Horse advice

[HOSS]

I have been considering buying the kids (and myself) a horse. Being very green when it comes to horses I sought advice from a friend that is a horse nut with about 15 horses. He was afraid for me to buy a horse at the sale so he checked with his contacts and found an 8 year old gelding that is supposed to be dead broke. It is a gaited, spotted saddle horse and Tennessee Walker mix. It is 15.5 hands high and stocky built. I went over to look at him tonight. I found out that he had only been ridden once over the last year. The owner saddled him up and he looked a little jumpy. He didn't offer to kick or bite just shied away from the saddle. Once saddled he climbed aboard and the horse took off at a trot. Dang was he smooth! He seemed a little wired up for the first few laps around the pasture. He let him run a little and then he came back and the horse appeared more calm. A little boy from down the road came over and asked to ride him. He jumped aboard and his feet were about 8" short of the stirrups. Took off at a trot and he never bounced in the saddle even though he had no stirrups.

The owner has had him for 4 years and said that he has only been ridden maybe a total of 20 to 25 times over the 4 years. He says that he does not neck rein well and the bit has to be used lightly. The horse is slightly spooked by cigerette lighters (especially in the dark) but has no problem at all with dogs running around his feet. He is supposed to stand for shoeing with no problems and loads with no problems.

The owner wants to get him off of his feed bill so he has offered to let me buy him for $500. From what I see of the horse he is worth it. My question is should I be concerned about him being a little saddle shy or taking off at a trot as soon as the rider is aboard? Would regular riding bring him back into shape from these quirks?

I know the part about him not being ridden much is true because my friend was the last person to ride him before tonight. He took him on a mountain trail ride about a year ago. I did not ride the horse due to being on crutches with a torn ACL at the moment.

Any advice would be appreciated. I don't think I will get burned too bad at 500 bucks.

Also I would plan to keep him in with my cattle......has anyone seen many problems with this scenario other than the potential for ruminant medicines in mineral blocks or range cubes poiseining the horse?

 

[MillIronQH]

Your talking about buying a horse for the kids and you. When it comes to kid the 21 rule is an absolute in my book. The age of the youngest kid and the horse must equal 21.

Even that does not guarantee a safe horse but it's a start. Keep shopping. A retired ranch horse or trail horse is your best bet. No ropers or barrel horses etc. If you can read a man you can usually read a horse. Look for one with a kind eye. One that just says "I'm here and I'm ready to please".

Whatever you might dicide on get a pre purchase exam on it first. Take it home for a week or two. This will not only tell you what the horse will do in a strange place but will give any drugs it may have been given a chance to wear off.

These are your kids. Trust a new seller like you'd trust a new babysitter.Z

 

[smart_slider]

i agree 100% with MillIron, if you are going to buy a horse for you and your kids, you've got to be careful... test him out for a few weeks at home... Quick Question, how often do you think you'll ride?... anyway, i still agree.... ok...
ss

 

[Alice]

Your talking about buying a horse for the kids and you. When it comes to kid the 21 rule is an absolute in my book. The age of the youngest kid and the horse must equal 21.

Even that does not guarantee a safe horse but it's a start. Keep shopping. A retired ranch horse or trail horse is your best bet. No ropers or barrel horses etc. If you can read a man you can usually read a horse. Look for one with a kind eye. One that just says "I'm here and I'm ready to please".

Whatever you might dicide on get a pre purchase exam on it first. Take it home for a week or two. This will not only tell you what the horse will do in a strange place but will give any drugs it may have been given a chance to wear off.

These are your kids. Trust a new seller like you'd trust a new babysitter.Z

Absolutely wise words, Z. I'd never heard of the rule of 21...but it makes good sense.

The horses I learned to ride on were awful...well except one, a ranch horse, and he was fantastic. The others bit and bucked and tried to lie down when I was on them. I knew that wasn't anything I wanted for my grandson...and what happened? The one I had that I was told would be perfect for him to ride playdays on reared up and fell over backwards with him on it. Thank God my grandson had the presence of mind to roll away from the horse when he git the groud. If I'd have had a gun, I'd have shot the horse right there in the arena...and I'm serious as a heartbeat about that. My grandson refused to get on a horse after that...and I didn't blame him a bit.

Recently I bought an old trail horse...don't know why other than I was sick of looking at calves and wanted my grandchildren to have something to take care of when the visited. That horse has been a Godsend. He is dead broke and my grandson actually felt comfortable getting on him, and that horse hasn't let us down.

An old/experienced trail horse or ranch horse for kids is the way to go, in my opinon. Just had to get that off my chest.

Alice

 

[Mike Franklin]

Z has given you a million dollars worth of advice. I'd go even farther and say that if you're going to buy this pony you need an experienced horse neighbor. Or you migh consider leasing. At this point in time you just think you'd like a horse. Keep one for a few months and you'll know if you mind hauling hay and feed, going to the vet, taking care of tack, cleaning hooves every day, paying for a farrier, fixing fence and all those other duties that go with horse ownership.You can easily spend 10 to 12 hours on up keep and care for every hour you ride.
It's worth it to me, you may or may not decide that it's your cup of tea.

 

[kjones]

I learned to ride on a 10 year old thoroughbred that was only one year off the track. I was fortunate to have a horse that was also used for other purposes very often. The 21 rule is generally good but I feel its more about the specific horse. I have a 25 year old mare I wouldn't put a green rider on no matter what their age. To answer your question, regular riding will normally help a horse to mind their manners, and behave. My brother in law has a quarter horse that if he hasn't ridden in awhile will act a bit squirrely and buck a few times. This goes on for about five minutes then he is fine. For five hundred its probably not a bad deal. I mean if it turns out bad you could resell. Even if you take a loss, your not out a bunch.

 

[MillIronQH]

"I mean if it turns out bad you could resell. Even if you take a loss, your not out a bunch."

Not unless that loss includes major medical bills or worse.Z

 

[kjones]

Ive seen that happen with "dead broke" horses as well. A horse is a dangerous animal no matter what the age, breed, amount of use it has had, training, or how mellow it is. A lot of people have been hurt by forgetting this. I was simply trying to say if someone is starting out in horses it would make sense to not jump in and buy a 5k horse just to find out that horses aren't for them, and then be stuck with the bill.

 

[peg4x4]

Ruminate feeds arenot for horses..If fed free choice you will have a dead horse second day,'cause the first day he will stand and eat everything..

 

[circlet]

you're getting great advice so far, take it all in. i'll address the issue that hasn't been touched much on...

mostly i would GUESS you won't have too much trouble keeping the horse with the cattle. but that being said, i don't do it for a few reasons - two specific ones are a gelding who loves to chase cattle for fun and a mare that loves to kick them!

you might consider keeping the horse next to the cattle and see what happens before putting them together. i had some cows and horses together in a temporary area and the mare of mine that i'm talking about kicked a cow at the bale ring, and then later even kicked one through a fence line as the cow was trying to reach under for something to eat. it really tore the cows' leg up too, had to sew it up and everything.

just food for thought...

 

[cowpunk'd]

Ask your horsey friend if he will show you how to get the horse to stand for saddling and mounting, cause what the horse is doing is an evasion. Someone who knows what to do can fix it so the horse will stand. It will probably take less then half an hour but you'll have to learn what to do or it will keep up the annoying habit. It sounds like a fun horse to me, and if the guy stuck a neighbours little kid up on it he must think it's safe. I haven't had problems keeping horses with cows, I put a rail up that the cows can go under to get into the barn, the rail keeps the horses out. The cows get fed better then the horses.