All About Horses Out & About Montana Critter Corner
Purchasing a horse Butte, my hometown Shetland Ponies
Photo Gallery

 

Purchasing a horse

     Losing my lead horse, Power, last spring, left me empty emotionally and without an equine partner of my own to guide trips and teach clients. While all of our horses are exceptional trail horses and I could have selected any one of them as my lead horse, we would still be one horse short of accommodating the full range of activities that take place at Dunrovin. So I embarked on a search for a new personal lead horse. Hopefully, my account of this search will provide insight and guidelines for those who wish to know more about our equine partners and the process of finding the right horse.

     Good friend and Tennessee Walking Horse (TWH) woman extraordinaire, Barbara Jennings, spent hours searching the internet and talking with TWH owners, to put me in touch with several great prospects. This led us to a beautiful sorrel gelding with a flaxen mane and tail. He was owned and trained by Christine Francis, a very professional and skilled horsewoman in Bozeman, Montana. I talked with Christine about the horse’s disposition, training and experience, confirmation, and gait. She sent me a video of her riding him, which enticed me to see him in person. Luckily, I had a spring marketing trip scheduled to that area, and with good friend, Coe Dolven at my side, we stopped at Christine’s place to evaluate the young gelding.

     After a rigorous evaluation of this fellow, everything but his name (Jazzy Double Play) seemed to say that he was the right one. So, I brought him home. His lovely light salmon color and my need for a breath of fresh air after mourning Power, led my husband to suggest the name Chinook. It struck me just right because of the many associations I have with the word – associations that come from our life in Montana, Washington, and Alaska:

     Chi•nook [shi-nook] – noun, plural -nooks, (especially collectively) -nook.

  • a member of a formerly numerous North American Indian people originally inhabiting the northern shore of the mouth of the Columbia River and the adjacent territory (Washington).
  • a warm, dry wind that blows at intervals down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains (Montana).
  • chinook salmon - a large salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, found in the northern Pacific Ocean. Also called king salmon. (Alaska)

    • Purchasing a Dunrovin Horse

         How did I choose Chinook as my new horse? After evaluating and purchasing a rather large number of Tennessee Walking Horses for trail riding, we at Dunrovin have developed a checklist of factors to consider and steps to take:

    Factors we consider in evaluating a Tennessee Walking Horse:

         1. Disposition is the single most important factor that we consider. We are looking for a horse who is alert but not fearful, brave but not aggressive, curious and intelligent, yet also willing and compliant. Horse people refer to such horses as honest. An honest horse is dependable and willing to give its all to its human partner. Our horses encounter many people at Dunrovin and must be laid back enough to accept a variety of riders with different skill levels.

         2. Sociability –We run our horses as a herd and therefore look for horses who can settle into a herd and perform well within a group of horses on the trail. We don’t want a horse who is overly aggressive or competitive. Our horses must be able to travel at high speeds within a group without getting overzealous. They should be able to travel any position along a trail – front, center, last, and side-by-side with other horses –whether they are herd mates or strange horses.

         3. Confirmation – Dunrovin horses have very active lives and may be ridden as many as seven days a week during expeditions. We need horses who have the physical ability to work under tough circumstances, in steep terrain, and at various speeds for long periods of time. A horse’s confirmation, lung capacity, bone and hoof structure, are important physical attributes to consider.

         4. Age – We generally look for horses who are mature but still have several years of productive life ahead. Horses between the ages of 7 and 12 are ideal, yet exceptionally promising younger or older horses are not disqualified. We want to keep our horses for as long as possible and give them a good home throughout their life so we try to have a mixed age herd.

         5. Gender – All of the horses we routinely use for our guided rides and our equestrian club are geldings. Geldings are generally easier to handle in a group situation. There are several mares living at Dunrovin, who are wonderful equine companions and great to ride, but they can also cause rivalries among the herd members.

         6. Experience – Ideally, horses come to Dunrovin with considerable trail experience under their saddle. Horses that have been used extensively on the trail already know how to manage their body going over obstacles, negotiating steep terrains, encountering scary objects, crossing bridges, and fording streams.

         7. Breed – Dunrovin tries to purchase only registered Tennessee Walking Horses. We do make exceptions, but we generally pay a reduced price for unregistered horses.

    Steps we take for purchasing a Tennessee Walking Horse:

         1. Check the References of the Seller – If we do not have first-hand or reliable secondhand knowledge of the seller, we ask for references to ensure that we are dealing with a reputable, knowledgeable person who is able to give us accurate information about the horse.

         2. Ask Questions – We prescreen horses by asking a number of pointed questions of the seller:

  • Why is the horse for sale? What motivates the seller to sell this particular horse?
  • Does the horse have any bad habits? Cribbing? Bucking? Hard to catch? Spooking? Aggressive behavior?
  • How does the horse behave for the vet and the farrier?
  • How well does the horse load, unload, and travel in a trailer?
  • Has the horse been exposed to cattle, wildlife, bikes, dogs, or llamas?
  • How does the horse react when frightened?
  • Has the horse ever been in an accident causing injury to a rider? To another horse? To itself?
  • What is the medical history of the horse? (Ask to see all the vet records for the horse).
  • How has the horse been used by the seller? What is the most challenging ride that the seller had been on with the horse?
  • How many hours of trail riding has the seller done with the horse?

    •      3. Watch the Owner with the Horse – We ask to see the horse handled and ridden by the seller. We ask that the owner keep the horse in the pasture or stall so we can see them catch, handle, and saddle the horse. We ask the owner to ride the horse at a walk, running walk, and canter, and to demonstrate its ability to stop, back, and side-pass.

         4. Ride the Horse at the Seller’s Property – We evaluate the horse’s abilities with a new rider on its home turf – we test its ability to gait, stand still, back, stop, canter, go away from home, and return home.

         5. Negotiate a Test Period –We ask for a 30-day test period so that we can expose the horse to our ranch and the trail conditions typical to Dunrovin. We want to take the horse out alone, on a fast ride with our other horses, and put it in various stressful situations to gauge its reactions. A horse in a new environment will more readily show signs of stress than when it is at its long-time home.

         6. Have a Professional Horseman Evaluate the Horse – We work with several skilled horse trainers whom we trust and who have ample years of experience with gaited horses. We always get a second opinion from an expert when considering a horse for purchase.

         7. Get a Pre-purchase Veterinary Exam –We always seek advice from our veterinarian, who is familiar with our program, before making a final purchase. The cost of a pre-purchase medical exam prevents us from purchasing a horse with structural or other medical problems, and is well worth it. Several times during pre-purchase exams we have discovered indications of impending issues that would have severely limited the horse from performing in the capacity we were looking for.

         Our criteria are very similar to those presented by others in the field. Here are some additional references to consider if purchasing a trail horse:

    Trail Rider Magazine
    Tips for Buying a New Horse
    Suite101.com offers an excellent free internet course on purchasing a horse
    Top 10 Horse or Pony Buying Mistakes

     

    Welcoming a New Horse to Dunrovin

         Like all herds, our horses will not treat a new horse kindly in the beginning. Integrating a new horse into our herd at Dunrovin takes time and planning and involves several gradual steps:

          1. Isolate the horse in an area that is close to all the barn action but not next to any horses. This gives the new horse an opportunity to smell and watch all the comings and goings and to see the Dunrovin horses; and it alerts the Dunrovin horses to the fact that there is a new horse on the premises.

          2. Give the new horse an opportunity to explore all the new territory on its own. We make sure that the new horse gets to know every pasture and corral by itself before having to share the space with an established herd member.

          3. Put the new horse in a stall next to a couple of the less dominant herd members, where they can get to know each other over a fence. Once the excitement wares off transfer the horses to one of the large pastures to spend time together.

         4. As soon as the new horse is established with a couple of lesser dominant herd members, we start to introduce the dominant herd members one-by-one to the large pasture until the entire herd is together.

          5. Generally during this time, the new horse has been out on the trails, tied at the rail, and in the trailer with established herd members. All these experiences serve to build a bond between the new horse and other herd members.

    Developing a Relationship with a New Horse

    Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.

         The only way to get to know your new horse is to spend lots of time with him in a wide variety of circumstances. Since purchasing Chinook, we have traveled a myriad of miles together. We have gone up and down steep hills, loped down forest trails, bushwhacked through streambeds of willow and alder, crossed narrow bridges, gone over and under fallen logs, camped in the high country, traveled hundreds of miles in the trailer, ponied other horses, and been at the front, middle, and end of a group loping or gaiting down the trail. We have encountered deer, elk, bicycles, cattle, and other assorted distractions. We’ve traveled alone and with groups of all sizes.

    Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me.

         The vast majority of our experiences have been delightful – and several (especially those with cattle) have not been so wonderful. But we are getting to know and trust each other and we are developing a strong bond. We are working on the issues that have arisen (i.e. cattle!), and are learning to move together with ease, anticipate each other’s reactions, and rejoice in the quiet moments we share on the trail and at the rail.

    Getting to know you, and putting it nicely,

    You are precisely, my cup of tea.

          I feel lucky to have found Chinook. While I continue to mourn the circumstances that made looking for a new horse necessary, I am delighted to begin my new journey with Chinook. He is rapidly becoming my cup of tea!

           

    top