WANTED

With the show season over for another year, people tend to up the ante in their search for new horses for next season or nice novices to bring on over the winter months.

Having been without a horse for much of the summer I have spent A LOT of time trawling through websites looking for the ‘perfect’ horse. However, I didn’t really know what my ‘perfect’ horse was, I was largely open-minded as long as it looked like it could be good enough (and within my budget)!

I’ve noticed, however, that this isn’t always the case with some people when it comes to finding a new horse. Some of my favourite online adverts are those with the headline ‘WANTED’.

Now don’t get me wrong, I can completely understand why people post these adverts and I’m sure they can be successful, but sometimes the endless list of requirements are really something…

Here are just a few of my favourites that I’ve found recently*:

• No white legs
• Be happy to wait in open spaces when others canter off
• Must NOT rear, buck, spin, bolt, nap, kick, bite
• Gelding or non mareish mare
• Nothing dead to the leg that she will struggle to make it move, but nothing too forward.
• Any colour considered would love a dun palomino

*these are taken from separate adverts

And what really tops of the long list of requirements and do’s and don’ts is that they would like all of the above ‘within a 60 mile radius’ or, they’re ‘not willing to travel more than 2 hours.’

Now seriously, if you’re that committed to finding your perfect horse, I’m pretty sure you should be willing to travel the length of the country…

I suppose these lists are what we’re all looking for really, we all want a horse with the temperament of a saint and the conformation of a HOYS winner but hand on heart, how many of us have one of those? Even the best behaved of horses might throw in a buck on windy day when it hasn’t been ridden for a few days. Even the mellowest of mares might have a squeal if she’s feeling particularly flirty one day! And even if you do have a saint of a horse, if he’s got white legs I’m afraid it’s a no no! All I can say is good luck, and please keep posting them because they’re most enlightening!

I’d love to hear from you if you’ve successfully placed a WANTED advert or better still, if you’ve successfully answered one.

Have you seen a particularly particular advert? @showingbusiness

N.B I ended up with a hack. The last thing on my list was a hack.