And From Across the Pond...
For as long as I can remember I'd always dreamed of having my own horse, and those dreams finally came true in 2010 when I brought my first pony - a little coloured cob, from a dealer in Kent, UK. When I tried him, I took my very experienced instructor with me, and we both agreed he was perfect. However, the dealer we were buying him from began to get a little awkward about arranging for him to be vetted and collected, and we began to get a little suspicious. Eventually everything fell into place, though, and my pony was on his way home. I was so excited. The first time I rode him at home he was spooky, strong, and napping a lot. I began to get concerned - had he been drugged? Had I fallen into the trap of some dodgy dealer? However, after my instructor rode him for ten minutes, we discovered that he was just a pony with a sense of humour that was testing us out. I never had another problem with that pony, and it made me realise that not all dealers are con artists. Sadly, my happiness was short lived. Just a few short months later, a tragic accident resulted in me having to make the awful decision to have my beloved cob put to sleep. I was devastated.
About a month later I decided to look for another horse as I missed having one in my life. Having realised that not all dealers are bad, I decided horses that were for sale from dealers’ yards wouldn’t put me off. As I did my daily search of the ads on HorseMart, I came across a little 5 yr old bay cob about 15 miles from my home. He sounded perfect so I phoned up about him. The seller said that they had some people viewing him the next day, but we were welcome to go the day after that if he was still there. My heart fell - if he was as good as he sounded, then he would be sold before I got there. However, when I phoned the following day, 'Roo' was still available, so we arranged to go the next afternoon. I guess I should have been a little suspicious that the people the previous day hadn't brought him - I was told they were coming back the next day for another look as they really liked him, and there was a lot of others interested in him. If we wanted him, we needed to make a decision that day to avoid missing out. I guess that should have rang alarm bells, but I just figured he was a nice horse. They also said that the advert had been slightly wrong and he was actually 4, not 5. In hindsight I'm not convinced he was even 4 when I got him - 3 would make more sense. They said he had come over from Ireland the week before, so they didn't know much about him other than that he'd been amazing in the time they'd had him. They said they jumped him, had been cross-country, had hunted, hacked out, he had travelled well, was good with the farrier, etc.
It should have occurred to me, I guess; that was an awful lot to have fitted into the one week the dealer had owned Roo! We saw him ridden, and I rode him. Although he was forward going and very inexperienced, he seemed genuine enough, so we said we would have him. We tried to negotiate the price a little, but were just met with the comment that there were lots of other people waiting to see him who would be willing to pay full price so it was the full £3000 or we went home empty handed. I left a deposit, and the next day when they delivered Roo to our yard I paid the rest of the £3k.
The next day I rode Roo for the first time at home, and he felt exactly as when I had tried him - babyish but nothing that majorly concerned me. However the following day things started to go downhill when I rode - Roo bolted with me, and promptly bucked me off. He became highly-strung, spooky, naughty and not an enjoyable horse to be sat on top of. This behaviour continued for quite some time, until one day Roo reared with me, lost his balance and came crashing down backwards on top of me. Fortunately, despite being knocked unconscious and being taken to hospital via air ambulance, I got away with mild concussion, a few broken ribs, and lots of bruising. I'd had enough - I vowed never to get back on Roo, and set about contacting the dealer I got him from to try and get him to take the horse back. Unfortunately he had apparently been unwell and had stopped dealing horses so would not take Roo back. He then refused any contact with me. I was heartbroken - I'd lost my pony of a lifetime and now was stuck with some monster that seemed intent on killing me. I considered trying to sell/rehome Roo as a non-ridden companion, but even his behaviour on the ground wasn't great, and I didn't want to risk him ending up in the wrong hands, plus I would have lost £3000 on him. So I decided to give Roo one last chance.
I turned him away with a 3 yr old colt for 8 months, before slowly bringing him back into some inhand work and lunging. Roo seemed to have really benefitted from some time chilling out, and was a much more laid back animal. We gradually started doing some inhand classes at local shows, and I slowly began to trust Roo again. However, I was still terrified to get back on board. Roo started to be very successful at inhand showing, and many judges commented that they were keen to see him out and about under saddle.
I knew I had a horse with huge potential so eventually, a year after buying him, I got back aboard Roo. I was terrified, and to begin with he felt like a ticking time bomb. But with a friend leading us, we slowly walked around the field. Gradually he let me apply my leg to his side without feeling like he was going to explode. We went right back to basics and started him again like a just-backed youngster. Slowly we began to make small steps. We still had plenty of hair-raising moments, but he seemed more like a young excitable/spooky horse rather than a beast intent on hurting me.
As the months passed, Roo and me built our relationship and slowly learnt to trust each other. Now 2 years after I started riding him again we're able to hack out alone, we've been successful in the show ring, we've been in evening performances, we've been to the forest and the beach, and he's been ridden on the lead by small children. Next year we hope to go hunting (something which has clearly had an impact on Roo's past due to his reaction when he hears a hunting horn - hence why I haven't taken him yet as don't want him to regress back to the horse he was). Nowadays I trust him with my life, and would never part with him, but it's been a long, long journey, and there's been many times when I've been ready to give up.
I'm still angry with the dealer for claiming that the horse he sold me was suitable for novices - he certainly wasn't. I should have read the signs, but I was so wrapped up in finding another horse that I allowed myself to fall into the trap of buying what turned out to be a very young, badly broken, very sad horse who had obviously never been given the chance to grow up properly as he'd been hunted from such a young age in Ireland. Luckily for me, Roo’s story and mine had a happy ending, but it could have been such a different outcome.
About a month later I decided to look for another horse as I missed having one in my life. Having realised that not all dealers are bad, I decided horses that were for sale from dealers’ yards wouldn’t put me off. As I did my daily search of the ads on HorseMart, I came across a little 5 yr old bay cob about 15 miles from my home. He sounded perfect so I phoned up about him. The seller said that they had some people viewing him the next day, but we were welcome to go the day after that if he was still there. My heart fell - if he was as good as he sounded, then he would be sold before I got there. However, when I phoned the following day, 'Roo' was still available, so we arranged to go the next afternoon. I guess I should have been a little suspicious that the people the previous day hadn't brought him - I was told they were coming back the next day for another look as they really liked him, and there was a lot of others interested in him. If we wanted him, we needed to make a decision that day to avoid missing out. I guess that should have rang alarm bells, but I just figured he was a nice horse. They also said that the advert had been slightly wrong and he was actually 4, not 5. In hindsight I'm not convinced he was even 4 when I got him - 3 would make more sense. They said he had come over from Ireland the week before, so they didn't know much about him other than that he'd been amazing in the time they'd had him. They said they jumped him, had been cross-country, had hunted, hacked out, he had travelled well, was good with the farrier, etc.
It should have occurred to me, I guess; that was an awful lot to have fitted into the one week the dealer had owned Roo! We saw him ridden, and I rode him. Although he was forward going and very inexperienced, he seemed genuine enough, so we said we would have him. We tried to negotiate the price a little, but were just met with the comment that there were lots of other people waiting to see him who would be willing to pay full price so it was the full £3000 or we went home empty handed. I left a deposit, and the next day when they delivered Roo to our yard I paid the rest of the £3k.
The next day I rode Roo for the first time at home, and he felt exactly as when I had tried him - babyish but nothing that majorly concerned me. However the following day things started to go downhill when I rode - Roo bolted with me, and promptly bucked me off. He became highly-strung, spooky, naughty and not an enjoyable horse to be sat on top of. This behaviour continued for quite some time, until one day Roo reared with me, lost his balance and came crashing down backwards on top of me. Fortunately, despite being knocked unconscious and being taken to hospital via air ambulance, I got away with mild concussion, a few broken ribs, and lots of bruising. I'd had enough - I vowed never to get back on Roo, and set about contacting the dealer I got him from to try and get him to take the horse back. Unfortunately he had apparently been unwell and had stopped dealing horses so would not take Roo back. He then refused any contact with me. I was heartbroken - I'd lost my pony of a lifetime and now was stuck with some monster that seemed intent on killing me. I considered trying to sell/rehome Roo as a non-ridden companion, but even his behaviour on the ground wasn't great, and I didn't want to risk him ending up in the wrong hands, plus I would have lost £3000 on him. So I decided to give Roo one last chance.
I turned him away with a 3 yr old colt for 8 months, before slowly bringing him back into some inhand work and lunging. Roo seemed to have really benefitted from some time chilling out, and was a much more laid back animal. We gradually started doing some inhand classes at local shows, and I slowly began to trust Roo again. However, I was still terrified to get back on board. Roo started to be very successful at inhand showing, and many judges commented that they were keen to see him out and about under saddle.
I knew I had a horse with huge potential so eventually, a year after buying him, I got back aboard Roo. I was terrified, and to begin with he felt like a ticking time bomb. But with a friend leading us, we slowly walked around the field. Gradually he let me apply my leg to his side without feeling like he was going to explode. We went right back to basics and started him again like a just-backed youngster. Slowly we began to make small steps. We still had plenty of hair-raising moments, but he seemed more like a young excitable/spooky horse rather than a beast intent on hurting me.
As the months passed, Roo and me built our relationship and slowly learnt to trust each other. Now 2 years after I started riding him again we're able to hack out alone, we've been successful in the show ring, we've been in evening performances, we've been to the forest and the beach, and he's been ridden on the lead by small children. Next year we hope to go hunting (something which has clearly had an impact on Roo's past due to his reaction when he hears a hunting horn - hence why I haven't taken him yet as don't want him to regress back to the horse he was). Nowadays I trust him with my life, and would never part with him, but it's been a long, long journey, and there's been many times when I've been ready to give up.
I'm still angry with the dealer for claiming that the horse he sold me was suitable for novices - he certainly wasn't. I should have read the signs, but I was so wrapped up in finding another horse that I allowed myself to fall into the trap of buying what turned out to be a very young, badly broken, very sad horse who had obviously never been given the chance to grow up properly as he'd been hunted from such a young age in Ireland. Luckily for me, Roo’s story and mine had a happy ending, but it could have been such a different outcome.
For the next story, click Listen to Your Inner Voice
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