Horse Buying/Selling Gripe Thread

Well damn, how did I not know this very valuable piece of info?! Guess I can cancel our upcoming trip to Kentucky now, as the horses will just magically appear here! :rofl:

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In what horse buying universe is transportation usually included? Maybe if you’re buying from your neighbor and they owe you a favor.

I have had a situation where I was moving barns and new BO told me she could move horse for me. The barns were very close, otherwise I would not have agreed. After she moved horse, she told me I owed her $X. I tried not to look taken aback and paid her but I really did think she was offering a favor. Everything was fine, just a miscommunication. The lady in your case just sounds delusional.

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She is GORGEOUS! I hate baths but dang that’s a nice looking filly.

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When I did an ISO for my current guy, I specifically said no arabians. Not that I have anything against them, but they’re not my cup of tea. You wouldn’t believe the number of people who took umbrage and gave me a hard time for having a preference.

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I believe you. My very short list of nos is a very obvious list for my discipline of choice. I also get comments like, “Well, my friend’s trainer’s grandma’s guinea pig did the PSG with an Undesired Breed!” Okay, that’s fantastic, but I’m playing a statistics game here, too. They seem to think this is appropriate because I don’t have the means to spend mid five figures on a horse. Nobody comments this kind of stuff on ISO posts for 17 hh Glamourdale babies with a budget of $75k.

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Just generally chiming in on the people arguing with your ISO reqs. I watched a FB drama unfold in the comments section of an ISO recently. The poster’s crime? Wanting a gelding. Like why even bother someone with your mare ad on a gelding ISO? But then to argue about how the OP should get a mare instead, totally ridiculous.

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This drives me nuts. Most of the people I’ve known who were looking for ONLY geldings or ONLY mares were doing so because of the turnout situation at their barn (home or boarding). It’s not due to some weird bias or ignorance like some commenters seem to believe. It’s simple logistics and NOT going to change because of some stranger on the internet :roll_eyes::roll_eyes:

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Not to mention, if you have a barn full of geldings, there is a pretty good chance bringing a mare in will upset the apple cart and create all sorts of behavior issues, even if they aren’t turned out together.

I actually took a chance on my current barn - she posted an ISO for one gelding for boarding. I PMed her, saying “Well, I have two horses not one, and one of them is a mare. BUT she’s the least marish mare on earth. Would you be willing to take us on a trial basis?” and she agreed. My young mare did not disappoint, and has not caused any issues.

My late mare? Oh HELL yes she would have caused issues, because she was more of a “typical” mare in attitude, and would have driven the geldings NUTS with her peeing/squirting etc.

BO says this is the best group she’s ever had in regards to behavior. Makin’ me proud! :slight_smile:

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Yes, this 100%. I’m one of those people who does prefer to ride geldings–obviously I will ride mares, but if I’m looking for my personal horse, I prefer a gelding–and I’ve seen some people selling mares have absolute meltdowns on some poor people’s very reasonable ISO ads who commit the crime of writing “prefer a gelding.”

If someone selling a mare is like, “this is an unusually chill mare,” the potential buyer is going to be more apt to try the mare versus one of those “omg, you only want a gelding, can’t you even ride, you stupid fool” responses.

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I’ll admit I just have mare bias. Of course I’ll ride geldings and I’ve had geldings, but I prefer mares. All the barns I’ve been at and at home have had mixed herds or sharing a fence line with no issues, thankfully. I’ve never been a fan of male pets. All my dogs have been girls.

I think people take offense, like they think its a personal insult unto their horse, but I still don’t get it. I don’t get why anyone would push you to buy a horse you don’t want, especially their own horse.

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Just so. I really like mares. But I have two geldings at home. If I was getting a third horse I would absolutely require a gelding just to hedge my bets on them getting along.

If I had two mares at home, I’d want another mare.

If I was already running a mixed herd I might take either.

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Wanted to add that it’s totally cool to JUST want a mare cause you just want a mare (or gelding), and people are wild for thinking they can harass someone into changing their mind. Tbh it would make me really dig in and refuse to even look at something else out of spite, even if it had been a ‘preference’ at first.

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I never had the budget to get exactly what I wanted, went for best available. But had a short list of non negotiable items. Age 4 to 8, height 15-16 hands, had to be broke WTC, show some really basic skills in whatever I was buying it for, have the right body type for those skills, display a good, accepting attitude and appear serviceably sound. Low end of market price for similar but not dirt cheap

Amazing how much grief I got and how many miles I wasted looking at 2 year old, dead green 14h, totally unsuitable and obviously lame offerings. Was specific setting up the appointment yet faced hurt feelings and anger when I said no thanks its too young, too green, too small, not built to do the job and, of course, came out of the stall or pen lame…and, no, I don’t want to test ride one 8 weeks past due with one missing and one loose shoe.

The follow up phone calls that started with begging me to take it degenerating into name calling were annoying at best. No FB back then, least you can unplug from the net, not so much the family land line.

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This was me, I was only interested in a mare. Lots of super nice geldings, no doubt - but I wanted a mare.

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I personally prefer mares in general, because I think that gelding a colt removes a lot of their personality. Also, I crave sensitivity. Have never experienced what people are calling mare-ish behavior; I just consider each horse as an individual.

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Can I put this sales ad here because I just love it so much?! Even though I’m not looking for a horse and don’t live in the US, I started trying to work out how to make this lovely mare happen :heart_eyes: (until I noticed she was already sold):

https://www.dreamhorse.com/ad/2237313.html (see video link in ad)

If even a small fraction of sellers put the effort this one did into showing-off their horse’s good qualities and potential.

(Edited to remove excessive fangirling.)

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I agree. I have loved the stallions I have worked with but logistically I could not own one.

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My “preferences” are requirements, but on the off chance there’s something incredible elsewhere I pretend to be flexible. :rofl:

@findeight As for not having the budget to be picky, I look at it another way. I only get one. So why shouldn’t I wait and get exactly what I want?

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At one time, years ago, I was buying for resale so my list was confined to what the market wanted that I could polish up in 6 months or less.

For a personal horse then I was willing to wait longer for exactly what I wanted however, IME, theres always something thats not exactly a perfect match.

Cute horse, they just need to skip the music in the video.

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