Why Your First Horse Should Be Trained Before You Purchase

Although it does depend on individual circumstances (e.g. whether you are an experienced trainer or not), most people buying a horse are better off getting a fully trained horse. If you are intending to use a horse just for basic riding, it is advisable to buy one already trained in the basics; if you are using a horse for advanced riding consider getting one already trained to the advanced level. Likewise, if you are using it for show jumping, get one which is already trained in show jumping.

Of course, after looking at horses for sale, one can purchase an untrained horse or a partly trained horse. Such a horse will be less expensive to buy. Also, you can instruct a trainer on exactly how you want the horse trained, and you can have the experience and pleasure of participating in this. However, against these advantages, there are a number of disadvantages:

• Training Expenses. With an untrained horse, training is an additional cost which one has to factor in. Aside from the direct costs of the trainer, unless the trainer comes to you there is the additional cost of transporting the horse to the trainer for each lesson, or stabling the horse with the trainer. The exact costs of training depend on individual circumstances, but they are under-estimated far more often than over-estimated. Frequently, once one factors in the final total training costs, it would have been cheaper to have purchased a horse that was already trained.
• Accidents. Accidents can easily occur during training, even with a good trainer. These may result in vet costs or worse.
• Incorrect Training. Some trainers are not as good as others. In addition, many trainers will rush training or under-estimate the amount required, to get the contract at an acceptable price. This may result in an incompletely or incorrectly trained horse.
• Feel of the Horse. Two horses, with the exact same training, will feel differently to a rider due to the individual characteristics (build, personality, movement) of the horse. With an already trained horse, one can ride it before buying to know exactly how it feels, whereas with an untrained horse one can only guess what it will feel like after training.
• Health Check. It is easier to evaluate the health of a trained horse than an untrained one, as one can ride it and also watch it while being ridden in each gait. With an untrained horse, health checks are not quite as complete.

Because of these factors, buying an already trained horse is often less expensive, less risky and less stressful than buying an untrained or partly trained horse and then having it trained up.

You should not try to train a horse yourself, unless you are a professional horse trainer or working under the complete supervision of a professional horse trainer. When non-professionals train horses, the horse will almost certainly pick up bad habits and behaviors (which are very time consuming and expensive to correct), as well as the risk of accidental injury to the novice trainer.

Be wary of purchasing an incompletely trained horse on the basis that the seller will complete the training. Far too often in these circumstances the remaining training is rushed and not done to the highest standards. Insist on the horse being trained up first and pay no more than a holding deposit until this is done and you’ve ridden the horse to make sure that you are fully happy with the result.

Tagged with: animals • equine • horse • horse training • horses • pets • train horse • trained horse • untrained horse

Filed under: horseback riding • horses • learning to ride

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