I am dreaming/casual looking for a horse and am interested in one, but am concerned about the fact that it is already on its third owner at the age of seven. Is this a red flag? Would love to get feedback.
What job do you want the horse to do? What has it been doing?
In short, no, there are many perfectly good reasons why horses are sold, so that in itself is not a red flag.
I don’t think that’s too concerning. Breeder sells young horse to owner #2 who starts it undersaddle, starts it, and finishes it to a point then sells to current owner. There could be a plethora of reasons owner 3 wants to sell - too green, not the right fit, etc. ask the seller how long they’ve had the horse, what they have been doing with it, and why they are selling.
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Could be a red flag or could be a horse who has been unlucky. I bought a 3yo last year that I’m now the 7th owner. Absolutely nothing wrong with the horse but he kept falling into the hands of people who didn’t have time for a young horse or fell under financial difficulties and since he was the most valuable of their horses he got sold.
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I don’t think that would be unusual at all for a 7 year old, especially if the three owners would be the breeder, the person who bought the horse to start it, and whoever they sold it to next.
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In short, no. There are plenty of non-nefarious reasons why horses are sold.
You’ll have to be more specific about the horse, what job you want it for, what job its been doing etc… before anyone can tell if there is a problem with this horse having had multiple owners at age 7.
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I wouldn’t be concerned. I was the 5th owner of my 7 year old.
The first was the breeder/trainer (when he was on the track), 2nd was the person who bought him to restart, 3rd was another trainer in a different city who bought him to resell, 4th was a junior rider who sold him to me when she wanted to move up in the jumpers (and I wanted an adult ammy hunter).
Thank you for the feedback. I am also wondering what is meant when told that a sales horse has a spook? I know that every horse has the potential to spook, but I am thinking if that is mentioned when describing the horse, it may be severe. How challenging is it to desensitize a spooky horse and would you consider that a disqualifying characteristic in a potential purchase for an 3’ AA rider ?
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that would be a deal breaker. All horses can spook but to me, saying a horse has a spook , to me, means he does spook.
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It depends upon why the horse spooks. If you are a good enough trainer you’ll be able to sit the spook and, in time, understand why the horse is spooking (trying to get out of work, no trust in its rider, in pain, generally fearful and/or NQR in the brain etc…) and you may or may not be able to improve it.
In any case "desensitizing " the horse isn’t what is required. The process of figuring out the spooker and in time perhaps coming to the realization that the horse is NQR in the head, is not something most 3’ AA riders are interested in taking on, so you should definitely pass on anything labeled as a spooker.
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is the horse currently a hunter and being described as spooky in that context? Or is is a trail horse, being sold because it spooks (as an example)? If it is spooky at the job you want it to do, I would be hesitant. If it is spooky at something you have no interest in doing (such as spooky at Moose), then it wouldn’t bother me.
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is the horse currently a hunter and being described as spooky in that context? Or is is a trail horse, being sold because it spooks (as an example)? If it is spooky at the job you want it to do, I would be hesitant. If it is spooky at something you have no interest in doing (such as spooky at Moose), then it wouldn’t bother me.
Best horse I ever owned was passed around a few times by age 9. I think he never found his person until I got him. And he was absolutely PERFECT. I am not one to check a show record until (making a leap that’s how you found this out) until I try them and am interested.
I own and used to show a horse with a spook. I think it had a lot to do with his vision - he has an ocular melanoma. I finally got so fed up with him I retired him when my younger horse was ready for me to show. I haven’t ridden him for 2 years and every time I think about trying him again, I remember how frustrated he made me. I can’t tell you how great it is to have a horse (horse #2) that almost never spooks - and the two times he has made complete sense. You don’t realize how defensive your riding becomes when you ride a spooky horse - took a while to get over that when I moved on to horse #2.
I guess this is a long way of saying I would pass.
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The horse was originally sold as a dressage horse, but had some limited jumping experience. It is now being sold as a potential hunter-jumper or jumper. The horse spooks many times when ridden in the ring and I think it has developed that habit since it doesn’t seem genuinely fearful. I can tolerate some spookiness, but would rather not invest in a horse in which I have to ride defensively, always wondering, in the back of my mind, when or if the horse may explode.
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Thank you for sharing. I agree that the defensiveness that I would develop from this type of ride might take all of the fun out of riding.
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Something to consider is that spooking can sometimes (far from always, but sometimes) have a pain link. I’ve known a few dressage horses with back or neck issues that were happy to go in a longer hunter frame but would get spooky or hot in a more compact frame. The ethical trainers disclosed this and the horses were sold as such and in others they glossed over it and the horse “just didn’t want to play in the sandbox” when there was notable kissing spines or cervical arthritis.
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I didn’t even think about that. Thank you
I think I’ve reached the ripe old age of not wanting to get on horses known to spook frequently.
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The spookiness thing would really depend for me. Mine will jump fire (has done Derby Finals, Devon, etc. and done them well). But if he’s fresh??? Spooks at everything. Trot too close to a jump? Picks up all 4 hooves and moves over. That Yeti drink cup that moved 6 feet down the rail from yesterday? Monster. The cat that lives in the indoor ring? Never seen it before and it will eat me. These antics just make me laugh.
But as an A/O if I had one that was terribly spooky to jumps, and it was consistent and every new course/jump/trip was a risk of a big spook or a stop because we’re staring at the jump like it’s a black hole? Hard pass.
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