Buying a mare? need some advice...?

Question

I'm looking at a 8 y/o holsteiner/appaloosa mare trained mainly with dressage and free jumping on a lounge line. she will not go far in dressage, but with some work will make a wonderful hunter/jumper. i love her and she's an easy keeper. i've been riding for 6 years consistently and have experience in caring for horses. my main riding focus is jumping and showing local hunters. this mare is spunky, has minimal knee action, and looks like she's floating at the trot and canter. with some help from my instructor and her owner on jumping, does she sound like she'll go far? has anyone ever bought a horse with mainly dressage training to train in jumping and if so, was it difficult? any thoughts? i'm trying to make a decision and will ride her some more before settling on a purchase. Thanks.

Answer 1

Spunky is not great for hunters but if she will work down as long as she is super cute over fences - why not try it.  

Look riding over fences is basically flat work with obstacles in the way.  If your flat work is not great your over fence work will suffer.   Start slow with ground poles and work your way up take your new horse to shows and just ride around - don't expect to show maybe enter a hack division - this is how we transition all our horses.

I have one more suggestion - once you have ridden this mare and you like her vet the horse and blood test the horse in case they drugged her - we pull blood samples for buyers when they come to see the horse in front of their eyes so they know our sale horses are not drugged.

Answer 2

A good dressage base is a big help to a hunter/jumper. As for this mare, its hard to say if she will jump well or not, without any idea of her conformation.  Appys are sometimes comformationally challenged as far as jumping goes (not always though). A picture would help!

How does she look when free jumping? If she can free jump, you should be able to try her over a few small fences, and at least get a feel for her attitude and ability. Good luck!

Answer 3

From the sound of it, she is willing to learn and to please, but only time will tell. She seems to have a lot of admirable qualities for a hunter/jumper, so I would go ahead and buy her.

Answer 4

I'm strictly a dressage rider but i would think that a lower-level dressage horse should also make a decent jumper. She should be quite responsive to the leg. Does she have good form?

Have you ever trained a horse to jump undersaddle? That would be my main concern. Has she ever jumped with a rider on her back or just free jumped?

Just curious - why do you say she won't go far with dressage? Previous injury, conformation, just not her thing? I know not all horses will go real far in Dressage, just wondering if there was another reason ;)

Answer 5

I bought a Australian Stock Horse with cattle and ground work done... I then trained her to jump and dressage, she went fine.  I bought a different mare trained in the same area and do jumping and dressage on her as well.

All horses can be trained to jump, its just a matter of making sure that the horse thinks its fun. but if the horse has minimal knee movment than she might not be able to jump too high.. depends how much her knee movment is resitrcted, but I think u will be able to train her to jump, just make it fun and interesting for her and give her lots of rest and praise in between jumps... even if your ready to do a whole course, if you rush things with a new jumper than they may get sick of jumping.

If your really keen in jumping and at a higer stage you might want to buy a horse that is jumping the hight you want to compete at... or you could just as easily train a horse to that level! =)

Have fun riding!! =)

Answer 6

well I would try her out but dont just buy the first one you see. You should first look around and see what options you have.  If none work out and you like her then take her home!

Answer 7

'Buying a mare?'  What town is this mare the head of?  Why stop with a mare - why not buy a guvner?

Answer 8

hunters and jumpers are two different things.. one jumps pretty.. one jumps high and goes fast...

you need to decide if she can do what you want her to do for competitive purposes or will be happy with her just because you love her...