I Want One

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Some important things to consider before you buy a horse...

Where will you keep it?

For a more expansive page on this topic, click on the information booth below to pop over to our "I Want One" lens on Squidoo...
We Squidoo, do you? (ha :o)

We are very blessed to be able to have our horses right here with us, and I cant imagine having it any other way :o) Not everyone has that luxury, however, some need to board. Here are a couple of things you need to consider for either scenario:

Keeping Horses at Home

Less expensive, certainly, but you are "on call" 24/7.
Horses do not understand things like "Saturday morning", "inclement weather", or "I'm sick". They do, however, understand things like "feeding time" and "hungry".
Words like "vacation" tend to disappear from your reality (Me? I could care less - I have horses, so what else matters? :o)
It is one thing to ask a friend to stop in and feed your cat as opposed to asking someone to "stop in" morning and evening to feed your 9 horses....
You can spend a lot more time with your horse(s) easily and know how well they are cared for (that's a biggie to me).

Some great tips for effective horse keeping at home [from Cherry Hill] can be found here

Boarding A Horse

It costs a lot more money this way, but someone else is (hopefully) on call 24/7
Be sure to check references; is it stall boarding or pasture board? Are the people actually there? Is it a secure facility? Horses do get stolen (scary, but true).
Do they have someplace for you to ride? What are the other people like that keep their horses there?
How far away is it? Can you fit frequent visits into your schedule?

For a more in depth look at boarding, check out this page [also on Cherry Hill's site] by clicking here

Don't forget to factor in your lifestyle and personal preferences - Do you travel? Avoid manual labor like the plague? Want to have other people handy to ride with? Prefer to be alone with your horse? Have more time than money? Have more money than time? Show? Compete? These things are all important when making this decision. Of course I don't think I need to tell you that if you live somplace like an apartment, that's going to pretty much decide for you... :o)

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BE SURE to choose the horse that is right for the job AND is also the right match for you! Read this page from the Unwanted Horse Coalition.

Do you want to compete in shows? Go on trail rides? Decorate your pasture???

Have you been riding for years? Months? Weeks? Twenty minutes??? Be sure to accurately evaluate yourself. Click here for a little help.

Horses and breeds generally come with specific talents and natural abilities to perform certain tasks, just like people. What are you planning to do with it? (Click here for a monster list of horse breeds and blurbs at Wikipedia :o)

Think carefully (make a list if you need to) about what it is you plan to do with this horse

Be honest with yourself about your skills and decide how much time and effort you are willing to put in with your purchase. Have you been riding for years? Months? Weeks? Don't get more horse than you can realisitically handle; even if you DO have excellent health insurance :o)

Pretend you are buying a house or getting married (and yeah, I'm sure that probably sounds a little silly but if more people made actual commitments to their horses there would be far less matches made in misery out there - and you just know the horse winds up the loser there...)

The more nervous and/or exciteable (easily stressed) a person is, the calmer and more low key their horse needs to be (and vice versa). Your emotions are easily trasmitted to your mount - therefore someone who is easily frustrated or angered would not be a good match for a hot blooded horse.

Generally speaking, Betsy Backyard Horse is probably not going to be a good candidate for the show ring any more than an off-the-track thoroughbred will be a great trail horse. I'm not saying these things can never happen, but they probably aren't too likely. Choosing an appropriate match for you and your interests goes a long way in preventing some serious mutual frustration later on down the road. The less skilled and less confident the rider is, the more mature and better trained the horse needs to be. Beginning riders thinking they can find a nice greenbroke horse and "learn together" is a recipe for disaster.