Buying a horse

It can be a daunting task finding the right horse or pony with endless hours of trawling the net and travelling the country. When you do find something that you think may be suitable Petros can offer you great support by coming along to help assess the suitability and give you the benefit of 25 years of horsemanship experience.

Horse buying tips

  • Be clear of what your budget is, be realistic about what you can get for your money and try and stick to it,
  • Think about what your expectations of the horse/pony might be and try and choose appropriate breed, age, temperament for the particular work you expect and the situation the horse will be kept in.
  • Do your ‘homework’ before you travel to see any horse/pony. Ask plenty of questions about the history, track record, ask for more photographs or better still some video, so that you have an idea how the horse moves and goes under saddle.
  • You can look up their track record if it has been affiliated with any competitive organisation.
  • Don’t underestimate the cost of keeping a pony/horse or the time you need to dedicate looking after and exercising it.
  • Ideally you should view the horse on more than one occasion, possibly at different times of day, light and weather conditions.
  • Ensure the trials facilities are adequate for your purpose and that you will be able to test the horse out first hand on the sort of things you would expect him to do. [Road work, hacking out, jumping (including double), suitable surface for dressage etc]
  • Do see for yourself that the horse loads in lorry/trailer without trouble.
  • Take another person with you as a second pair of eyes.
 

Horse buying links

Checking if the horse has been affiliated with any competitive organisation:

Here are some places you can start looking: