Buying Your First Horse

For many years now we have been putting people together with horses. I am real particular about what I find for a person. The first thing I look for, especially for someone who hasn’t ridden much, or say they just love horses, and want to own one is safety with the horse. Most people think they have to have a young horse so they can grow into it. This is totally wrong. Someone first starting out needs to find an older horse that has been trained in some discipline whether it is cutting, roping, reining or a ranch broke horse. A lot of people call me needing a horse for their kid or a horse to ride around in the pasture that is safe. What I like to find them is an older horse with a lot of experience in one of the events I mentioned earlier. These horses aren’t used up. They were very good at their job but may be getting a little slower or what have you. They are still good horses and they are broke. With beginners they have to be broke.

One of my biggest pet peeves is being sure to find a broke and safe horse for a beginner. For a few years when we get finished with a horse and we aren’t using him anymore we send it to a family, maybe to use for a kid starting out. I had one horse that went through four different families. He died on the place of the last family. He was a great horse. He raised four different sets of kids developing their horsemanship.

To me the main thing will always be safety. And safety is being broke. If I was a green person looking for a horse I would look for a horse that had a good life at whatever he or she did as a range horse or maybe a competition horse, but starting to settle down in their years. These are still good horses, and they will teach you more as a beginning rider than any other horse will. When you say I am a green rider and I am going to by a young horse and grow into it that is about the worst thing that can ever happen to anyone. There are more accidents caused by that kind of stuff than you would ever believe.

You will hear people saying they have a two year old that is really broke. They will tell me it would be good for someone. My answer is always no it won’t. I don’t care what you may think. The horse is still young with a lot of energy. Something will eventually happen and all that energy will turn into a disaster.

There are a lot of real good horses getting close to the end of their years that will teach you so much.  That way you can safely turn into the horseman or horsewoman you want to be. Then you can pursue your dream if you want a young horse down the road. The older horses will teach you more than all the trainers put together can. You will need a trainer to show you, but those older horses will carry you to the point you want to be in your life as for being a horseman or horsewoman.