Ridecamp: Re: [RC] horse purchases and the village idiot

I've never been able to come up with a really good solution to allowing
trials when either buying or selling a horse (which I don't do often,
anyway, thank God), but wanted to pass along a conversation I had last week
after I'd returned from California after fetching my home-bred boy Dakota
from the trainer's place.  I had taken him out for a short trail ride and
was jogging back down the road, having all kinds of good time sidepassing
and opening gates and all that fun stuff.  The neighbor across the road was
standing at the fence with another fella, and as I passed by, here's how the
conversation went:

"Hey, that's a really nice horse.  Is he for sale?"

"Thanks.  Nope, not for any price."

"How old is he?"

"Just turned six."

"Oh, I prefer buying horses around two or three.  He's a little older than I
like."

"Well, he's not for sale."

"What breed is he?"

"Anglo-Arab."

"Oh, I wouldn't be interested in that.  Those are really high-strung horses.
Hard to handle." <This while Dakota was standing yawning next to the mail
box while I hung practically upside down to get the mail out, including a
package hanging in a white plastic bag>.

"Different strokes, I guess.  Good thing I don't want to sell him then."

"Why'd you wanna breed an Arab for, anyway?  Why didn't you get a good old
quarter horse?  They can do anything."

"I ride endurance.  Most quarter horses are a little too heavily muscled."

"Endurance, eh?  I don't do endurance.  Guess I wouldn't have much use for
an endurance horse."

"Just as well this horse isn't for sale, then." <Now wondering if there's a
hidden camera somewhere.>

"Now, I'm not saying I couldn't teach that horse a thing or two."

"I'm sure you could if you had the opportunity, but I don't plan on lending
him out too often."

"Oh, I wouldn't do it for free.  You'd have to pay me for training."

"Thanks, but I just got him back from his trainers.  He pretty much knows
everything I want him to know."

"How long did you have him there?"

"'Bout a year."

"A year!  You'll never get that money back when you sell him."

"He's not for sale.  Not for any price.  Not ever."

"You probably couldn't get more than a couple thousand in this area for a
horse like that.  This is quarter horse country.  But you let me know."

"Thanks, I'll do that." <now wondering if this guy is out on a weekend pass
from the cracker factory as we finally get out of earshot>

All I can say is, thank God I'm not in the market to either buy or sell a
horse, and everybody here trying to do that---I'll be thinking kindly
thoughts and calling down the angels on you. :-D

Susan G



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=