur. You can’t throw them in a field for 2 years while you’re away because the horse you go back to might be way out of your ability level.

Also, taking a break from riding, and then starting a baby is really difficult physically. Its hard to go from not riding consistently to all of a sudden asking a baby horse to canter for the first time and just praying they don’t try to buck you off.

I bought a 2 year old warmblood and started her myself. Trust me, it’s hard work. The only reason I did it is because I like colt starting and working with babies and I have a lot of experience in that area. Even then, it was hard. And even though I didn’t ride her for the first year I had her, I didn’t spend any less time at the barn.