Re: HORSES & ECONOMICS

[Connie DeJong <cdejong@cisco.com>]

Lif,
I understand your plight, but there is no guarantee on any animal, so why spend more money.  Consumers always look for the best price on a comparable item, so why do you think buying a horse is any different?  I can tell you the difference, education and regulation. A car dealer cannot legally advertise something that isn't there and prices are somewhat regulated based on features.  The horse industry doesn't have regulation, thank goodness, so education is the only tool.

Many people have purchased from a breeder, trainer, or supposedly someone who represents themselves as knowledgable and come out with a less than desireable horse, if a horse at all.  The first horse I purchased came as a recommended animal from someone that is very reputable.  It turned out to be a complete behavior problem and keeled over dead from what we could only explain as a brain anurism about 6 months after I bought it.  I don't blame the "professional", it was the luck of the draw and possibly the intermediate owner that misled me.

The next horse my husband bought from a reputable breeder, great lines, execellent confirmation, paid top dollar and he never settled down enough to stay sound.  Had him for five years, only finished 3 Endurance rides on him and I was really careful about taking care of his lameness, did more than the vets recommended, layed up for 1 year instead of 9 months at a time.  Eventually he developed a lameness that could never be explained and had to be pastured.  I spent thousands on that horse in sales price + vet bills. Again the luck of the draw?

The third horse we bought from a neighbor, an older arab who they could not compete anymore $600, the best horse we have ever come across. Both my children have learned to ride on this horse, and we still have him  with us
as our trusted steed at age 26.  

The forth horse, I have to admit it was a stretch.  This horse I bought for $1500, his attitude calm and willing. Bought him from someone who represented themselves as knowledgable endurance riders.  Well, after two months the horse regained his strength from being underfed and changed his docile, loving, non spooky attitude into one that is battling to be in charge. Of course I sent him to a trainer, she did pretty good with him but he is still a problem and I can't trust him.   He will need way more training than what  I believed at the time of purchase.  And I rode this horse home right out of the trailer on the first day he came to live with me.  The same trail he now spooks at every log.

Anyone out there can call themselves a breeder, or trainer or represent themselves as a "knowledgable" horse person, and the uneducated buyer, often a trusting person doesn't know enough to ask the right questions.  The forth example, I saw what I bought, not perfect confirmation, but easy flowing gaits, willing, calm animal.  He was a little thin, but all explained to being lower in the herd and chased off his feed.  Way different attitude withing 2 months, and he wasn't even ridden durring that time, he stayed in pasture with other horses for the winter and changed completely.

Buyers should spend more time educating themselves, but breeders need to spend more time marketing that education to be easily available or this will 
never change.

So why spend more money, it's a gamble, and maybe the odds are that you
will have a better horse if you spend more, but I haven't been lucky enough to experience that yet.  

Connie




At 05:02 PM 1/22/99 -0700, you wrote:
>I agree on all respects.  And it is sad.  MAny breeders of good
>endurance horses have gone under not because they didn't raise good
>endurance horses, but because they did!  Many show/race horse people who
>will pay  a decent price  for a horse do not want the lines we do, so
>therefore, do NOT buy endurance-bred horses.  If the endurance people
>don't either(and then  suggest that there "aren't any good
>endurance-bred lines out there") the breeders will(and have) given up.
>
>It usually takes ONE foal to make believers  out of people as far as the
>time, money, care(and lots of good luck) that  goes into turning out a
>good three or four year old, ready to start, endurance prospect( that
>has not hurt or injured himself somewhere along the line!).  A lot of
>friends have told me  "I'll never do THAT again--it's a lot easier to
>buy one that's ready to go".
>
>I know everyone looks for a "bargain" but it is amazing to me that  the
>most consideration and cost isn"t put into the horse you're going to
>ride,( hopefully for many years), instead of  truck, trailer, tack, and 
>clothes that a lot of riders deem" necessary"  before they've even
>completed a few fifty milers!
>
>YES I know this isn't everyone!!
>So--hold your fire and think about this--just a little--
>THANKS!  Maureen
> 
Connie DeJong					(408) 526-6117
Customer Success Engineering			Fax (408) 526-4952
IOS Technologies & IP ISU Quality Program Mgr.	170 West Tasman	
							San Jose, CA 95134-1706