I have been horse shopping for about 7 mo and while, I can understand that this is a pretty normal timeline, especially in this market, I can’t help but be impatient. So far, I’ve come close to buying twice . The first time, the owner led me down a rabbit hole which ended with them wanting a 20k lease on an unshown prospect, and the second horse’s owners backed out the day of the vetting (luckily we were still able to cancel it). Each time I’ve gotten emotionally attached and each time, I’ve been disappointed. For me, purchasing a horse would mean more ride time and the ability to finally move up from 2’6". Is looking for a horse always this difficult? I am still very happy to even be horse shopping, but it has just been very difficult to deal with the constant emotional roller coaster. I am contemplating buying sight-unseen, but I don’t know if I should hold out on that or not. I guess my questions are: Are horse owners generally flaky about selling? Is there anything I can do to expedite my search or should I just focus on changing my mindset? Should I consider finding an easy and cheap project just so that I have something to ride? I would love to hear other’s opinions on this. Thank you in advance.
I’m not horse shopping, nor have I in the past, but my trainer has been horse shopping (both for herself and other people) and she has run into so many aggravating situations recently.
Her theory is that a lot of people have a horse that they’re not totally in love with and are on the fence about selling. So they list them for sale and get calls from people but all the calls from people interested in the horse kinda makes them think that maybe the horse is something they should hang onto and so they get wishy washy about the whole thing. In the last month or two, my trainer has probably had 6 different sellers either be totally non-responsive or flake out altogether on her (after she drove 6 hours to look at their horse).
That doesn’t really help your situation, but I’d encourage you to keep looking and maybe talk with your trainer about making sure your expectations and desires are reasonable (not saying they aren’t, but just something worth revisiting since you’ve been looking for so long). It’s a tough market out there, and sellers aren’t always as helpful as we wish they were.
Good luck!
Don’t cave or compromise!! You will regret it, and horses are too expensive to be stuck with the wrong one. Horse shopping is very frustrating and can take way longer than we think it should. I tried more than 20 horses in person over a 6-8 month time period, got frustrated, and after multiple bad PPE’s compromised on some criteria and regretted it because while it was a nice horse it wasn’t the right match. The market is tough for buyers right now, but it pays to be patient. Think about how to possibly try something new in your search. What part of the country are you in? It can be really productive if you plan a horse-shopping trip to a central area (in the SE, for example, lots of buying and selling happens in Ocala, Aiken and Tryon) and focus on lining things up to try in that area. Find something to anchor your trip, and ask that trainer if they know of others to make a trip worthwhile, and post an ISO ad in the FB groups with the dates of your trip and what you are looking for. If what you are looking for is realistic, you may be surprised how many responses you get. My current horse wasn’t listed anywhere, the selling trainer responded to an ISO post and it was a perfect match. And, unless you are a versatile rider who can ride a variety of types (I am not!), i would not buy sight unseen unless you could do some kind of lease/purchase that gives you an out without losing too much money. Good luck, it seems like it should be fun to shop, but it is actually a long painful process many times!
Despite this crazy market it’s always going to be easier to buy then sell for us real people who aren’t brokers or uber wealthy multi horse households. Stay strong. The right one is out there.
Adding I agree with @Mander. There is a bit of the housing bubble dynamic going on at least in the mid range hunter market in my area. Prospective sellers are seeing big dollars, advertise only to realize they then are the buyer and maybe what they have is better than what they can now afford to buy and flake on selling.
I totally agree and thank you so much. Hoping to find something before the end of summer, but we’ll see.
Thank you! I have actually backed out on one/two due to not wanting to compromise and it is comforting to know that I was being reasonable. I’m located in Louisiana, but luckily have the ability to fly (if the weather is good). Although, I am unfortunately limited to one-day trips. I personally don’t think what I’m asking for is impossible since I have found several that check all of my boxes, but I have definitely become more flexible about certain criteria. I have posted several ISO ads over the past few months and found a few, however in the end, it just didn’t work out.
This has definitely been my experience.
What are you looking for? Maybe someone here has a lead on something that will work for you!
Stay the course! That 3’ hunter move-up horse is a gem even in a slow market and the market is insane right now.
I’d definitely second the suggestion to plan some trips to Ocala/Aiken/Tryon etc and line up as many appointments as you can in a day. I had a friend who was shopping for months and months, then took a weekend to fly to Ocala, went to WEC and 4 or 5 barns, tried a few horses at each, and found a fabulous one.
You may also have better luck shopping from a trainer or sales barn rather than with individual owners. Way less likely to flake out, though things always happen, plus they may have multiple options for you to see at once.
Don’t over look a good OTTB that’s doing the job.
Best wishes!
Often it just takes a while. But if you aren’t already, working with people who buy and sell a lot can really help speed things up. Most pros can go find horses just fine, but some have a steady stream of leads coming their way and can get in front of the details of a deal before you invest too much into it.
Re: Whether sellers are flaky… Sometimes, yeah. But anyone who’s sold a horse will tell you that buyers are, too. For most horse owners, it’s a lot of money and they don’t buy/sell that often, so it can be a clunky and emotional process on both sides.
Hang in there! You’ll find your horse eventually and pretty quickly forget all about the shopping process. 
Hi, I wanted to update this thread to show how far I’ve come. Attached are photos from my first ever 3’0” competition round from last weekend. It’s been long road, but I’m happy that I found my special partner.
What a cutie. Congrats!
Congrats! It looks like you found a special one, and it was worth the wait.
Of note, it wasn’t until I got to your post that specified “update” that I looked and realized your original post was 2 years old. And that the first post is just as relevant today. I’ve been casually looking for an affordable prospect for several months now and ended up getting something much younger/greener than I was hoping for as well as some other compromises I wouldn’t have expected to make a few years ago. The horse market is still tough, and I’m amazed at high prices for unshown prospects (as a buyer), while simultaneously glad that nice youngsters are going for prices that consider what it costs to produce them (as a breeder).
anyway, I digress. Congrats again on your lovely horse.
This- and for heaven’s sake don’t act like you love the horse, nor should you make it look too good when you ride it. I went to look at a horse once that the owner couldn’t ride one side of, but when I got it jumping around and doing lead changes etc she changed her mind about selling it. Bet she still has it- and still can’t ride it lol
