How to Buy a Horse

Video Transcript

"When you buy a horse it's important that you have clear ideas as to what your goals and hopes are for the horse. It's also important that you have a trainer to consult with and to help you of going through the process of buying a horse. Once you have your goals set you can start to research what kind of horse is best for those goals, especially in consideration with what discipline you're planning to do. Once you actually go to see the horse you want to look for a number of things. First of all temperament. If I was coming to look at this horse and I saw it standing on the cross ties, I'd want to know if it was going to stand here quietly, if it was going to be friendly to work around. And then I would want to see that person that owns it ride. And if it went well then I might want to get on it as well. If the horses temperament and general ride ability was to my liking I'd also want to make sure that the conformation looked like it was sound and going to be sturdy. You want to look at the way that the horse is put together. Is their neck comparable to their size of their back and the size of the haunches? So you should really set it into thirds and feel like that way your horse will be balanced. Also depending on what discipline you're doing, the way that their neck comes out of their withers. Is it set high or is it set low, depending on what discipline you want to do those things can matter. And I'd also want to take a look at their feet. I'd want to know are their feet sturdy? Are they built well, are they too small for the horses body? And those are the things that if you're not well educated your trainer can help you to know. The last important thing is that when you're buying a horse you have it vet checked. You want to make sure the horse is sound and healthy before you make your final decision."