[pistol] Can I just...?! [finding horses]

I have found that most decent lower priced horses are sold through word of mouth. I got three of my horses by talking with owners in person, and only one from a lease ad. A good majority of the cheap horses for sale online are either lame, have major vices, or are just complete scams (horse doesn't even exist). If an ad seems too good to be true it almost always is.

That's not to say that you won't find a nice, reasonably priced horse for sale in your area, but horses under 4k are in high demand and most of the time people tend to sell them through word of mouth. My advice would be to network with other horse savvy people and see if they know a friend who knows a friend who just wants a good home for their horse and doesn't care about money. You can hit up local stables, horse shows, tack/feed stores, ect.

Last edited on 2016-10-27 at 22:51:12 by Sherwood Meadows

I'm actually having the opposite problem! I'm looking for a younger, bomb proof trail horse with enough spring in its step to train it in eventing. I keep finding horses that are perfect and still for sale. From rescues to FB ads o.o I even found a TB mare that looks like my QH mare for $1800 and a horse that shares my name for $500. There's more too. Overall I think I have about 20 links saved about horses in my area that are for sale for $1800 and less that are solid trail horses.

The problem I'm having is that since I live in the north east, winter is coming and buying a horse now would mean it'd likely sit through snow galore and I'd rather save my money until spring. Horses around me are tempting yo!

@Sherwood: Oh I agree 100%! The gelding I pictured is a friend of a friend of my Aunt's lol! Unfortunately the market is really high in my area for good horses, but usually friend's of my family or friends have good horses they'd be willing to put a lower price on, which is really nice. That being said I'm still extremely cautious; cause when I see a horse for under $1000, I wanna know what's wrong with it! :p

@cj: Lucky! Winter is coming here as well, I'm in Wisconsin so it'll get harsh, but now is when all the horses are cheap because people don't want to pay for them over the winter. I try to ride whenever I can in winter (safely of course) but Wisconsin winters are very hard lol.

Same, personally I would never sell my horse for $1,000 or less no matter what since horses that cheap are in the meat man's price range. So whenever I see a horse that cheap I know something's fishy.

@c j: Dang, that's crazy cheap! All the trail horses around here are about 4k if they're decent. We don't have any snow, so prices never really go down in the winter haha.

Yeah it's crazy all the trail horses that are popping up. I'm from northern Maryland and around here, we're very into dressage and hunter jumpers so if they don't collect, don't jump, or don't have famous lines, most people don't look at them twice. Which means the nice, quiet grade horses with potential are overlooked and people have to drop their prices to get them out. And that's perfectly okay with me! ...Mostly. Cause I want them all.

I know how you feel, before we ran into job and money troubles we were horse shopping. Although when we bought Shawn it didn't take long, but with finding a decent riding horse it took forever. We didn't end up buying one as there just weren't any horses that fit my pickiness. We tried three different horses, first one was a 14.2 hh Paint Pony, with attitude problems, and hated being tacked up. Plus he was pricey at $4k. I rode him a bit, and he was just not what I was looking for.

Next was a 16.1 hh grey OTTB gelding that ended up being very green despite what the ad said. I didn't end up riding him but I did ride one of their other horses Mojo. He was a dressage trained Appy cross and we almost bought him. Except we found out that he had a slight problem of bolting on trails. Which is definitely something I didn't want to have to fix. So, that fell through unfortunately.

There was a gorgeous 15.2 hh seal bay dressage TB gelding that I wanted to look at. But, he ended up being sold, when we called. He looked like he would've been a dream to own. He reminded me of Brego from LOTR. Which would probably be what I would've named him lol.

Anyways, I wish you the best of luck, the horse you have pictured is gorgeous! At the moment I'm just 'window shopping' the online sales, as we have no room or money to buy a new horse. First we need to finish building the new barn, and then rebuild the outdoor arena. Then, maybe I'll save up to get a new horse that fits what I want.

Pistol, what's your price range? May be able to keep an eye out for ya ;) I mean if you wanna spend 4k on a horse, might as well come buy Cajun (remember my former yearling from 2? years ago?). xD

It's always been said that when you are looking or trying to sell, you can never find what you are looking for or you can't sell the horse.

But when you aren't looking or trying to sell, they just fall in your lap.

When I sold Fawkes this past month, I was hardly trying and was getting the same old go around on they weren't what they were looking for or too far to drive to look. Just so happens I messaged the right person at the right time and poof sold her. (Still can't believe I did that, lol. I got a good price too for her right with winter approaching).

*picture heavy*

@Cinch: $2000 lol. :p

I gotta see "Ton" yesterday and he was decent to say the most. He tested me frequently, which I expected, and he seems like a great horse though he's pushy. I can work with that if I do end up getting him, however. We rode along the highway to the owner's nearby farm and he didn't even flinch at cars/trucks/semis going 60mph next to him, which was amazing.

The only issues the owner says he really has is trailering and water, but those really aren't major and are easy to work on. He's extremely gorgeous, and I'm almost tempted to buy him because of his looks! I won't, though.

To me though, I don't really feel as if I really love his personality but I don't hate it. I feel like he has great potential to become whatever I want since he's only 9, but then again I don't want to mess him up, you know? So that's why I didn't buy him right then; I just don't know. I'm going to look at him again soon but the thing is that I want to look at others, however they're like 2 hours away meaning I'd have to look at them once and buy them that day if I wanted.

Hopefully it works itself out. Not looking for advice, just venting lol.



*don't mind my nasty barn clothes and face xD oh and I was untacking so that's why the saddle looks funky*




But yes, he is soooooo gorgeous. Seal bay overo (maybe splash?), with heterochromia in his left eye and solid blue in his right. And yes, he has an english bridle on. He was used for english before these owners had him, however they've only owned him for around 3 months. SOOOOO YEAH.

What a handsome boy! I can confidently say that he is a Seal Brown Tobiano. (similar to a bay, but with a variation of the Agouti gene) Many horses test riders to see if they can get away with anything but sometimes it can also be a reluctance to work due to pain/lameness depending on how he is behaving. I only say that because I have bad experiences thinking a horse is misbehaving only to find out later that they had a legitimate heath problem.

If you're looking a trail/buddy horse he seems like a gem, but if he is going to be a performance horse I'd take a look at some other horses before deciding. You may have found your future best friend though! :D

He's overo, I promise c; where he gets the blue eyes from. Seal bay/brown same thing xD

But I agree! We called the original owners because they had raised him from birth, and they said he had no soundness issues there and no soundness issues with the current owner. I walked him around and worked on the ground a bit before getting on to make sure nothing was off.

I'll try to look at others if possible, but he's definitely a prospect.

Beautiful horse. I don't know much about your discipline, but I can tell you he's an adorable babe.

But I did want to mutually complain about how hard it is to find a specific horse for what you want. I've been looking for two years for an eventing horse or even really dead broke, can jump super well, eventing prospect. My budget isn't extreme, as it would be for most eventers (mine's like maybe 7-8,000). I want a gelding and I want him to look pretty. Obviously no soundness issues. Calm, not spooky, and probably a TB or TB cross of some sort.
I know I have a lot on my wish list for such a small budget, but I've surprisingly found great horses but they're either too small or HUGE in height. I need a horse who is no smaller than 15.3 but no bigger than 16.1 to fit me just perfectly. Most eventers are somewhere between 16 and 17 hands, sometimes larger. Some are ponies. The ones that fit my exact criteria are usually upwards of 10k.
So I've been trying, I'm still trying.
But, believe me when I say we've all been where you are with finding a perfect mount. I'm there right now.

He's a beauty.

Even though we can't change it in game, the "brown" allele has been discredited by all equine geneticists. The agouti locus has been completely mapped and only includes A and a. There is no "variation" of the gene other than those two alleles. Whatever causes the seal phenotype, it isn't on ASIP.

Frame overo alone is usually very minimal and usually requires a second pattern gene to express more. He is at least frame and quite possibly something else.

Outside of all the color hoo-ha, I think he looks like a good horse.

Tobiano can cause blue eyes, as well as splash & sabino. (Unless all of those blue eyed paint horses actually have frame hiding under another white marking?) I've even seen some solid bay horses with one or two blue eyes, perhaps very minimally expressed frame? idk if there is possibly another hidden gene besides dilution that causes blue eyes. [similar to the tigereye mutation]

@vos: this is something I have not heard of! :o I couldn't find anything about that on Google at all, but I'll do a more thorough search when I have some free time.

I suppose the only way to know for sure would be to get him gene tested for fun if you wanted. Not that his color matters, it's just interesting to find out.