Crazy horse buyers and sellers

[atr]

I had the opposite experience to some of you. I went to see a horse advertised as16.2. When I got there, there was this enormous horse… 18.2 if he was an inch. They told me that no-one would come to see him if they put his actual size in the ad…

Poor sweetie was as skinny as he was tall and his feet were in terrible condition. He was cowering in the back of his stall and the only way they communicated with him was by yelling at him and yanking on him. He really didn’t want to come out.

Anyhow, the hauled him out and saddled him up, and of course he was dead lame. They tried to tell me that he wasn’t and I didn’t know what I was looking at, then that he just needed the farrier (no shit sherlock.)

I felt bad about walking away from that one. I hope he landed in a soft place.

[PNWjumper]

I’ve had a few crazy buyer and seller experiences over the years, but the one that sticks out more recently was involving the vet that came out to do the vet check on one of my sales horses.

Vet came out and started vet check for buyer in other state. Does TPR and notes increased respiratory rate, but can’t find a thermometer and so didn’t take temp. Proceeds through flexions and work on lunge line (horse passes all with flying colors). Before moving to x-ray, deems and reports to the buyer that my (very healthy) 4yo horse clearly has heaves and is relatively worthless as a result and basically tells her to run :eek: I take temp when vet leaves and note that the horse has a fever of 104. Talk about looking for zebras when you hear hoofbeats!

Anyhow, it caused a big mess, buyer went dark for a little while, but ultimately bought the horse, who (still) does not have heaves.

Really though, I blame myself. I booked the vet check with a vet that I’ve had similar issues with in the past. And I committed the cardinal sin of saying (OUT LOUD, sigh), “what could go wrong with a basic vet check?” :rolleyes: Thanks, Murphy!

[Foxglove]

This goes back some years to 1980 —one of my 4-Hers sold her pig and wanted to buy a horse so she could do 4-H Horse and Pony project instead of Swine Club. Her family were pig farmers with no horse experience, but she was the delight of their life, so a horse it would be. She had $300. We found a horse and I went with her and her mother to look at it. It was supposed to be a “Sorrel QH Mare 5 years old.” It was a bay gelding not yet 2 --worse, it was a rack of bones leaning against a barn to stand up in a dirt lot. No food or water in sight. Of course, the girl fell in love at that moment, Mom said, “I can put weight on anything!” and I got the seller to sign a paper that said she’d mistaken the horse’s gender and color at birth --and the registration papers that showed the horse was a 5 year old sorrel mare.

Not sure how we did it, but we did get the papers sorted out --correct gender and color --age was not something we could change. Mom did put weight on that horse -he grew to a big boned 16 hh copper colored bay, and the girl showed him in 4-H Horse and Pony for 10 years --she almost got to State Fair --just missed it. Horse lived happily in his stall in the pig barn for years --until the girl married. He died the day before she was married --as if his job was done. They were very,very happy together. I still remember the “Oh, crap!” feeling I had when we pulled into that run-down farm and I saw that horse leaning his rack of bones against the side of the barn – but sometimes things do work out for the best. That time they did.

[Brown_Derby]

@rockymouse

That is…that is…just bananas.

What did your friend do?

From what my friend told me, it really and truly sounded like they’d pulled this stunt before. She got through to the Mom, with whom the appointment was made. Family was pretty uninterested in untacked mare (afraid of her actually). I don’t recall, but I don’t think they even made it past the waiver stage. Oh and kids trashed her feed stall–another story.

[cutter99]

I had a nice, jet black AQHA gelding, who I showed at local open shows in the English division, as well as some halter, showmanship and versatility classes. We had won some local circuit awards, and while he was not quality enough to show AQHA shows and was not a true “hunter”, he was great for the local open shows.

I had him advertised in a local horse publication that promoted and catered to the open show circuit for a reasonable price with an accurate description.

One weekday morning my phone rings before 6 a.m., as I am getting me and my preschooler ready for work and school. It is a well known hunter trainer from over an hour away, whom I had never met or had any direct interaction with. She proceeded to tell me that she had a client interested in the horse, they would be taking him for a month long trial, I would be delivering the horse to them at no charge, and if I wanted the horse insured while he was on trial that was my responsibility. Oh, and the client’s budget was half of the advertised price of the horse and she would absolutely go no higher. And I should just take this offer because “did I know who she was”, as she then preceded to tell me how important she was in the horse community.

I said “Ummmm, NO”, and hung up on her.

[anon38350891]

A woman was interested in a horse I was selling, and asked to do a 30-day trial. She was local and I knew the barn & trainer, so I trailered him over to her with all his gear.

For 30 days she sends me ecstatic reports of how much she loves him, how her trainer loves him, photos of the two of them jumping little jumps and cantering beautifully. End of trial comes, and she asks for another 30 days to consolidate her finances. First warning bell, which I foolishly ignored. (His selling price was low.)

Another 30 days of happy reports, pretty photos, she takes him to a show and mops up ribbons, etc. The day for payment arrives. She calls me at 5 p.m. the previous day to make a time for us to meet at her barn and transfer his papers and the payment.

I arrive at the barn and she has him in cross ties, she is bawling her eyes out, hanging on his neck, and says her husband said she can’t buy a horse just now. Can she do another month trial?

I went and got my trailer and brought him home.

[WildLittleWren]

@anon38350891

A woman was interested in a horse I was selling, and asked to do a 30-day trial. She was local and I knew the barn & trainer, so I trailered him over to her with all his gear.

For 30 days she sends me ecstatic reports of how much she loves him, how her trainer loves him, photos of the two of them jumping little jumps and cantering beautifully. End of trial comes, and she asks for another 30 days to consolidate her finances. First warning bell, which I foolishly ignored. (His selling price was low.)

Another 30 days of happy reports, pretty photos, she takes him to a show and mops up ribbons, etc. The day for payment arrives. She calls me at 5 p.m. the previous day to make a time for us to meet at her barn and transfer his papers and the payment.

I arrive at the barn and she has him in cross ties, she is bawling her eyes out, hanging on his neck, and says her husband said she can’t buy a horse just now. Can she do another month trial?

I went and got my trailer and brought him home.

Oh geesh! This one takes the cake…

[Magicboy]

I had a friend who was selling a very well bred gelding because of a divorce. An appointment is made on the time by phone for a Mr darlson and who shows up but a BNT, Olympic medal winner…rides and buys the horse. A great afternoon, believe me

[RedHorses]

@NJRider

Had an out of state buyer contact me about my horse. Had a nice conversation on the phone with her, sent her video, pictures, etc, seemed like it might be a good match. Got an email later stating “I am a psychic and I predict this horse will become lame in 6 months so I am passing…” I was happy I dodged a bullet with this one and this story is a keeper! What do you say to someone like that? ummmm, thanks?!

You say “Oh, good! I would hate to sell horse to someone who would lame him.”

[Halt_Near_X]

I just sold the horse in my profile picture. One person saw all his pictures, watched all his videos, came out and tried him, and as she was leaving asked “Are you sure he’s really chestnut?”

When he was first listed, we had a picture of him going over an 18" vertical but clearly stated the only time he had ever jumped was for that photo. One guy contacted me and said he had been riding for a year and wanted to fox hunt. Would my horse be good with hounds and able to teach the guy to go first flight? I advised him to contact his local hunts and ask about schoolmasters for sale, which he seemed to appreciate. Fortunately.

I had another person engage me in an hours-long text conversation on a Sunday. They never introduced themselves, gave their location, their experience, what they were looking for in a horse… just one or two questions an hour for most of the day. And then, at the end, s/he finally asked “Will you send him on trial?” That’s a big fat nope. “So I will have to come down there and ride him to see if I like him?” Uh… yeah. That’s generally how it works.

[coloredhorse]

Not a sale, but about 6-7 years ago, a family member let me know of a local 12/13yo girl she knew who loved horses, had been taking riding lessons, and would be interested in doing a half-lease on a horse for the summer. Did I have any interest in leasing my then-22yo been-there-done-that mare? I OK’d her to share my contact info with the girl’s parents and have them call me if interested.

Within a few days, the kid’s mom had called me and yes they’d like to do a partial lease for two days a week with occasional use for local schooling shows. So I set up an appointment for kid to come try the mare; mom was resistant to this and that should’ve been a red flag. I let it go because she was clearly non-horsey and indulging her daughter’s passion; I dealt with that often enough when I taught riding lessons.

So they show up, kid is obviously a novice, but that’s fine, because Herself is the world’s best schoolie. Never put a foot wrong. I let the kid try her in both English and Western tack and Herself was perfect. It all seemed good; I outlined my policies and price for an on-site partial lease, provided my standard contract for them to review and all seemed good. Then … crickets.

Several weeks go by, school lets out, and out of the blue, I hear from the mom. They weren’t able to pay for a lease, much less for extra use for shows, but Daughter had expressed that she would be happy to train my horse for free. Yes, my 22yo, rock-steady mare with low-level show records in hunters, dressage, combined tests, and western equitation and trail classes, as well as being a decent trail horse. I tried to explain that (a) my mare didn’t require training and (b) a beginner kid would not be my choice of trainer if she did.

Mom’s response (clearly shocked that I wasn’t jumping at the chance for free training): “She’s not a beginner! She took lessons for two full years! You know, she does walk, trot, and canter. Those are all the three gaits. There isn’t anything else after that!”

I really had no response for that.

[JustTheTicket]

@NancyM

I was selling a 17.2 hand 4 yr old failed racehorse (home bred, home raised, broke and trained and galloped by me, 3 races and no speed but very sweet, quiet, nice mover, very easy to ride, and jumping around at 2’6"). He still had lots of growing to do, and ended up at 18 hands a few years later. I am a small person, but when I was standing next to him, his stifles were at about my eye level because he was still all legs. The horse looked like a spider, all legs. He was known as “Bonesy”.

A fella answered my advert, and arrived to take a look at him. This fella was about 5 feet high, and rather rotund shaped like a barrel with the shortest legs you can imagine. He wanted to see the horse under saddle, so I rode him in our arena, w/t/c and jumped a few little jumps. No problem. I was waiting for the daughter or wife who was interested in English disciplines that the horse was suitable for, who had conformation suitable to ride this horse. But no, he said the horse was for himself. He didn’t want to ride the horse, and I couldn’t really see it happening in a positive manner if it did happen. He said that he would “think about it”, and left.

The phone call came the next day… yes, this fella wanted to purchase the horse for himself to ride down the trail. It was all far too weird, I told him that the horse was sold already. A few weeks later, I sold the horse to a fella who was 6’4", athletic, rode the horse well, did some horse shows and fox hunting with the horse. It was a good match.

I had a buyer show up to take a look at a horse I was toying with selling a couple years ago. The horse likes his butt scratched… well, not so much his butt, but his inner thigh in a rather private place. I didn’t teach him to do this, he taught me how to do what he wants done. He asks, backs into position, picks up his hind leg, and points with his nose. “Tickle, human, right HERE”. I usually comply, because he’s a nice horse, and I like to do things for him. If I don’t comply, or am busy, he comes closer, and will cram me into position, and do it himself using me for the purpose. So yes, it’s something that he does, and that I do, and yes, it’s a bit weird. He’s actually quite polite about it, but it’s important to him. He’s done this for years, he does not kick. Ever. That would be counterproductive for him.

So the potential buyers come to take a look at him. The horse is delighted, here are several new humanoids, any of which could be trained to do what he likes humans to do for him. He demonstrates his “vice”. The potential buyers are shocked, and say, “If a horse did that at our barn, he’d be whipped”.

“Oh”, I say. “Perhaps this is not the horse for you, then”. Sayonara and good riddance.

I also used to ride a very quirky stallion who liked his inner thighs scratched. He’d hike up a leg and then hold you back there with his nose.

[LaurieB]

@coloredhorse

Mom’s response (clearly shocked that I wasn’t jumping at the chance for free training): “She’s not a beginner! She took lessons for two full years! You know, she does walk, trot, and canter. Those are all the three gaits. There isn’t anything else after that!”

:lol::lol:

[BrokenArrow]

This one was more my fault than anything else…

I had a very hot little WB mare for sale. She was a solid 4th level dressage, and while she didn’t buck/rear/bolt she was very sensitive to ride. She was a bit of a tough one to sell because she didn’t really have the ability to go any higher and wasn’t a schoolmaster in the sense that she was very quirky. After one disaster which ended up in my mare putting someone on the ground because the rider was so heavy handed she slammed the brakes on in the canter and they went over her head. After that, I told buyers I’d be asking them to ride my Mr Reliable before putting them on her to make sure they had suitable ability to ride.

This weeded out a lot of people. But most genuine buyers weren’t concerned at all. One buyer rocks up and turns out Mr Reliable was lame. So I decided to put them on my old fella who was trained to GP instead. Gave them a mini lesson on Mr GP and then they had a ride on the mare. They didn’t like the mare, which was understandable, but offered to buy Mr GP. I kind of laughed it off and said he was mostly retired now and would live out his days with me. The buyers were really lovely and thanked me for my time and effort.

The next day I had about 20 enquiries about the mare, but all of them were asking to ride Mr GP first. Turns out of the buyer told people at her dressage group about her “free lesson on a GP horse” and everyone else wanted to have a turn on him. Funnily enough, all of them dropped off the face of the earth when I told them Mr GP wasn’t available and they’d have to ride Mr Reliable instead. I even had one of them abuse me saying I couldn’t let one person ride Mr GP and not anyone else because ‘it wasn’t fair.’

People have such a sense of entitlement.

[Brown_Derby]

Broken Arrow, the only thing that could possibly improve your experience would be to have the buyers show up at 11 pm. Good grief.

I boarded for a while with a former COTH poster who had a little Arab mare for sale. She was a seizure from a drug raid and priced just enough to recover care costs. Bomb- and idiot-proof. Potential Buyer is the usual know-it-all novice (doesn’t need lessons; only wants to trail ride; I like really long manes) – a perfect match and PB agrees to buy. Contingent on the mare being spayed. Read seller the riot act about unwanted animals yada yada and peels out in her Prius.

The newbies don’t annoy me as much as the pros. I went with trainer and client to look at a $25K hunter mare at show barn. Pro’s daughter warms her up. Horse is so lame it’s painful to witness. Pro (who I’ve known for decades) says nothing. Nobody says anything and I mean grade 4 lame. Thanks for the phone call, Pro. That’s a 4 hr round trip for nothing.

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

@Brown Derby

PB agrees to buy. Contingent on the mare being spayed. Read seller the riot act about unwanted animals yada yada and peels out in her Prius.

This made me snort!

[Ladylexie]

@16 Hands

Drove out of state a few hours to see a horse advertised as 15 hands and broke for trails. Got there and there’s a 13 hand pony. The seller insisted the horse was 15 hands so DH pulled out his level and tape measure and bingo 13 hands. We got in the truck and left. There’s a day in my life I’ll never get back.

Numerous lame, out of shape, misrepresented horses who in the pictures on the advert shows them in their prime, sound, jumping around xc.

The one that sticks in my mind the most is the one we nicknamed “Ditzi Darla.” We had a nice appy mare for sale and she responded and set up an appointment to come see her. After calling several times saying she was going to be late, she ended up not showing until 11:00 pm. We had gone to bed and the doorbell rings. There she is on our front step with her 4 year old son in tow wanting to see the horse. I felt sorry for the son and offered to let them spend the night. They fell into bed and they were up and out of the house the next morning. They did look at the horse and went on a little ride and she wanted to buy the horse but she needed to cash a money order. We were like, huh? We asked her if she was able to support a horse and that the purchase price is the cheapest part. She hemmed and hawed and finally left. Then she proceeded to blast us on some bulletin board that we were pissed because she wouldn’t buy our horse. I asked if she happened to mention that she showed up at 11:00 at night.

Super weird especially about you inviting them to spend the night! I can’t imagine any of this …you are both weird!

[kaya842]

Nothing as crazy as the rest has happened to me, luckily. However I did have a young TB the I sold a while ago. She was a steel grey and lived out on pasture (pictures of her and living situation mentioned in ad). As it was summer and she was pasture boarded, she was sun faded to a lovely bay-ish color. I had SO MANY people wanting to argue that I was “lying” about her being a grey when she was CLEARLY a bay :rolleyes:. I also had one potential buyer show up with her trainer. Trainer watches PB groom horse and comments about how she could NEVER let any horse be “abused” the way I did with my mare and her coat. I explained mare was outside 24/7 and sunbleached and trainer acts like that is the worst possible thing ever. Trainer also commented on the fact that was sooooo terrible for poor horsey to be (sound) barefoot, because all horses NEED shoes. Jeesh

[SugarCubes]

@chestnutmarebeware

Apparently I was the crazy seller once. Several weeks before I was relocating myself and my three mares to Tennessee, one of the other boarders approached me about the mare in my profile picture and asked if she was for sale. She’s a super-cute OTTB with a pony head, and while she was still green at the time, she was so easy to ride that I had let her be used as a lesson horse for a 12-y-o.

She wasn’t for sale, so I tossed out a ridiculous price that I was sure would make this woman and her daughter run for the hills. Nope. They wanted to try her, so I saddled up my push-button pony and took her into the arena. Within 30 seconds, she had dumped me for the first time ever and was bucking and farting and galloping around like a maniac. Mom and daughter had magically disappeared after I had removed my face from the sand!

:lol: This is great!! Obviously, she didn’t want to leave you!

[Dubarry]

Shopping for a local level hunter on a limited budget. Facebook ad caught my eye as it was within 30 minutes of my house. “15.2H grey QH gelding, walk trot canters, jumps small jumps, starting to get a lead change”. No picture or video but I was still interested and took a begrudging friend to video, who insisted I would never be competitive at 3’ with a 15.2H QH. We arrive to find the horse on the cross ties and as I stand next to him I realize there is no way he’s 15.2H. Yes, he measures just a shade under 16.3H.