Episode 108- 3 observations from almost buying a horse.

I almost bought a horse. In this episode, I discuss many of the factors that went into my decision to NOT buy the horse including logic, emotion, daily life, time invested, purchase price, resale, etc.
I know everyone’s situation is different but I think that listening to how someone else is making decisions can be helpful.

Episode 108-3 observations from almost buying a horse.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 108-3 observations from almost buying a horse.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Announcer:
Podcasting from a little cabin on a hill, this is the Stacy Westfall podcast, Stacy's goal is simple: to teach you to understand why horses do what they do, as well as the action steps for creating clear, confident communication with your horses.

Stacy Westfall:
Hi, I'm Stacy Westfall, and I'm here to teach you how to understand, enjoy, and successfully train your own horses. In this episode, I'm going to be talking about how I almost bought a horse, but then chose not to. Now I know everyone's situation is different. So some of the things I'm going to talk about when I was considering purchasing a horse won't be applicable to other people. But I think there's enough crossover that you'll be able to understand some of the logic. And I hope you find it helpful. So basically, I'm a horse addict and I'm a horse lover and I'm a horse owner and I make my living in the horse industry. That is a dangerous combination because I have empty stalls. Ok, so either you are listening and you have had an empty stall before and you know the temptation to fill it or you're daydreaming about maybe building your barn or, you know, being able to move your horse to a location where you might have the opportunity to get another horse. You can basically either you either you can imagine what it feels like to have an empty stall and that ability or you've been in that situation before. It is crazy tempting. And so what went on for me was that I had this opportunity to buy a horse and I was looking at it, you know, as a business move.

Stacy Westfall:
Now, again, I'm going to say everyone's situation is a little different. So if you have a question about maybe buying a horse or different situations, feel free to call in and leave it as a voicemail, because I'm going to go pretty specific over here on this example. But I'm more than happy to go some other directions if you've got other ways you'd like to have me answer this. So basically, here's what happened. I found out that there was this well-trained horse, 12 coming 13-year-old mare, priced under $10,000, successfully showing with an inexperienced rider. So that means that she was being pretty forgiving. And because I'm a professional and because I'm in this industry, I know that this is a little bit of a rarity. So that $10,000 mark for a trained show horse, when you can get around or under that mark, then that's, that's doing pretty good. So I knew there was a rarity there, which made it interesting to me. And that's what put it on the table to discuss. So three of the ways that I looked at this, that's what I'm going to be discussing with you here. And we'll listen and then I'm going to go through them. So one of the things I was considering when looking at purchasing this horse was, is this for business or is this for pleasure, for personal use? Another thing I was considering was, is this kind of going to be a more emotional decision or a more logical decision? And then how number 3, how is this going to fit into my daily life, the horses new daily life, how is that all going to work? And so let's just jump in to number 1, business or pleasure?

Stacy Westfall:
This is one of the areas where maybe some of you listening are like, I don't know what that would be like to buy one for business. That's OK, because you can still learn about buying one from–about buying one for pleasure or personal use, too. So basically, I was really wrestling to try to separate the two because even though I was looking at this as a business decision, I am very aware that I have a hard time really making that a hard, fast line. Now, I've seen other people run successful lesson programs that seem to be able to put the horses into that category a little bit more cleanly than what I know I can. So that means there's going to be some kind of a blur between that business and that personal. At the end of the day, I know that that's going to be a little bit mixed up for me, and I'm just OK with admitting that to myself and to other people like you. So I was trying to put this as much on the business side as possible, but I was also aware that it would be bleeding over into the personal. So business-wise, this the thought of buying a horse has been on my mind for several years, because in my mind, when I'm teaching clinics, it would be really fun to have a horse here that is more highly trained, that when somebody is at this moment where I want them to feel something, but it's only happening for one step with their horse, I can see it happening. But they can only they can barely grasp it because, you know, to be able to feel it when you don't know what you're feeling for and your horses is less trained and you only feel one step of it, that's hard. And I know the value of of being on a horse where you can feel that for multiple steps or you can call it up with consistency. And so I've been interested in purchasing a horse for that purpose for a while. So I was going into this with the idea that this is be a horse that I could teach with and this could be a business decision. And that in itself was really was really fun, because I'm going to tell you about 3 different things that 3 different friends recommended when I called to bounce this idea off for them. So one friend said, quit pretending it's for business. I think that's really funny. So one friend said, just quit pretending it's for business and just go purely towards it as being like personal/emotional. And I was like, interesting perspective. And I heard it out because that's what it is to bounce the ideas around. It's not just to push back immediately. And then number 2, another friend said, OK, I hear what you're saying. How are you going to make this horse bring in money? So figure out how this horse is going to create an income so that you can figure out some numbers associated around them. And so I thought that was really useful information. And so I got thinking about that. And then another friend said, well, if you really want to do this as a business, then you need to figure out how to cost it out over a set amount of time. So she does a lot of accounting type stuff. And so I was like, wow, that's perfect. That's exactly what my accountant would tell me about a tractor or a computer. It wouldn't be this, you know, it wouldn't be if I get to keep–if I keep a tractor for 40 years. No, there's still like a costed out–there's an amount of time that that is spread out over. And it's not necessarily the 40 years of the tractor. You know, it's a smaller time frame. And so I was like, oh, I like that. So those three different pretty drastically different perspectives were really helpful. And that's why I like bouncing ideas off from different people. I'm really good at listening with that open mind, knowing that I can ask questions and then not make a decision. Right then whenever I feel rushed is when I feel like I have to make the decision during that conversation. So that doesn't mean I'm always good at doing this. There are times where if I for some reason feel rushed, then during that conversation of information gathering, I can get a more frantic kind of a sound talking going on, because it's kind of that pressure to feel like I need to make a decision right now. When I'm really clear that I'm just gathering information, it doesn't feel scary to me to bounce all these different ideas around and then walk away, let it set, and then kind of come up with what I believe about those different things. And so, for example, with the friend that was like, quit pretending it's for business, I laughed. And I also I was also like, there is a grain of truth in that, because I told you that at the beginning. I know there is this challenge between keeping the separation between the business and the pleasures of personal. So there's an accuracy there. But I also knew how strongly I wanted this to be a business, a wise, business thing, as much as that can be possible. We'll talk about that later. And so but it was–it was good to hear that and have that push on me. And then the friend that said figure out how the horse will be able to bring in money. That was fun because I was able to bounce different ideas off from her on maybe ways that it could, and how different amounts and different, you know, time periods and what the horse could handle and all these different things. And so that was fun. And then the one that was almost a new way to think about it for me, really, because all the other horses I own, I clearly have them in the like more personal camp, they're just they're my horses. And uh, there's no time period. So the idea of costing this whole purchase out over a set time was like, wow, I like that. I've never thought about it like that before. But I can totally see where somebody who was running a straight up program that was based off from these horses earning money like, say, a breeding program or a lesson program, you would need to do this over set periods of time and look at it more from that. Super interesting to me. So that was a great learning thing. And so, yeah..um, basically, that was one piece of it, is this business or pleasure? I chose this is as much business as I can make it with parentheses side mark of like I understand there is also this horse addict in me that is a part of this decision making, too. So, yeah, I did know those.

Stacy Westfall:
So then I moved over into number 2, kind of emotion versus logic. Now you could kind of almost see where the business versus pleasure and emotional versus logic, you could almost try to line those two up like that. The business would be the logical and the personal could be emotional. And I think that's maybe true if you put it out on to like extremes. Like if it's extreme business, then it's going to be probably extremely logical. And if it's extreme pleasure owning a horse, then it could be just from an emotional standpoint, do you see where I'm going there? I'm kind of making that teeter-totter and I'm taking those to the extremes and I can vaguely see how those would line up. But I'm not going to go there a lot because for me, and I think for a lot of people, you're walking back and forth in the middle of that teeter-totter a lot more. Because even when I'm purchasing a horse that's basically for my own personal pleasure, I have a lot of qualifications for that. And so with that being said, I'm going to put quite a bit of logic into it as well as, you know, weighing out that emotion. Now, let me give you an example of where maybe it would be bought more off from just the emotion side of it. I remember my mom called one time and she was buying a horse to be a pasture mate to another horse. That means that for her qualifications, the horse needed to just be like alive and pretty much like that's it. Like like standing, eating, like, I can say, reasonably healthy. But she was OK with buying like an older horse that wasn't going to live a lot more years. And so can you see where you can take a lot more of the "logic" like side out of it like that, because she was basically just accepting up front where these horses were going to be. And so that's why I say it's kind of this interesting dance, depending on how you want to phrase it. Maybe, maybe the words could be changed and that would phrase it a little bit differently, too. But for the rest of this podcast, I'm just going to stick with this emotional versus logic, probably because my friend that said, just buy this, you know, just admit this is emotional and and go with that, maybe maybe I'll give her the credit. So anyway, first of all, up front, it would have been easier to make this decision purely from emotion because it was bringing all the logic into it that made it so much more challenging. Having said that, I have these near-buying experiences where I kind of want to let myself run down that emotional track and fairly regularly. Thank you, Craigslist and and other horse websites. My weakness, that would be ponies and minis. Yes, I am a professional with these nice horses that stalks $200 ponies online. And why? Probably because they represent, like, just the pure pleasure of owning one, like the pure emotional side of it, like just being like I'm just going to randomly buy a pony today. But since I own zero ponies right now, I'm more of like an online pony stalker because the logic side of it is–is kicks in even for me with my, you know, even with my personal buying decisions. Every once in a while, you know, I'll–I'll go out there. But anyway, a whole nother subject. For this horse, the emotion versus the logic. I was trying to stay as logical as possible. So in the logic categories, we've got a a well-trained horse under $10,000 but we also have the cost of keeping that horse. And let's just say that that's going to be–let's just say that it's $2500 a year and, you know, give or take, doubling or tripling. Oh, you know, you don't say give or take, like up or down. It's pretty much like you go like, what's my baseline minimum that I can, like, claim to feed and bed and take care of this horse with no vet bills and no added expenses in like no fancy dental problems that pop up and no…and so do you see what I'm saying? So, but just for easy numbers for this episode logic, I'm looking at a horse and I'm just going to say because, you know, in case anybody knows what's involved, I'm just going to make up some numbers here and say I'm going to say the horse is priced at $7500 and that it's $2500 a year of cost for me to keep a horse. And then, because of my friend number 3, who said, why don't you take the purchase price and then add your cost over two years and then that's how you can decide how much that's going to cost. So that's where, you know, I can come up with, like the $12,500 and divide that by 2 and then I can get$6250 per year. Now, you can argue that at the end of the 2 years, I could sell the horse and recoup a chunk. That is, of course, assuming that she stays sound, sane, and I can find someone who wants to purchase her at a…the…13…14…15-year-old. And, and so it becomes this numbers game of what am I doing this for and where's the break even? And how many lessons or clinics does this horse have to teach? And does this make sense? Does it look like it's even in the realm? Like if the horse has to work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, then that's probably not going to work with all kinds of different riders. Plus, that means that I need to be out there riding. So this horse has to make money above what I make giving a lesson to somebody on their own horse. Do you see where this is going now? Interesting thought here in all of this. I did not include any of the time invested. So that means like when I say that it's got a cost of $2500 a year to keep the horse, you could start arguing with, like, how realistic that is, depending on if like if I'm cleaning the stall and feeding the horse and you start adding in all the time. Are you doing the cost of keeping at the hard, fixed prices, including those broken water buckets and maintaining the facility a little bit. Like because a little bit of that needs to go into each horse to maintain the facility, so, so it's like, how much of this are you counting? And then on top of it, we've also got like the time set with like keeping the horse tuned up for all those different riders.

Stacy Westfall:
So basically, let me–let me recap this. You've basically got 3 things going on here. You've got the purchase price, which is interesting because the purchase price to me is it's set in. It's once and you pay it and it's done. Then you've got the other 2. You've got the cost per year and the time invested. So you've got purchase price, yearly cost, time invested. The purchase price is set and a lot of times that's the one that a lot of us get hung up on. And the one that's really interesting, that cost per year, that's the one that's interesting because you could be like, well, it should cost this much a year, give or take, doubling or tripling it. I don't know if you've experienced this, but it doesn't, like, divide itself in half magically. It always only goes up, which was the one thing that every single horse person I ran this by, everyone pointed this out. They–some of them were more lenient on whether you could make this as a business decision or as an emotional or a personal. Everyone was rock solid, clear with that. The idea that you would be spending more cost per year needed to be factored in at a higher level because it was so much more likely to happen. Kind of interesting, right? OK, and then we've got that time invested, which could be counted as like how much time does it take me to tune this horse up so that I can give, you know, the lessons or the clinics on this horse? And how much tuning up or maintenance will that take for the horse to be maintained between these ever changing riders, which is what I'm signing this horse up for. And I know as a professional being around the industry, some horses can tolerate that far better than others. But it's kind of an unknown. And still, you start doing it, you can make guesses, but until you really start moving into it, then you start to have some more evidence, and then, you know, the time invested aside from like the training and the keeping and everything, there's also that nagging question of, will the horse be sound at the end of it? You know, how sound, how much can–how much riding can it do so that when you go to sell at the end of the two years, you know, you've got that question mark kind of hanging out there on like what that will be worth. Like how much value you can get back out of the horse at that point? And again, this is trying to look at it from a business side. And so, yeah, kind of a lot of different things that go into there. And so, then I kind of set that aside.

Stacy Westfall:
Now, this is what I think is interesting. The number three on my list for today was daily life. So what that means to me is how much was this going to change my daily life and was it going to be something that I was interested in doing? And what was this horse's daily life going to look like? And was that something I thought I wanted to sign her up for? So some of the downsides I didn't mention yet about this particular horse were that she was a known creber. So that goes into the price. You can also say that may be why the price was better for purchasing, but the creber comes with different housing and different like wanting it around and some would argue different risks for colic, although this one's never been known to colic.

Stacy Westfall:
But, you know, that's a thing. This horse also comes with the label. It's–it's a horse that's more dominant. Dominant in the field with the horses, so you have to be careful who goes out with it. So that changes some of the dynamics here for me. And then that same dominance is–there's kind of like–it's she's not super sweet to be around. And that just means that, you know, is just another thing to factor in. And so I think when I was looking at all of this, the way that I factored it in was that with the cribbing, it was obviously something that that's one of those things where even if horses go through auctions like you have to declare it. It's something that's going to be out there. It's something that follows a horse around. So it's declared to me it's going to be declared when it's sold. And then there's the question about who do you want her out with? Do you want the cribber around the other horses? Does she need to wear the collar all the time? How tight does the collar need to be? How much can you stop? What's it doing to her teeth? Are they worn down? That kind of stuff. That was one piece, and then that also plays with that–the dominance in the field. So I know my setup, I know my horses, who am I going to put out with her and what's her life going to be like in the field? And what's my life going to be like managing her, knowing this? And so those were some of the things I was thinking about. And then when I say not too sweet, it just means like now I'm looking at this being a lesson horse. Horses that are a little–that are more on that dominant side and that that more assertive side, they do have a different effect on people who are taking lessons on that because they're just a different presence. It's like being around a person that's a little bit more like that, but it's different when it's an animal. And so that's another factor. Like what's the person coming in to take the lesson? What's their experience going to be with this personality versus, you know, one that's just more like, hey, I'm your friend, I'm your buddy, you know, laid back, whatever. Like there are differences. So I was factoring that in. Now, here's an interesting thought, and this, again, really varies case by case, but when you're looking at a horse, it's…I think it's really great to look at them multiple times. I know every situation is different, but in my case, I was able to actually bring the horse home for a short trial here at my house, which is like pretty much spot on, perfect. I know that's not super realistic because I won't send my horses that are for sale off to people's houses, although sometimes if a trainer trusts another trainer, sometimes what you can do is get the horse moved to like a trainer. Like the trainer you're going to be riding with or something like that sometimes. But if that's not possible, arrange multiple visits, figure out, you know, what you can see on the surface and what you can't. You'll just get better at factoring it in. Or you could also just be more flexible when you're purchasing. You know, like my mom was super flexible because her qualifications were a lot more open. You can hear how narrow my qualifications were for this horse. So that doesn't say anything about her as much as how narrow my qualifications were. So many variables. That's why I thought it'd just be interesting for you guys to think about this. So basically, at the end of the day, the reason why this turned into a story of me considering buying a horse but not buying a horse is because at the end of the day, the daily life situation and the recouping money situation ended up both stacked against her. So when I was looking at the daily life, like the structure around here, which horses I might be able to turn her out with, which paddock's, how much time, you know, would be spent doing this and that the risk of turning a horse out that's known to be aggressive. And the–that went in, but it also goes in–it goes into it for me managing it, but also goes into her and her quality of life because she could be sold to somebody who has a big pasture and one other horse. And as long as that other horse is like, yup, you're in charge, then she'll probably have a more ideal life, in my opinion, than what I would have been able to provide her here in the smaller areas that I have and the rotating and what I do. And so that daily life was for me and for her. And then to top it off, like the the things that would need to be done for me to recoup the money in purchasing and then maintaining and then that questionable risk hanging out there, and how many riders would she be able to handle and how many extra riders and how many riders would want to sign up for this? That all kind of ended up stacked against her. So I guess what I'm super thankful of, first of all, is that it wasn't a rushed or quick thing. I didn't have any of that pressure. I'm really thankful that I got to "try it on" before by bringing her back here and moving her around and feeling what that felt like. But basically, it's interesting to me, too, though, because I know that it's tempting to be like, oh, man, that's the perfect situation when you can bring one back to your house.

Stacy Westfall:
But let's look at it one more time. I knew before I brought her here because the owner told me and I'd known from other people that she was really dominant in the field. I mean, that was one of the like, this is one of the reasons that the horse is being sold also just because they don't–they want to be able to move their horses around differently. So that's one thing. And she's not a real lovey horse. That was really clear. Like you would have known that if you walked in and started interacting with her. That's OK. There are lots of horses like that. But I knew what that meant for some of the riders that might be riding her. And then the fact that she's a cribber, again, easily done. So most of these things you actually would have known just walking in and seeing the horse–here's the interesting part. Seeing and knowing it is one thing. Denying it, pretending you can change it, that I see a lot more often. So sometimes I see people like, well, she's dominant in this situation. Maybe she'll be different here. Well, yes, you'll be able to play with different things, but she's probably going to be kind of dominant. She's telling you kind of who she is. She's not real friendly and lovey, maybe she'll open up more. Yes, but why don't we just accept her where she's at and then make the decision there and then maybe it changes, maybe it doesn't. And the cribber, I even started out with the idea like nobody had really seen her crib for quite a while. And um, but I looked at her teeth and her teeth have evidence that she's still cribbing. And then we did find her, see her crib. But she's real quiet and slightly like–just I'm not going to say sneaky, but just quiet about it, which explains why it's not really being seen. So, you know, it was–it was such a good thing for me to walk through, because this makes me even better at understanding what I'm looking for in a horse for this situation. What I came to in the end was, what I've been doing the last couple of years is probably what I'll continue doing. So if people come here and they're taking a clinic from me and they're riding around and there's something that they are really, you know, right on the edge of. And I keep pointing it out and I've just had people get on Willow and just be like, get on and feel this for just a minute here on my horse. And so why buy a horse if that's what my goal is? And I've already been doing it by having people occasionally get on Willow and feel it that way. I don't think anybody's complaining if they get a chance to actually get on the horse that I'm currently riding and showing and training. So at the end of the day, I was like, jeez, I could just do more of that. And, you know, that works. And then I don't have any of this to juggle around. That is the long and the short of how a horse addict like me could actually bring a horse into the barn and examine it and walk away. And believe me, I know everyone's situation is different. The three horses I have here, one we bred and raised, and then another one we I bought from a customer, and then another one I got from a rescue group. So, you know, they've kind of come in all different ways. But I'm really clear that I'm owning them on the personal side, which basically means to me, like they don't have that 2-year, you know, recoup time. They don't have that…I'm going to call it pressure or expectation to create money. Basically, they're here and I'm training them. And there's a little bit more of a, of an open path there than what I was putting this particular horse on. But I thought it would be interesting to discuss it with you because I think we could do an entire season discussing every single different–in one season we would not be able to get to every different situation and scenario that people are purchasing for and all the different considerations. But I hope you found this to be good food for thought. Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you again in the next episode.

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If you enjoy listening to Stacy's podcast, please visit stacywestfall.com for articles, videos, and tips to help you and your horse succeed.

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13 Comments

  1. Cheryl Van Herk on December 24, 2020 at 9:54 am

    Ha! All my horse purchases have been emotional ones although sometimes I try to justify them thinking that they can pay themselves off by being used in lessons, but I don’t run a horse business.
    I know the addiction, if it weren’t for my husband, I’d have as many horses as our farm could hold and I’d likely be using a big line of credit to float things along.
    I like what you said about dominant horses not always being great school horses if the student wants to connect with them. I had one lovely but very dominant mare, who was brutal/dangerous when ever horses were switched around and she had a mind of her own.
    It’s really nice to hear you talk about what you look for in a prospect, as when some of us make emotional purchases we forget to think all these things through.

  2. Valorie on December 23, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    I appreciate your perspective and being a trainer I can see how you must look at the decision from a logical standpoint. I’ve always, or almost always, made my decisions emotionally. I always feel for the horse and fear that if I don’t buy the horse the horse will not get a good home. Not necessarily true I know, but that’s where I go. I’m more the type of buyer that your Mom is. If I were to be given 30 to 40 years back to my life, I would try to look at horse purchases from a logical standpoint. Once I buy a horse, it is home for life and I do make the adjustments necessary to accommodate whatever needs/vices the horse may have. Not wise, but our horses are well-cared for a loved and have a home where they otherwise probably wouldn’t, so I guess there’s something good to be said for this. ❤

  3. Sara L Schmidtke on December 20, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    Great advice for buying a horse: know thy goals! Actually, this advice applies to almost everything in life. So once again our horses teach us wonderful life lessons. I like that you identified three measurable goals and then closely dissected each of these. What makes this effective is the simplicity of your evaluation system. Will this new horse meet my desired goals? Thank you for your podcast and training tips.
    Merry Christmas!!!!

  4. Leslie Roden on December 20, 2020 at 2:25 pm

    Stacie,
    I really enjoyed the “I almost bought a horse” podcast. I just went through something similar. I ALMOST let emotion pull me into buying a yearling. It was helpful to hear that even a professional like you goes through the same battle. Thank you for sharing!!

  5. J on December 20, 2020 at 11:56 am

    She arrives next WEEEEKKKKK !!! 😀

  6. Cindy Lease on December 19, 2020 at 10:35 pm

    I bought a horse for personal use. I was training him for 5 years before I made the purchase so I really knew what I was getting into with his dominant personality and lack of training as a young horse. I still love him and once I owned him I committed to getting help from a professional trainer which as given me more confidence and hope that he will be a great ride some day. I know I didn’t look at it with a large amount of logic or I would have bought a horse that was already trained and seasoned for trails. I still enjoy my rides on him and I keep working with him to make him better each and every time I am with him.

  7. Cindy on December 18, 2020 at 9:37 pm

    I love that you can ask for opinions from your friends, and not blow off the ones that maybe not line up with what you are hoping to hear. My biggest fault is believing horse sellers and not believing in my own gut feeling and then ending up with a horse that takes so much time and effort that I lose that joy of owning and riding. I have a couple of nice horses now, but I have spent years getting this far! Thanks for all your help!

  8. KrisT on December 18, 2020 at 9:18 am

    I really enjoyed this podcast and hearing the whole thought process that went into not buying this horse. I wish more people could listen to this and learn from it.

  9. Anne Hunter on December 17, 2020 at 8:32 pm

    I did like hearing your process. Of course my process never includes a business decision! haha My last horse I bought because my friend said I needed to save him and fix him. It didn’t hurt that he is a beautiful Buckskin. Yes, I did use my emotional side and bought color. When you talked about the possible horse was a cribber and that would need to be revealed. I thought of the fantastic Palomino I bought. Went to look at him, spent about 3 hours, watching the owner ride, then doing ground work, then riding him myself. Thought this was going to be a great horse for my then 12 yo timid rider. I called said yes I want him. Drove 3 1/2hours to pick him up. Money has exchanged hands, papers have been signed. Now they can’t find a current Coggins. I said okay I will still take him. Loading him on to the trailer, the sellers says “Oh by the way, he is a mild cribber”. Okay, I say. He is the worst cribber I have ever met. But he is a fantastic ride and took my son through 9 years of 4H. I love him in spite of his crbbing.

  10. Celia Simon on December 16, 2020 at 12:30 pm

    I have bought dozens of horses in the ladt 40 years and have always used the same process you used.
    Your analysis was very productive. Cudos to you for not following your furst friend’s advice since many times that leads to disappointment especially with the turnout and cribbing issues you discovered.
    I enjoyed listening even though I am now retired from competition and running a horse business.

  11. Evon Kurtz on December 16, 2020 at 11:06 am

    What I liked most about this podcast is Stacy’s transparency in how her horse addiction affects her decision in purchasing a horse. How she reached out to three friends to get their input and each friend offered her three different perspectives and each perspective was right on.
    What I learned is you can look at it from an accountants perspective in how a working equine could depreciate over a 2 year period (unlike writing off a tractor over 30 years). What I liked is how Stacy walks you through to pros and cons of purchasing this horse. We have a crib bet for sale and it is definitely tough to move him.

  12. Evon Kurtz on December 16, 2020 at 10:53 am

    What I liked most about this podcast is how you asked for 3 different opinions and shared their answers with us, your transparency in your horse addiction, and the key elements in your decision to say no and why. Great podcast for us addicts. Thank you

  13. Evon Kurtz on December 16, 2020 at 10:26 am

    Love it! Most trainers are horse addicts. This can be bad especially if there is a husband and wife team that both love horses. Haha. As in our situation. It is very difficult to not let emotion drive the decisions. In our case we have clients wanting to give us their nice horses. We have started looking at it financially and if their papers are not Royal and the horse cannot be used (dual purpose) as a brood mare & a lesson horse for example… we graciously turn them down.

    Evon
    It have been a follower of yours for over a decade.

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