Our barn has bought 4 from Martin in the past 3 years. I think they were all a bit more green than the videos but I can tell you that I couldn’t be more delighted with mine. He was more green than I expected but has been such a fun young horse. I am a 60+ adult amateur and wanted something I can bring along with a trainer. He sent me video’s of Cooper being groomed, blanketed, mounting block, all that I asked for. Please PM me for any questions!
6 Likes
I bought from Martin - PM me if you want more details on my experience. (edited to add - very similar to what has been said above. Generally well represented, horse came off the trailer looking great after a couple weeks of travel. Definitely much more green than they appear in videos.)
4 Likes
Tyna and Jitka. (For anyone shopping, 95% of the Czech dealers, perhaps except for Martin, work in cahoots and the indoor ring you likely see the videos taken in is Tyna’s.)
Regarding the lead changes - they run them through them, since they know how important lead changes are to Americans. I’ve experienced that with a lot of fresh Euro horses. We do simple changes with ours for the first month or two almost exclusively and then have never had a problem. I also think spookiness just sounds like greenness to me, but I realize everyone has different impressions of rideability. (I am an amateur too.) Did you ever raise these issues to Tyna? I’m confident she’d try to make it right.
1 Like
I politely disagree! Martin Leh offers young horses for sale - mainly 4 & 5yo. I don’t know what you guys expect from a growing WB with top jumping blood. Like these horses are still babies! Every day is different & even inter training mood can often change according to the environment (stimuli or even lack of it) and that’s why they require pro riding more often. I would recommended established 7-8+ olds to the average AA, which is the market of P. Dolezal (of course then the horses may come with history). All in all, Cz is pretty small country where everyone knows everyone and selling a lemon can lead to bad reputation.
3 Likes
The horse she’s referring to didn’t come from Martin. It came from Tyra and was an 8 year old.
A friend’s experience was similar - her trainer had worked with Martin Leh before with positive results. The horse showed up generally as advertised, but slightly smaller and greener than it appeared in the videos. They did a conference call and Martin was willing to answer any questions my friend had.
That said, I wouldn’t do it unless you have a trainer with a proven track record of being able to make up the imports in a reasonable amount of time.
1 Like
I think I was saying the same thing as you… I don’t expect a 4- or 5-year-old European to go around like a machine, especially not for an average AA.
5 Likes
Agreed, a 4/5 year old horse won’t have the same level of education an 8 year old in the US would have. But the riders in those videos are slick, and make all their horses look easy and straight and simple. The horse that steps off the trailer usually doesn’t have any power steering (and possibly no brakes)!
4 Likes
did you end up purchasing the horse? I am interested to hear results.
1 Like
In the course of reading this thread I’ve come to realize my horse came through Tyna, though I was not the importer, I bought him from someone else.
The horse was imported by people clearly intending to show him right away, which never happened because he was not having the hunter jumps - I’m sure had never seen them before.
They firesold him to me, and he’s not put a foot wrong here. But I would 100% believe the “much greener than they appear” advice.
That said he is drop dead gorgeous and super safe.
4 Likes
My barn has imported probably 7/6 Czech Republic horses off videos. They are some of the best horses I have ever seen, great movement/jumping, and great temperaments. I rode a few yesterday and they were very smooth.
Obviously, only do what you are comfortable with. I don’t want you to end up with a horse you don’t like.
2 Likes
Sorry I just saw that you bought him-forget my earlier response.
I imported my first horse from Martin with Marjory Berkache as a stateside agent. Highly recommend them both. The horse was a different deal than he usually does (he did not own it) but it was even better than they told me right out of the box.
2 Likes
Do Not Import from Petr
1 Like
I purchased a few horses through him and ended up having issues with vetting.
1 Like
Sorry to hear that. And then what can you do about it? It’s a terrible situation.
I just want to jump in and echo what some others have said-
The riders in the videos are not necessarily being “slick” 
The riders are pros or uber talented ammies, that is their JOB to present the horseI
It is a lot about asking the right questions- ammy friendly and easy means different to different people (especially in other countries).
I just get so tired of hearing “the pros are disingenuous in the video”… ummmm no. If I am posting a video of a sale ride… I’m posting the best. The reputable pros are not misrepresenting intentionally, a lot of buyers DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO ASK.
My trainer can literally ride almost anything greenish around over a meter and make it look like it is totally broke. That is his JOB. (and it happens in the US - a big outfit in KY does it all the time).
Just becasue it is from Europe doesnt make a 4-5 year old magically broke- it is saying “Hey- here is the potential”.
8 Likes
I’m not referring to the riders; I’m referring to the editing of the videos—cut off before a lead change for instance, jumping the same line 100x off the same lead, etc. A lot of people don’t catch those things. As I said, I’ve bought from these dealers (and others) and have always been very happy with my horses, so I’m not at all saying there’s any misrepresentation going on here, but I literally did mean “slick” videos in the sense of the editing and presentation, not the riding.
4 Likes
I agree…
You may have used “slick” but I actually wasn’t referring to your post specifically. My response was to the posts of people saying the are represented one way and show up different. Not saying it doesn’t happen with the intent to decieve- more often than not the more popular “dealers” in Europe can get them around and look much more educated than they are.
1 Like
