Recently, I had a battle trying to find a Horse! It took some time and refinement and therefore to help those on the search (and in need of some guidance) I thought I’d share my success story.
Searching Offline
Local newspapers were a good place to start. I’m a regular on the local Show Jumping circuit and having ridden for 20 years I have established a good network of contacts. Use this as your first port of call, you never know your dream Horse might be just a field or two away! Notice boards in country stores/equine shops were also a good place to look.
Searching Online
Online was where I found my success. The most dominant site online is arguably HorseQuest. Horsequest has a range of categories which allows you to really drill down to what you are looking for. Other sites I found useful were Horsemart and Horse & Hound.
Where I found success – Posting a ‘Wanted’ Advert!
I found that I was struggling to see anything that I liked online and I decided to post a ‘Wanted’ Ad on HorseQuest.
I was incredibly honest and very specific about what I wanted in the advert. I specified the exact budget that I had, my age, experience and the traits I was looking for in a Horse. Instantly, I was getting interest and within two weeks I had over 60 enquiries. This number was quite significant given that I had been looking for several months and only contacted around 20 people in that time period.
Price & Negotiation
I was truly astonished by the amount of people sending me details through of their Horses. One thing which did amaze me was that people would say “My horse is advertised out of your budget, however if you liked it I’m sure we could come to an arrangement…….”
It just goes to show that if you like the look of a Horse in an Ad, you shouldn’t be afraid to try and negotiate on price!
Success
As a result of my advert and after looking at 10 horses I found Zanzarra Z, a 16.1hh 9 year old Dutch Warmblood. Stabled named ‘Zara’, she’s most certainly my best ever purchase and a delight to own!
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