Henry Blake - Talking with Horses

The most serious difficulties that arise between horse and owner are those that stem from the plain fact that the two are simply not suited to each other. Either the temperament of the horse is wrong for the owner, or the horse is unsuitable for the purpose for which it is required: for example a nervous person should not have a horse that is any way excitable, and a person who really wants to go should never have a horse that wants only to stand around looking at the horizon.

This is why the purchase of a horse is so important and deserves a deal more thought and preparation than it normally receives.

First of all, where should you buy it? In certain areas horses are much cheaper than in others : broadly speaking, in the belt stretching from London to the Midlands, horses are dearer than they are in other parts of the country. Obviously they are going to be cheaper in those areas which produce horses the West of England, Wales, Yorkshire and parts of Scotland and it is much better to go to one of these areas to select the horse to suit you, rather than to some plush dealers yard in the suburbs. In either case you will probably end up with a very similar horse, the difference being that since the dealer had taken the trouble to go to the West Country or Wales or Ireland to buy that horse and take it back to his yard, you will have to pay fifty to one hundred pounds more than he paid for it. There are of course advantages in buying from a reputable dealer since (a) he is almost certainly a first-class judge of a horse and (b) if the horse you buy is unsuitable he will probably change it for another one. But you will have to pay him very handsomely for his expertise.

On the other hand I would not advise an inexperienced buyer to buy from a private individual, since in my experience private individuals have a grossly inflated idea of their horses value, and tend to be totally blind to his faults. If you have a very long purse you can buy privately a well-known and well proven horse; but very few of us have long purses and we have to buy the horse we want for as little as possible, which brings us to the place where I buy most of mine, which is at public auction.

To buy a horse at public auction, however, you need to be a reasonable judge of a horse yourself, or to have the advice of someone who is a reasonable judge. The best adviser without any doubt at all is a veterinary surgeon, but since it is extremely difficult to get a veterinary surgeon to come with you to an auction sale, a riding school proprietor who keeps the type of horse you have in mind is a good person to take along provided of course he has not got a horse he wants to sell you himself! If you are going to an auction, it is important to go to one of the auctions in the horse-producing areas. The ones I know best, being a West-Country man and living in Wales, are Exeter, Abergavenny, Llanybyther (which is my own auction), Hay-on-Wye, Hereford, and Stow-on-the-Wold. At an auction in a horse-producing area a high proportion of the horses are being sold by people who breed horses commercially for sale, on their farms; whereas at the urban auctions you get a large number of throwouts from other peoples stables, and so a much higher proportion of unsound horses than at the rural auction.

But of course the rural auctions are usually held in distant places, so you do have the problem and cost of transporting the horses to your home. There are three ways this can be done. You can go to the auction and contact someone there who expects to have an empty lorry going home. This is a little bit chancy. Or you can hire a Land-Rover and trailer yourself; or, ideally, persuade someone else to go down with you to buy a horse, and bring yours back in his Land-Rover and trailer. This will give you the additional advantage of an adviser on tap!

The type of horse to aim to buy at an auction is in fact something looking a little bit rough and thin, since this horse will increase in value. If you buy a horse already looking smart and polished it will cost you a lot more money, and at the same time there is always a chance that the spit and polish has been put there to hide some of his more glaring faults.

It is worth remembering, too, when you buy at a public auction, that you have four days to test out any warranty on that horse, and it is most important that you do this. If you buy a horse that is warranted as sound, as soon as you get it home you must have it thoroughly vetted. If you get a horse that is said to be quiet to ride in traffic, ride him in heavy traffic at once. It is also advisable to understand the various claims made about the horse in a catalogue. If it says that the horse is quiet to ride, it means in law just that. If it says he is a good jumper, check that he is a good jumper. If it says he is suitable for a beginner, find the biggest beginner you know and put him on the horse and see how he gets on. Mind you, I have my own interpretations of the sales catalogue descriptions. They go something like this: quiet to ride means, roughly, has not bucked or bolted with anyone for a week and the vendor hopes it will not buck you off before the four days run out. Recently broken means that the vendor was hoping to sell it as a quiet ride, but the horse bucked his son off the day before yesterday and so he cannot give him that warranty. Has been backed means the owners son was put on and bucked off immediately. Will make a one-day-eventer means that he will not make a show-jumper, point-to-pointer or a dressage horse. Good hunter means will go out hunting provided you do not go too near the hounds and do not leave the road. But this is just my rather humorous way of expressing a necessary scepticism. Never, never, never believe anything anybody tells you about a horse he is trying to sell. He probably believes it himself, but horse owners are rather like mothers, they cannot see any faults in their children, though they can see all their virtues. When you are buying a horse it is the faults you want to know about, not the virtues.

But do not let the foregoing discourage you. Provided you go to a rural auction, you should get a horse much cheaper than you will get it anywhere else, and you have the chance of buying a very good horse that has not done very much work. Always remember that ponies up to about fourteen-two are much cheaper in autumn than in the spring, and that hunters are much cheaper in the spring than in the autumn.

The type of horse you buy is of course of vital importance. First of all think honestly about your own personality. If you are in any way nervous or if you are worried about riding in heavy traffic you must get a quiet horse. It is no good buying a thoroughbred or an Arab because they tend to be excitable. If on the other hand you are a keen person and want to go in for competition work this type of horse is extremely suitable. If the horse has to be out all winter you must get one of the mountain or moorland types, since they winter out very well, whilst the thoroughbreds and Arabs need to be in. Again, one of the advantages of buying at an auction sale is that you will have a large number of horses to choose from, while even at the biggest dealers yards there will be only a few of the type you want.

When you are at the auction buying the horse, the key to his personality can very often be seen in his behaviour as he stands in the stable, and as he stands outside the ring walking in and out amongst the crowd. The crowd will worry some horses, but it will not worry others. Some will be irritable and some will be placid. This will tell you something. But above all, the important thing is to pick the horse that you click with mentally: the horse that seems to be talking to you and not to anybody else. Buying a horse, I often think, is far more important than picking a wife. After all when you pick a wife it is only going to cost you a seven-and-sixpence licence, and if you are a little bit careful about your choice you can make her go out to work and keep you in the manner to which you would like to become accustomed. But if you are picking a horse it is going to cost you a hell of a lot of money in the first place and on top of this it is going to cost you six or seven pounds a week to keep it, which makes it a very different proposition. If you have got the right horse it is worth while, if you have got the wrong horse it is hell.