Not that there’s anything wrong with PMU horses 
(I own one and he is wonderful!)
Caffinated - agree, nothing wrong w/ PMUs, we have a wonderful one - Just take out “PMU” and the rest of the message still reads correctly.
Has anyone had any newer dealings with these people? I have a friend that is thinking about going shopping there. Thanks!
I have no personal experience, but a friend has purchased 2 horses from them long-distance and has been pleased with them both. They seem to have been fairly priced and what she was told they would be.
make no mistake…
I have 3 pmu’s but let’s be real about this …MOST of the larger sellers of field hunters in the mid atlantic area are selling pmu’s. If you see any draft in them=they are pmu’s!
But that just means their breeding is what it is; and that’s all good imho. What really matters is HOW they are made. What’s their experience etc. How they have been brought along. How they ride! etc.
Beware of “irish” or “english” or “cleveland bays” or “canadian warmbloods” or “something sport horses” that don’t have papers and it’s likely it’s a pmu!And a good giveaway is that they are all “something/tb” crosses. When they are really perch/qh or something else. Just sayin’!
I know someone that bought two horses from there (I think one as a weanling and one as either a weanling or yearling), several years apart. She said she contacted the VSH person with what she was looking for and received a picture of a bunch of weanlings/yearlings outside in the winter in either North Dakota or Canada on the breeder’s farm. She picked one she liked and they sent her a picture of it walking loose by itself. She wanted a filly, they told her it was a female. She arranged shipping (I think VSH may have done it for her?) and they met her in the middle of winter several miles from her farm with the weanling/yearling on a stock trailer (I believe with other ones). She had to transfer it at night on the road in the winter into her trailer and take it home. It was not broke to lead or anything of the sort. And guess what else? It was a COLT. She wanted a filly. They told her it was a filly. They brought it and it was a colt. :rollseyes:
The horse is eight now I believe and is probably 16.3 hands, a flashy pinto with good bone and decent conformation (though he has a really long back). Can’t comment on his training now since that was entirely his owner, but he’s a decent horse to ride and is quite comfortable and athletic. Supposedly she made him a good foxhunter.
The other horse she purchased is a half-sibling to the other one (had the same herd sire). Apparently the sire was killed somehow and this was the last year of offspring from him, so she wanted one because she liked her other horse so much. Theh weanling herd had been transported to Florida and she bought him off of a picture and had him transported to her again. She’s happy with him too, he was about 16.3 hands at four and a flashy pinto. Again, decent conformation with bone, but long back.
I would say the chances of them being PMU foals and VSH’s being the broker for them is pretty darn high. I think they were advertised as being bred as sporthorses on VSH’s breeder’s farm. I believe they are part Clydesdale, part Thoroughbred, and part Paint. They turned out decent for what they are and I would own one (though not one trained by VSH), but I would NOT pay VSH’s inflated prices. I would pay a cheaper PMU foal price.
I think all of VSH’s horses are overpriced. From what I can tell, the riding ones are taken out hunting a couple times perhaps, all photos show sloppy knees and form with nothing impressive about their gaits. And for a large drafty horse that doesn’t jump well and is 8 years old? Probably priced at $20k. Too much.
I wouldn’t send my worst enemy to VSH to do business.
I would not recommend buying from Liz Booth/Virginia Sport Horses. I did not do enough homework before putting a deposit on one of her young horses; she is not well regarded by the horse community in her area (including vets) nor any of the several people I subsequently spoke to who have done business with her. She had some nice horses but I would be very careful. Happy to send details, don’t want anyone to have the same experience as me.
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Hi and welcome to the forums! We usually start a new thread after this much time has elapsed instead of reviving a zombie thread like this. Just FYI.
