Your biggest wish, your childhood dream, your latest goal, it is about to become true.
You decided to bring a (new) horse into your life, what a beautiful decision!
Not only to fulfil your own desire but to give a sweet soul an awesome, healthy and happy chance at life.
An exciting but also maybe frightening journey isn't it? When I was about to bring Sol into my life some real world questions crossed my mind.
Will I be a good enough owner?
How can I care for a horse in the best way?
Will I not drown in the responsibility?
Where do I turn to for help?
What if the horse gets sick, hurt or unhandable?
Can I do this financially, really?
And how do I even find and buy the right horse?
The process of finding the right horse can be nerve wrecking. It's a huge financial but emotional investment as well. And the market and industry is not really what we call trustworthy.
You know the stories of people buying horses with the lies of happy athletes, but as soon as the horse is home, major problems emerge. This can be physical or behavior issues - most of the times it's both.
I bought Sol as my first horse (not the first I went to look at!) and I hit gold with him.
He is kind, soft, loving, safe, trustworthy - and overall healthy.
Some of this factors are due to his character, some due to his living conditions and some due to my work and our relationship.
It's an interplay of those factors, but it couldn't have been (that quickly) if I didn't start with a horse that is physically fit and mentally ready (ready - not perfect).
Heres how I made sure he's the right horse for us.
Content: The Horse Market
The Horse Market
The horse market can be a scary place, really. So many horses are being sold everywhere for the wildest price ranges, with seemingly no connection for age, health, training status, ride-ability and behavior.
And although we don't want to measure horses upon their value - the market does. Or at least, they try to. And eventually you are paying real money for a real value you are about to bring into your life.
So the first question you need to clarify for yourself is your budget.
How much are you able and willing to spend on a horse?
Theoretically, the cheaper the horse, the more troubles to expect, the more expensive the horse, the healthier and fit it is.
But thats only half of the truth.
The most expensive horses are the ones with good papers and popular genes - however, that says absolutely nothing about the character, health or happiness of the horse.
You can get a foal for 10.000 of which you do not know how it will turn out and if it maybe carries genetical deformities from the breeding line (which is not uncommon with certain lines).
Or you can get the perfect, calm and sweet, healthy but old, recreational hacking horse, that needs to gain some more weight, for 2500.
It is up to you to decide whats important for you. And to look beyond papers, and to make sure that the mare and sire of your desired breed are really healthy and happy in real life.
We do know from studies that the health and happiness of the parents determine a big deal of how a child is born and growing up in this world. Same counts for foals. Papers are fine - but they do not look for inner deformities in the neck or hips for example, or if the hooves are healthy, if the character is easy to handle or how much stress the mare had during pregnancy. All of which can be passed on to the foal.
The key is to stay critical towards the market, be clear with yourself about what you want and always go see the horse yourself instead of believing the advertisement or heritage.
Very low prices can be an indicator for underlying major issues, the seller maybe doesn't tell as honestly as we would expect. That doesn't mean it can't be a good horse - just be aware of the reason why they are selling and why the price is so low.
For Sol for example it was the circumstances of his history. He came from Spain with a truck load full of spanish horses, most of which are much taller and have a desired coat color. Sol is quite small and a chestnut. There was not much interest in him from the seller, he got "forgotten in the stable" next to antoher spanish pony (as I have been told). He then got lucky to be taken home with one of the riders there, where he got a little training - but he has no fancy strides or movement pattern. So there wasn't much value in him - from the seller side of view.
There weren't many interested buyers also. His price was therefore not that high. He was young, healthy and emotionally open. Yes, he had fears, anxiety, trauma - but he was communicating - even if it was rejection. One of the most important points for me. Thats why I chose him - and now, he's priceless.
One the other hand, an expensive horse isn't necessarily healthy and easy, as they often link the price to the genes and the sportive achievements of their fathers or mothers. That doesn't say anything about their actual state of being, as I mentioned above.
There are horse dealers, breeders, training schools or private people that sell horses. All for different reasons and with different kind of horses. When you decide on buying a horse it is therefore also important to know what kind of history your horse might have and how that impacts your compatibility. And that also means being brutally honest about yourself, what you want and what you can handle.
No horse is perfect. You just have to decide what you are willing to work on.
Emotionally and financially.
And one last tip: always look at more than one horse before you make a decision. Let it be a healthy mix of feeling and knowing.
How To Spot a 'Good' Horse
So, how do you actually recognise a 'good' horse?
Next to, if you two make a good fitting, which we will be discussing below, it firstly is important to be able to see underlying issues in body and mind of your prospect to know what you are dealing with and bringing home.
Maybe you have some 'no-go's' in terms of health that you need to be able to rule out.
There's always the option to hire a vet for examination before buying. The vet will then perform some tests on the horse to check for lameness and injuries. You can also go deeper and get some radiograph footage of the hooves, the neck, the joints or maybe ultra sound of the ligaments and tendons.
How thorough this exams and its results depends on your vet and your pockets.
There are however ways to learn to see that yourself. Getting to know a bit or two about conformation, movement patterns, pain signs and examinations tools can bring you quite far in determine how healthy a horse really is.
And after that, making good assumptions through psychological test and knowledge how well it is in it's mind and if you two will make a good fit. Because psychological issues can be as costly as physical ones, both in time and money (and grey hair).
This skill will serve you not only for choosing the right horse for you but keeping him or her happy and healthy throughout their entire life.
The way to learn this is through theoretical knowledge and practical experiences, which by far won't fit in a blog article. Luckily, I have created a whole platform for learning to master horse behavior. "Confident Connection: Mastering Horse Behavior" is our comprehensive online course, designed to help you decode yours and every's horse conformation and behavior, manage and overcome challenges, and build a lasting bond based on trust and respect with your heart horse.
Let's find out what your are looking for in your heart horse.
What Are You Looking For?
This is a tough one - and one that most people forget to go through - and end up with a horse they eventually sell again, sooner or later, with less or more frustration, less or more (probably less) money in their pocket.
So make sure to not skip this question.
What are you REALLY looking for? And that questions includes answers from within, answers to other questions: Who am I as a person, as an equestrian?
What do I most enjoy about horses? Where does my passion come from? What lights up inside me? What do I believe in?
Do I have sportive goals? Do I enjoy hacking outside?
How tall and heavy am I and what size horse fits me, really?
How good are my riding and handling skills?
How good are my emotional regulation skills?
How easily get I frustrated? Impatient?
Can I take riding out of the equation (for a while)?
Am I mostly alone? Do I have a friend, child or partner that acoompanies me? How good am I at asking help? How knowledgable am I really? What can I do myself, where do I need help? Am I willing and able to grow?
Be completly honest with yourself and commit yourself to sticking to it. How beautiful a horse might seem (and thats mostly our ego talking), is it really the right one for YOU?
If it's a hot headed, young, inexperienced warmblood with attachment issues and your patience is rather slim as well as your 'starting young horses' skill - you have two choices: grow into it, really, fully committed, willing to ask for help, to look at your own flaws in order to become better, let the horse be a mirror of being uncomfortable - or not buy this horse and safe yourself a lot of tears and worry, as well as stress for you and the horse.
If you honestly just want to enjoy light ground work and some hacks outside, better look for an older horse that is much more settled in itself, experienced in the human world and language. You will find it much easier to start communicating, forgiving mistakes and flaws and participate in joyful moments with ease.
If you do have the skills and goals to go for advanced training and sportive motives, make sure the horse in question is genetically and conformationally equipped to fulfil that. Strong, symmetrical, straight legs, healhty hooves, a strong core and hind, a straight back and subtle neck. Healthy movement patterns and willingness to move are the best indicator for a healthy horse in the long run. It does not say much about the mental state - but horses that are emotionally tense often show this in their bodies, too. So look for the small signs as well.
You probably won't find a horse without mental or emotional issues - even if they're small. Here, as well, make sure you are either equipped to rehabilitate such behaviors yourself or willing and able to ask for help from professional behaviorists.
A Horse Needs a Village
Make sure you actually have a list of profesionnals at your disposal that can help you with hoof rehabilitation, body workers, groundwork trainers, saddle and bridle fitters, riding instructors and behaviorists to help you - just in case or on purpose to set up a training plan. Because you will know exactly what horse you will bring home and where you need to work on.
You can't buy the perfect horse. Such a horse not just “is”. It is made. Meaning, someone helped the horse to grow, to learn, to regulate, to overcome, to build trust and relationship, with this person.
Things To Look Out For
In the following I will name a few things you can look out for - which is not saying you shouldn't buy such a horse or cant rehabilitate it. It is just a stating of issues you need to take into account to your questions about what are you looking for and willing and able to work on.
Common physical issues:
Ulcers - the horse is sensitive in the stomach or gut area, doesn't like the girth or saddle and reacts to it
Sour back - girthy horses, trying to avoid the saddle, tense under the rider, several behavior issues while riding
Wet poo, poop water - gut issues, maybe due to bad hay or diet, maybe infections or underlying disease
Bad hooves - most commonly due to neglect, too long trimming intervals, watch out for corrective irons and sole padding, maybe underlying navicular problems and so on
Warm or swollen tendons - a serious problem which needs very adequate rehabilitation
Laminitis - needs very adequate living conditions and good care in the long long run
Thoracic Sling Failure - needs a very long time rehabiliton from the ground and getting strong again before riding
The most common mental and emotional issues are being afraid of humans or things, like tack, vehicles etc.. Some horses show their fears directly in an 'open' response, you can see it immediately and the reaction is 'appropriate' in regards of the fear the horse is feeling.
Fear is a challenge, but a communicating horse is easier to connect to than the opposite: The shut down horse. Wether the horse is afraid, uncomfortable or upset, you won't see that easily in a horse that has retreated from the outside world into itself. These horses literally hide inside. They don't show emotions or react adequatly to outside triggers. There are different levels of 'shut down' and therefore it takes long or longer to connect to such a horse and help it come out of its shell again.
The psyche of such a hose is so dramatically hurt that it will ask the very best of you to deal with it kindly. And patiently. Because this can take a long, long time. And you don't know what kind of horse you get once it shows itself again.
Before 'shut down' comes learned helplessness in various gradiations.
Some of which tend to make a horse 'unpredictable'. A hot headed horse that bursts into bucking out of nothing, even though you had good times already is a warning sign that there are major underlying discomforts the horse only dares to show now and then when it's boiling over. In between the try to condemn themselves for the sake of peace - not being allowed to fall out of line and learning that it makes no sense anyway.
Finally,
it is and stays a very personal choice and a challenging journey to find your heart horse.
However, you can always ask for advice and get help from a behaviorist even for such a mountain of a task. Thanks to the internet everything is possible nowadays.
If some of these words might have confused you but you are intrigued to learn more about analyzing horses, seeing what they are made of and evaluating a good fit for yourself you can do so here
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