Last week was a total washout for finding the perfect youth horse. The kids were out of school on spring break and I had done a couple weeks of homework chatting with folks on the phone about horses they had for sale and had come up with about 8 horses that I thought would be our best bet. Boy was I in for a tough week. I never imagined in my wildest dreams how big a mission this would become. I didn’t think my criteria was that hard to fill but it seems that I want something that is just not out there or at least not in my price range. My 13 year old has been riding a number of our Percherons for the last 5 years but then again we are talking draft horses and they were finished geldings that had all been shown more than a couple years on the circuit so they pretty much had seen it all but could at times be head strong so I figured the gal would be pretty easy to buy for. All I want is a light breed horse that is:

1. A Gelding or an extraordianary Mare
2. Between 15 and 16 hands tall
3. Between 7 and 15 years old
4. Sound of mind and body
5. Kind and Willing with some solid exposure to trails, roads and shows or parades

and of course keep it below $2500

I'm not talking about a finished show horse here. Just something that will be safe for my intermediate level daughter to safely ride and enjoy, not just able to go in circles in an enclosed arena. I thought that my check list was pretty fair opening up age, breed and gender. Just a plain jane usable horse. Do I ask too much?

So far we have seen lame, barn sour, infested, mean/aggressive, head strong and dangerous. I am stunned that some of these horses owners actually had me come to take a look at their animals. They all knew well and good the level of rider my girl was and exactly what I was looking for yet only 1 was even remotly close to the goal and he was a very green 4 year old with great potential. But green is green and something like that could go south pretty quickly if not under heavy supervision which I am starting to believe will unfortunately be the way to go because there don’t seem to be many other options out there that I’m happy with yet.

I'm glad that I'm sticking with the Draft Horses!