>>>> He could not understand why until I explained to him that horse traders in the USA have been known to drug horses when someone was coming to look at buying one. I don't know about you guys but I know a lot of horses traders that drug a horse to sell and when the new owners get it home it is definitely not a "child's horse" that it was sold t be.
I've certainly heard of that happening. I never personally experienced it, but I can't count the number of horses we went to see that were nothing like the advertised "kid's hunter" or "good trail horse" or whatever it was we were looking for at the time. I've probably told this before, but one "16+ H child's hunter prospect" was not even 15H, a faded and mottled Appaloosa with a sparse-to-non-existant mane and tail, a cribber who was lame, and bucked the owner off when he got on him. If that wasn't bad enough, the poor horse was named Vern. We passed on buying poor old Vern. I'd probably be sucker enough now to try to take him as a rehab, to see what all was wrong with the poor homely guy. And then there was the TB gelding, named appropriately Beaver...hmmm, can you say parrot mouth...? At least Beaver genuinely WAS over 16H. And the TB mare, Maggie, who had raced the maximum time allowed, so she'd won enough for us to know she was fast...whom the owner warned us had to be ridden in draw reins or she'd bolt on the trail. Now, really, would YOU buy your 11-year-old daughter a bolter who can run well over a mile at about 35 mph? I'm not talking about 100 yards at 25-30 mph. Maggie wasn't the advertised 16+H either - she too was more like 15H. I've heard some horror stories of some warm bloods imported from Europe not being anything like the buyer thought they were getting - in size conformation, temperament. And, I've heard of some people being pretty disappointed with their Icelandic's too. It happens, so to question everyone about every horse and every training method isn't personal...it's just horse tradin'. Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
