Questions to Ask Before Buying a Horse
Twenty questions to ask a seller, a vet and yourself before buying a horse, covering soundness history, what the horse needs to stay comfortable, how it behaves on the ground and under saddle, the vetting, and the true monthly cost.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What will I actually do with this horse in a normal week, and is that what it has been doing?
Why ask it
Write down your real week rather than your ambitions: two evening rides, a lesson, a hack at the weekend, maybe four shows a year. Horses sold as capable of more than you will ask are often horses who need more work than you can give, and an underworked fit horse becomes a different animal to handle.
Why are you selling, and how many homes has this horse had in the last three years?
Why ask it
Listen for a reason that fits the horse in front of you. Outgrown, a rider going to university, or a change of discipline are ordinary. Three owners in two years usually means somebody keeps discovering something, and it is worth asking each previous owner directly if you can find them.
May I have the names of your vet and farrier, and your permission to speak to them?
Why ask it
This single question separates straightforward sellers from the rest. A vet with the horse's file can tell you about lameness workups, medication and repeat call outs, and a farrier knows the feet better than anyone. Refusal, or a horse that has no regular vet, is itself an answer.
Has this horse ever been lame, and what was found and done about it?
Why ask it
Ask for episodes, dates, diagnoses and treatments rather than a general reassurance about soundness. Almost every mature horse has some history, so what you are testing is whether the seller will tell you about it, and whether the problem was resolved or merely managed until sale day.
What does this horse currently get to stay comfortable: joint injections, supplements, medication, corrective shoeing?
Why ask it
A maintenance routine is not necessarily a problem, but it is a monthly cost and a commitment you are taking on, and it hints at what the horse's body is dealing with. Ask when any injections were last done, since a horse can present very differently three weeks after treatment than three months after.
Has it ever had colic, ulcers, choke, breathing problems or any surgery?
Why ask it
These recur and they shape daily management. A previous colic surgery, a history of ulcers needing repeated treatment, or breathing trouble that flares in a dusty barn will affect insurance, feeding, turnout and where you can keep the horse. Get dates and treatments, not adjectives.
What is it fed, how much, and is it easy or hard to keep weight on?
Why ask it
Ask for the actual daily ration and any metabolic diagnosis. A horse that needs a lot of hard feed or a soaked, restricted, weighed diet costs more and needs a yard willing to follow instructions. Sudden feed changes also cause problems, so you need the current routine anyway.
How is it shod, how often, and has there ever been laminitis or a foot problem?
Why ask it
Feet are where a great deal of expense lives. Ask the shoeing cycle, whether it needs pads, wedges or specialist work, whether it is easy for the farrier, and about any history of abscesses, thin soles or laminitis. Your farrier bill for the next decade is being decided here.
Are there any stable habits I should know about, and how does it need to live?
Why ask it
Cribbing, weaving and box walking matter practically, because some yards refuse horses that do them and some fence lines suffer. Equally important: can it be turned out with other horses, does it cope with being stabled, can it live out, and does it panic when its field companion leaves.
What is it like to catch, groom, clip, load and stand for the vet and farrier?
Why ask it
This is most of your actual contact with a horse. Ask each one separately, because sellers tend to give a general yes. A horse that will not load, will not be clipped, or cannot be caught in a field turns ordinary weeks into long ones, and retraining any of it takes months.
Has anyone come off this horse, and what happened?
Why ask it
Asked plainly, this often gets a more honest answer than asking whether the horse is safe. You are listening for the pattern: a slip on wet ground is different from a horse that bolts, naps at gates, or bucks when it is fresh. Also ask who was riding when it happened.
What does this horse do when it is frightened?
Why ask it
Every horse spooks, so what matters is the shape of it: a jump sideways and back to work, a spin, a bolt, planting and refusing, or going up. Ask for a recent example rather than a description of temperament, because the story tells you what you would be sitting on.
Does it hack out alone, in company, past traffic and dogs?
Why ask it
Many horses that are excellent in an arena are difficult on the road or refuse to leave the yard alone. If riding out is part of why you want a horse, ask them to demonstrate it rather than describe it, and find out whether it has been off the property in the last year.
Can I catch and tack it up myself today, and has it been ridden or lunged before I arrived?
Why ask it
You want to meet the horse as it is, not after an hour of work has taken the edge off. Ask directly whether it has been exercised, sedated or given anything today. A seller who is relaxed about you arriving early, catching it in the field and doing everything yourself is showing you something useful.
Can I watch someone of about my ability ride it, and then ride it myself on two separate days?
Why ask it
A professional can make almost anything look straightforward. Watching a rider like you is far more informative, and a second visit on a different day, ideally in different weather, catches the horse that is quiet on a still Tuesday and quite different in wind. Bring your trainer if you have one.
Are you willing for me to arrange a pre-purchase examination with my own vet, including radiographs and a blood sample held for testing?
Why ask it
The vet must be yours, not the seller's, and you should tell them what you intend to do with the horse so they know what matters. A held blood sample deters the use of sedatives or pain relief on the day. Resistance to any part of this is a reason to walk away, whatever the explanation offered.
What paperwork comes with the horse, and will the registration transfer to me?
Why ask it
Ask for vaccination and dental records, worming history, a current negative Coggins test or the equivalent where you live, any passport or registration papers, and confirmation that the seller actually owns the horse outright rather than sharing it or leasing it. Papers that cannot be transferred reduce the horse's value and your options.
What will this horse cost me every month, and what am I holding back for an emergency?
Why ask it
Add board or land, hay and feed, farrier every five to eight weeks, routine vet, dentist, worming, insurance, tack and rugs, lessons and transport. Then plan for one serious bill: colic surgery and a long lameness workup both run into thousands, and the decision you least want to make is a financial one at three in the morning.
What would an honest trainer say about me and this horse together?
Why ask it
Ask someone with nothing to gain from the sale. The pairing that goes wrong most often is a green horse with a returning or inexperienced rider, and it usually goes wrong slowly, through lost confidence rather than a single incident. A good instructor will say so before you buy if you ask them plainly.
If this does not work out in six months, what happens to the horse?
Why ask it
Decide now, because the honest options are limited: sell on, loan out, keep and pay for a horse you do not ride, or retire it. Some sellers offer a right of first refusal, which is worth having in writing. Thinking this through in advance is also the fastest way to notice whether you can really carry the commitment.
Trying, vetting and buying
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How to view a horse
Arrive early and do everything yourself
Ask to arrive before the horse is caught, and to catch, groom and tack up yourself. You learn more from ten minutes in a stable than from a schooling demonstration: whether it moves off pressure, picks up its feet, minds being girthed up, and whether it is already warm and sweaty when you arrive.
Go twice, and take someone who is not excited
Two visits on different days, in different weather, ideally one on a quieter day of the week. Take your trainer or an experienced friend, brief them beforehand on what you actually need, and agree that they will say so if they think it is wrong. Their job is to notice what you will miss while you are falling for the horse.
Ride it the way you will actually ride it
If you hack out, hack out. If you jump a course of small fences, jump a course. If your only riding time is after dark in a floodlit arena, ask to try that. Horses are not uniformly good across contexts, and the context you skip testing is usually the one that goes wrong at home.
Watch the seller as closely as the horse
Note whether answers are specific, whether they volunteer problems, and whether they discourage the vetting, the phone call to the vet, or the second visit. Pressure to decide today, a story about another buyer coming this evening, and vagueness about the horse's history are the standard warning signs.
The pre-purchase examination
- Choose and pay the vet yourself, and use one with no relationship to the seller. Tell them what you plan to do with the horse, since a suitable pleasure horse and a suitable competition prospect are different judgements.
- Expect a full physical, eyes, heart and lungs, flexion tests and trotting up on a hard surface, then work under saddle or on the lunge and a second trot up.
- Discuss radiographs before the day: which views, and what you would do with an equivocal finding. Feet, hocks and stifles are common, and imaging is easier to interpret when you agreed the plan in advance.
- Ask for blood to be drawn and held. It deters sedation and pain relief being given before your visit, and can be tested if the horse behaves very differently once home.
- A vetting does not pass or fail a horse. It tells you what is there, and you decide whether you can live with it, insure it and afford it.
- Ask the vet directly whether they would buy the horse for your purpose. Most will answer honestly if asked outside the formal report.
- Get insurance quotes before you buy. Findings on the vetting often lead to exclusions, and those exclusions tell you what a professional thinks is likely to go wrong.
Money, paperwork and after
- Get a written bill of sale with the horse's description and markings, the price, the date, and any agreed terms such as a trial period or a right of first refusal.
- Confirm the seller is the sole owner. Shared ownership, unpaid livery bills and a horse that is on loan from someone else are all real ways a sale goes wrong afterward.
- Arrange where the horse is going before you commit. Yard vacancies, vaccination requirements and turnout availability are worth confirming, not assuming.
- Take the current feed and a supply of the hay it is used to if you can, and change over gradually. Sudden feed and forage changes are a common cause of colic in a newly moved horse.
- Expect a settling in period of weeks. Many horses are quiet for the first fortnight then show more of themselves, and a change in behavior at week three is normal rather than proof of deception.
- Book your own vet, farrier and dentist in the first month so someone independent has a baseline on the horse.
- Keep a small written record from day one: shoeing dates, vet visits, feed changes, anything odd. If a problem emerges, that record is what makes it diagnosable.