Agree with others that it’s hard to untangle what the exact relationship is. Your current employer/instructor is within her rights to be selective when it comes to the type, breed, or discipline of the horses she helps find and then train or show, as they reflect on her business. You are within your rights to search elsewhere for a new barn/instructor who suits your goals, and who will be responsive to your stated budget and wish list.
Overall, sounds it would be in your best interest to have a direct conversation with your current instructor to understand her specific concerns about you purchasing a non-registered horse, for example, and to understand whether she would be willing to take a more proactive role in helping your find a horse that meets your parameters.
What does she consider a “top notch” QH and what discipline does she want you to do with it? Is she looking at any particular bloodlines?
And since she’s putting down every. single. horse YOU find, why isn’t she looking for one for you? That is what a good trainer would do, especially for a green rider who’s only been lessoning with her for one year.
Why the “so”? OP initially posted in OT, was told OC was the better place for it, and subsequently (according to the timestamps on the post) posted it here where it’s more appropriate.
I almost always quote what I’m responding to. It makes the response much easier to follow for other thread readers, and preserves what I reply to in case of edit/deletion.
Some people feel weird about being quoted, for reasons I don’t understand in the context of written fora.
Your question wasn’t actually a question. Nor was it an attempt to educate OP on cross-posting as you didn’t refer them to forum rules or explain forum norms (not that it would be necessary in this case, as OP wasn’t cross-posting but responding to the person in her other post who did let her know where this question was best suited).
This problem seems more like a problem with communications with the employer than with anything else, as other posters have noted.
I want to add, though, that if the OP sticks to her own list of what she wants and ignores what her employer wants her to get, the OP might find that she’ll need to find somewhere else to board the horse. I’m not saying this to be mean or critical; personally, I’ve never really cared whether anyone else thought I was buying a suitable horse or not. But that’s just me, and I’ve never been employed by a boarding barn where I was hoping to board my newly acquired horse.
So (a word that has been only recently designated as controversial ;)), the OP should probably consider just how open her employer will be to allowing her not only to buy a horse that she hasn’t approved but also to bring the horse to board and be ridden at this barn.
Veruca, totally get why you want your Oompa Loompa right away, but you are getting very good advice here and you should consider it.
A rider I knew long ago got the first horse she looked at. A 6 year old Arabian.
He was sweet and cute, but way too much horse for her. She sold him st a loss and bought a nice QH mare which was so much suitable.
She freely admitted she had made a mistake in buying so quickly.
Luckily for her, she didn’t get hurt and she found a good home for the Arab.
Most of the time, it doesn’t work out like that.
You do have time to look around and find the horse that is right for you.
I didn’t get my first horse until I was in my 30’s so you are way ahead of the curve.
Are adults today not able to make their own decisions? With 5k you should be able to go out on your own or with a horse experienced friend and find a nice, well moving QH ( or cross) who can safely take you on the trails and get you through your lessons.
Your " boss" needs to be removed from the whole horse search as she has shown she isn’t capable of keeping her unwanted opinions to herself. The horse is for you not her and she seems to not be able to grasp what YOU want.
If I may offer 1 piece of advice stay away from the " rescue" route. Find a horse who is (right now) doing successfully exactly what you want to do .
Why exactly do you think there’s not a horse at a rescue somewhere ready for a trail riding home? Good rescues rehab if necessary, and then figure out suitability for a job of each horse they have by trying them out or training or retraining them as needed. Not all rescue are broken, and many of them had a job prior to rescue that they are able to do once ready to be adopted.
While I do agree that there are rescues with suitable mounts out there, as a first time buyer with questionable guidance and only a year of riding experience, I wouldn’t recommend it to our OP. She could find a rescue organization that’s honest about their horses and she finds her dream mount, or she could end up looking at a place that just wants to pawn off a pretty but unsuitable horse on her. Granted, any seller could be that way too.
My personal opinion is that maybe OP should consider continuing lessons, perhaps with another trainer who meshes better with her goals, and also look into leasing, so she can feel what ownership is like without all that responsibility right off the bat.
Ummmm…this is the first time you have ever, as a decision making adult, bought a horse but you don’t want any lectures? I’ve bought and leased considerably more then one over 50 years but won’t try to tell you anything. I would like to point out a few things though. Just based on the info you have shared.
Trainer here runs a QH barn geared towards QHs. You will be boarding horse with QH trainer in QH oriented barn where you will, as will all clients, be representing her training business.
Sounds like trainer specializes in aiming clients to QH shows and her business model is based on getting them suitably mounted and trained up to support her business and attract new clients.
Sounds like you just want to trail ride on whatever kind of horse you find and probably expect to get a break in boarding and lesson costs in QH show barn from QH trainer for a non QH you won’t be showing.
It sure doesn’t sound like this is the right barn for you or you are the right employee/ client for this trainer and her business. That’s not right or wrong, that’s just business to fill QH show barn stalls with QH show horses.
Have to say, if she’s showing you " top notch" QHs for 10k, she’s either giving you a heck of a deal or that’s just the deposit to hold for a PPE. Knowledge is power in horse buying like everything else. But you don’t want lectures so just think about the above points.
If the OP relied on her instructor, trainer, barn manager/owner with whom she plans on boarding wrt any horse she buys, it should not be a problem.
While I agree, no horse out there is something she should shop for on her own.
The way I read candyappys post she was suggesting there are not horses at a rescue doing what OP wants, which is untrue/inaccurate.
Lease first, seriously. I love my mare, who I’ve had for 11 years, but I was not quite ready to be a horse owner when I bought her.Yes, it’s that beautiful horse in my icon, but she was too much horse when I first had her, and I had to put a lot of time and $$$ into her to get a reasonably good match. A year of leasing a packer would have helped me figure out what I really wanted. BTW I was 44 at the time, twice your age!
If you are staying with your employer, really, seriously, you want to lease something in her barn, or one of her friend’s barns… with a very solid contract to give both of you an out if it’s not the right horse. Hint: some leases turn into purchases if things go very well. If your goals are different than what she offers, it might be time to move on. Good barn help is always in short supply.
Depends on where you are and the rescues that operate locally. It’s not so black and white nationwide. We’ve got some good ones here but not sure there’s very many experienced, serviceablly sound horses ready to safely pack on the trails. I’ve gone with several looking for those, didn’t find any. Got some decent young prospects off the track and non useable seniors but those didn’t suit. Those trail packers don’t get to the rescue but get sold either auction or private, always a market.
You never specified how many lessons you took over the year. Did you take a hr lesson every week. What type of shows are you going to do? Leasing could be a good thing for you as you would get more ride time in the saddle. Thus more experience. Good luck with whatever choice you make.
Everyone has given great information, but I’m going to side with the OP a little bit.
The trainer trying to get her to spend double her budget is a red flag to me. The OP mentioned in the first post that she’s finding bombproof (I assume she’s correct) horses to trail ride and maybe show, and she’s open to different breeds. Doesn’t sound like she’s that interested in showing.
OP sounds like she has sensible requirements for her first horse, and 5k in most places is a reasonable budget for an older, been-there-done-that horse. Maybe this just isn’t the right trainer to help her find a horse.
It doesn’t even touch what a top notch prospect would go for, honestly.
Where is the OP? @xrichux can you weigh in on some of the questions that have been asked of you - I’m still interested in the relationship dynamics here if you’re truly wanting help/advise.
