Horse Crazy by Susan Kiernan-Lewis Page B

on his
back. This further helps to save time, because if the person who's
selling the horse isn't the actual rider of the horse, they'll need
to make sure that someone is on hand who is able to tack up the
horse and ride him out before you get on his back.
    You do not want to climb onto the back of any
strange horse who you haven't seen ridden by someone else first. If
the horse has been biding his time unmolested in a pasture for the
last year, you don't want to be the person to reintroduce him to
the joys of carrying a rider.
    Along the way to finding your dream-mount,
you'll no doubt find yourself astride a fair number of horses. I
test-drove over two dozen: stocky bays, muddy duns, green horses,
racking horses, abused horses, plow horses, pet horses. It's a
great way to learn what you really want in a horse, what you can
live with, what you absolutely can't.
    There was "Denim," a beautiful red roan who
reacted flawlessly to voice commands and needed no lunge line, but
was only four years old and had been ridden just a little.
    "Jo Jo," who rode like Pegasus but had to be
bridled at gunpoint.
    "Banner," the namesake of the stallion who
sired "Flicka," (as in "My Friend,") with his pretty Palomino looks
and nefarious stall habits.
    "BabyDoll," who was so gentle his owner rode
her with spurs and a crop, but who hadn't been ridden at all in
over a year.
    Another way of finding the elusive
good-horse-for-under-a-grand is to write your own ad, specifying
exactly what you want and what you're willing to pay for it.
(Considering my particular situation-- needing something incredibly
gentle to help me overcome my fears--I wrote a want ad describing a
mount that was a cross between a large Shetland pony and something
dead.)
    Bulletin boards in tack shops are another
good place to find ads for horses. So are riding academies. A lot
of times they have horses to sell on consignment. Sometimes they
have wonderful horses with back board due and owners willing to
sell cheaply to get out from under it.
    Auctions, on the other hand, are not a good
place to buy a horse. Not for a beginner. Dealers are a breed in
themselves. Many will take a souped-up demon of a horse and run him
into the ground just before the sale so that he seems passive and
quiet.
    Some will drug a horse with stimulants,
Butazolidin (a great cover-up for feet problems) or tranquilizers.
One broker I talked with urged me to call a dealer she knew saying:
"If you tell him I referred you, he won't cheat you." Dealers won't
cheat you either, if you steer wide of them.
    One of the keys to finding a good horse cheap
is patience. If you're willing to wait, the bargains will shake
loose. Once they do, it's time to call the vet for a pre-purchase
overhaul. You pay for this and it usually runs about fifty dollars.
If the vet gives the animal a clean bill of health, you can feel
pretty comfortable about taking him home. If not, you can walk
away, merely out $50, or you can offer less than the asking price.
(Assuming, of course, you decide you can live with the
problem.)
    A couple years back, I bought a marvelous
quarterhorse that I simply had to own. I allowed the seller's vet
to check out "Becket" before I took possession and he was (perhaps
not surprisingly) given a clean bill of health. Later, my own
farrier (blacksmith) needed to sit down and fan himself back into a
semblance of composure after taking one thorough look at the
beast's feet. His hoof wall was practically non-existent. As a
result, I would spend hours packing goo into the hollow of his
feet, then binding and wrapping his hooves. Even so, he just
wouldn't stay sound when kept out in the pasture. For eight
atrociously expensive months, I had a wonderful riding beast with
his own stall. It was not an appropriate mount for my budget and I
soon, regretfully, unloaded him.
    Moral: use your own vet. Or better yet, bring
along your farrier for a second look-see after your vet.
    But at the time I was looking for a