Price of Novice Horse??

[bornfreenowexpensive]

He is local…go try him. Nothing drives me more nuts then people talking themselves into or out of a horse by its record…other than people doing this before even trying a horse local to them!!! Go spend a couple of hours and sit on the horse. You will either love the way he feels or not. If not…easy answer. But if he puts a smile on your face and you have fun riding him…then either buy him or negotiate the price because of his record. But do NOT guess at a horse local to you. A crap record might keep you from buying a plane ticket just to try this horse…but one local…who cares about a record/especially 10 points in dressage. Go try him.

[GraceLikeRain]

@bornfreenowexpensive

A crap record might keep you from buying a plane ticket just to try this horse…but one local…who cares about a record/especially 10 points in dressage. Go try him.

AMEN! I’m going to see a unregistered scrawny Saddlebred and an OTTB that may be too much horse for me this weekend. Both are local so why not push myself to think outside of the box and see if either is a surprising click.

[caryledee]

@bornfreenowexpensive

He is local…go try him. Nothing drives me more nuts then people talking themselves into or out of a horse by its record…other than people doing this before even trying a horse local to them!!! Go spend a couple of hours and sit on the horse. You will either love the way he feels or not. If not…easy answer. But if he puts a smile on your face and you have fun riding him…then either buy him or negotiate the price because of his record. But do NOT guess at a horse local to you. A crap record might keep you from buying a plane ticket just to try this horse…but one local…who cares about a record/especially 10 points in dressage. Go try him.

LOL I plan to. We’ve had scheduling problems with the holiday weekend and AECs going on and had to move it to next weekend. But I’ve never bought a made horse before and really have no clue about prices.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

@caryledee

LOL I plan to. We’ve had scheduling problems with the holiday weekend and AECs going on and had to move it to next weekend. But I’ve never bought a made horse before and really have no clue about prices.

Ok to ask but first go see if you even like him. And honestly…I never dissect a horse’s record. IMO, You really cannot tell as much as people think. There are just too many factors and it really is not an indication of how “you” would do with the horse.

[caryledee]

@bornfreenowexpensive

Ok to ask but first go see if you even like him. And honestly…I never dissect a horse’s record. IMO, You really cannot tell as much as people think. There are just too many factors and it really is not an indication of how “you” would do with the horse.

Interesting perspective! Thanks for sharing!

[Blugal]

Yep, I had an OTTB with a not great record in SJ. Guess what, he packed me around up to Internediate, while at the same time I could take beginners on trail rides on him. Turns out when I finally went to a SJ coach, and I learned how to ride… I wish I could try again with him and see how well we would have done.

[Ruth0552]

You’ll have to update us and let us know how he was. It might be that his rider just isn’t asking for enough horse in stadium but he’s more forward xc. OR, it might be that he’s rubbing every fence but the xc ones don’t fall down, which is a problem.

[caryledee]

@Blugal

Yep, I had an OTTB with a not great record in SJ. Guess what, he packed me around up to Internediate, while at the same time I could take beginners on trail rides on him. Turns out when I finally went to a SJ coach, and I learned how to ride… I wish I could try again with him and see how well we would have done.

I completely agree with what you are saying. I would give anything to have my first horse (an OTTB) back. He was also one that I could put friends on and then jump him around a big course. But I guess my feeling is that I developed that horse. This horse has a price tag that I would associate with a horse successful at his level. It seems like a lot to pay for a horse that has had poor rides for 3 seasons.

[caryledee]

@Ruth0552

You’ll have to update us and let us know how he was. It might be that his rider just isn’t asking for enough horse in stadium but he’s more forward xc. OR, it might be that he’s rubbing every fence but the xc ones don’t fall down, which is a problem.

Yes, hopefully this weekend will work out for both of us so I can try him. You may be right about the forwardness. My big retired TB needs to be forward in stadium or he will also knock them down. It is hard to learn to keep them forward but collected enough for the turns when they are that size. Much easier on the little, catty ones!

[Dr_Doolittle]

@caryledee

I completely agree with what you are saying. I would give anything to have my first horse (an OTTB) back. He was also one that I could put friends on and then jump him around a big course. But I guess my feeling is that I developed that horse. This horse has a price tag that I would associate with a horse successful at his level. It seems like a lot to pay for a horse that has had poor rides for 3 seasons.

Certainly worth trying him to see whether you can “suss out” the issues; seeing him ridden AND sitting on him yourself will provide you with a lot of information.

And LOL, yeah - maybe he will be a forgiving type with a short memory, or maybe not…If so, it’s possible that you will be able to turn things around with more consistent, correct riding and training.

In any case, we are all interested in hearing an update after the fact! (So “watching this space” )

[Can_tFindMyWhip]

@caryledee

Honestly if he was consistently at low to mid 30s I’d be okay with it. But everything else has been mid 30s and up…most in the 40s. They go up to almost 50. I’ve had quite a few tense horses in my lifetime and to me that is really high, even with tension. But I haven’t done a real event since the dark ages so my sense of scoring may be skewed!

Maybe the rider is just overfaced with this horse…he is big and looks to be pretty powerful. She has a couple of other horses on her record and dressage scores have been about the same on them but fewer rails and overall scores are lower.

The only video I currently have is with the trainer up and just a couple of jumps.

Previously you had stated that you weren’t feeling particularly brave anymore, and that you don’t want another horse who is going to be really tense in dressage (I know that feeling, and I am also horse shopping and I know how difficult that is to assess. I think we are in a similar boat I really empathize with you here.) But if you think the rider may be overfaced and he is too big and powerful, I think you can eliminate him as a prospect. He certainly doesn’t sound ammy friendly.

I would look at it like one of two things are happening. He is either really hot and tense and not enjoyable to ride, or there is some poor riding going on, and you will have to train some stuff out. Either way, if he is at the top of your budget I would pass. It’s never a good idea to max out your budget on a project unless the horse is younger and has the scope to make it to the upper levels, and that is where you want to go. But we haven’t even established if he has the scope to be competitive at novice.

I am certain that they have video of the horse at competition, but they aren’t showing it for a reason.

[caryledee]

@Can'tFindMyWhip

Previously you had stated that you weren’t feeling particularly brave anymore, and that you don’t want another horse who is going to be really tense in dressage (I know that feeling, and I am also horse shopping and I know how difficult that is to assess. I think we are in a similar boat I really empathize with you here.) But if you think the rider may be overfaced and he is too big and powerful, I think you can eliminate him as a prospect. He certainly doesn’t sound ammy friendly.

I would look at it like one of two things are happening. He is either really hot and tense and not enjoyable to ride, or there is some poor riding going on, and you will have to train some stuff out. Either way, if he is at the top of your budget I would pass. It’s never a good idea to max out your budget on a project unless the horse is younger and has the scope to make it to the upper levels, and that is where you want to go. But we haven’t even established if he has the scope to be competitive at novice.

I am certain that they have video of the horse at competition, but they aren’t showing it for a reason.

Thanks for the input! Honestly I am just speculating at this point about why the scores have been what they are. I have limited information and in fairness, I haven’t asked for anything else because she is down the road from me and I think seeing in person is most important. Hopefully it won’t be much longer!

I do totally agree with you; with him being at the top of my budget, he would have to be a perfect fit for me to take him. As we all know, that is pretty rare when horse shopping! But I am going to keep an open mind and see what happens!

[abbylee]

My OTTB had consistently scored anywhere from mid to high thirties to one low fifty when I bought him, and based on that, I probably wouldn’t have tried him if he wasn’t 5 minutes down the road from my current barn. One year later he was consistently scoring low thirties at rated shows and had a couple mid to low twenties scores at schooling shows. He was a good mover from the beginning but just lacked the basics. I think as long as you get into it knowing what to expect and work on, and are willing to do the homework with what you sign up for, you’ll be fine!

[caryledee]

So I did end up trying the horse. First off, I don’t think he is 100% sound; he had a slight unevenness in his gait. Even my non-horsey friend noticed it. He worked out of it somewhat but I doubt he would pass a PPE. Physical problems aside, riding wise, he was a tad testy about going forward. He seems a little quirky. He would be a fun horse to play around with but not really what I am looking for at this point.

[findeight]

Well. If something hurts them. they do get quirky and they don’t want to go forward. Because it hurts.that would certainly explain the erratic scores in Dressage and dropped rails. It’s amazing how many think if it’s not head bobbing, three legged lame, it’s sound. Seem to find these people any time I go look at sales horses:no:.

[Dr_Doolittle]

Sounds like you dodged a bullet, OP!

Though poor horse…