Re: [RC] How Did You Find Your Soul [Endurance] Horse ? - Marlene Moss
Angie wrote:
>> Did
you get, like, a 30-day free home trial?
>Gosh no. I am a firm believer that horses always
try to kill themselves if there's any question who would be >responsible for
vet bills at any given time. When I brought Gunner home I was not
impressed for the first 30 >days. I'm glad I didn't have a trial or I'd have
sent him back. Really, same with Kaboot. He trotted like a fat >pony. I'd
have never have dreamed he'd have learned to trot the way he did later.
Yep, I 100% agree on the trial thing. I’ve never
done it myself. I was planning on doing a trial 50 along with the owner
of a horse I was considering, but after one 10 mile ride I decided that would
be unfair to the seller. If I was doing a 50 on a horse, she is my
responsibility and it is my responsibility to determine that the horse is for
me before it leaves the sellers property. So I paid and did the paperwork
before the ride and had a fantastic time w/o having to worry that I was going
to get a scratch on someone else’s horse.
So a couple weeks ago I posted on Ridecamp asking how
to deal with a situation where someone wanted a 30 day trial of one of my
horses. I got a lot of good advice and decided no 30 day, but that the
buyer could take the horse to their vet to get the pre-vet done (we’re
about 5 hours apart). We have a purchase contract that says they could
bring the horse back in the same condition she left in if she did not
pass. I had no real concerns about her passing, but she is 12 so know
there is always a possibility of something going on that I didn’t know
about. Well, she didn’t pass, they brought her back the next day,
kicking, fighting, not willing to trailer load and lame. I immediately
got my vet out, had $420 of lameness exam and x-rays done for the vet to say
that there was nothing really wrong with her, she’d probably backed up
hard into something and tweaked a hind leg and loins, soft tissue, no big deal.
Probably during a trailer ride. So now I am (so far) patiently waiting
for them to cover the vet bill as the contract specifies.
And I have decided that I will never let a horse leave my
property out of my control until the deal is completely done. If they’d
kept the horse a couple days, or their vet had figured it out, they would now
have about the best possible horse to begin doing endurance with. I am
picky about who this horse would go to, so now it will be even longer before I
get around to selling her.
So far I have had very good luck making a purchase decision
based on riding, watching and letting the horse communicate to me. I like
those smart aleck little mares with lots of attitude!
