Adventures in Horse Shopping, part 2

The day of the auction had arrived.  Gemma could hardly stay within her own skin, she was so excited.  I was feeling a bit nervous about the logistics of the day, not to mention the thought of potentially bidding on a horse.  As we had done the day before, we headed out to the barn in the morning to check on Donut and Star.  I also hooked up my trailer so I would have it with me in the off chance I decided to buy a horse.  I didn't want to make another drive up to the auction location the next day because Gemma would be competing in a dressage show.  Then we stopped by home to take care of the dog and the cats and replenish our snack supply.

But by noon, we were on the road.  I had the route planned better this time, although I had forgotten the memories it would hold.  I felt a little stab in my heart as we drove past the gas station that I used when I had hauled Nimo up to the Foxcatcher endurance ride a few years ago.  I love the gas station because it is so easy to get in and out of with a trailer.  I made a mental note to remember it for the way home in case I needed to stop for gas.

When we had started the trip, my navigation app indicated we would hit heavy traffic in a few areas, and I watched my window of time to look at horses before the auction started begin to dwindle.  But there was nothing I could do about it.  As luck would have it, though, some of that traffic cleared up before we got to that area, so our expected arrival time didn't look as bad as I had initially thought.

And I was also lucky that a good friend was monitoring the auction from home and sending me messages with updates as the auction staff started posting more information and videos about the horses.  As we got close to arriving at the auction location, a video came through of the mare I'd been so interested in the night before, but whose seller I couldn't find.  I didn't watch the video because I was driving, but it was good to know there was one and my friend's evaluation was that the mare looked sound.

I pulled up to the entrance for the auction parking area and talked to the staff member who was directing vehicles.  He saw my trailer and asked if I needed to unload a horse.  I said, "Nope.  I'm just feeling optimistic!"  He smiled and directed us to the parking area.  There were a lot of trailers there, but it was still easy to pull in to a spot and we would be within walking distance of the sale barns.

The first thing we needed to do was to get a number for bidding.  We checked in at the trailer that doubled as an office and I got my number.  I learned that I needed to guard my number with my life.  Because if I somehow lost it, and someone else bid with it, I could be held legally liable for whatever purchases that person made.  I would spend the next umpteen hours compulsively guarding that yellow tag with number 272 on it.

Then we headed to the barns.  The facility was laid out so that everything was connected, but it was clear that the original facility with the sales ring and maybe 15-20 stalls had been expanded many times.  We had learned the way around the day before, so it was easy to navigate today.  Thankfully all the stalls had numbers that matched the hip numbers on the horses, and we had a catalog, so we could quickly figure out which horse was which and locate the few that we wanted to see more of.

One of the first things we did was check on the mare and gelding that were on the top of my list.  Still no sellers.  But we did find sellers for several other horses and we got some more information about those horses and were able to watch them under saddle.  One by one, each horse was crossed off of the list.  In some cases, it was that there was something off about the horse's movement.  In other cases, it became clear that the horse was a little too forward under saddle.  And in one case that still makes me sad, it was clear that the mare had a physical issue.  I had really been excited about her.  She was a 12 year old gray mare that had turned almost white, except for her black mane and tail.  She was a stocky quarter horse about 15 hands tall.  She was quiet in her stall and her history included carting an old lady around the trails.  But I noticed she had a pretty significant hunters bump and under saddle, she really had trouble picking up the canter.  I sternly reminded myself that I was not there on a rescue or rehab mission, and crossed her off the list.  But I think I will remember her for a long while and hope that she ended up in a good home.  Her name was Lily.

Meanwhile, we kept checking to see if we could find the sellers for the mare and gelding that were now the only horses left on my list.  The start time of the auction was imminent, although it had been delayed by about 45 minutes because the tack auction from the previous day was still going on.  (I guess they had a lot of tack!!!)

Luckily, the mare and gelding would not be up for sale until toward the end of the auction, so we still had time.  The mare was number 72 and the gelding was number 86.  And that was probably my order of preference based on what I knew about each of them at the time.  I had seen both in videos under saddle and knew they were sound with good basic movement.  But I didn't know much about their history or their temperament.  And I needed to know more before I could even decide if I would bid.

I decided we could go watch the auction for a bit and then check back in at the horses' stalls to see if the sellers had shown up.  If you are interested, here is a video of what the sales process looked like:

I watched a few ponies go through the ring.  And I realized I didn't know if I could make it through the auction.  It was hard to watch those cute ponies go through and see the impersonal nature of the sales process.  To see that they were probably worried and didn't know what was going on.  I wanted to take every one of them home with me.

I decided we needed a short break, or at least I did.  Gemma was still excited to be there and probably didn't have a good understanding of exactly what was going on.  And that is probably a good thing.

We wandered around the horse barns again.  Still no sellers for that mare and gelding.  Where were they?  I mean, didn't they want to sell these horses?

Then we headed back to the auction in time to see one of the horses I had seriously considered for Gemma go through.  He was a nice calm, bay quarter horse gelding.  But under saddle, he looked like he could be a little too much for Gemma and my friend had spotted something that wasn't right with his movement, so I had decided to let him go.  I was kind of sad about that as I watched him do some really nice jumping in the sales ring and even sadder when he sold for $4,000, which was well below my budget of $6,500.  I hope the person who bought him appreciates him and gives him a good home.

We watched for a little bit more and then I realized it was dinner time already.  We walked to the truck and got a snack before checking the horse barn for the sellers, whose elusive nature was starting to really irritate me.  Still no sign of them.

Gemma and I settled in to watch more of the auction.  We saw several horses go through that we had looked at.  Most sold for really reasonable prices.  Except for Lily.  She was a no sale at $2,500.  (A "no sale" occurs when the seller sets a reserve price, below which they will not sell the horse, and the top bid is below that reserve.)  Apparently, other buyers had seen the physical issues that I had seen, but the dealer selling her wasn't willing to let her go for that price.  I'm still hoping she ends up in a good home with some little kids who just want to putz around on her.  That would be a good life for her.

Then a magnificent palomino gelding came through.  I had never seriously considered him for Gemma, but if I had been shopping for a horse for myself, he would have been my top pick.  He was absolutely stunning.  16 hands of stout muscle built to rope and drag down steers if necessary.  He was also a no sale at $7,200.  I was beginning to realize that there was a disconnect between sellers and buyers.  By the end of the auction, almost 15% of the horses that had gone through were no sales.  The horse market may be hot right now, but it was clear that buyers were not willing to pay those extreme prices at this auction any more.  I think some sellers had gotten greedy and were looking for the $10,000 plus price tags they had seen earlier in the year, but their horses, no matter how nice they were, simply were not worth that kind of money.

We watched the auction just a bit more, and then staked out the stalls for the mare and gelding.  While we were doing that, I noticed that a family with a little kid had basically taken up residence in the gelding's stall.  He was super good with the little kid and I could see they had fallen in love with him. I wondered if I would have the stomach to bid against them if I decided the gelding would be a good fit for Gemma.

More importantly, though, it occurred to me we could do the same thing with the mare.  At least if we could hang out with her in the stall, we would be able to get an idea of her temperament.  So I asked Gemma if she wanted to meet this mare that she had been gazing at with adoration for several hours.  Unsurprisingly, she said yes, and we slid open the stall door.  

The mare was happy to see us and she stood perfectly still while I felt her whole body, looking for any unusual lumps or sensitivities.  I did see she had a big scar on the front of her hock, but it seemed well healed and didn't seem to interfere with her movement.  She also had shoes on her front feet.  They were overdue to be reset, but the hoof seemed strong with no crumbling and her feet were a good size for her body.  I had previously wanted to look at horses that were barefoot, but it became clear to me that wasn't giving me many choices.  Almost every horse for sale had at least front shoes.  So I had made my peace with the possibility that I would have to use a farrier for the first time in over eight years.  I had found a farrier that comes to my barn that does a decent job.  He's been trimming Star, and I discovered if I gave him a little help by doing a touch-up trim before he trimmed her feet, he would trim them pretty close to the way they should be.  And he comes out frequently for other horses, so I figured I could manage a horse with front shoes if I needed to.

While I was doing my physical assessment of the mare, Gemma was doing some bodywork.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Gemma has been using the Masterson Method Bladder Meridian Technique on Star and gotten some nice results with it.  So she was using that knowledge to good effect on this mare.  Almost immediately she got some yawns and licking and chewing.  We spent maybe 10 minutes with the mare, and it was clear to me that she and Gemma were getting along just fine.  The mare had willingly picked up all of her feet and moved over in each direction when asked.  I had seen no signs of weaving or cribbing.  So we were one step closer to me thinking I could bid on her, but I really wanted to talk to her seller.

We gave up on seeing the seller and headed back to the auction while I fretted about what to do about that mare.  I had been messaging my friend back and forth all night, and she was doing a good job of keeping me grounded and reminding me of the information I needed before I could make a decision.  It was so valuable having another person to bounce ideas off of and to take a second look at my assessments.

The auction continued with relentless inevitability.  Horse after horse came through the ring.  And then we were 10 horses before the mare was supposed to be up for sale.  I realized that someone was going to have to come tack her up to ride her for the sales ring.  And that person would have to answer my questions.  Gemma and I headed back to the mare's stall.  And we waited.  

Finally it occurred to me that maybe the mare had been pulled from the sale.  Maybe her seller had seen the lower prices and decided not to sell her.  I found the announcer who was checking in horses and asked.  She said the mare was still scheduled to be sold.

We went back to the stall.  And waited.  One of the auction staff who knew us because we had essentially been living at this barn for two days and asking tons of questions walked by.  She smiled and asked if we had found anything we liked.  I explained that we really liked this particular mare, but we'd never been able to talk to anyone about her and that she was scheduled to be sold soon, but still not saddled.  She told us that she would look into it for us.

A couple of minutes later, she was back, followed by a stressed-looking young man leading a horse Gemma and I knew on sight.  Tito was a sturdy paint gelding that we had evaluated earlier in the day and ruled out because he looked like he would be a little more than Gemma could handle.  But he was otherwise a very nice horse.  Apparently, this man was riding Tito and the mare.  He explained he hadn't realized the mare was up so soon, so he quickly put Tito back in his stall while the auction lady helped him get the mare out of the stall.

We watched while he threw the saddle on in what was probably the worst set of circumstances to show a horse to a prospective buyer.  The mare was completely chill and stood ground-tied while I asked if he knew anything about her.  He said the sellers were friends of his and he would be happy to answer my questions because he knew the mare well.  I started going through my list of questions about how she handled trailer loading, and leading, and bathing, and other assorted basic tasks.  Then I asked the question that I had discovered no seller so far would lie to me about.  Is this horse appropriate for an advanced beginner rider (as I pointed to my ever-so-cute child)?  The answer was yes.  The man told me she was a wonderful horse who he thought would be a great fit for a young rider.  I would have liked to have learned more about why she was being sold and the scar on her leg, but we were out of time, and I had to make my decision.  Would I bid on this mare?

If you are wondering why I was so interested in this mare, this sales picture had a lot to do with it.

The man led the mare to the sales ring and Gemma and I headed to the bidding area.  I'd made my choice.  We were going to bid on the mare.

We got to the sales ring as the horse listed before the mare was being sold.  I had butterflies in my stomach, and I was nervous as all hell.  I had no experience with buying a horse at auction, and I was worried I'd somehow bid more than I could afford.

I could see the mare waiting for her turn in the ring.  She was standing quietly.  No warm-up.  Stuck in a stall for two days at a place that must have been terrifying in a group of horses milling around while an auctioneer shouted over a loudspeaker, with tons of people lining the sales ring.  And she was quiet and alert.

And then she was up.  I took a deep breath.

Bidding started at $1,500.  I was in at $1,700.  And then things got crazy.  The bidding escalated so fast, the next number I heard was $4,700.  And then we were at $6,000 before I could blink.  But the bidding stalled there.  I was pretty sure I was going to have some sort of apoplectic fit.  The auction staff started setting a jump to show the mare's jumping ability as a way to entice more bids.  Inside I was screaming, "Noooooooo!" I didn't want anyone else to bid because I was currently holding the high bid.

Meanwhile two of my friends were watching the auction online and on the phone with each other while they tried to figure out who had the high bid because Gemma and I were standing in a place that the web camera wasn't able to see.  The auction allowed internet and floor bidding, so they knew the high bidder at that point was probably me because the website said the high bidder was a floor bid.

And then the auctioneer started his patter again.  "62, 63, 62, 63..."  And then we were at $6,500.  It was the highest I could go.  One of the auction staff asked if I could go to $6,600.  I didn't know why.  I asked if I had the bid.  They said yes.  So why would I need to go higher?  I just said I couldn't.  $6,500 was my top bid.  Gemma asked, "Did we just buy a horse?"  I told her I didn't know.  The auctioneer hadn't said she was sold yet.  Was there another bidder somewhere?

All that I could think was that we were going to lose this horse and how disappointed Gemma would be and how we would have to try again at the next auction.

And then the auctioneer asked, "Will you sell this horse for $6,500 to this little girl?"  Apparently everyone knew I was bidding on a horse for Gemma.  I don't know how.  (Maybe because we'd been living at the auction for two days asking questions...)  And somehow the auctioneer knew who the seller was and was communicating with them.  (In the stands?  On the phone? I don't know.)  And the seller said yes.

And that was it.  In a blink of an eye, we had bought a horse.  And Gemma started screaming and I think I might have been cheering too.  And everyone started clapping and congratulating us and telling us what a nice horse we'd bought.  It was like a scene from a movie.  

In hindsight, what was happening was that the mare had a reserve price that was lower than my high bid of $6,500.  And she was going to be a no sale.  But somehow it occurred to that auctioneer to ask the question and the seller decided to let the mare go for less than her reserve price, maybe because they could see she wasn't going to a dealer who would try to flip her but also for some reason that I will never know.  If they had advertised this mare on Facebook, she would have sold in a heartbeat for probably significantly more than I had paid for her.  I wish I could have seen who the seller was or had a chance to talk to that person later, if for no other reason than to thank them and assure them the mare would have a good home with us, but there was no way for me to know who it was.  There were too many people and too much confusion.

After taking a minute to fully realize that I had just bought a horse at an auction for my daughter, I figured out that the next step was to go pay for the horse and figure out how to pick her up.  The process was crazy simple.  I walked to the trailer where I had gotten my number, handed my tag to the lady, and explained that I had bought a horse.  She looked my number up on the computer to confirm the sale.  Then I wrote her a check and she handed me a receipt.  She told me I could pull my trailer up to the barn, get the horse, and before I put the horse on the trailer, I needed to show my receipt to the staff member at the barn door.

Gemma and I got the truck and trailer, pulled up to the barn, and confirmed the process with the staff member by the door.  I was sort of blown away by how easy everything was.  Gemma confidently walked to the mare's stall, put her halter on, and led her down the barn aisle, through a human-sized door and to the trailer.  I took over from there.  Even though the mare had been represented as loading well, I decided I should be the one to do it, just in case.  The mare didn't even give a second look at the trailer.  She hopped right on and started munching the hay we had set up at the front.

And that was it.  Gemma and I got in the truck and headed toward the barn, with Gemma chatting excitedly about everything she'd seen and felt.  We also called my friend who'd been providing support through the whole auction and talked to her a bit and found out the story of how things had looked from an online perspective.  She said the bidding for the mare was crazy exciting to watch and that she was screaming the whole time with another friend who was on the phone with her watching the same thing.  Apparently, we were even better than reality TV:)

The drive back to the barn was pretty uneventful.  The mare hauled quietly, and she was calm when we stopped for gas.  There was a man there putting gas in his car and when he saw the horse in the trailer, he asked if he could pet her and take a picture for his daughter who was seven and loved horses.  I told him that of course he could.  Gemma was already in the trailer petting the mare and she told the man all about her.  After a few minutes, the man came out of the trailer and thanked me and told me I have a pretty special kid.  I told him I knew.  And maybe the universe did too, because I was still trying to wrap my head around the sequence of events that happened to lead to us being able to buy the horse.

We got to the barn at about 10:30 that night.  The trip from the auction had taken about two hours.  I unloaded the mare easily and walked her over to the round pen, which is where she would be hanging out for at least several days.  The auction provided a three-day soundness guarantee on all horses sold unless they were flagged "as is."  The mare had sold with the guarantee and it covered more than just lameness.  It also covered her respiratory system, heart, eyes, and stall habits (like cribbing or weaving).  So I planned to have my vet check her out to make sure there wasn't anything I had missed or that would prevent her from being ridden.

In the meantime, she would stay in the round pen as a way of isolating her from the other horses because the barn didn't have a quarantine facility.  (No barn that I have ever boarded at has had one, even though they really should.).  Normally new horses just go straight into one of the herds, but I wanted to talk to the vet about a more realistic approach.  I had seen one pony with a snotty nose at the auction, but otherwise the horses all appeared healthy.  I felt the risk for disease was less than it would be at an auction that included horses at the end of their lives where kill buyers made their living, but it was still a lot of horses and people coming together in a small area.  So I wanted to be cautious.

After we got the mare set up with food and water and made sure she seemed to be settling in OK, we headed home to try and get a little sleep before a big day.  Gemma would be competing in her second dressage show the next day and of course, we had a new horse to check on!

The next morning, we were at the barn bright and early to check on Gemma's new horse.  She had obviously been just fine over the night and nickered when she saw us.  Gemma wanted to hang out with her for a little bit, so we cleaned her pen, brought her some hay, topped off her water, and then Gemma just played around with her for awhile.

Such a friendly mare!

Spoiler alert: The vet found no issues when she came out to check the mare.  So as of Tuesday night at 6 pm, when the guarantee expired, we found ourselves in possession of another paint mare, of all things.  Gemma has named her Freya (pronounced Free-ya).  That is the name she picked months, maybe even as much as a year ago, for a horse that she never stopped believing she would get.  The mare's registered name is Zippin Reyka and she is a descendant of Zippo Pine Bar, the leading sire of western pleasure Quarter Horses.  Her sales listing said she is 15.2 hands, but I wouldn't be surprised to find she is an inch or so taller than that.  She is eight years old - the same age as Gemma! - and seems to be settling in to her new home very well.

I'm delighted to watch Gemma in the next step of her horse journey.  She now has a horse of her own, which is the thing she has wanted for years.  But have no worries about the beloved Star.  We plan to continue to work with her too.  In fact, Gemma competed with her in a dressage show and won a blue ribbon in their Intro A class. 

And it is awesome that Gemma has Star to ride and compete while we ease Freya into her new life.  So far, all the things that were represented about her have been true.  She loads easily, hauls well, was good for the farrier to pull her shoes and trim her feet, stood quietly for the vet exam, leads well, and is easy to tack up.  So now it is a matter of getting to know her and see how she works for Gemma under saddle.  Stay tuned for our adventures!

Adventures in Horse Shopping, part 1

I was feeling pretty proud of myself.  I'd seen the listing on Facebook about a half hour after it posted.  I contacted the seller immediately, and got her first available appointment to see the horse.  For the first time, I finally felt like I was on top of the process and that I had a good chance of being able to buy a horse for Gemma.  The horse was a cutie and looked like a great fit for Gemma.

Three hours later, I got a message from the seller that the horse had sold.  Someone had been willing to commit to buying the horse sight unseen.  I have some feelings about that particular part of the horse buying process.  I really believe it is unethical to sell a horse to someone who is willing to buy the horse without first coming to try it out.  I know that different people have different philosophies about horses and buying and selling them.  And while I do spend a lot of time trying to see things from different perspectives, this is one area where I simply can't.

To me, horses are sentient beings, and if you are selling one, it behooves you to spend at least some time ensuring that the horse is going to a home that is appropriate and that the rider/handler will be a good fit for the horse.  In fact, in today's market, there is no excuse for doing anything else.  With buyers coming out of the woodwork and willing to pay top dollar, sellers can easily be choosy and still sell the horse for a reasonable price quickly.  

And yet, that isn't what they are doing.  They seem to be selling to the first person who has the money.  How these transactions are even happening is beyond me.  Are sellers really getting messages from random strangers committing to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for the horse they are advertising for sale?  And are buyers really sending thousands and thousands of dollars to random strangers to buy a horse based on pictures and a video?  The whole idea makes me so uncomfortable, my brain has trouble processing it.  I simply can't imagine buying a horse for my child without seeing the horse in person and learning some key pieces of information.

I suspect that in at least some cases the buyers of these horses are flippers, who intend to resell the horse in the near future, or summer camps, or lesson programs.  And I guess in those situations, there is less need to be certain the horse is a great fit.  But it bothers me that sellers are willing to sell to anyone, even when they have a person already set to come to an appointment.  And I came to the realization that I am absolutely not cut out for buying a horse, especially in such a competitive market.

After getting the message from that seller, I had had enough.  I unfollowed all the groups on FB that were posting sales ads.  I stopped doing searches every day on websites that listed horses.  I told a friend that had been spending a lot of time helping me find listings that I was taking a break.  And I stopped looking.  I wasn't sure how to tell Gemma yet, but I knew I could not continue to drive myself crazy and endure the constant highs and lows of finding a horse that looked like a great possibility, only to find out that the horse sold within an hour of being listed (I'm not exaggerating, that happened).

And I took a few days to get my head back together and remember what my life looked like before I started horse shopping.  After a few days of a mental break, I realized I did still have one option left.  An auction.  At least at an auction, I could look at the horses in person.  I could talk to the seller.  And I would be equal to the other buyers.  If I found a horse I liked, I wouldn't have to worry that someone would swoop in and buy the horse before I had a chance to bid.  I still might not get the horse, if someone was willing to pay more, but I would have the opportunity.  And that sounded a lot more attractive to what I had been doing.

A friend of mine, whose hobby it is to browse horse sale ads, told me about an auction that was about two hours away and held every month.  She said the horses that went through looked decent and there were no kill pens or kill buyers at the sales.  I had actually watched part of an auction held at that location back in January.  The prices were nuts.  Horses that were just basic horses with no advanced training were easily selling for $7 - 12,000, which put them well out of my price range.  But apparently prices were coming down and my friend said the last auction had horses that sold for much more reasonable prices that were within my budget.

I decided that it was worth a try before I gave up completely.  A few days before the auction, listings started being posted on Facebook.  Many listings had video in addition to photos, plus a short description.  My friend and I weeded through them, looking for the horses that would be likely to be in the ballpark of what I was looking for.  I involved Gemma too, and we watched and rewatched the videos.  I made a spreadsheet of all the horses and flagged the ones we thought were worth learning more about and crossed out those that definitely would not work.

I took the day before the auction off of work so Gemma and I could drive up to the facility and look at any horses that were coming in early.  I also thought that would be a good way to find the best route to the facility and ask about how the process worked, so I wasn't trying to deal with that on the day of the auction.

So last Friday, Gemma and I headed out to the barn to take care of Donut and Star in the morning, then stopped at home to eat lunch and pack some snacks before driving up to the auction facility.  We hit some ridiculous traffic.  I mean, who are all these people on the road at 2 pm???  I also argued with my phone's navigation app, which seemed to want to take me on a weird route.  But we finally made it.  My first lesson learned was that I should have paid more attention to the route, and I planned to take a different way home.

And then we started getting the lay of the land.  First we walked around the facility, learning where the sales ring was, where the horses were kept, where the arena was, where the bathrooms were, etc.  I found an employee and asked about how the buying process worked.  Unfortunately, at that time, the horses that were there didn't have their hip numbers on yet, the stalls weren't labeled, and the catalog wasn't printed.  So we had to work off the Facebook pictures and my spreadsheet, but bit by bit, Gemma and I figured out who the horses were.  A few were on our favorites list, and several more were on our second tier list.  I found a couple of sellers and started asking questions.

Some of the horses were taken out to the arena to be ridden as well, so we watched as many as we could.  When we weren't wandering around looking at horses, we watched the tack auction that had started to get a feel for what it would be like to see the horse auction.  While we were there, we saw a trailer pull up and the most stunning dapple gray stock horse was unloaded.  He had a presence, and I was impressed.  I knew immediately who he was, based on the descriptions and pictures I'd seen on Facebook and he was one that I'd crossed off because his description made him sound like a very serious roping horse.  But something about seeing him in person made me want to take a second look.

After a few more minutes of watching the tack auction, Gemma and I headed down to the arena.  The gray was already there being worked and I found his seller.  I asked her lots of questions about him and got some video to watch later and send to my friend who was helping me.  She has an amazing ability to assess gaits and temperament based on years and years and years of managing a big barn and working in multiple lesson programs.  

One of the best bits of advice I got about buying a horse came from Bruce Weary, a skilled endurance rider who posts on the AERC Facebook page regularly.  He said he just lets the seller talk, because they might say something that is useful that you wouldn't have thought to ask.  In the case of the gray, that strategy worked really well.  The seller just kept talking about him and eventually she mentioned that he had been a stallion for seven years and had recently been gelded.  So that explained the presence I had seen, and I moved the gray back to the Do Not Buy Under Any Circumstances List.  Also, note to self that if I am looking at a gelding, remember to ask WHEN he was gelded!

The gray had a young boy riding him, I guess as a way of promoting the gelding as kid-friendly.  (Also, note to self, just because a child is riding a horse does not mean the horse is appropriate for a child to ride.)  Unfortunately, the boy didn't ride anything like Gemma.  He was cowboy through and through, but not in a good way.  The more I watched at this auction, the more I came to understand that I was in a very different world.  The riders were truly horrifying.  There was a lot of spurring and yanking on the horse's mouth.  Everyone seemed to want the horses to spin and back and run fast.  But there was nothing beautiful about it.  Somehow the idea of what they were looking for had been perverted and the horses and riders moved like a caricature, with all of the bad parts highlighted, yet no one seemed to understand.

It is incredibly hard to evaluate a horse for movement when it is ridden poorly.  And it is hard to evaluate temperament too.  Lots of the horses were amped up by the constant spurring and yanking and running.  But they may have been delightfully calm otherwise.  I realized my job was going to be harder than I'd thought.  But I kept looking and asking questions.

There was one mare in particular that I really wanted to look at plus one gelding.  In my opinion, the gelding was the best mover I'd seen based on the videos posted.  My only concern about him was his size.  He was 16.1, which was bigger than I was looking for.  But my first horse had been 16 hands and I don't remember having much trouble with that.  The horse's temperament and movement were more important to me.  Meanwhile, the mare looked like she was exactly what I was looking for.  She was 15.2, 8 years old, and she had some local hunter show experience and had already been started over fences.  One of the ad pictures showed her jumping something that might have been 2 feet, and she was clearing it by a pretty big margin.  There was definitely some jumping talent.  What I didn't know was what she looked like under saddle or her temperament.

But do you think I could find the sellers for either of those two horses?  Nope.  We walked around and around, and kept coming back to their stalls every few minutes.  But no sellers.  Eventually, I decided we had seen everything we could see and we needed to get home.

Because we still had about five horses on our favorites list that we hadn't had a chance to learn more about, I planned to get to the auction at least an hour and a half before the bidding started the next day to see if I could track down the sellers and see these horses under saddle before I made my decision about which horses, if any, I would bid on.

On the way home, Gemma and I talked about what we'd seen that day.  I tried to explain to her what I felt I couldn't say at the auction.  That the way people were riding wasn't good for the horses.  I didn't want her to think that what she'd seen was a good example.  But she knew already.  And she had other things to talk about.  She wanted to remind me about that one mare that seemed like a good fit on paper.  She told me that standing next to that mare made her feel the same way she did when she stood next to Star.  To be honest, I thought she might have been exaggerating because she was so desperate to get a horse.  I could have bought any one of them for her, and she would have been over the moon.  Which made me wary of trusting her feedback.  In hindsight, I should have known better... 

The determination of a little girl

When I first saw her moving under saddle, my heart broke just a little.  I could see that she was in worse shape than I thought.  I couldn't even begin to identify all the problems with her movement, but I was convinced there was something wrong with her left stifle.  It was clear that trotting was out of the question for her, and even walking was difficult.  And when I showed a good friend of mine the video I took, she speculated that the mare looked like her pelvis was broken.  What exactly had I gotten myself in to?

 

I've written snippets of the story on this blog before.  After we couldn't lease the lovely pony, Mini, for Gemma anymore because she needed to move to a new barn too far away for us to visit, I was looking for another option.  The only one that presented itself was an older mare named Star.  She'd been used as a beginner lesson horse for about eight years at the barn I boarded at.  In fact, she had been the first horse Gemma had taken a lesson on a couple of years before.  Gemma had always adored her and she continued to sneak her treats in her field over the years.

But the mare had been retired from the lesson program several months before.  She was having trouble and the instructors didn't seem to know why, but they recommended she not do lessons anymore.  The prevailing thought seemed to be that she was burned out.  But when I watched her move, it was clear to me that the reason wasn't mental.  Star was in an incredible amount of pain.

I approached the mare's caregiver (her owner had delegated her care to someone else because she had to live far away) about having a vet come out and do an exam.  I thought that would be the best place to start.  The caregiver agreed to set up an appointment, but before she could do that, Star was brutally attacked by another mare in her field.  She is likely alive only because one of the barn staff saw the attack and had the courage to intervene.

After the attack, Star suffered from significant injuries, but also emotional trauma.  She couldn't be turned back out with her herd, both because the mare that originally attacked her tried again, but also because Star was too terrified to leave the perceived safety of the run-in shed.  So she spent several weeks in the round pen until she could be moved to another field.

About two weeks after the attack, the vet came out for a follow up visit and that is when I was able to advocate for a more thorough assessment to find solutions for the pain she had been in prior to the attack.  The vet prescribed a medication for arthritis to see if that helped as well as Cosequin for her joints.  She also recommended that Star see a chiropractor.  

Star's caregiver agreed to try all of those things and after just a few days, it was clear she was feeling better.  So Gemma and I started working with her.  

I didn't have a good plan other than to start with easy stuff and proceed slowly, observing how Star was doing.  I decided we would just do some hand-walking with her a few times a week.  We worked up to about 20 minutes.  Then we added in some ground work, doing some yielding with her hind quarters and shoulders and doing a couple of ground pole exercises.  Finally, I put Gemma on her back without a saddle, and we took slow walks around the farm.

Because Star's temperament was quiet, it wasn't long before Gemma asked to take Star out for walks by herself.  And I let her do that.  Unbeknownst to me, Gemma had her own plan.  Over time, she started asking Star to trot, then canter, and then go over little jumps.  I couldn't believe it when Gemma showed me what she had been working on.  But the proof of her success was easy for me to see.  Star was moving comfortably and willingly.  Gemma could even ride bareback in a halter and canter in an open field.

 

In the meantime, I had decided to begin some in-hand work using Science of Motion techniques.  So Gemma was doing her thing with Star and I was doing mine.  I felt pretty unsure of myself with the in-hand work, so I got in touch with the instructor I had worked with when I was riding Nimo and asked if she could come out to help us.  She agreed.

The first lesson we had was sort of mind-boggling.  Star had been moved from one field to another and she was having a long temper tantrum about it.  I'm not sure Star has ever had a temper tantrum in her entire life.  It was so out of character as to be nonsensical.  (Star was often the horse used to keep other horses company when they were on special turnout and needed a buddy, so she was used to moving from field to field and had never shown any signs of anxiety.)  The only thing I can think of is that she remembered the field as the safe place she had after her attack and moving from it was hard for her.

We spent that lesson with Gemma, me, and my instructor being dragged all over the place.  It took two hours to get her to settle and focus on working with us, and my instructor actually recommended that I start riding her instead of doing in-hand work with her because it would be easier to manage her.  Of course, that recommendation was based on the way she'd acted that day, rather than her normal self, but I decided to give it a shot.

I'd been reluctant to ride Star simply because she had never carried an adult that I knew of.  And because she'd had some physical issues, I was concerned about her ability to carry weight.  But I also knew that Star has a good sense of self-preservation and she will not do things that she doesn't think are appropriate or safe.  So I figured she would tell me if carrying me was too much.

I started out by riding her at the walk for about 20 minutes around the farm - basically the same technique that Gemma had started with.  I did that several times a week for a couple of weeks.  Meanwhile Gemma continued to ride her on her own, and she was doing so well that I decided Gemma could start using her for her weekly lessons.

Once I felt like Star was very comfortable walking with me, I started asking for little bits of trot.  And then I had another lesson with my instructor.  I rode for about half an hour and then Gemma rode for about half an hour.  We worked on collection.  And my mind was blown.  I would not have believed Star could yield at the poll so quickly or that she could do this more advanced work so readily.  

It wasn't that Star simply started collecting herself.  She certainly fussed a bit and tried to go sideways or backwards when I gathered the reins and asked her to yield.  But it didn't take long at all before she was starting to get the idea.  And her understanding carried through to when Gemma rode her.  I about cried when I saw Gemma was able to get brief moments of yielding.

 

Gemma rode with her regular instructor a couple of days later and the instructor commented that the work we'd done with her must have really helped because Star looked more fluid.  And that's when we made the decision that Gemma could show Star in the upcoming hunter show.

It was almost unbelievable that a mare who looked like she had a broken pelvis five months ago was now ready to go to a show.  The thing is, Gemma always believed she would be able to show Star.  She talked about it constantly, and I kept reminding her that Star might not recover enough to ever show.  I mean, I knew what my daughter didn't.  Sometimes horses are too broken to fix.  And sometimes their owners and riders have limitations in resources and knowledge.

But it was a good thing that Gemma didn't know those things.  She just rode Star instinctively and kept asking her to do more things.  And Star responded by doing the things.

Which is why yesterday, Gemma and Star were able to put in an amazing performance at a local hunter schooling show.  I could not have asked for anything more from either of them.

I really didn't know what to expect from Star.  She often defaulted to her school horse shuffle if she was in the arena, which is a big reason why Gemma and I were working with her outside the arena as much as we could.  Also, Star had a well-known history of requiring a huge bubble around herself.  When we first started working with her, she hated other horses coming within 50 feet of her.

Over the past couple of months, though, I had observed that her personal space bubble had gotten much smaller.  I had taken her on a trail ride with other horses, and she did really well.  I'd kept her at the back, but inevitably, we were close to the other horses occasionally as we encountered trail obstacles and had to turn around.  And she didn't seem to be getting upset.  She did so well that I let Gemma take her on a trail ride with other girls at the barn by herself, and Gemma said Star was perky but manageable and had no issues with the other horses.

Also, Donut is now in Star's field, and Donut really wants to be Star's friend.  As a result, Donut consistently ignores Star's requests to move out of her space.  And she seems to have desensitized Star to the point that I have seen them grazing close together, something Star would never have tolerated in the past.

But as anyone who shows knows, horses can be very different horses in the show ring.   I didn't expect Star to be difficult or unsafe, but I did worry that she would move very slowly, struggle with trotting, and pin her ears at all the other horses.

Alas, she did none of those things, with the exception of what I refer to as her walk speeds.  She does still have a tendency to walk slowly, but it is a huge improvement over what she used to do, and Gemma did have moments of getting her to walk out a little.  Plus her trot was perfect for the hunter ring.  It was like a metronome.  But the biggest success came from her lack of concern about the other horses.  She consented to standing in the line-up with no indication of stress.  And during one class, another little girl on a pony missed her window of opportunity to pass using the quarter line and got stuck right next to Star as they trotted down the long side of the arena, pinned to the rail because of the jumps that were set up.  Star was on the rail and the pony was on the inside track.  Star never faltered.  She kept her trot rhythm consistent and showed no sign of distress.  It was unbelievable to see her so comfortable when she used to be so stressed.

Gemma likes to always be doing things, so waiting to get saddled up was the toughest part of the show for her!  On the other hand, Star was happy to eat the "special hay" while she waited:)

 

Gemma and Star got second place in all three classes and reserve champion in the Pre-Short Stirrup Division.

I don't think I can overstate how amazing this transformation has been.  And I don't think I can overstate Gemma's contribution to it.  I've been checking in with her regularly and doing some work with Star myself, but there is no doubt in my mind that Gemma is the biggest reason that Star has come so far.  Star and Gemma adore each other and anyone who watches them together can see it.

And watching the transformation and progress of the two of them has been pretty instructive for me too.  Because Gemma hasn't read any textbooks or gone to any clinics or studied with any masters.  She doesn't know anything about rehabbing an injured horse or prepping a horse for a show.  Yet her innate curiosity and enthusiasm somehow connected with a 24-year-old broken mare to develop a wonderful partnership when everyone else had given up.

The road to buying a horse...

My eyes opened and read the clock.  3:42 am.  My alarm would be going off at 3:51.  Great, I had nine minutes to once again contemplate the wisdom of my plan for the day.

I remembered seeing my husband looking all pale and pasty the day before.  Gemma and I had been at the barn all morning, with lessons for Star and Donut.  When we got home, I found him on the bed looking ill.  I asked him how he was feeling, worried that he was getting sick.  It turned out that his pale and pasty visage was due to the realization that after years of telling him that eventually I was going to buy Gemma a horse, I was actually planning to go through with it.

It isn't that my husband doesn't like horses.  Or that he begrudges me the time or the money I spend on mine.  But he is frugal by nature, and horses and frugality are often incompatible.  And even a less expensive horse still costs a fair amount in this area, not to mention the board and other costs.  So he was struggling a bit to reconcile his idea of how a person should utilize money with my idea of how a person should have a horse.

In fact, my husband's concern is what had prevented me from starting my shopping earlier.  I was trying to give him time to come to terms with us being a two-horse family.  But it just wasn't working, so the day before I'd told him that I had started shopping and was going to see a horse.  And that if the horse was suitable for Gemma, I was going to buy it.  He closeted himself in the office for several hours, but came out looking in good spirits, so I thought that maybe his brain had made the necessary adjustment.  Actually, I think he was just in shock, and by noon on Saturday, the impact of the trauma had set in.

So once again I walked him through the idea of Gemma getting a horse, explained how the finances would work, and what I was looking for.  I pointed out what many parents of kids with horses come to realize, which is that having your kid being responsible for an animal and spending a lot of time at the barn creates a wonderful environment for them and keeps them from getting into other, less savory activities.  But the most important reason for me is that Gemma has proven over and over again that she is worthy of the privilege of horse ownership.  She has been taking weekly lessons for almost three years.  She spends several days a week at the barn and would spend more if she could.  When she is at the barn, she takes care of her horse by grooming and bathing.  She is constantly pointing out new cuts or bumps that she finds and diligently treats them.  She loves riding, and listens when I give her restrictions on what she can and cannot do.  And she pitches in with barn chores whenever she gets the opportunity.  The staff loves her because she will clean stalls, dump water buckets, feed horses, turn them out or bring them in, drop hay bales from the hay loft, clean the wash stall, and sweep the floor.  She will literally work for hours helping and she has many, many times.  

And she desperately wants a horse of her own.  The horse she is riding now, Star, is wonderful for her and the best fit possible.  I wish we could buy her and keep her forever, but there are some other factors that prevent us from doing that, and Gemma is very conscious of the fact that Star's owner could, out-of-the-blue, say that she can't ride Star anymore.  I think what happened when we were leasing Mini for her, and Mini's owner decided to move her to a new barn with very little notice was a bigger trauma for her than I knew at the time, and the lesson has stuck with her.  It was most-assuredly the best decision for Mini, given her health issues, but it was very hard for Gemma to lose access to that pony.  And she has come to the conclusion that if she has ownership of the horse, other people can't take the horse away from her.  She has never said it out right, but I know that is what she is thinking.  And my heart is breaking for her.

So that is why I am scouring the internet and Facebook at all hours of the day, looking at sales ads.  And that is why many of my friends are doing the same thing on my behalf.  And that is why at 4 am, I was going to wake up my daughter and tell her that we would be driving over five hours to take a look at a mare that I was considering buying for her.  She knew that I had started shopping for a horse for her recently, but I'd been trying to keep the details away from her because horses are selling like hot cakes in this area, and every single one of them that I called about ended up being sold before I'd even had a chance to take a look, except for one.  It is hard enough for me to engage in the process, much less asking an 8-year-old to do the same.  So I was vetting the information pretty carefully before letting her know about it to avoid some of the inevitable excitement followed by disappointment.

I had made the appointment a day and a half ago, which is almost a lifetime in this market.  I kept expecting I would get a message that the mare had sold.  Yet when I didn't, I figured there was probably something wrong with her.  But I'd committed to the appointment, and I knew that it would be good for Gemma and I to practice how we were going to evaluate a horse for her.  I didn't want to waste the seller's or my time, but the reality is that horse shopping is a time and resource intensive process and there is no getting around it.  And this mare seemed to be a realistic candidate, based on the videos I had looked at and the answers I had gotten to my questions.

Thankfully, Gemma woke up easily and got herself and her stuff together faster than I could have imagined, especially because she had no knowledge of the trip ahead of time.  We were out the door by 4:30.

I have to admit that there is nothing about any of the hours before 7 am that makes me happy.  I only get up before 7 if I have to, but a big chunk of our drive would be on I-81, which typically has very heavy traffic in general, and a lot of semi-trucks.  It is my least favorite road of all time to drive on with a horse trailer, and I was thankful to just be in the truck.  But because we were on the road so early, the highway was blissfully almost empty of vehicles, and I was even able to use the cruise control! 

I knew from a cross-country trip that Gemma and I had taken last summer that she was an exceptionally good traveler, even when we spent a lot of time in the car.  So I didn't anticipate any issues with the long day.  But I did have to spend a lot of time telling her about the horse and then reminding her that we were just going to look at the horse, not necessarily buy her.  And that it was really important to remember that we are looking for a forever horse that will be with us until it dies, so we want to find one that is a good fit for what she needs.  I'm pretty sure she didn't hear any of that.  She was already planning her future with a horse she'd never seen.

Our long drive was without incident, although as I approached the seller's address, I realized we were within spitting distance of Tennessee.  Scenes from the movie, Deliverance, popped into my head, and I questioned the wisdom of what I was doing for about the 57th time.  I was glad I'd taken the truck instead of my husband's more fuel-efficient small car, though, as I climbed up the seller's driveway.  I have driven is some pretty rugged locations because of endurance riding and because Virginia is prone to really awful roads in rural areas, but I hadn't seen anything like this before.  I almost bottomed out the truck on a giant pothole and the tires struggled to grip the rutted, washed-out, rocky, steep, narrow, winding excuse of a road.  I should have put it in four-wheel drive, but I knew if I stopped to engage it, I might not make it anyway.  I kept the momentum I had and finally made it to the top.

I spotted the horse almost immediately.  The seller had her saddled already and tied to the trailer, waiting for us.  (Almost unimaginably for a trip of that length, I was precisely on time...)  She was a pretty little black quarter horse mare, standing patiently.  I had hoped to see her caught in her field and led in, but it wasn't a deal breaker.  I think the seller thought she was being polite.  She seemed very nice and had been very transparent with me about the mare thus far, so I wasn't expecting any subterfuge.  In fact, the seller seemed quite concerned that whoever bought the mare was a good fit for her.

We chatted for a few minutes, and I followed some good advice that I had seen about buying a horse - let the seller talk about the horse as much as they want to without asking a lot of questions.  It can be a good way to learn things that you might not think to ask.  The lady explained a lot of the stuff she'd already told me.  The mare was easy to catch, liked treats and took them gently from Gemma's hand, she was easy to lead, to halter, to bathe, to clip, and to groom.  I could see most of those things from watching the mare interact with Gemma and the seller's young daughter.  She also pointed out that the mare was wearing shoes on her front feet because she had a toe crack the size of the Grand Canyon on her left front hoof.  She assured me that she knew the horse was due for the farrier and that both the vet and the farrier had told her that the crack was superficial and she was wearing the shoes just to help the crack grow out.  

I'm just going to go on a little rant here.  If you are selling a horse, please make sure the horse's feet do not look like shit.  I mean seriously, this horse was not just due for the farrier.  She was about 2 months overdue.  Her front hooves were so overgrown that it looked like about two inches could come off.  And the toe crack was not superficial, it was a sign that something was wrong with the balance of her feet in a big way.  I'm pretty sure that with about 6 months of proper trimming and no shoes, the mare would be fine, but it was a red flag I wasn't willing to ignore.  And I had to wonder, if the seller was skimping on her hoof care, what else was she skimping on?

But let's go back to the evaluation process.  I asked if we could swap the saddle.  They had saddled the mare with an adult-sized western saddle, thinking that I would want to try out the mare.  And I did.  But I wanted to see what she looked like being saddled, and I had no reason to think that Gemma couldn't ride her.  So they put a kid's western saddle on her, and Gemma helped.  The mare had no sign of girthiness or any other issues.

First, the seller's daughter rode her, and I got an indication of why she was still for sale after being on the market for six whole days.  I watched as the daughter tried to use a direct rein to turn her.  She ended up pulling the bit completely through the mare's mouth while the mare threw her head in the opposite direction and backed herself 20 feet into the swing set.  As soon as the girl switched to neck reining, though, the mare was quite easy to turn.  She walked and trotted but would not pick up the canter.  Part of that was probably because the area she was being ridden in was so small.  There was hardly enough room for a 20 meter circle before the ground dropped off into a steep hill or there was a tractor or a shed or a driveway or a swing set.  It was a difficult place to get an understanding of what the horse could do.

After a few minutes of watching the seller's daughter ride, I asked if Gemma could ride.  So Gemma happily got on.  (At this point, I should mention that Gemma was already in love with her, which was unfortunate, but probably unavoidable.)  Gemma had no trouble riding her at the walk and the trot, but she couldn't get the mare to canter either.  The mare also stopped very well from a trot, and as long as Gemma didn't use any contact with her mouth, she was easy to ride.  I now had a sneaking suspicion that the mare had never been taught to turn using a direct rein and that she could not tolerate any contact with her mouth.  But I wanted to confirm.

So I asked the seller if we could swap saddles so I could ride.  And what I discovered made me so sad.  The mare could only neck rein.  She had apparently been trained by a reining trainer who skipped the first step and never taught her to be responsive to a direct rein aid.  And I think he may have even trained her to be reactive to contact with her mouth.  Because she really struggled with it.

And the only way I could get her to pick up a canter was to take her down a short, steep hill, and then use the momentum to get her to canter up the next short, steep hill.  Her canter did feel very nice, but the only other way I could envision helping her to pick up the canter was to collect her, and I couldn't do that because she wouldn't tolerate any contact with her mouth.  She also blew through my seat aid to slow down at one point, and that was the final nail in the coffin for the purchase of this nice mare.  I couldn't risk that Gemma would be riding her and that she wouldn't have a way to slow her down.  Without the ability to use a bit to give an aid to slow down, the mare could theoretically get to the point where she could just run.  

I knew at that point that there were just too many issues for me to justify the purchase.  The mare was a good price for the market, and I was prepared to need to do some work with her, but all the issues added up.  Her feet needed work, she would have to be retrained to accept direct contact with her mouth (there could have been an issue with her teeth too, especially given the poor hoof care she had, but even the lightest contact caused a problem, so I was inclined to think it was a training issue), she had anxiety about being trailered (I suspected that may be because she had to ride in a trailer over that crazy driveway that nearly killed my truck), and she couldn't canter.  Plus, I got the sense that she was a little too forward thinking for what I would want for a kid's horse.  I think an adult would have handled her motivation just fine, but it would be too easy for her to get out of control with a child.

I let Gemma spend a few more minutes with her and then she led her to her field and turned her out.  I should mention that the "field" was actually a natural version of one of those Extreme Trail courses.  It was on a steep down hill, littered with giant boulders and uneven ground.  The mare took off running and never missed a step as she negotiated some pretty impressive terrain.  She was obviously quite athletic, and I suspect that with the right rider and some training, she would make someone a very nice horse.

I thanked the seller for her time, let my husband know I'd survived my trip to almost-Tennessee, and Gemma and I headed for home.  I broke the news to my daughter that we wouldn't be buying the mare, and it was hard for her to hear.  We even called a friend of mine to go through the pros and cons, so Gemma could hear from someone else that the mare wasn't right for her.  This particular friend teaches beginner students at an area riding school.  And she said the school has a couple of beginner horses that were trained for western riding and struggle with contact in exactly the same way this mare does.  She explained that even after years of school lessons, the horses still cannot tolerate any contact with their mouths, which is why they have been relegated to beginner lessons only, where contact isn't necessary.  We theorized that there must be some method of training that produces this result, and it is very unfortunate.  My understanding of how western horses are trained is based on my own experiences and watching good western trainers, and horses are typically started in a snaffle bit with the rider using two hands and direct rein aids before learning to work off of a neck rein, leg, and seat aids.  So no correctly trained western horse should have any issues with the use of a direct rein.  I can see that they might be confused about constant contact, but they shouldn't be willing to back themselves over a cliff just to avoid a direct rein aid.

I wish I had the skill set to help this mare.  She has good ground manners, a nice temperament, and nice movement, and I'm sure we could give her a good home, but our search continues...Also, if you know of a good support group for dads of kids with horses, let me know.  I think my husband might need one:)