Beauty and Rich

[raingodz]

Part 1... the ones I did not buy...

I took the decission last year that what I really wanted was my own horse.  I had kind of made this decission soon after starting riding in 2005, but that would have been too soon.  By mid 2007 I had found a yard I'd be happy at and they prommised to put me a stable to one side.  But I kept finding reasons why I should not buy a horse just yet.  So in the new year the yard manager took things in hand and told me we were going horse shopping. And so started six weeks of shopping for horses.

Horses 1 and 2 were at a dealers yard.  Horse 1 was a sports horse, looked good on the advert and sounded ideal.  But when we got there she was very toe in and did not look in good condition.  I rode her, but I just was not happy with her.  So the dealer showed me a TB they had, they said he was very safe, jumpped well, and was polite.  I spent some time in his stabe and he was happy to be with me, so I asked to ride him.  walk and trot went well, tried canter and at this point he decided that he did not want me on his back and put in a huge buck.  The YM was stood infront of us and said she could see his heels over his ears, so there was no way I was staying on.  So much for safe horse!

Horse 3 YM went to see by her self and rode him to check he was ok (which was nice of her), and I went to try him.  He was great, he was very calm and polite.  I jumped him and then hacked him out on a busy main road, then cantered him in the woods and decided to buy him.  But after the vetting I chatted to the vet and we decided that he had turned out not to be the horse I had wanted.

Horse 4 we found in the AdMag, he was a 2 hour drive and lived in the part of Lincolnshire that Stephen Fry described as "Flat, boring and late for meetings". He was a 5yo Belgian Draft.  When we arrived it was a really sad sight, he was in a real state, living alone in a back garden, poor condition, mites, unfit.  It was a really difficle situation, and not really the horse I wanted, but YM and I decided that we just could not leave him there and decided to buy, but before we could a dealer had turned up with a pile of cash and a horse box, and took him.  I do hope that he gets a nice home, but I am still a little annoyed that after driving 2 hours the owner did not have the politeness to listen to an offer.

On the way back from Horse 4 I recived a call about horse 5.  Described in the AdMag as safe hack, jumps well, irish bread, 16hh 8yo, quick sale.  But things about this horse just did not add up.  The night before I had rang up about him, and the woman who answered the phone had said it was her husbands horse and she did not know anything about it.  So one of the first things the man who met us said was "I get this horse for my wife..."  He was in his stable, YM went in to see him and he bit her.  I looked at the passport, he was Irish bread yes, but he was a TB.  After talking for a while longer it turned out that he was imported form irland as a 2yo, and had ended up at the Blood Stock sales.  At this point I was trying hard to not let my last meeting with a TB to influance me too much, but things were just sounding wrong.  The owner then took him in to the school and lunged him.  Once he started cantering he also stated putting little bucks in "It's OK, he never does that under saddle" came the owners asurance.  The owner then decided to set up a jump and show him free jumping, but he just went nuts, bucking, leaping and kicking out.  I do not want a horse who act like that when that close to a human, so we said hes was not what we were looking for and ran away!

[Jojoba]

Was wondering when you'd get around to posting 

xxx

[epona]

WHAT!!  Come on, you cant leave it like that!  Did you buy one?  Im assuming by the title you did?  SPILL THE BEANS 

Horse hunting is a nightmare  :(  We did this for a few months in 2006 for a horse for my daughter - I could have rescued plenty and throttled more owners than that    But we did find a good 'un in the end - hope you did too 

[raingodz]

Part 2 The first viewing of Horse 6

YM got told by someone on her masters course that they knew of a nice horse for sale, younger and done less that I had been looking at though.  We arranged to go and see it on Wednesday morning before work.  Why is it that when ever you want to get anywhere in Sheffield the traffic is out to stop you.  We turned up half an hour late and a little flustered!  Horse 6 was in her stable, we went in and said hello.  She was the most amazing grey - I have never really liked greys, butin this case I found one I liked.  she was very polite and calm, let me look at her feet and was happy to move round the stable when I asked.

We then took her out to the field and the owner lunged her and she moved really nicely, good steady even paces, and also did not pull away or lean on the lunge line.  She then jumpped a low cross pole on the lunge and did it nicely, pucked up her feet well.

So next step? time to ride her, but it turned out she did not have a saddle at the moment, so YM hopped on bare back and walked around.  Then it was my turn, I made a real mess of getting on, but horse 6 stood still and put up with me!  Once on we walked and then trotted.  She has a really nice smooth trot, so despite being unsure of riding an unknown horse bare back it actually turned out OK.  Sadly I was not late for work so we had to go.

This viewing raised more questions than it answered.  She was a really nice horse, but was she the one for me?

[shoveltrash]

 
the suspense is killing me!
(are "congratulations" in order???)

[ludlu]

The grey is Beauty, I'm guessing?  It just has to be.  Rich.....this is painful...just tell us!

[raingodz]

Hehe, sorry, want to do this blog right lol

[raingodz]

Part 3 Second viewing

The next day was my lesson and I quized my RI about buying a young horse and ended up feeling alot happier, then spoke to another of my RIs (I have 4 at the moment ) and several other people, and kind of realised that I was kind of putting together my support team - which includes a vet, a nutritionist, 2 RIs, a Practical Horsmanship practitioner and a couple of other very knowlageable people.  If I was going to get this horse I was going to have quite a steep learning curve, but as my RI had pointed out, I was going to have this with any horse and sometimes it is better to have polite but under trained young horse than an older horse with issues or bad training.

So I phoned up and arranged a second viewing for saturday.  Got there on time this time too! Beauty was out in the field, the owner, YM and I walked in to the field and the owner called Beauty over and she trotted streight up to me ignoring the other two and we said hello.  It kind of felt like that bit in Harry Potter where Olivander says "Its the wand who chooses the wizard not the otherway around".  OK, so that is not the best grounds for choosing a horse, but it was added to the growing list of things I liked about her.

We put a saddle on her this time (not fitted so we did not ride her in it) but it was enough to see that she did not mind having a saddle, and then we took her out for a walk on the road and she was very calm and did not mind the traffic at all.

So to the scary bit, we made and offer and I am pleased to say it was accepted! But subject to vetting. So drove back to the yard and started phoning vets!  Managed to get the vet who will become my vet to go along on Tuesday afternoon.

[ludlu]

I KNEW the grey was Beauty!

[shoveltrash]

 

i like this:

she trotted streight up to me ignoring the other two and we said hello.  It kind of felt like that bit in Harry Potter where Olivander says "Its the wand who chooses the wizard not the otherway around".

 

hope the vetting goes smoothly!  then you are REQUIRED to post piccies you know 

[luckyrider]

That's so exciting, Raingodz!!!   

I know I should wait until after the vetting, but...

[raingodz]

Part 4 The vetting

Having had a horse fail vetting a couple of weeks before this seemed to be a very worrying thing to happen.  I wanted this horse more that the last one too.  4 am Tuesday morning and I woke up, what was going to happen, would she pass.  I had decided to attend the vetting this time (the one that failed I decided not to attend). getting to 12:30 when I could leave work took for ever.  Vetting was at 2pm, we got there at 1:45 and it had already started!

No point going in to details, but it seemed to take for ever, but it the end she was passed.  Transport booked for Sunday

[epona]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! 

Lots of piccies PLEASE!!!   

[Heather]

Oooo exciting Rich!!! At last!! Good luck with it all!! Will Lindsey be riding her too?

Heather

[shoveltrash]

congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

so now we need to know *more* about Beauty!