I’ve learned that no one in the horse industry can be correct 100% of the time. Many are very confident that they can be but it’s not always the case.
Unfortunately horses are inherently risky. It’s all about weighing the pros and cons and the amount of risk.
Absolutely! When I bought the horse in question I accepted the level of risk that comes with buying an OTTB from a reseller because I’m a pretty confident rider with excellent trainer help, but I won’t do it again anytime soon…although it is still tempting sometimes because there are so many nice horses out there.
Bingo. It’s ok to be wrong, ya know?
Absolutely. You are proof that you can be a capable, lovely rider, with all your ducks in a row and still things didn’t work out. Of course I know how that goes 
Yep humans, working with an animals! No shame, just how it can be…
You are more educated and experienced than the average TB buyer though, which is huge. I have people ask me all the time about getting TBs off the tracks, or for connections but the people are not the type/experience level that have the eye and experience to know what to find.
For someone with your knowledge - I agree.
Amy Dahlgren of Arendahl Farm in Lexington, KY, usually has a couple OTTBs that she is bringing up for resale. She also helped me try a bunch of horses down there (all OTTBs) and helped me find the right horse even though it wasn’t at her barn. She is REALLY good at matching horses and riders.
Brain is the #1 most important thing to me, I also cannot do the purchase right now or walk thing, especially sight unseen and the horse being green. I was looking for a green dressage prospect and got a super fancy one that I am loving!
My two cents: I would be extremely wary about buying from an individual track trainer I don’t personally know well. As @Jealoushe noted, their fiduciary duty is to the owners; thus their priority is to get these horses off the owner’s payroll. Plus, you don’t have to actually know much about horses to pass the exam for a trainer’s license in my state, at least.
I work with a retired jockey. He still has connections at tracks all over the east coast. Because he’s retired, he isn’t beholden to any of them for his paycheck. He occasionally picks up a cheap ($500-1000) project when he’s bored. None of those horses were ever advertised – all word of mouth & all people approaching him with horses & not vice versa. (Seriously, the dude’s phone pings at least twice a day.) They’ve all been safe, safe, safe. He’s too old & sore to want to get banged up riding a loon anymore. His wife & kids are good “civilian” riders. So, while he hates riding in an arena & may not get the nuances of normal riding, he’s still very realistic about what constitutes a dangerous horse off the track. I trust him enough that if I liked what I saw in video/pics of a horse he showed me, I’d feel ok buying it sight unseen.
The riders usually know which horses are trouble, which horses broke down, etc. How freely they can talk about things if they’re currently riding, I don’t know. And not everyone lives in an area like this where you’re likely to know somebody currently riding racehorses or retired from it. Worth keeping in mind, though.
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