FAQs

Horse Questions

Where do you get your horses? From private parties, farms, trade-ins, friends, dealers and sales - mostly from Illinois, South Dakota and New Holland, PA.

Do you own the horses you sell? Yes, we own everything we sell. We do not sell on consignment as a rule.

Why do you sell Quarter Horses, Paints and Appaloosas? We know these best - nothing against other breeds. We also deal in T-breds and Ponies once in awhile.

Why don't you have more horses to choose from? We are selective and many of our horses sell quickly. Quiet, well broke geldings are harder than ever to find, and we can only keep up riding 5 to 6 at a time anyway. We usually have 3-4 registered horses and around 1or 2 grades on our website, with new horses being test-rode each week, while others come in and some get sold. This all depends on the weather. During the winter we refrain from buying too many horses.

Do you know the history of the horses you sell? It varies from horse to horse. Whatever history we get, we pass along. Registered horses show past owners of record on their papers, who can often be reached for info. Grade horses might come with some history, but many do not. We understand people wanting to know backgrounds, to filter out problem horses, or learn past achievements. We think backgrounds can be useful, but often they can distort the true picture of the horse, especially if the background info pertains to a much younger horse or a bad owner situation. We believe in full disclosure of any horse we sell to the best of our ability. We however will refrain from giving out previous owners info until the horses is being purchased or seriously looked at.

What do you mean by trail and traffic safe? By trail safe, we mean the horse is not spooky on trail - he might look real hard at certain things, but does not jump, rear, swerve, buck or take off, etc, when confronted by normal objects along the trail. It does not mean the horse will not jump at a deer or turkey popping up right in front of him - not all our horses have had that test. We ride our horses over our  farm, thru woods, fields, along the highway and past many different obstacles.

By traffic safe, we mean that the horse will ride in the ditch, right next to the shoulder, along a major highway, with car and truck traffic going by. The horse might pin his ears, but does not get scared, or prancey, and will not jump, rear, swerve or take off. It does not mean that we ride the horse right on the highway or right in traffic.

What do you mean by: OK for kids about 8, 10 or 12 and older? We mean that we believe an average child of that age, with some prior riding experience, can easily manage and ride the horse. We do not mean a child that has never rode before, nor one that has been riding their entire life - we just mean the typical kid who knows the basics of steering and stopping and is comfortable sitting and riding a horse. An extreme novice kid or very timid adult rider may not get along with horses we suggest are OK for kids. Kids horses are typically not very responsive to the legs, neck rein, turn easily, and above all have a quiet and gentle disposition.

Why don't you write a longer story about the horses? We stick to the basics, and point out the highlights, instead of writing up a long drawn-out story. We would rather go into details (good or bad) over the phone, or in person, because we think it results in a better understanding, with much less chance of confusion.

How do you handle vaccinations and worming? We do not routinely do vaccinations, including West Nile, or regular yearly shots - we leave them for the buyer to handle. If we have a vaccination record for a horse, we always pass it along to the buyer. If a horse obviously needs to be wormed, we worm it with  ivermectrin. Otherwise, we leave routine worming for the buyer to handle also. One reason for this, aside from the cost, is that we know most new horse owners will put the horse on a vaccination and worming schedule of their own, usually right after the purchase. We do not always know what a horse was given before we bought it, and we have no control over what it is given after we sell it, so we leave routine vaccinations and worming for the buyer to handle as they wish.

How do you handle vet checks? Buyers choice - if you want to vet check a horse, you can either do it here, before buying the horse (preferred), or at your place, after buying the horse, but within our 14 day guaranteed trade-in period. Either way would be with a vet independently picked by you, and at your expense. We welcome vet checks, whichever way you do them, but we prefer to have them done before you buy the horse, because it saves time, money and energy, and prevents a lot of stress to the horse. It would also save you the $2.00 per mile to have the horse picked up if it failed the vet check and you would avoid having to trade for another horse. We can provide a list of vets within 50 miles for you to choose from.

Do you shoe your horses? We shoe many in the front, because we ride on gravel, paved roads and hard ground, and we take our horses on outside trail rides quite often. We are fortunate to have a good farrier come to our place once a week.

Do you take trade-ins? We trade for quiet, well broke Quarter Horse, Paint, App or gaited geldings and mares, 5 and older, that are OK for kids or beginners. We just do not have time to take in anything else on trade.

I am skeptical - your horses sound too good for the price. We think skeptical is the right way to be when buying a horse, and we also think there are many overpriced horses out there (we consider our prices average). The best answer to this is our good reputation, which we have worked very hard on. We are confident that just about anybody you ask that has dealt with us, will give us a good report. Of course, not every horse we sold over the years has worked out.

The key to our whole business is our written trade-in guarantee. The guarantee makes us more selective when buying and more up front when selling, because we know we will get a horse back if they don't work out. The guarantee increases our customers confidence in our horses and increases our sales.

Also, our website horse descriptions are not where we list the faults on a horse. We do that on the phone, or in person. Our website description is a short list of each horses main selling points. Please call for more in depth information on each horse.