HorseLvr.com

Finding the Perfect Horse

By Bonnie Marlewski-Probert

I recently received a letter over the Internet that addresses important horse buying issues that everyone who is thinking about buying their first or next horse should think about. Below is part of the letter:

“Hello, there. I am thinking about buying a western riding horse this summer because I’m saving up with my babysitting money. I just have one problem, I’m not sure what type of horse I should get? … I would like to know what breed or type of horse would be best for me? Do you have any suggestions, and if so, what might they be? Caya”

The PERFECT first horse for each person is going to be different, depending on what you want to do with your horse most of the time. For example, if you plan on showing your horse 99% of the time, you would buy one type of animal. If you are planning on trail riding with friends 99% of the time, you would buy a completely different type of horse; if you want to jump fences 99% of the time, still a different horse. So, the best thing to do FIRST is to decide what you will be doing with your horse most of the time (not what you would like to be doing with your horse 99% of the time, but what you will actually be doing). If you can get a really clear picture of the answer to that question, you can save a bunch of money on the purchase price and save a bunch of time trying to make a horse that was trained to do one thing, a horse that will do something completely different.

I’ll give you an example of what I mean. I used to have a boarder who always dreamed of having a Quarter Horse show horse, but she owned an Appaloosa gelding who wasn’t really beautiful, he wasn’t really tall, he wasn’t really fancy, but no matter what she asked her horse to do, he was kind, gentle and generous (including parades in town, trail riding, riding in the ring at home, bareback, riding double, games at the local fun play day horse shows, he was perfect when beginner friends of hers came over to ride and he was a perfect gentlemen to be handled by her 6 year old son). Best of all, that horse cost her 700.00!! So, one day she came to me and said that she was going to sell her horse and buy a REAL horse, as she called it. I strongly advised her to rethink her decision because in my eyes, for what she used her horse for 99% of the time, she already had the perfect companion. She wouldn’t hear of it because she had been to a big time Quarter horse show and suddenly, her perfect backyard horse seemed not good enough – SO, she spent 2500.00 dollars to buy a young, green broke, full blooded, black quarter horse gelding. She couldn’t afford to buy a finished, fully trained QH, so she bought a young, semi-trained one and figured she would save some money and finish the horse at home.

To make a long story short, because the horse was young and green broke, he was spooky on the trails, because he was so expensive (for her budget), she didn’t dare turn him out in the fields with other horses because she was terrified he would get bitten or marked up in some way. She kept a blanket on him all the time so his coat wouldn’t fade, she wouldn’t let friends ride him because he was her show horse and in order to prepare him and her for the show ring, she hired a Quarter Horse trainer and started to pay huge amounts of money each month to get the horse ready for his first show and when it came time to go, she discovered that she couldn’t afford to show at that level because you had to have a fancy saddle, fancy clothing, a fancy trainer, and your horse had to be able to compete against really expensive horses. Long story short, she never got to the show, never finished training the horse, lost money when she sold him AND soon discovered that she actually owned the perfect horse all along but now it was too late, she had sold her little appaloosa 700.00 horse.

I mention this story to you because that boarder hadn’t really thought through what she would be doing with her horse 99% of the time. She just got stuck on the one thing she always dreamed of doing (1 big-time horse show) and ended up with a horse that was unsuitable for what she wanted to do 99% of the time and turned out not to be good enough to go to the fancy show anyway.

The moral of that story is two-fold: 1. the only way to really know which side of the fence the grass is greenest on, you have to really be clear about what you plan on doing with your new horse 99% of the time and only then can you make an informed decision. 2. Never judge a riding horse by his looks, size or fancy pedigree first– instead, judge a riding horse on his character, kindness, willingness and heart and only then should the other things come into play. This is no different than the selection process you would go through when choosing a home, a spouse, or your next car for that matter. Incidentally, I always thought the boarder’s small, Appaloosa horse was cute as a bug because I never looked at his outsides; I only looked at the things that really matter, his character, heart and willingness. Sadly, his owner got swept up in the “keeping up with the Jones’s” thing and had to have a bigger, cooler, slicker looking horse and gave no consideration to the suitability of the mount. The saddest part of the story is that the owner realized how beautiful her little Appy had been, only after it was too late. I want to hear from you! If you have any questions, comments or suggestions that you would like to share with the rest of us, drop me a line at:

Bonnie Marlewski-Probert
P.O. Box 548
Yellville, AR 72687

Or you can contact me directly on the Internet at BRMP@AOL.com or by visiting our web site, TheCompletePet.com

For more information on any of Bonnie’s books,

A Parent’s Guide to Buying That First Horse
Debugging Your Horse
The Animal Lover’s Guide to the Internet
Horse Tales for the Soul, Volumes 1 – 5
Dog Tales for the Soul, Volume 1

Or for her videos,

Debugging Your Horse and
Trail Riding, Rules of the road
Visit, TheCompletePet.com

Bonnie Marlewski-Probert is an internationally respected writer and speaker. In addition to her work in the horse industry, Bonnie has also written for some of the top magazines in the world including Good Housekeeping, Science Journals, RV and Travel publications and a variety of Animal-related publications. She taught college courses on the art of writing and getting published and wrote a teaching guide called, “If I Can Do It, So Can You!” Bonnie has published more than 1000 magazine articles, ten books, two how-to videos and two syndicated columns. She is an internationally respected speaker for her content and for her humorous presentations. For more information on Bonnie, her work and her books/videos, visit her website at TheCompletePet.com or e-mail her at brmp@aol.com. Bonnie is also the founder of Whitehall Publishing. You can learn more about that by visiting Whitehallpublishing.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bonnie_Marlewski-Probert

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