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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!

Marlene

 

Marlene Moss

Saddle Fitting - www.KineticEquineAnalysis.com

Boarding/Training - www.LosPinos-CO.com