Theres a lot of things to know before buying a horse. You really have to consider whether or not you can afford a horse, but more importantly take care of a horse or have time for one.
In this photo you will see grain, some horses need grain and some don’t. So ask the previous owner of the horse your buying, what is the horses diet because especially in a stressful time in moving from one home to another for a horse you don’t want to stress them out by changing their diet. You can change their diet overtime if the feed your horse is getting might be low quality and you just might want to change that, well you can after a while when your horse is settled and calm.
A couple things to think about before getting a horse are
- do you have enough money to cover the expenses of having a horse?
- do you have enough time to take care of a horse?
- can you ride that horse everyday?
Those are just a couple of things to think about & there is much more than just that.
Horses are kind of like us in a way. They need entertainment just like we do, so a way to keep them entertained and happy is by getting them horse toys!
I know that might sound a little weird but if you get them jolly balls for example they can bounce them around and play with them so jolly balls are great in my opinion also because they are quite cheap so you can buy your horse one every year!
I’m not completely sure what horse toys you might have near you but any ball/toy you get will always keep your horse entertained just make sure it’s made for horses so it doesn’t pop or maybe even hurt your horse.
As you probably know flies love to go near/on horses. Which is why you will need fly spray and fly masks, fly masks keep flies off of your horses eyes and sometimes ears if they have the ears on the mask but just their face in general.
Your horse can see through the mask and it doesn’t effect their eyesight at all. You will also need a lightweight blanket in the summers to keep fly’s and bugs off them and also to keep them clean, and in the winters you’ll need a heavy weight blanket so your horse stays warm.
Lastly you’ll need fly spray, when you ride made sure you spray fly spray on your horse so they aren’t constantly being bugged by fly’s and even spooked and you could be in a dangerous position if they get spooked by a fly of something else.
When you go look at horse you may possibly buy you want your trainer, a vet and even a farrier to go with you to make sure the horse your looking at isn’t hurt, drugged etc. sometimes people will drug horses is because they want the horse to be calm and act normal around you but once the drugs wear off then the horse will go crazy.
A couple ways to see if a horse is drugged is if their lip hangs very low and if their muscles are super tense. When you look at a horse you want them to look relaxed, calm, and most importantly you want to make sure you can touch their behind, their stomach, and also that you can pick up their hooves and much more.
Also see if the horses vet checks such as de-worming being spayed/ neutered vaccines and have your vet do a vet check on the horse your looking at to see if they are healthy and up to date on vet checks.
Your going to need some treats I don’t really need to tell you why but if you insist! It’s pretty simple your going need tons of treats because good horses deserve treats, treats also everyone deserves a yummy snack even horses!!
Treats can also be used to provide medicine/ vitamins to your horse to keep them healthy in a yummy form for them so they eat it!
Also before you buy a horse ask the owner of the horse you’re looking at to do everything before you try and do it like brushing and riding.
Also make sure you get a horse that is on a higher level or the same level as you so if your a beginner get a more experienced horse because the horse will know what he/she is doing but you may not.
If you’re an experienced rider you can ride a green horse since you will know what your doing but the horse will not. A green horse is a unbroke/untrained horse.
Always keep a first aid kit handy in case of emergency. What you can put in one is some scissors, some bandaids for you, wrap for your horse if they get a wound and whatever else you think you might need like maybe a cell phone.
Now moving onto tack! Never buy tack before you buy a horse unless you know the measurements of your horse because a saddle needs to fit you and your horse, so with bridles you can go to your local tack shop or somewhere with tack near you.
Bridles you need to measure or just get a bridle that you can return and try it on, saddle pads are by your preference so go wild! and with girths find one that you really like and that fits your horse good.
You might not even need to buy tack if the previous owner gives you theirs unless you don’t want to you theirs if its not very nice. You could also buy tack from someone that you might know.
You’re also going to need some sort of saddle soap or leather cleaner to clean tack for shows or just to clean it!
With vitamins you can either find some at your tack store or a horse shop nearby, just make sure your buying the vitamins that were prescribed by the vet but usually you get the first bag free so just make sure your buying the same exact vitamins/medicine to stay safe.
Last but definitely not least hay and alfalfa you can pick out where you want to buy your hay but if you buy hay in bulk (more than 1 bail). It is much cheaper and saves you trips so with every horse it depends how much they need to eat but on average 1 flake in the morning 1 in the evening and 1 at night.
So about 2-3 per horse and with alfalfa you can’t feed your horse to much or they will get sick so about 2 flakes every week. If you want to feed your horse alfalfa but its not necessary.
If your horse needs grain or some sort of special feed other than hay then you can provide that so it depends how many scoops a day meaning I can’t actually tell you so you will have to ask your vet!
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