Should I buy? Advice please!

[Red]

Hi I am planning on buying a 9 year old, 15.2hh, Welsh Cob X who has been at a riding school for 6 months but he doesnt enjoy being a school horse - the staff tell me he would prefer to have one owner/rider. Has anyone heard of or experienced this before?

What would you suggest is a reasonable price to buy him?

Also how would I manage the transition from riding school working levels to riding him for 1hr per evening? I work full time so I am concerned that I might not have enough time available for him.

Thanks :)

[gallopinggelding]

Some horses come quite alive from being riding school horses to one-to -one owners , you are keeping said horse at same place ?Why exactly does he not like being a riding school horse ?They really need to explain this more ,no one can tell you it will work ,the final choice is up to you .Is it a b.h.s. school?I would try and find out a lot more, can they give you a loan period ?If your keeping him there no problem?Ask for short loan period, even three weeks and make sure you ride every day during this period, hacks everything then you will know !If they are not keen on this esp. if your keeping him there - i would say hmmmmmm why not ?Good luck you have nothing to lose if you do this loan to buy or walk away,i only buy horses like this three week loan and ride every day hacks, kids on, kids grooming him everything ! Good luck its sunny im off for a ride :D

[gallopinggelding]

Forgot to add ask the grooms/ helpers find out if its because hes stressy /nervous why he dosnt want to be a school horse , if its stressy/nerves walk away ....

[My Crazy Clan]

How long have you been riding? I say if you experienced enough, have the money, time and patience then by all means by him, if this horse suitable for you? what have you done with him etc?

[helena]

I have heard of horses not liking the riding school environment. However you need to be sure that you can cope with him once his workload decreases as he should be fairly fit. His feed should be decreased in accordance to the amount of work he will get.

Price wise it depends what he has done prior to going to the riding school. If he is purely a hack and has no competition record I would not pay more that £2k.

[funkyboots]

i've been to a hacking stable where a new horse started playing up a few miles down the road fought to go back...
but not sure wot happened as never went back...lol
perhaps he dunt like been handled by lots of diffrent people everyday.? i assume they give them days off?

[Red]

Thanks everyone for your replies, :) I have been riding for over 20years so I'm quite advanced and can handle him well, people say he calms down when I ride him compared to others, think it's just my style of riding!

I've ridden him on the flat and over jumps and I get on well with him. He's previously done a lot of cross country and hunting events, and he is not really suitable to the riding school because he can get quite "fresh" with the novice riders so they only use him on advanced lessons. From what I can gather from the staff, I dont think he likes being ridden by lots of different people and different styles. He's not actually for sale, I've just enquired because I love him!

I've found out he's actually 16hh, and has the potential to be a great competition horse.

I would be stabling him at the same yard so yeah I will ask if I could have a trial period with him. I've already been looking after him this weekend and he is totally fine in the stable etc so that's good!

[My Crazy Clan]

You sound like you have it planned out well, I would say go for it, if hes still suitable after the trial, price wise I would say 2k-3k, how much will he be up for? do you have any photos? :)

[Red]

Thanks, I took some photos but they are really blurred as they were on my phone camera so not even worth posting! He is stunning though. They have said that they wouldnt include tack as they need it for the school so I would have to get a saddle fitted etc. All adds up doesnt it!