I have bought horses in the past, but they’ve always been broke or very well started.
I’m looking at an almost 2 year old (March DOB) to start myself.
Aside from looking at conformation and movement, what do you look for? Any tips for looking at a youngster?
I want this horse to do a little bit of everything (trail riding, obstacle challenges, eventing, hunters, reining) at a low level / local level for fun.
The breeder has done basic ground training, trailer loading, etc.
Any “tests” you perform to test out their brain? I want a horse that’s going to be level headed. I was thinking about bringing a few random items that you don’t see too often at barns (for example, laundry basket, pool noodle) and introduce her to them to see how she reacts to unknown objects.
i think at this age, you want to know about their parents. Especially the mom. And what kinds of training the breeders have done.
I bought a long yearling who did all you listed pulse more. Wasn’t looking for a young horse at the time but this filly had “the look” of greatness, her way of just standing there looking at you told me she was something special. Her papers had a heritage of proven stock that all had done well.
We had been looking for an older aged trained horse but returned to buy this yearling instead.
Also recently my daughter just bought a weanling from a breeder she knows, the breeder had foal, three month and six month videos that showing the colt’s grow and acceptance of items. Daughter had a previous horse from the same breeder that was everything the breeder claimed and more. So it made buying this weanling sight unseen in person an easy purchase.
Agree with Scribbler, as we knew the parents of both of the youngsters we bought
I like to see how they interact in a herd. Do they beat the crap out of their other field mates? Do they get beat? The bully will be a tough gritty horse but also harder to train on. The low man on totem pole will be a chicken but the loner…i like the loner. They are usually more mentally mature and a team player.
After that, I want to know about the mother. The site is your business card but the dam is the guts of the foal. Good mothers make good babies
As a commercial TB breeder for myself and clients. 10-20-30+ foals a year at times. I have not found any of this to be true as a rule.
Esp about their dams. I have had mares that were the sweetest to work with be around and great mothers. Some of their foals, yearlings were brats, total PITA to work with. I have had mares that had no interest in people, PITA to catch, work with. Did just enough to “mother” their foals and were more than happy when they were weaned and gone.
All of their foals were a dream to work with as yearlings. The ones that I didn’t sell, broke and kept turned out to be easy and lovey dovies. Maybe because their mothers were so indifferent to them?
I guess I don’t mean that the mare babies her foal or something. I just mean good mares with grit and good minds.
Great horses are often quirky as anything.
Because I only have worked with, bred, etc TBs. A 2 year old TB is not considered a “youngster” in my world. The majority of TBs are well schooled and by and large easy to handle as long yearlings. If raised and handled by people that know what they are doing. The majority are well under saddle by spring of their 2 year old year.
The majority of the horses I have personally worked with over the years were bred and raised by myself. Mine and for clients. I used to take in short yearlings to raise, prep for the yearling sales for their breeders. Weanlings also. EVERY person that called wanting to send their horses to me said the same thing. They have good ground manners, I’ve worked with the a lot. Well, I am pretty good at knowing what that means from just the conversation. I was rarely wrong knowing that in all probability the horses were close to being feral. Esp when the horse doesn’t ship in on the day secluded, lol.
It doesn’t take that long when you really know what you are doing to get them turned around. But it does require extra work and expertise. As my board/training rates said. My fee is X for the average horse. Special needs requires special pricing.
Having inspected umpteen TB yearlings over the years and 2 year olds in training. Bred, raised, broke/started a fair few. My list of what to look for as far as temperament has evolved, changed, lengthen, shortened. Now at 62 it is just “gut” more than anything else. “Gut” is hard to explain, make a list of. I do not discount a horse because of perceived sins of their parents.
Exposing them to things you talked about is meaningless IMO and experience. Just about any “spooky” thing can be over come if you know what you are doing and doesn’t take a lot of time. There are horses that jumped off a diving board but will jump out of their skin when a butterfly gets too close.
For me, first impressions mean the most. How the horse presents itself when waking out of the stall. How it walks, listens to the handler. Assuming the handler is a pro. How it reacts when I approach, put my hands on it. The body language I am seeing. When it gets “stupid” what look does it give off. As much as anything I size up the people that raised it, worked with it. I will forgive a lot if my first impression is positive. Well meaning people doesn’t always mean a well raised horse. I know what can be corrected, improved with not a lot of time and effort is the price is right. Other times between the issues the horse is showing combined with the people that raised/worked with them. I’ll pass.
To each their own on this.
I hear what you are saying. But I’ve bought some mares at auction for a lot of money. We don’t get a lot of time to get a good feel for mares at auction. Some were total forking nut cases “What the fork was I thinking”, lol. What did I miss??? Had several that were bad cribbers. None of their foals/yearlings/older horses cribbed.
For me the best mares I bred out of were plain Jane’s. Good conformation, decent bloodlines that I was very familiar with. Very boring types to hang with. Not a lot of endearing qualities. It keeps us guessing for a lifetime, lol.
Conformation, movement, and pedigree obviously. If you want one that jumps, nice to see them negotiate a pole on the ground in a round pen, or small X (don’t need to jump anything big, just see how they feel about solving the problem of getting from one side to the other). Less obvious, they have to “speak” to you. You have to “like” them. They tell you that they are the horse you are looking for. I like to see a youngster like this be confident, to approach you without fear, to say, “Hi, who are you?” To respond to you. To want to be with you. Doesn’t matter if someone has “trained” it, often better if they have not. But such a horse is easy to train and work with, because they are interested in you already.
Thanks everyone! A lot of good food for thought!
You can easily find out if a horse is easy to work with (on the ground, likes people) by asking it to do a a few turns in hand, and touching it all over. If it’s reactive or angsty, that’s visible. If it’s irritable, defensive, bites, kicks etc, you can see that too. If it likes people, is generally focused on you/interested in you, and tries hard, great. All that translates into under saddle work.
Then you’ll take it home and it’ll be an annoying 2 yr old and you’ll go through a bit where you don’t get along.
For a youngster I’d also be asking a lot of questions about the parents careers. Some mares get bred because they broke down in work… some stallions ditto! You might learn that one of them needed exotic shoeing and pads to perform at all, or was a huge ulcer case. There are lots of things which can be passed along to the foal, and won’t show up for a couple years… have a good look at both parents, in person. Ask lots of questions, and ask about any siblings and what they are doing too.
