10 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Buying Your First Horse
Being a horse owner requires a sizable investment of both dollars and hours. The emotional energy spent is a large factor as well. It all begins with choosing a good horse from the countless horses for sale at any given time.
Of course, it’s important to do your homework first or you run the risk of buying a horse that’s a bad match Choosing poorly could mean you end up with a dangerous horse or one that requires a great deal of work with a qaulified trainer before you can ride hime.
To get started, answer these 10 fundamental questions about yourself and your ideal horse.
null How Much Riding Experience Do you Have?
Answer that question honestly. You’re not doing yourself any favors by overstating your experience and abilities. If you lack experience and confidence, your horse will know it and take advantage of it.
Even if you’ve ridden before, now would be a good time to take some riding lessons – if you haven’t ridden before, now is absolutely the time to take lessons. Lessons will be a good refresher or a solid start on proper horsemanship. Even the most experienced riders among us could benefit from feedback offered by a good instructor to correct small mistakes, overcome minor weaknesses, and avoid potential problems with a new horse.
For those without experience, an instructor can also teach you about grooming and general horse handling. Besides, it’s always nice to have a relationship with a riding instructor and trainer to help you with any issues that may arise in the future.
null What Type of Riding Will You Do?
There are many types of horse riding styles that fall into the broad categories Western and English. There are several, more specific choices that fall into those categories like trail riding, endurance riding, jumping, Dressage, and eventing, just to name a few. Many people participate and compete in multiple disciplines.
Regardless of discipline, though, it’s important to know ahead of time whether you’ll ride only for recreation or if you hope to compete. So, consider not only the disciplines you wish to pursue, but how far you wish to pursue them.
3. What Kind of Person Are You?
Yes, you. What kind of personality do you have? Outgoing, bold, and upbeat or quiet, subued, and low key? The perfect horse for you will depend on this almost as much as the the type of riding you want to do. You may be well-matched with a high-spirited horse that loves to run. But a calm gentle horse is a better choice for others. While it isn’t wise to consider horses to be pets, they do often reflect the personalities of their owners just like cats and dogs do.
Keep in mind that it’s easier to motivate a horse that’s naturally moves slow or is slightly lazy than it is to calm a horse that tends to be more high strung. Better to have to work hard to push your horse than to always find yourself reining him in.
null Do You Have a Breed Preference?
Once you’ve decided on the type of riding you’re interested in and the personality you want your horse to have, the breed choice will become easier. Some disciplines are especially well-suited to a particular breed. For instance, Thoroughbreds and Warmbloods are usually thought of for the Hunter/Jumper circuit or dressage. In the past, the Quarter Horse, Appaloosas and Paints were thought of for Western riding.
5. Tall or Short?
Size matters. If you’re looking for a horse for a child, buy a pony that your child can groom and handle now. Better that a child outgrow the horse in a few years and have to pass him along to another young rider than be intimidated by too large a horse as they are just getting started in their riding.
Along with stature, riding style will also influence the size of horse you should consider. Trail riding often favors smaller horses that will keep your head out of the brush and branches. Small horses are also easier to mount without a step up or boost. You’ll rarely find these items along the trail.
If you want to show in hunter/jumper classes, a 16+ hand horse is necessary to be competitive. However, if your plans are to learn to jump and go to small local shows, you’ll save money by buying a smaller horse. As you become a more capable jumper, you can always find a larger horse to take you to the next level.
6. Boy or Girl?
Confine your shopping to mares and geldings. A stallion is difficult to handle and can be downright dangerous even if you are a very experienced rider. He isn’t suitable unless you’re in the breeding business.
Geldings tend to have stable personalities that make them popular. Preferably he was gelded before his second birthday so that he never learned stallion behavior.
Mares sometimes get a bad rap for being difficult every time when they come into heat. That’s occasionally true, but plenty of mares have calm, stable personalities.
7. Where Will Your Horse Live?
If you’ll be housing your horse at a boarding facility, you’ll want to take the time to visit several. If you’ve been taking lessons at a facility that offers boarding, that may very well be your best choice. Just the same, look at some other horse boarding facilities in your area so you’ll have for back-up choices and as a general comparison.
Many boarding facilities cater to particular riding styles, which is good if that’s the style you wih to pursue. However, being the only the trail rider at a hunter/jumper barn won’t be much fun.
Keeping your horse on your own property is the dream of nearly every horse owner, but you’ll need to be sure you’ve got approrpiate fencing, a barn for shelter, and enough time to feed and care for yourself all by yourself. You’ll also want to be aware of any applicable state and local laws before putting a horse on your property.
8. What is Your Horse-Buying Budget?
The original purchase price of a horse is a large upfront expense. It goes without saying that the more you can spend, the greater choices you will have. If you have this money saved up in advance, you’ll have better leverage with a seller. If you have to buy your horse on payments, you’ll limit your bargaining power and choices because many sellers won’t want to take payments.
It might be worthwhile to visit some popular horse websites and ask others about their buying experiences. Though I wouldn’t recommend buying a horse over the internet without seeing it for yourself first. Simply use your onine research as the first step in the buying process and to set your budget.
9. How Will You Pay for Monthly Expenses?
Speaking of budget, the cost of a horse doesn’t end when you buy him. In fact, it’s just getting started. Boarding, if that’s the route you choose, will include the cost of the boarding, plus riding lessons if you’ll be continuing those, along with nutritional supplements. The cost of feed, hay, and bedding may or may not be part of the overall boarding bill. Keeping your horse on your property makes you responsible for feed, hay, and bedding, but you won’t have the boarding cost.
There are reoccurring expenses that don’t come every month but still need to be added up for a year’s cost and averaged as a monthly expense. Among them are vetrinarian care including an annual Coggins test, along with having your horse’s teeth floated, vaccinations, deworming, and farrier visits.
10. Are you Tacked Up?
You can buy some essential tack and grooming items even before you’ve found the horse you wish to buy. Curry combs, brushes, leg wraps, mane and tail shampoo and conditioner, and a first aid kit are some examples.
Other items must wait until after you have the horse selected, such as the saddle, saddle pad, bridle, and halter. I don’t recommend buying these items before your buy a horse because most of these items need to be sized to fit your specific horse.
Ask an experienced friend or even your riding instructor to help you select tack items that are properly sized for your horse and well-suited to your type of riding. Never pass up an opportunity to buy used tack, either. The price of this gear can add up very quickly and you can save a lot of money by considering pre-owned tack that’s in good condition.
Now Mount Up!
Having answered all those questions, hopefully you’ve arrived at a place where you’re ready to begin shopping for a horse. But please don’t feel like you have to go it alone. Most experienced horse people are more than happy to help less experienced equestrians make good decisions. And who doesn’t love to go horse shopping, even if were not shopping for ourselves!?
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