This is true and a component I definitely thought about. I flatted him yesterday after he hadn’t been ridden in month and he was trailered over to a local park with a field so I could ride him. He took it all in stride in a plastic mouth bit (owners only ride him in a side pull and only have trails to ride on at home). It was an interesting experience to say the least but the entire situation is just so beyond odd.
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What an interesting story! There could be a lot of explanations for this situation.
- Ran out of money: owner stopped paying board and horse was auctioned for back board and just continued to get passed on.
- Similar, but owner traded the horse for some kind of other debt relief.
- Owner died, and no one knew what to do with this horse.
- Horse had an injury, got sold cheap because it had it or had behavioral issues associated with it that showed up and the injury itself was not diagnosed. I got a wonderful horse a long time ago, from a backyard situation, and looking back, that’s what I think happened. Horse took a few years off, doing very little, and likely healed. Horse was great for me.
The “Montana” thing? That could be complete BS, kinda designed to obscure the horse’s journey, or just a tall tale. Doesn’t sound like there is very much available to support that, so it might just be a story.
Reads like you have a nice horse with a lot of good training here. Get him!
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All excellent points! It also ran through my head that horse could have been stolen at one point (I do NOT think the current owner has anything to do with that, she’s a mom that bought him as a pretty trail horse and realized he’s more than just that) but I did do a lot of sleuthing to see and couldn’t find anything that points towards him being stolen (I’d think that most people would have flags on the chip or registration numbers if so).
He showed in Europe when he was 5…
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://results.hippodata.de/2020/1776/docs/s_77a.pdf
with a Latvian rider (Santa Steinberga, owner Springstal Carino)
Their Instagram hasn’t been updated in ages but I think that horse is on there
https://www.instagram.com/springstalcarino/?hl=en
I don’t think this horse was imported from Germany. I think he washed out as a pro jumper there quickly and was passed to another country and then eventually was imported to the US from there.
I suspect this is one of the many horses that is bred in a country like Holland or Germany, doesn’t make it as a pro horse there at age 4/5/6, gets passed to pro in a county like the Czech Republic or Latvia, doesn’t make it there as a pro horse at age 5/6/7, and gets sent to one of the resellers that markets these types of horses to the United States. There are a handful of well known sellers who do exactly that, and my guess would be he came from there. They often advertise the horse with its “barn name” and not its show name. I wouldn’t say they’re exactly dishonest, but they’re not big on creating a clear paper trail for the horses they have and where they come from. Some have unsoundnesses and holes, some just weren’t going to be pro jumpers. They get passed along to these sellers for a variety of reasons.
I am not sure I believe the entire story you’ve been given (though it’s possible). I think it’s likely he hasn’t been in the United States that long. If you asked me to tell you what I think likely happened, of course I am guessing, but he was imported around 2020/2021, he got back burnered for some reason (maybe because, as they told you, the owner died). The family members didn’t know a jumper from a hole in the ground so sent him to be resold at some random reseller who probably mostly specialized in more Western types, the papers and identity didn’t accompany, and this horse got turned into an Andy because he’s big and gray. He didn’t work out for that type of buyer and got passed around and that’s why he’s still done nothing. He’s just been with the wrong kind of riders to tap into what he is.
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Santa Steinberga is on FB. All greys sort of look the same to me but I think there are photos of the horse. You could DM her.
Springstal Carino is also on FB. Again, caveat about my gray blindness but there are photos of a gray on there. You could DM those folks.
If you can find out who sold him to the US you can possibly find that person and learn what name he was sold with and that name might help you find him in the U.S. Or possibly the seller will fill you in on more info about the buyer so you can go look for the U.S. buyer.
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More videos, I assume you already found these
Photo here
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Thank you SO MUCH! I contacted both on FB. I don’t believe he’s on their pages from what I can see, the timeline doesn’t match for when he was sold through Germany to Holland in very late 2020 (plus the greys they have on their pages don’t appear to have his features). That’s when his paper trail ended for me. This does help greatly though, hopefully I will get a response back.
And most definitely on the possibly of what you described below. I did find the CMH vids as well but I couldn’t seem to find anything post his auction sale.
All grays look the same to me, LOL. Sorry!
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As usual, I’m impressed with the sleuthing skills of some of our BB members.
To the OP, good luck!
To some extent, I don’t know how much of a difference it makes if you can find out more about the horse’s history that far back.
Unless he was showing or doing the job you’re interested in within the last year or so, there could be a lot of water under the bridge in either direction since then.
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Ok the suspense is killing me. How does the saga continue?
He rode lovely on the flat, I’m going to pop him over a few fences soon and if all goes well with the PPE, most likely purchase. I was not able to find out anything further from what was stated earlier (thank you SO MUCH) but I “may” have tracked down the Dutch auction he went through after the Westfalen, but unfortunate silence from the farm and previous riders I messaged for more info
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Thanks for the update. He looks like a great project, I love the 10 year old 5 year olds. Grab mane!
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Yes, please keep us updated! Even if we don’t ever know more about his past, we can watch his future!
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It’s only been a few days! Hopefully they respond.
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If he doesn’t jump well for the OP I’d bet an amateur dressage rider would be interested if he’s sound.
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Just an update for all those invested:
I did find out how and why this horse is in the situation and not showjumping- he is incredibly dangerous.
He was not the same horse I rode last weekend from the moment he stepped out of the trailer. Extremely anxious and “up”. I walked him around the entire arena by hand, lunged him in multiple areas until he started to calm down, so I tacked him up. I was casually walking him around under saddle. Horse was nervous but starting to settle. I was at the far end of the area and he spooked slightly at something and stopped, then absolutely BOLTED like I’ve never seen in my 35 years of riding. He bolted so hard and fast that he almost ran through a jump I had set up, while I’m hauling on the right rein to try and get him to circle. It was like trying to stop a freight train. He was a flat out gallop heading towards the high metal in gate with me thinking this horse is going to try and jump out the area. I tried to turn one last time and my brand new CWD reins snapped. So there I was on a bolting horse rapidly heading towards jumping over a 5ft gate with a gravel road and drop after. I ended up bailing off the back of him and spent the night in the ER with a concussion and a massive hematoma on my lower back from the fall. My helmet was destroyed as well.
The bolt was completely unwarranted and I’ve never felt anything like it in my life, even dealing with “problem” horses back in the day and OTTBs. The owner just stood there and didn’t even ask if I was ok. Just said “oh he’s never done that before”
This was NOT the same horse last weekend in an unfamiliar environment. My only conclusion is that he must have been sedated on the previous ride, and the owner knowing I was planning on doing a major PPE the day after this Saturday’s ride, decided to forgo whatever she was giving him.
So this “too good to be true” horse was most definitely that. Owner was completely uncaring when I texted her afterwards and claimed she “rides him all the time without issues” even though she told me last weekend that she hasn’t been on him in a month. She is also not telling the truth about owning the horse for a year, I was able to trace back that he was bought from a western auction in April. I do know that he has thrown her off in at least one occasion as well.
I spoke to the barn owner that graciously let me ride in her arena what happened, and she had stated that the same horses that just walked into a trailer last weekend while I watched took the owner almost an hour to load after I had left to go to the hospital.
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Yikes! Glad to hear that you came through that as well as you did.
Not the update we were hoping for.
I really wonder about something physical (kissing spine, weird neuro thing?) or really bad trauma.
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Wow. Happy you’re okay but a bit terrified for the next person who gets suckered in. Just out of curiosity is the current owner advertising him as an imported WB sporthorse prospect or a trail horse? Either way it sounds like someone is going to get seriously hurt.
Yikes. Horrible.
This is my biggest worry. I don’t want someone to get on this horse and have the same thing happen. I was injured but it could have been much worse. This owner is most definitely not being truthful on his history and I don’t feel like she will suddenly decide to be truthful after what happened yesterday.
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