How did you find your horse/s?

[pluvinel]

I did not “find” my horses. My horses found me.

One horse was in Aiken. He was an advanced eventer. Owner did not want to ship him north and was selling at the end of the season. About 40 years ago, she wanted $15k for 13 yr old horse. I offered $3,500 and she sold him.

Another horse was in a breeder’s field. She died and there was a herd dispersal. A friend told me and I sent a check, sight unseen, and I got a German-bred (eg., pink papers) 2 yr old Hanoverian.

Another horse was a Lusitano stallion. He was too small/too short when they brought him out to show me. I got a sideways look from him that said, “Are you worthy”…and I was smitten. Then he because my teacher…after I tried to send him back to the seller because he was bucking me off. Best horse I ever had, bar none! Taught me the PhD level of horsemanship.

Next horse was another Lusitano I found in a field in New York… because my husband wanted to go to races at Watkins Glen and I always look for horse stuff nearby.

Next horse was bought sight unseen as a yearling, shipped cross country from Oregon. I had ridden his brother and thought very highly of this animal. Contacted the breeder. She sent me 2 minute videos of 2 yearlings. I picked one, and the rest is history.

So…the horses seem to find me.

[atr]

The last 3…

1. Dreamhorse.com. Lovely Leopard Appaloosa dressage and all around fun horse and genuine good guy. I abandoned my husband in hospital having a hip replacement, flew across country, rode him, loved him, and they offered him to me for half the asking price because they liked me. I had an immense amount of fun with him for 15 years. I put him to sleep at the age of 25 2 years ago, and still miss him enormously.
2. Through trainer word of mouth that I would be a good home for a horse that really needed one. Wonderful, fancy warmblood that had fallen on hard times. He couldnt get his changes to save his life, but took me to Regionals at 2nd level and taught me so much. He developed an intermittent lameness that proved to be well nigh impossible to pin down three years ago so he’s living out his retirement in luxury and idleness.
3. Current mount. Dreamhorse again, oddly enough. Upper level dressage horse with quirks who needed a bit of a step-down home to get his brain and body back together. Bought during Covid times. Risked a short and deserted plane ride and a lot of masking to go look at him and ride him. We are finally in our first show season together after my managing to injure myself doing totally non horse related things at the start of the last two summers, and neither of us having shown for several years. Its a bit spotty but we are out there doing it at 3rd level.

I’m not wealthy so I look for cost effective purchases where I can. I have a pretty good feel for what will and will not work for me and I’m quite patient. Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to find some nice diamonds in the rough that have suited me well.

[starrunner]

I’m hard of hearing and had some pretty awesome university sign language interpreters.

One has horses and when she lost her elderly mare, another person in the community offered her a grey Arabian mare she had standing in her field. She passed on the mare but forwarded her photos and pedigree to me because she knew I love Arabian pedigrees.

I ended up leasing the mare my last year of university and one thing lead to another and I kept her.

The next horse (my current riding horse) is the foal of that grey Arabian mare.

So no trainers involved but hey, my heart is still happy.

[luvmyhackney]

The last two:

ASB - best brain ever- found on Facebook, no trainer but I know the rider in video.

QH is a free lease

Hackney pony - Craigslist cutie - definitely no trainer.

Previous horses are a mix of freebies from friends that were over-horsed and my first horse was purchased off video before the internet, literally off a vhs.

[Manni01]

My last one I found by chance .
Somebody in the barn was trying to sell a 4 year old chestnut mare and although she is a nice horse, nobody was interested. I was figuring that maybe her ad was not describing her qualities, so out of curiosity I tried to look up her ad. My search criteria were chestnut mare 4 and younger, and a 100 km radius around my adress. This mare showed up and her ad did not describe her qualities at all. I would not look at her because of the ad …

But I also found an ad for a very nice 3 year old mare just started with very expressive gaits. I tried not to but I went and look at her and of course fell in love with her….