[RC] buying endurance horses over the Internet....thoughts and questions. - Karen Sullivan
Curious here how many folks are finding and buying
their potential endurance horses through internet sites, and what kind of
luck they are having. Many breeders now have web pages and seem to be selling
all over the country. People like Rocky Mountain Training Center seem to
be selling horses regularly; have videos to send out. This brings up all
sorts of interesting questions; such as......do folks find horses over the
internet, get info and photos and buy the horse sight-unseen?. How many
people are flying across country to look at horses? I find this an
extremely interesting new way to market and buy horses, and see a resulting boom
in the horse transport business.
For example..... I ran into an extremely nice
looking mare in Florida. Price much less than California. I -could-
have bought this mare, paid for shipping clear across country, and still put out
less $ than this horse would have sold for in Calif......
I have found two horses off the internet in the
last 4 years that I bought. Both were within a 3 hour drive for me. Both
were exactly as advertised. One was a baby, and of course, seeing the baby at 5
weeks.....well, I bought her. The other was age 4...and physical
attributes were actually better than the ad.....training level was less, but oh
well! I also have bought a critter way back across country (after
many, many photos, and questions answered). He was size advertised,
trainng was good, but he did not end up having anywhere near the go I
wanted....so I resold him over the internet.
What this internet exposure has done, and websites
such as AGdirect, Dreamhorse, Bay Area Equestrian Network and Equine.com, not to
mention endurance.net, is allow people to find exactly the size, age, color and
breed they have dreamed of, especially if there is nothing locally. I find
the websites very compelling, and have found some neat horses....of well, you
only live once!!!
And....here is another question to pose.....if you
buy a horse over the internet, take a chance...how often is the horse NOT what
it is advertised to be? What would you do if you bought the horse based on
description of factual info (age, height, color), and turned out to be
different? Of course, the obvious answer is to always do a vet
check....but then sometimes, you just take a chance. I do know of a
situation where the trainer was selling a horse for a friend and client.
Photos and video were sent out. Horse was advertised as 15.2h......trainer
was asked several times to verify height (as height was an issue and horse was
going to be used potentially for a very tall person). Trainer assured
buyer several times horse was "big", and only a little bit smaller than her 15.3
paint mare.....but aparently never actually sticked her. Anyway, a great
deal was struck....as in a done over the phone....road trip to pick up the
horse, transfer in the near dark....horse turned out to be under 14.3 when
sticked. Is this misrepresentation? I mean, training is pretty
subjective...height, and color are not!!!!
And.....where do you determine the degree of
flexibility on height? To me, if you stand a horse on a level surface, and
have a rigid stick, and level to go across to the withers....well, height should
vary less than an inch either direction (short feet, long feet, etc). Some
days horses just seem to stand taller!!! But, you sure don't expect a
horse to be over 3 inches than advertised!
As the deal had been done, and my friend felt
obligated to follow through on her end, she accepted the horse (and nobody had a
stick to measure at that point). Trainer has been asked to rebate some $
back since horse was misrepresented....but has balked.....said horse was
accepted, and a signed bill of sale. I find this somewhat unethical,
especially since the accurate height was requested several times. What is
the current opinion here? Trainer has offered to buy horse back (would be
12 hour trip for current owner), so that is not really an
option.....
Here is another question....buyng a baby.
That does really seem taking a chance, as you truly have no idea of future size
or potential for endurance horse. I bought a youngster from the breeder
who we got my daughters mare from. The mare was advertised as
15.2....well, she is just over 15h.....bred to a 15.3 hand stallion.....first
baby who I bought ended up maybe 14.3 on tippytoe. Now, the baby I bought
at 5 weeks, picked up at 5 months....from a 14.3 Arab mare by a Paint stallion,
how 16h...very likely may hit 16h....and has turned out with great bone, feet
and confrmation. This is the one I have taken on the trail her whole life, and
careful on the feeding, etc. My great experiment to create a future
enduarnce horse......and she is the laziest thing I have ever had....plus I
am not yet seeing any great signs of good recoveries, or even being able to keep
up on short rides (she is now almost 5).
Now I know Heidi will pipe up here it makes more
sense to buy a baby from tested bloodlines, from performance parents, and to do
agree with that.....but hey, I got sidetracked by exotic color!!!!
Just mulling over this stuff before hauling out
lazy mare for lesson first then trail ride. Here in Northern Calif
the sun is shinning, yes my daffodills in bloom, and pasture grass up about a
foot high!
