What Do You Need To Know Before You Buy A Horse

When you buy a horse, it is almost the same as buying a car. It costs a lot of money and every horse is different. You need to be careful when you buy a horse. In this article you can read some important tips and suggestions that are very useful when you buy a horse.

Check the Horse

Make sure that you check the horse before buying it. It is not enough just to see it on some horse shows. Ask the owner to let you check the horse. Check its legs and see if they are straight and if the horse has a good stature. If a horse doesn't have straight legs, it might have lameness problems in the future. Check the legs for any swelling or bumps. You can also check if a horse is head shy by touching its ears and picking up its feet. Make sure that the horse doesn't pull back and that it ties well.

The next step is to examine the horse's chest. If the chest is warm, it means that the horse has recently been ridden and that it is tired. You should check the alertness level of the horse and see if it has been drugged. Make some sudden moves and sounds to test if the horse gets scared.

Now is the time to try to ride the horse in order to be sure it is not lame. You should do it yourself. Try to ride the horse at a different pace and in different directions. The horse must respond to cues and it should bend in both directions. After this, you can let the horse back up a few steps.

It is very important to check the health and body condition of the horse. You need to determine if a horse is healthy or sick. Some horses look nice, but they have many tiny flaws that you are unable to find.

You should take some time to examine the horse's feet. Check if there are any signs of founder. If there are some problems with founder, you will see ridges on the outer side of the hoof. If there is thrush, the bottom of the foot will smell badly. Founder and thrush are common problems with horses, but founder is usually a bigger problem.

It is a good idea to ask a vet to come and examine the horse. If you are planning to use the horse in the competitions, you can ask a professional horse trainer for an opinion. You also need to have horse riding and other skills, if you are planning to use the horse in a competition.

Ask the Horse's Owner

One of the important questions that you need to ask the owner is if the horse has stable vices. Some important signs, such as teeth marks on the fence rails or stalls, will clearly indicate that the horse is a cribber. The owner should be honest and it is best to ask him to give you the list of the stable vices of a particular horse.

You should check if the horse has registration papers. These documents give important information about the age and parentage of the horse. There is no way to find out about the quality of a horse from these papers. You can check the birth date and see if the age is the same as they told you before. If there are no documents and registration papers, you can ask a vet to help you to determine the age of the horse.

You need to know why the owner wants to sell the horse. Some of the owners are not honest and they refuse to tell the real reason. In most of the cases, if the owner is selling horse, it doesn't mean that a horse has abnormalities or problems. They are just unable to keep it any more.

You should ask the owners how long did they own the horse. You also need to know what did they use the horse for. If they took the horse to some competitions, you can ask them to show you the records.