Crazy horse buyers and sellers

[Paige777]

I drove almost 2 hours to see a mare who was advertised as a trail horse. Asked loads of questions ahead of time. Seller showed up 40 minutes late, and her husband took me out to the field to get the mare. Mare doesn’t want to be caught, so they decide to open the doors to the barn to let the horses come in - dinner’s already in their stalls. Horses come galloping and the mare is horrifically lame. During the walk back husband warns me that the mare will buck “a couple times” at the trot.

Mare gulps her grain, husband boasts about how great she is about her feet - he trims them himself. Tries to pick up her feet - she kicks him twice. Then starts cribbing and I notice her entire stall is just about toothpicks from her habit.

Husband offers to tack her up - tells me they only ride in a bitless bridle, they haven’t ridden her in years, and she’ll probably buck at the trot. Then discloses that no one is available to get on her; they just assume I’m going to get on her.

The seller, who shows up as I’m leaving, was upset and shocked that I wasn’t buying the mare for the $2500 they were asking.

[Brown_Derby]

Let’s not forget the people shopping on the track backside who are out of their element. They ask the trainer how old the horse is. Trainer puts his cigar in his mouth, lifts the tail, and, special for them, counts the rings.

[akdraft77]

I had a really interesting sale once.

I had a little red arab/QH gelding I had been having problems with. I bought him as a rebound horse after I had to put one down. Hubby was amazing and took me out to see several horses. When this pretty little guy walked out from behind his barn and nickered at me, I decided he could do no wrong. Even thought I couldn’t get him out of the yard without him rearing, I got caught up in my emotions and took him home.

Over the next three years, I had more problems with this horse than I explain. He reared, bucked, bolted and bit. He charged my mom with ears pinned and teeth bared. He came out of the horse trailer at high speeds and under the butt-bar galling his back multiple times - once before I had the ramp all the way down and I was nearly crushed under it. I called the vet, called the trainer and both agreed: he was unpredictable, didn’t want to be a trail horse, and he needed someone much, much more skilled than me. So I listed him for sale. My ad was honest.

After a few weeks, my ad attracted the attention of a 50+ year old man who lived 250 miles away and wanted to meet the horse. He indicated that he had just been released from the hospital after a friend’s horse reared and fell backwards onto him. His ribs were crushed. He said he was looking for a trail horse. He emphasized that he didn’t want to be hurt again. I explained the problems I had been having with brutal honesty and told him this was probably not a good horse for him, and he was still interested.

The man came out the next day. He met the horse and I showed him his ground work. The little red hellion was on his best behavior. Even I was impressed. I explained to the man that I would not ride him, but I was happy to take him to my trainer’s barn and she would ride him. He was fine with that.

I met the man at the barn the next morning. He beat me there. The hellion exploded out of the trailer with exuberance and danced around and carried on while I tacked him up. I worked him on the ground while we waited for my trainer and he calmed down nicely.

My trainer was late. The man was getting impatient. I really wanted rid of the horse, so I hesitantly agreed to hop on. Things started out fair enough, but without warning, he bolted across the arena. I cranked his head around and got him stopped. As soon as I gave him slack, he reared. I got him calmed down again and tried getting some circles out of him to focus the energy forward, not up. He slammed me into the arena fence a few times and I called it.

My trainer had arrived sometime during the fight and took the horse from me. He was marginally better for her.

I talked to the man while we watched and again explained that this was his normal behavior, we had already been working with him, he was somewhat improved, but was going to need a LOT more work. He was famous for being fine for a while then exploding out of nowhere. Just as the horse launched into another fit, he looked at me and said “I like what I see.” He made a full-priced offer.

So I sold the hellion to that crazy old man and wished him luck. I even trailered him the 250 miles one way to make sure he got there OK.

I got a text from the guy a few weeks later. He loved that crazy red idiot.

Go figure.

[WildLittleWren]

@akdraft77

I had a really interesting sale once.

I had a little red arab/QH gelding I had been having problems with. I bought him as a rebound horse after I had to put one down. Hubby was amazing and took me out to see several horses. When this pretty little guy walked out from behind his barn and nickered at me, I decided he could do no wrong. Even thought I couldn’t get him out of the yard without him rearing, I got caught up in my emotions and took him home.

Over the next three years, I had more problems with this horse than I explain. He reared, bucked, bolted and bit. He charged my mom with ears pinned and teeth bared. He came out of the horse trailer at high speeds and under the butt-bar galling his back multiple times - once before I had the ramp all the way down and I was nearly crushed under it. I called the vet, called the trainer and both agreed: he was unpredictable, didn’t want to be a trail horse, and he needed someone much, much more skilled than me. So I listed him for sale. My ad was honest.

After a few weeks, my ad attracted the attention of a 50+ year old man who lived 250 miles away and wanted to meet the horse. He indicated that he had just been released from the hospital after a friend’s horse reared and fell backwards onto him. His ribs were crushed. He said he was looking for a trail horse. He emphasized that he didn’t want to be hurt again. I explained the problems I had been having with brutal honesty and told him this was probably not a good horse for him, and he was still interested.

The man came out the next day. He met the horse and I showed him his ground work. The little red hellion was on his best behavior. Even I was impressed. I explained to the man that I would not ride him, but I was happy to take him to my trainer’s barn and she would ride him. He was fine with that.

I met the man at the barn the next morning. He beat me there. The hellion exploded out of the trailer with exuberance and danced around and carried on while I tacked him up. I worked him on the ground while we waited for my trainer and he calmed down nicely.

My trainer was late. The man was getting impatient. I really wanted rid of the horse, so I hesitantly agreed to hop on. Things started out fair enough, but without warning, he bolted across the arena. I cranked his head around and got him stopped. As soon as I gave him slack, he reared. I got him calmed down again and tried getting some circles out of him to focus the energy forward, not up. He slammed me into the arena fence a few times and I called it.

My trainer had arrived sometime during the fight and took the horse from me. He was marginally better for her.

I talked to the man while we watched and again explained that this was his normal behavior, we had already been working with him, he was somewhat improved, but was going to need a LOT more work. He was famous for being fine for a while then exploding out of nowhere. Just as the horse launched into another fit, he looked at me and said “I like what I see.” He made a full-priced offer.

So I sold the hellion to that crazy old man and wished him luck. I even trailered him the 250 miles one way to make sure he got there OK.

I got a text from the guy a few weeks later. He loved that crazy red idiot.

Go figure.

I was expecting this to end badly. I am glad he loved the little red idiot! That’s great :lol:

[Belowthesalt]

Many years ago, a friend was leasing a grade Morgan. Nice horse, but had not too severe stringhalt. Owners were “sorta” interested in selling him. Friend investigated possible treatment. UC Davis said there was a surgery; that if it worked, horse would be “fixed,” if it didn’t, he would be the same, no worse. Friend offered to pay for the surgery, and to buy the horse if it was successful. She also said, since any surgery is a risk, that she would insure the horse prior to surgery. The pros and cons of this offer can be debated, but the reason the owners refused was not the risk. …they maintained that “He only does it (the stringhalt) because he misses us.”. Friend terminated the lease and a few months later bought a rather nice appendix gelding. * shrug*

My personal experience has been the many lame horses I’ve been to see, and many others that, of course, were advertised as 16.3 and were 15.2 (including one I drove five hours to see, during a gas crisis, in a borrowed truck, that was 15.2, not 16.3 and was lame all around (oh,he’s fine, farrier just trimmed him too short. When? Thursday. this is Sunday. You couldn’t have called me and said he was off, come another time?) But the best was a lovely genuinely 16.3 AppxTB that was being sold as a jumper/event prospect, but seller would not jump him over anything, would not let me jump, nor would allow horse to be lunged or free jumped over any fences. I would just have to take her word for it and jump him AFTER I bought him. Uh, no. Some years later I saw him doing quite well at dressage - hmmmmmm, not a jumper after all, I guess.

​​​​​

[Ghazzu]

@BrokenArrow

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.’

.

Oh.My.God.

[Ghazzu]

Had a grey Arab mare for sale. Advertised as such. Prospective buyer came to see her, rode her, loved everything about her, but said she couldn’t buy her because she was the “wrong” color.

Told this story to a seller while doing a PPE on the TB he was selling.
He told me about a mother and daughter who were horse-hunting.
Came and tried a chestnut he had for sale, and liked him,but it was the first horse they’d looked at,so they wanted to try some other horses, and they’d be in touch.
Couple weeks later, they returned to see/ride the horse again. Still liked him better than anything else they’d looked at.
A week later, they were pretty sure he was the one, but…they had only ridden him in the ring,and didn’t know if he’d be reliable on trails.
Guy saddled up the sale horse, and one for himself,another for mom, took them for a hack down a wooded trail near his farm.
Horse was perfect.

They returned, and then Mom said, “well, we really really like him, but, he’s the wrong color. We really wanted a bay.”

At that point, the guy said, “Lady, he was chestnut the first time you rode him. He was chestnut the second time you roe him. Did you think he’d change color in the woods?”

[Glyphica]

@Ghazzu

Had a grey Arab mare for sale. Advertised as such. Prospective buyer came to see her, rode her, loved everything about her, but said she couldn’t buy her because she was the “wrong” color.

Told this story to a seller while doing a PPE on the TB he was selling.
He told me about a mother and daughter who were horse-hunting.
Came and tried a chestnut he had for sale, and liked him,but it was the first horse they’d looked at,so they wanted to try some other horses, and they’d be in touch.
Couple weeks later, they returned to see/ride the horse again. Still liked him better than anything else they’d looked at.
A week later, they were pretty sure he was the one, but…they had only ridden him in the ring,and didn’t know if he’d be reliable on trails.
Guy saddled up the sale horse, and one for himself,another for mom, took them for a hack down a wooded trail near his farm.
Horse was perfect.

They returned, and then Mom said, “well, we really really like him, but, he’s the wrong color. We really wanted a bay.”

At that point, the guy said, “Lady, he was chestnut the first time you rode him. He was chestnut the second time you roe him. Did you think he’d change color in the woods?”

I’d have lost my cool over either of those situations. Unbelievable behavior.

[bangboombaby]

When I was in middle school my family had a pretty chestnut QH gelding. Cute and flashy and a very calm, sound, healthy horse. Too calm. He didn’t want to do anything. He had no ambition. Wouldn’t lead on the trail. Didn’t want to trot around the ring. He didn’t respond to spurs. I was able to mind-meld with him and get him to do anything except go over any poles ever. He wouldn’t do that. And he wouldn’t do anything for anyone except me. He excelled at standing around.

My mom wanted to sell him (he greatly annoyed us all) so she took me to a QH breed show to ride him in the junior classes. I won all the huntseat and equitation classes and got some cute show pictures of him. People came and looked at him. He was for sale for months. No one wanted him. Finally, a wonderful lady showed up who was buying calm horses for a dude ranch in Japan. She payed full price, and I’m confident he never had to trot again.

[SnicklefritzG]

I feel bad the horse sold! I was thinking I need to buy that horse for one of my family members :lol:

@bangboombaby

When I was in middle school my family had a pretty chestnut QH gelding. Cute and flashy and a very calm, sound, healthy horse. Too calm. He didn’t want to do anything. He had no ambition. Wouldn’t lead on the trail. Didn’t want to trot around the ring. He didn’t respond to spurs. I was able to mind-meld with him and get him to do anything except go over any poles ever. He wouldn’t do that. And he wouldn’t do anything for anyone except me. He excelled at standing around.

My mom wanted to sell him (he greatly annoyed us all) so she took me to a QH breed show to ride him in the junior classes. I won all the huntseat and equitation classes and got some cute show pictures of him. People came and looked at him. He was for sale for months. No one wanted him. Finally, a wonderful lady showed up who was buying calm horses for a dude ranch in Japan. She payed full price, and I’m confident he never had to trot again.

[keysfins]

@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.

AND???

Did you buy him? Some of us want to know!

[Dubarry]

@keysfins

AND???

Did you buy him? Some of us want to know!

Yes, he was a lucky find!

[Cabaret_SK]

I was sent to try a local horse for my trainer from back home. Horse was to be for a lesson kid. Didn’t need to be fancy, just safe WTC and small jumps. Advertised as a 6 year old mare who was quiet and kid-safe.

I drive an hour and get to the farm. Ask around, and someone says the owner/horse are in the arena. I go into the arena, and owner’s husband is lunging the horse. Horse is DRENCHED in sweat and they have clearly been at this for a while. Owner is pregnant. I introduce myself, ask about the horse. Owner says she will not be getting on (understandable). I ask if there is someone else who can get on horse first. “Oh, no”. I ask when horse was last ridden. “About 6 months ago. But she’s good.”

Against my better judgment, I get on the horse. (I don’t know what came over me). We walk a bit. There is minimal steering. We trot a few steps. There is no regulation of speed, no steering now, and no brakes. I decline to canter. The mare seemed sweet, but was clearly very green. I ask again about the “kid safe” part of the ad, and the owner admits that “we’ve never had a kid ride her but I think she would like kids!” :rolleyes:

I felt bad for mare, because she seemed kind enough and was trying to be good, but just had no training. I hope someone picked her up as a project, but she was definitely not a kid safe beginner horse.

[rockymouse]

I think this is my all-time favorite COTH thread. I’m gobsmacked at each story and could read them all day.

[browneyedcowgirl]

I have a few funny purchase stories. Mostly they are amusing because I got so dang lucky!!
(Disclaimer- I am perfectly capable of not buying on impulse, but sometimes I’m willing to take a little risk for the right horse).

When I was a teenager, an old friend of my trainer’s brought a horse out to our barn. (Not only was this a long term friend of my trainer, but this man was ancient, and super grouchy.)
His sales pitch was essentially “I have this horse in my trailer. You can have him for $100 bucks or I’m hauling him to the auction and maybe if he’s lucky he won’t get turned into dog food.”
My sappy teenage self bought the horse after a 5 minute look at him.
He was a cute 15hh Arab gelding. Black with white socks all around. Tiny star. Super cute, about 10 years old.
He was sort of broke. As in, he wasn’t a bronco. But he wasn’t really sure about much. Except whoa. He liked that. But No steering. No leg yields. Nada.
I used him as a 4-H project. Went to a few local shows the next year. He turned out well enough. My Dad and little brother could ride him too. So it was win.

The other horse I shouldn’t have purchased but did was a pinto mare. I rolled up at a livestock auction with friends. She was the only horse there. They had some a few mules, and a variety of Donkeys. And she just looked awful. Thin. Dirty, terrified. On of her eyes was infected and swollen shut. Super long hooves. But she was 4 years old. Buckskin overo. Blue eyed. And I fell in love. Thought I could “fix” her, rescue her. So I bought her. $400 bucks.
Vet comes out. Treats the eye. Does her teeth (which were messy).
Farrier comes out. She is too tired and thin to attempt to murder him but proceeds to look pissed the whole time.
At the end of the day, she’s sound. But she’s blind in one eye.
Took me 2 years to get her broke under saddle. Her temperament is quirky, but I love her. (She’s in my profile picture).

[SuzieQNutter]

I had an old ugly flea bitten tb that we figured we would be lucky to sell. He was an ex B grade jumper and the only one I would jump 44 gallon drums in a tripod downhill on.

She came and I hopped on him and jumped him. I hopped off and as she approached the horse to mount I knew she was a beginner. I told her this was not the horse for her and she really should not buy a tb for her first horse. I would not let her mount.

She was adamant that she was wanted him and was buying him. I refused. She went on to say she would take him to a riding place with an indoor arena and she would be having lessons on him.

I decided that the instructors would end up with a really good horse so I relented.

The morning she was supposed to collect him he cut himself. Blood. Not a bad cut but on the leg and of course you know that a buyer will back out when a horse is injured.

We called to say he was injured and could not be picked up.

She arrived and Mum met her. She explained she was here to get him and Mum, just started with, “You can’t take him…”

She launched. He was her horse. She was here to get him. We could not stop her."

Mum held up her hands to back her off and said he has cut himself he is bleeding…

“I don’t care. I am taking him. Here is the money.”

That was the horse we thought we couldn’t sell. We never heard anything about him afterwards.

[MissingASock]

I don’t have any true “horror” stories, and I’ve only gone horse shopping twice (thankfully) but my last buying experience was interesting…

I’m on the hunt for my long term mount to take through the hunter rings. My coach’s wife send me a link to an ad for a very awkward looking mare saying all the right things, “good manners, w/t/c/ sane. not registered but can be, 16:1hh and 3 years old.” I thought perfect, why not take a look? She was a bit of a drive and a bit out of my budget but I never turn down a road trip and I could stretch if I loved the horse.
So we get there the next day, miserable winter weather, as a trailer is pulling in. We get out of my car and the ramp drops and shooting out comes the mare I’m there to look at! Turns out she had just come back from a trial and they didn’t want her, the person dropping her off hands over the lead rope and very promptly leaves…I don’t remember to many words exchanged. I take one look at my coach’s wife that just says WTF??
Owner gets her in the cross ties somehow, this mare was nuts…she would run as far as the ties would let her in either direction, body slamming you in the process- she didn’t care/didn’t notice you… Owner takes off the blanket to uncover the nastiest wither rub I think I had ever seen and a horse that was clearly under weight… I gave the same look to my coach’s wife again. There was also no way she was as tall as advertised. None. Saddle up the mare, and get her into the ring, wind is howling and making all kind of noise, blowing the big door, and snow falling off the roof once in a while, but the whole time the owner was on her she never put a single step wrong. She moved beautifully, actually new how to do a circle, zero stamina and always wanted to stop beside the super loud massive door.
As awkward and under weight as this mare was, I could not stop staring at her in awe, her earlier shenanigans were forgiven and I knew I was sold, on the drive home I already had her named.
I messaged the owner the next day asking for a 2 week trial to allow me to see her and get a PPE done by my vet, owner agreed and I organized a time to go and get her. It took 3 of us to load her, again she was rude, disrespectful, had no problem trying to bulldoze you of rip the rope out of your hand to look somewhere else and planted her front feet on the ramp and wouldn’t move. 3 people and about 45 minutes later we were heading home.
I give her that day for turn out and to get to know her home and herd and then at night we brought her in for some dinner, keeping her separated from the mares so she can eat in peace, except…she had no idea what food was…none. Okay, that can explain why she’s so under weight, she doesn’t get fed. So I bring her out in the cross ties and she proceeds to act like an idiot and then starts rearing in the aisle way :eek: I look at my coach’s wife and just asked her to go get my coach- now, I am not sure how to deal with this! At this point I’m thinking I’ve made a huge mistake, she’s wild, unruly, a mess, it would take forever to get her sane, etc…everything was running through my head. Thankfully my coach got out there super quick, helped me groom her, tack her and get on after a quick lunge. As soon as I had her in the ring she was back to being perfect. I made it through week one, handling her every day with my coach’s saintly help, addressing her disgusting withers, and showing her food is yummy. Arranged for the PPE to get done, she did fine, vet scored her body at 2 or 3 (can’t exactly remember) but said aside from that she was fine. So I bought the hellion.

Fast forward 4 years and she’s the mare in my picture, she had only sticked at 15:2 1/2 and turned out she was a year older than advertised, couldn’t be registered because no one knew who her dam was. After 3 years of investigate, and some serious help from 2 different registries I found my mares breeder and she thankfully still had the dam! She was super co-operative and helped me out by collecting her DNA and sending it off for me. I have now gotten the dam up to date with her papers, and my mare registered with OLD NA/ISR (before I found the breeder) and now once I get the results back from the lab on DNA (I already knew the sire), my mare will be able to be entered into a very nice mare book with OLD NA based on her scores and now parent verification. She has proven herself time and time again that her solid brain is gold, her ground manners are amazing now, she self loads into our 4 horse trailer, sleeps at shows, and has been an amazing partner of mine for 4 years- I wouldn’t trade the hell we went through from packing on the weight, dealing with the mess she was on the ground, and the wild goose chase I had to go on after finding out all these things, for anything.

[HPFarmette]

Wow MissingASock I love your story.

[SuzieQNutter]

LOL Missingasock. I love your story and your username.

[DoodlesMom]

When I was 14, my mom’s coworker mentioned that her grandfather was recovering from quadruple bypass surgery, and needed to sell his two 6 year old horses. She had seen pics of me riding on my mom’s desk, so she naturally thought we needed more horses - as did I. So we packed into the car and drove to BFE, West Virginia, to look at these two horses.

We get there, and he has like 20 ill mannered minis who were just… everywhere. We wade through the minis to the horses, one lovely paint mare and a liver chestnut gelding he says is a Standardbred cross. The old man says they were both rescues, and he doesn’t know much, but he thinks the gelding is broke, and the mare is not. He lugs out an old saddle and bridle, and attempts to bring them in. Well, the gelding is terrified of EVERYTHING, has clearly been beaten. As soon as he’s out of eyesight, the mare becomes neurotic - screaming, running the fence, etc. He brings the gelding back out, tacked, and says I can get on, because he sure as hell isn’t going to. In my 14 year old mind, I was the greatest rider EVER, so yeah, no prob! No red flags anywhere!

Long story short, gelding was very clearly not broke. He was broke to drive, not to ride, which he made clear by repeatedly rearing and trying to dump me. The old man was COMPLETELY UNFAZED. “Yeah, he does that, he’s testing you.” What. No. Of course we decide on the way home that we need both of these hot messes. My mom was in love with the mare, who was registered, and nobody liked the gelding, but he had to come too. I wasn’t present when my mom and BM went to get them, but apparently the mini stud did not take kindly to her taking his herd, and ended up kicking my BM and dislocating her knee cap. When we got them back, the gelding was virtually unable to be handled, and the mare was sweet, but so incredibly dumb.

About a month into ownership, the gelding reared and flipped over onto me. Turns out his wolf teeth were sheered off at the gum line, and his mouth was very, very sore. About a year later the mare unexpectedly died, and I was stuck with the gelding. I later found out that he was more like 2 or 3 when I got him, not 6ish. Old man new nothing, very clearly. Almost 20 years later, he’s still with me, and definitely my heart horse. But he is definitely still a hot mess!