Still working on uploading videos. In the meantime…
Comments/opinions welcome. 
Shanthi,
You can take my opinion or not but here it goes. You are a great rider and for what you want to spend on a horse there are nicer horses out there. Fling it not it. He is butt high, not much of a slope to his shoulder which is cutting his stride and you are right about his back. Plus you mention that he hasn’t had much work in dressage although he seems to be fairly decent at jumping. Can he do lead changes willingly? I would have to say look somewhere besides the east coast and west coast as they tend to price there horses higher. There are horses born everyday and there is a horse out there that is perfect for you. It may take sometime to find but keep looking and saving the pennies to get the perfect one that is everything you dreamed of.
dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?fo … id=1222591
dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?fo … id=1317838
dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?fo … id=1318658
dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?fo … id=1318843
I didn’t try doing changes on him…I’m sure he knows them from racing, but who knows if anyone has asked him to do any since. 
And the problem with shopping away from the east coast is two-fold: 1) shipping costs (both me to see the horse and the horse to come back home) 2) limited time to be able to go see the horse (i.e. weekends).
Hours later, all the videos are up. His should all have “Fling” in the title, except for the one that wasn’t very interesting except in how silly my dog (Ace) is.
So, despite the fact that I still like Fling, he may be out of the picture. When I originally setup the plans to go down to see him, they said they didn’t do trial periods but would let you come ride the horse as much as you wanted to be comfortable about buying him. Which seems reasonable.
Then, of course, they sold the one horse out from under me without letting me ride him a 2nd time (to decide whether to make an offer). And now I asked them about a scheduling a trip with my trainer to come see him, or even just taking him to a (local to them) horse show to see how he does, etc., and they seemed pretty iffy on it and said they have people coming to look at him today and Friday. “Not to rush me” or anything, though, of course.
So, if they can’t give me a couple of (truly) non-pressure days to figure out schedules, options, etc., and they won’t let him go on trial or enter a horse show, then I think I’ll pass. It’s a shame, but I’m sure there are other fun, brave horses out there.
My trainer dragged me out to see a horse today who was a total waste of time.
Ehh I hate it when people waste your time like that >:(
At least it was local so you didn’t waste too much time. Good luck with your continued search. I’m sure the perfect horse is waiting for you somewhere!
And the drama continues…(if anyone is still out there reading this, I’d be surprised )
I’d basically written Fling off due to the distance, scheduling, trainers being weird about their sales policies, etc. Tonight I got together with my trainer to check out options to go see this weekend. As we’re doing this, Fling’s trainer calls and says that someone came to look at him, liked him, and wanted to put him on the trailer right then and go home…no vet check, nothing. They were offering a really low price to do that, though. So I guess they’re not crazy about letting him go home with them, and they “feel bad” about what happened with selling the other horse from under me, etc., so they invited me/my trainer to come down to look at him again, even though schedule-wise they can’t let him go to a horse show (they’re not for another month), and the owner doesn’t want him to go on trial.
So I had my trainer watch the videos, and she’s in love with the horse. So I guess we’re heading down on Monday to look at him again, run him around some cross-country jumps, etc. And my “mission” for this weekend is to find as many high-price “made” eventing horses to ride so that I can compare them to Fling.
I’ve been reading and please keep updating. I plan on buying a horse after I finish with school and its helping me to know what to avoid/look for with horse sellers.
Haha. Well, I’ve come up with quite the laundry list of questions for sellers before I bother to go look at the horse…color/age/gender/size, obviously, and then stuff like:
- what they’ve done
- why were they purchased (so if they’ve done 10 jumper shows and they were bought to be a western pleasure horse, I know that’s probably why they’re being sold, rather than the horse killing the owner or something)
- do they buck/rear/kick/etc, or have any vices
- what’s their life like (stall kept, need 4 shoes, type of feed, etc)
- how often are they ridden
- what happens if they get a week off
- if they went to a show today, what level they’d compete in
Think that’s most of my list. Of course, then you get the people like this woman today who just makes crap up. But I’ve gotten WAY better about just saying “this isn’t the right horse, I’m getting off”. I think I rode for about 10 minutes today…didn’t like the horse the minute I saw the cribbing collar, didn’t like his ground manners much (he was ok, but a little pushy), didn’t like his trot, or his canter. My trainer had me jump a few things, which I did, just in case he was awesome at that, and he wasn’t, and I was done. So at least I waste less of my time now.
Reading this makes me realized how lucky I was getting my two horses…
My mare was the second horse I looked at, the first horse I looked at an overpriced greenie who turned out to be an 18yo!
My gelding I worked with when he came in for a rest from the track as a 4yo and 5yo. Had just discovered that my mare had some severe arthritic changes and an old track injury that was aggravated. The owners of my gelding called said he wasn’t going to be competitive in anything but claimers and they didn’t want to lose him, he’s sound and free. I grabbed him.
Good luck! 
Thanks. I’m actually heading down to SC solo to see Fling again on Sat/Sun, and if I need “backup”, my trainer will come down on Monday to watch me ride him. (She’s got show coaching going on all weekend.)
So, I hope he’s good at actually doing a dressage test, can do a basic jumper course, and doesn’t become a maniac out in an actual field doing cross-country.
I might go see a Saddlebred on Saturday on my way south, if timing works out. He used to be owned by a local barn owner who events, so that at least says he can do the job vaguely well.
I would love to find a free horse, but I’d also love to find a horse that can be reasonably sure of going to a show in the next few weeks/months…that combo seems pretty tough to find.
If they are willing to sell Fling at a lower price, go for it.
My mom owned a beautiful TB named Granpas Last Fling, aka “Fling”. Gorgeous chestnut that bowed in her 1st race due to a really deep track. We regret all the time for giving her away. She has a decent home but nothing like she would have if we still had her.
Anyways, mom and I read your updates and watch the videos. Fling looks really good and maybe you will find something comparable this weekend or maybe fate is stepping in, with how the trainer called you out of the blue.
So I saw Fling again today, and he was really good.
I left a deposit for Fling today.
Congrats!! I hope the vet check goes well.
As far as names, Carry Grant’s characters last name in Bringing Up Baby is Huxley which I think would be really cute.
Huxley sounds cute, though I like names that can be shortened/nickname-ized. (Java became Jav, Emma became Em, Magic…didn’t really become anything , and Finnegan became Finn.) Not sure how well “Hux” works for that , though I guess Lee kinda works.
So he basically passed his vet check today. There’s slight arthritis on one hock, but the vet said it was normal for his age and having raced. (When I x-rayed Finn’s hock, it had the beginnings of arthritis as well, and he’s only 5 and never raced.)
So, still waiting to hear back from my trainer that she’s not concerned about it, but I think he’s good to go.
Congrats!!! Hope its smooth sailing from here on out (I know when I bought my horse I wasn’t relaxed until the papers had officially been given to me and he had moved to my barn). He sounds like a wonderful horse, I hope he works out for you!
There is a supplement called Recovery EQ, www.recoveryeq.com It would be good to put Fling on for all joints, ligaments and tendons. There are some really good testimonials on there. I think Valley Vet carries it.