How are you and your fellow now? Did you reach the goals you had set when buying a horse?
This was going on 16 years ago.
My horse is now 26; I got him as a 10-year-old. He was going at the height where I wanted to get competent, but in a different discipline- he had been an eventer and jumper, and I wanted to be in the equitation. My goal was to get competent in the big eq and then move up to the USET medal and 1.15-1.20 jumpers. We did achieve the first part. That second part turned out to be a combination of not achievable and not a priority- by the time that I was ready to step up to that level I was in college, where we didn’t have a lot of opportunities to practice at that level, and then I ended up focusing on different goals both in riding and with my career. We could have gotten there- my horse was quite capable- but went a different route.
I don’t have any regrets about any of that- in hindsight, I definitely picked the right horse. He has been a good friend for many years and I’ve learned so much from him. Both of the horses in my scenario were equally capable at their jobs. But I was learning, and I needed a horse who could bring me up to the horse’s level. My horse was able to teach me, and the other horse was not.
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I agree with having trainer ride the first horse, trying horse over bigger jumps. Does horse try? Keep his good form at the extra heights? I think with horse being so nice for YOU that he would be best choice if he “can do the job” with a more skilled rider. You will have to work a little to gain skill at the bigger heights, so the more obedient horse is a better choice. You do not need to worry about horse trying to scare you, be hard to sit, pulling, as you improve your skills at a bigger height.
Riding is supposed to be FUN, even with our goals to work towards. A horse that does not work well with you removes the fun from using him, you will need to push yourself to go ride him. Having a good time with your horse, a comfortable ride, is very important to your confidence, skill building. Lets you work on the smaller details, polish yourself, not just the big things.
You can use, improve your skills and the first horse’s skills, and then sell him on if he can no longer do what you want. Maybe for more money if he is more skilled then! Takes time to get good, solid equitation at bigger heights, him using more muscle power, and have him be reliable at bigger heights. Let him be an enjoyable ride as you both move up the heights.
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You have had problems being overhorsed in the past. Perhaps it’s because you keep picking horses with potential that you feel you can hopefully grow into, but don’t. A horse you trust and click with, who can build your confidence back up, is worth its weight in gold. Is it more important you to risk another problem horse who seems to scare you with potential to maybe jump 1.2 someday (or maybe scare you more and lead to more stopping issues), or to have a heck of a lot of fun enjoying jumping 1.1 and maybe not move up another level?
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When I faced a similar choice, I bought number two. I should have bought number one.
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Honestly the second I sat on him I just felt that I liked him, something about him just sort of clicked with me so I do feel he’d make an incredible partner but I’m just scared he can’t do any higher than 1.10.
I will definitely be asking for a video of him jumping higher though, I think its a great idea.
And no! We don’t run them to the ground but usually we consider that by 15 a horse should be treated more gentle which is why around here we don’t have really old horses jumping high unless they were very successful so as to not stress them out and keep them healthy.
Really? What happened?
My choices were two greenies. One with clearly more step and scope. The other sweet and a fun ride but maybe not a 3’6" horse. Mine also had that same power and a bit much to handle. I thought she would be better after she got more broke, etc. Nope. My trainer also loved her but he could ride her. I couldn’t.
Something else you want to consider is when you try horses, they are rarely going to be better than when you try them. The people who know them have prepared them perfectly for the best possible experience. Sure there are situations where things can go wrong, but you and a trainer went to another trainer and tried the horse where he was already comfortable. Think of it this way. If you never have a better ride than you had the day you tried him, would you be happy you bought him?
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Funny thing… I wasn’t actually supposed to ride the first horse 
I had gone to a town nearby to try two horses, in particular, my trainer thought I would enjoy which sadly were in no way a match for me and the owner asked if I could help out with a horse while he talked to my trainer (they’re good friends and wanted to catch up and the owner seemed to notice I hadn’t had the best time on the other two horses) and one rider warned me that the horse I was going to try might be a bit too much for me or maybe kicked out and considering the last two horses weren’t to my taste they thought I might fall. To my surprise we seemed to just click, even the second day I rode him (I asked if I could) I still really liked him, and I immediately asked if he was for sale and to my luck the owner said he was willing to let him go at my budget exactly.
The second one was a surprise visit which the owner was happy to help out, the owner is a long time friend so he didn’t mind the surprise visit, so I’d like to think that I did try them without much preparation going into it.
In the end what did you do with the horse you thought was too much for you?
I don’t even know why the second horse is still in the running except your trainer enjoys riding him, which is what it sounds like would end up happening much of the time.
Buy the first horse. All day long. I had (and have) major confidence issues from a horse that was a dirty stopper and shopped for a full year for my next horse. I knew the second I sat on the horse I was supposed to buy - couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. He was as honest as the day was long but smart enough to stop if we got into trouble, which I think was twice in the 3 years I had him. He was only in my budget because he didn’t have a show record and he happily took me to the 1.3m before I went off to college. I literally trotted him over the first jump in a .65m class the first time we showed together because I was so nervous. If the first horse had done more, you likely couldn’t afford him. Even if you just get the most amazing miles ever in the 1.1m, you will leave him a better rider and more able to handle a challenging horse.
Buy horse one.
If you don’t buy horse one, DO NOT BUY HORSE 2.
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Yeah, the more i think about it and the more people on here explain how they see it the more I see it as well. I just remember sitting on Finn, horse 1, and honestly smiling all day. The first time i jumped him I was completely surprised by how nice he was and how he somehow seemed to get my hand immediately. I think… I think I might actually get him. Yeah, I did really like him and even if he doesn’t have the experience or the show record i felt completely confident on him. Who knows, maybe he surprises me.
Thank you!
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Wow, its a shame you never got to own them but that sort of experience with a heart horse seems nice. I’ve never had the chance to have a heart horse, last two horses i had were the ‘best ones’ within my budget and I will always be thankful to them but they weren’t the best to learn on and they left me with quite a bit of bruises XD.
But yeah, I think i’ve decided I’m sticking with Finn. I’m not sure what the future might hold but I’m excited to see what might happen. Who knows if he’ll give me the height I want but for now I’m confident he can help me get my confidence back.
Thank you very much for your advice!
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Here he is! This is Finn, and here’s a video of him doing another 6 bar jump. According to the owner this was around 1.65 but he isn’t 100% sure. Not sure if he looks confident jumping or not but I’d love to hear your thoughts
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Since I’m still new to this whole thing its still hard for me to judge horses off of pure video alone so I really appreciate you actually looking at the video and giving me your point of view! I personally thought that maybe he’d get to 1.40 if I’m lucky and I take care of him properly but hey, you never know.
I wish you luck! Whenever you find one I hope you find the one that clicks
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Here’s what I’ll say.
An unconfident horse is not going to attempt to jump a fence that large.
He’s cute. Have fun
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That is a challenging exercise that that horse just cruised through.
If you don’t want that one, I do
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I am not looking to buy for about a year or two, but sh*t, @DollyDoll, if you don’t take him, I might jump at this import (assuming you are not in the US from your lease commentary). He’d likely snooze through my 1.10 goals / have enough scope for an occasional solid hunt fence 
Kidding but only barely, if you pass, let me know!
He knocked the second to last and just kept powering to give a correctly lovely final fence. He also was super controlled and calm on the backside. That is a GOOD horse, great brain, doesn’t get upset with a knock, but corrects in the next fence. My two heart mares were KWPN, I wonder what lines he is?
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Some of this story makes me wonder about the trainer’s suitability for this rider. Throwing you on a horse to hang on and run into a wall to stop is not a great instructive approach for example. And if trainer knows of your confidence issues there is no way horse 2 should be considered.
If you can’t or won’t change trainers I would at least clinic with someone else regularly.
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I would 100% buy horse #1 in your shoes. Or keep looking, but #2 does not sound suitable. I was coming from a horse that killed my confidence. He was scopey and athletic as can be—that was not the problem. I looked for 2 years for another horse. At first it was to help me ride the other one better since I developed bad habits from my lack of confidence. But then I lost the first horse and so it just became about getting myself back. I did have an injury that put the looking on hold for several months in that time. And I did vet several and with even more had the preliminary X-rays nixed by my vet.
I finally found the perfect one, and this past year with him has helped my riding a lot even though due to COVID and some other circumstances, we haven’t really shown. I do the hunters and he’s not going to be a world beater at that, but he is quiet and was within my modest budget, and he is super tolerant and never ever holds a grudge (unlike my other horse who got pissed about every mistake, even his own green moments). He has competed higher than I will need him to jump, and thankfully he doesn’t really feel any different jumping .95 or 1.20 (and below that he is basically asleep), but if he winds up just being a 3’ or 3’3” horse at the hunter job, I don’t care because he has been the right horse for me at this time.
If horse #1 is a joy to ride, there will be a lot of benefit in that based on your last experience. And it looks like he could at least do the 1.20. Maybe try him again and have your trainer put together a few larger fences, maybe also a combination? How much snow experience does he have? If he has not shown much, he may just need miles to settle in to be good at the bigger heights. It might not have anything to do with the jumps really. My horse has only done very baby hunter courses at shows because he’s a bit more on the muscle at shows and needs to learn how to go around half asleep like he does at home. I don’t want to worry about more mileage on his legs or being more accurate at the bigger height while we go through that—I know he can jump it (and have a photo of him jumping a 2’6” jump clearing it at about 1.15m at the show 
). And of course I saw show videos of him at 1.20-1.25 in Europe shortly before I bought him.
So maybe you start at 1.10 to regain your confidence and the horse gets to know you. Would you be ok with that? If not then you need to keep looking for one that is a packer at 1.20. Those will be harder to find on limited budget. And for sure less so at 1.30. But perhaps the proven 1.30 horse is not what you need right now. This horse Fin looks and sounds lovely.
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He’s VDL! Got imported when he was on the younger side.
XD I’ll let you know what happens or if I do end up getting him I’ll be on here showing him off.
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