Tag Archives: horse

Buying A Horse

11 Top Tips – Focus list for buying your horse

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You know what you want….So keep focused when buying your horse.

You’ve made a decision and you are going to buy a horse.  My advice? …Make a shopping list first.

List everything that you want your horse to be, his minimum level of experience, how you are going to fit on him and what you want to do with him.  You can make it more detailed with specifics like age, breed, build, bone etc but promise yourself that if you write it down then you will stick to it.  So put a lot of thought into this preparatory step before even pressing a horses for sale link!

Shopping list sorted and your ready to start looking so here is a handy focus list for you to help keep you on track.

  1. Decide what type of horse you are after and stick to it. It’s all too easy to get carried away when you’re looking for a horse, so If you are after a schoolmaster don’t come home with a recently broken 3 year old!
  2. Ask yourself will this horse do the job I want him for?  “Could I see this horse in the arena, x country, hunting all day etc ?” It really helps to keep a clear picture of what you are looking for.  It is so easy to get side tracked and buy on impulse based on nothing more than the colour of a horses coat.
  3. Keep a constant eye on the market – The good ones tend to get snapped up very quickly, in the past I’ve seen them on Horse Scout in the morning and sold be lunchtime!
  4. Be prepared to take your time finding a horse – sometimes it can be a lengthy and tedious process, if the first horse isn’t right it might be the second, fifth or tenth!  And always try a horse twice – you will pick up on things at a second visit that you missed the first time around
  5. Make a list of questions and make sure you get an answer to every one before hanging up.  Let the seller talk, often as you chat you can pick up things that are not written in the ad.  E.g. “Is he quiet in the stable?” “Oh yes, burble on a bit…” followed by “of course if you wave your arms around he can throw up his head” no this might describe the horse exactly or it could be a way of saying you have to be very quiet around the horse as it spooks easily in its stable.  Bear this in mind when you visit the horse.  Don’t go mad but just see what the seller means.
  6. Ask direct questions about vices etc like weaving or windsucking, cold back etc by specifically asking the question. Technically a seller is oblisged to come clean but if he hesitates or changes the subject be wary. If this happens go aware to the visit if you still want to go ahead, this will save you time and money in the long run. Ask for a video of the horse inaction, this can be a great way of telling whether a horse is worth the time and cost of fuel of a viewing.
  7. Don’t waste peoples time If you arrive and immediately know the horse is not for you then don’t be afraid to say so, the seller should appreciate your honesty and this way you won’t be wasting your time either.  It can be difficult to be blunt but better for all concerned in the long run.  You may well make friends with the seller but they are not, at this point, your friend and will not mind your honesty.
  8. If you can then video the horse – you can watch it again and again which will help you make a decision and similarly, take someone with you that knows your riding – it can be so worthwhile to have another ‘pair of eyes’ to assess the horse
  9. Ask questions, questions and more questions! Buying a horse is a huge decision and you need to know everything you can about the horse before you commit to buying it. If the seller is genuine they will be able to answer all of them!
  10. Sleep on it.  The seller is keen to make a sale but you must be certain that this is the right horse for you.  After all you will have a huge time, money and resources tied up in your equine partner so make sure you are making a decision based on all the things that are on your shopping list and not on an impulse.
  11. Having made a decision it is advisable to get a vet check, but keep it appropriate you don’t need a 5* vetting if you are not expecting to seriously compete on your horse.  However, your vet will be able to advise you if you tell him what you want to use the horse for.

Don’t go off track, pick the perfect horse for you.  Good luck with your search and let us know how you get on.

Horse Advice

Freelance Grooms and Instructors are you covered?

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Freelance grooms are defined as those professionals who work part time for different employers ,, trainer or instructor allows a degree of flexibility to both parties and also on a casual cover basis i.e. when permanent staff are sick or on holiday.

View Horse Scout grooms available here 

For clients looking for training, which is provided by a professional instructor, at home on their own yard the same freelance insurance cover principals would apply.

From the point of view of the professional offering a service to others it is essential that in todays litigious society we must protect ourselves from being sued by a third party and Freelancers are no exception. Whether you are an instructor, trainer or a groom you must protect yourself. Likewise those who employ trainers and outside horse help must make sure they are covered by appropriate insurances. The BHS offer Public Liability cover with their membership. Which for freelance instructors would protect you if the person you are teaching on their own horse was to fall and sustain an injury and you were found to be legally liability for the injury. Furthermore if as an instructor or groom you were to ride or handle someone else’s horse and the horse caused any third party property damage or bodily injury whilst doing so then the policy would protect you should a claim be made against you.

However for the professional freelancer it might be advisable to consider a more compressive policy e.g. SEIB who, unlike the BHS include care, custody and control for horses under your care.

Care Custody and Control cover is an optional extension to the public liability and would protect you as the instructor or groom should a horse whilst in your care, custody or control be injured and the owner of the horse were to claim against you for the injury. For example if a groom was clipping a horse and accidentally cut the horse, the owner of the horse may claim from the groom for the resulting vets fees from the accident.

Also it should be noted that anyone employing members of staff must carry Employers Liability and is essential cover if you were to have a helper or student to assist with your freelance instructing or groom duties. The cover protects you as the ’employer’ should the helper or assistant get injured whilst carrying out their ’employed’ duties.

 

 

Jumping

HorseScout’s Update on Futurity Awards

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Catherston Stud’s Timolin Scoops Futurity Award for the third time with the Billy Stud taking 3 young horse awards.

If you are looking for Stallions for this season take a look at Horse Scouts Stallion Page where you can find contact profiles for two dozen top class Sports Horse stallions including Timolin who stands at Catherston Stud and the “Billy” Stud too.

The 3 year Olds award went to Timolin, who was winning a Futurity award for the third time, bred by Aram Gregory, this colt is destined for a dressage and stud career, having recently been purchased by Catherston Stud. Other winners in the Futurity age awards are, Rosie Moreton-Deakin who picked up the foal award for breeding Fiderstar, a potential dressage prospect. Zoe Feeney collected the yearling award for Just Soda No Ice, a show jumping prospect. The two-year old award went to Summertime Blues bred by Lynne Crowden.

The Young Horse Awards for the three disciplines saw a range of breeders step forward to collect their awards and the Billy Stud collected the five year-old and seven year-old British Eventing Young Horse Breeders Medals On for Billy Walk On and Billy Cuckoo – and the five year-old showjumping award for Billy On Ice. Amongst the other winners was Sharon Bishop who now has three British Eventing Young Horse Breeders Medals as breeder of Parkfield Quintessential; the four year-old, five year-old and now six year-old winner of this prestigious award and River Rise Escarla took the five year-old dressage award, bred by Sarah Tyler Evans by the KWPN stallion Lord Leatherdale.

 

 

Horses For Sale

Stunning Stallion at Stud

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Looking for something different? A stallion with stamina, speed, agility, scope and and high percentage of blood? – elasticity over a fence and four exceptional paces, walk, trot, canter and gallop? The Akhal Teke is considered by many to be one of the oldest thoroughbred breeds today.Kambarbay possesses all of the desirable characteristics of the modern sport horse, three very good paces, well defined limbs and a well proportioned length of body and neck along, a beautiful head and a metallic golden sheen to his coat for which the breed are also renown.The Akhal Teke as a breed are infamous for their great stamina, speed, agility and bravery the characteristics very much sought after for the eventing and endurance horse. Kambarbay is a stallion with tremendous nobility and refinement an elegant high blood stallion with the ability as a Perlino to pass on his dilute colouring 100% of the time. Homozygous agouti and cream he will always produce palomino and buckskin foals from solid mares.His first foals show an abundance of athleticism, presence and refinement.Kambarbay has competition results in British Dressage Show Jumping and Eventing.Extensive library of videos, photos, ancestry and progeny details available on our website.

Horse Advice

Livery for your horse

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Are you looking for livery for your horse?

We all want to look after our horses and keep them happy and healthy.

If you are not happy in your present yard or your circumstances have changed or perhaps you are thinking of buying a horse and keeping it at livery. Livery yards are built in every size and shape and generally speaking you will get what you pay for. So its important to consider what it is that you want to pay for and balance this against what you can actually afford in order to enjoy your horse.  Who, after all represents, for most of us, a sizeable percentage outgoing of any disposable income.

Here are some fundamental things to put on your tick list.

What do you need from your livery yard?

  1. What kind of livery are you looking for?
  2. How far from home/work?
  3. How much time have you got to give to your horse?
  4. What do you want to do with your horse?

Take the time to think all these things through, each as important as the next.

Livery – is a term used to describe the rent of services and facilities to house and care for your horse.  What kind of livery will very much depend on what you need in terms of care for your horse, and any time constraints you may have due to work or family commitments and of course your experience and financial situation.

  • Full training livery – An option for Sports and Show horses where a horse is ridden and cared for by a professional rider and their team. The horse will be trained and competed by the professional rider who is specifically training horses to progress on a specific career path.  For example Dressage, or Eventing, Showing and Racing and any other discipline which requires specialist training.
  • Full livery – your horse is cared for, fed, and ridden – the livery yard takes 100% of the duties in looking after and exercising your horse around your requirements.  For instance hunters who may require excersising, schooling and preparation for their owners to take them hunting maybe once a week or to come an dride when they are able but not necessarily be involved in the day to day care of the animal.
  • Half Livery – your horse has a range of needs catered for but not all i.e. you share responsibility for the care of your horse with yard staff.  The permutations are endless and can cover a variety of needs for both horse and owner.  Typical packages could be the yard will feed, muck out and turn out and bring your horse in but you are responsible for grooming and riding or maybe the yard staff tend to your horse at one end of the day or another, this may still include mucking out and feeding.
  • DIY Livery – the owner provides the infrastructure in which to keep your horse but you would be responsible for its care and exercise.
  • Grass keep – the owner provides a field which may or may not have a shelter and water.  Whilst you are 100% responsible for your horse and it should be noted that you are responsible for ensuring that your horse stays within the confines of the field, it is a good idea to establish who is responsible for the maintenance of any boundaries and entrances etc.

 

If you are looking for a training livery then where the yard is not necessarily the key directive, you will have chosen your yard based on the professional rider and their area of speciality for instance you may be looking for an event rider in the south west, or a dressage rider who has competed at top level to bring on your newly imported warmblood.

However for other types of livery will need to fulfil specific criteria depending on your personal circumstances.

One important consideration is how far will you realistically be able to travel if, for instance you are working and have your horse on half livery.  You will be responsible for a certain amount of time out of each day to devote to the care and the exercise of your lovely horse.  If you can find the ideal yard which is on your way or way back between two points then you will save precious time to spend with him, and with a few organisational tweak’s like packing your riding gear or boots into your car so they are always on hand means you wont have to return home before visiting the yard.

If you work or have family ties then another consideration should be given to how much time, realistically, you will be able to give to your horse and still ensure his care is as good as it can be.  Half livery is a convenient and generally realistically priced option if you want to be as involved as you can with your horse.

If you are confident that you have the experience and the time then DIY is a good choice, it is worth asking for recommendations, or talking with other clients and also checking out exactly what is offered with the service. i.e. does the owner allow for storage of hay and straw etc or are you expected to buy supplies through them.  Is there enough and secure storage for your horse related equipment.

When viewing any potential premises and their options remember to ask the questions that will establish whether the yard in question is going to cover all your requirements.  Spend some time watching the horses and the staff and ….quite importantly, the other clients who you may be spending time with if you are choosing half or DIY options.

Don’t just jump right in.  Make sure the yard you pick is going to make your horse and just as important, you, happy.

Horses For Sale

Learning To Walk Before You Run

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 While you are still learning about your horse and your own abilities and, indeed, even when you are very experienced indeed, Horse Scout has a wide range of Professional Trainers who can help you walk in harmony with your horse and take the first steps in a wonderful relationship which could last for years and take you to places you never dreamed of going.

 

Horses For Sale

Your Responsibilities To Your Horse

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Your Responsibilities To Your Horse

Fundamental to all horse ownership is the DEFRA directive that If you own or are responsible for a horse, you have a duty to look after its basic welfare by:

providing it with a suitable place to live
giving it a suitable diet
protecting it from pain, injury, suffering and disease
making sure it can behave normally and naturally

You can be fined up to £20,000 or sent to prison for up to 6 months if you are cruel to an animal or don’t care for it properly. You may also be banned from owning animals in future.

Horse Scout has some wonderful livery yards on this. Click here and find the best place for your horse to livery.

Horses For Sale

Horse for Sale

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Exceptionally bred horse for sale with Horse Scout. This beautiful little gelding is sired by the Hanoverian licensing Champion and record- priced auction horse, Hotline, who won advanced dressage classes by the age of 7. In 2008 Hotline became Danish National Champion and in 2009 he won a Qualifier with a score of 9.45. Of his first offspring (aged 3 in 2010) Halifax was in the top 5 at the Bundeschampionat and many of his stock were selected for Elite auctions where they fetched high prices. At only 9 years old, Hotline already has already produced 9 approved stallion sons as well as the Danish Champion mare.The dam, Champagne Supernova, is a young KWPN mare by Sandreo who won the KWPN Stallion Show in 2005. Sandreo is sired by the dressage World Champion Sandro Hit who is renowned for producing uphill, pretty horses with outstanding rideability.Sandro Hit’s dam, Loretta is an excellent stallion producer – she is also the dam of Diamond Hit (Reserve World Champion) and premium stallion Royal Hit. Sandreo’s dam sire is the “keur” stallion Flemmingh who produced the Grand-Prix horses, Krack C and Lingh. Sandreo’s great grand sire is the preferent stallion “Ahorn”.The grand-dam With Love is by the Westphalien stallion Freestyle (Florestan) who won his 100 day performance test at Prussendorf in 1999 with a ride ability score of 9.33. Freestyle’s dam, St Pr Paloma, has produced two graded sons and comes from a line of State Premium mares. Freestyle’s sire Florestan was Champion of his Performance test and another legendary producer of top class dressage horses including Bundeschampion Fidermark, World Young Dressage Horse Champion French Kiss and Florencio – twice World Champion Young Dressage Horse.Guess is expected to mature approx 15.2hh.