@Momateur, I bought a horse a year ago. Like you, it was the most I ever spent on a horse, the horse had some small things in the vetting and wasn’t perfect but was good enough. He wasn’t quite finished yet - he was still learning his lead changes. My trainer at the time sent me down to look at the horse myself as she knew the seller. I got on the horse and knew I could take him to ANY jump with confidence, and liked the horse enough that even if anything catastrophic happened he’d be a lovely horse to have in our family long term. My trainer didn’t like him, didn’t like that he had no lead change, didn’t like his movement - just didn’t like him. She said he was overpriced and wanted to offer 50% of his asking price. I found this embarrassing as a buyer. She advised me to walk away.
But… I had a gut feeling, and the last time I went against a trainer’s opinion and bought a horse, the horse was tremendously successful at a national level
So I asked the seller if she would keep him and finish him up for me if I went through the purchase. We vetted him, and the vet found a few things that we further investigated. From my trial to final purchase it was about 2.5 months as he was referred to a university to have his eye checked and radiographs were sent to a different specialist at another university - the pre-purchase work was extremely thorough. I negotiated my own terms, seller was awesome, and everyone felt good about the price.
When I went to the bank, the only jitters I had were “What if I screw up this bank transfer and the money goes to the wrong person?” I absolutely KNEW this was the horse and had no issues sending the money. He was the ONE.
Looking back a year later, the horse won more than any horse I have ever owned, in more disciplines that I ever imagined - and I’m talking national awards. We switched him to dressage to build his topline and slowly bring him along to perfect that lead change. A year later and he’s giving me the changes when I ask (and we have to watch him and ride every step because he’s autochanging in anticipation). He’s so much more than I ever dreamed of. But I listened to my gut and went against the advise of my trainer. I felt it was right. My gut was right. What if your gut is trying to tell you something? Do you need to further evaluate the vet workup to get past this feeling, for example? I ended up with the opinions of 4 vets (horse had a very minor non invasive bone chip and a mark on his eye that turned out to be a scratch - I decided I could live with the chip, the scratch caused no permanent damage and was treated).
My advice to anyone is always to trust your gut. It’s your horse. I’ve seen trainers talk friends into buying the wrong horse because it’s better or easier for the trainer. I’ve seen friends buy the wrong horse because the price was right, or they were desperate as their horse died, or they were trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
Now, I’m not suggesting to go against the advice of a professional. I am saying, however, don’t feel pressured into something that just doesn’t feel right. And if your gut has proven to be trustworthy in the past, then go with your gut!
Best of luck!!
) Only you can decide what your risk level is, but I would say that if this horse is a big investment and one you hope to be your partner for years, I’d want to be feeling warm-and-fuzzies regardless of the size of the check.
