Purchase Consideration
Unique to Windermere Farms
Purchase considerations:
Purchasing the right horse for YOU is the first important issue! We would like to strongly point out the
emphasis being on YOUR goals, not your trainers, not the sellers but YOURS! Keeping goals in realistic
perspective to your riding skills and athletic abilities will help to make your purchase experience
targeted and reasonably/proportionally priced. This section is especially important to us since we
receive calls on a regular basis from riding friends who had great performance ambitions which were
unfortunately stopped in their tracks by misguided advice. Horses were purchased that the owners are
afraid to ride or that have hurt them already! Often times those equine partners are indeed great
performers yet way too strong for an amateur rider or novice. It clearly defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?
You wanted to have fun riding, right? YOU should be the one able to enjoy YOUR perfect horse. Riding
should never be an uncomfortable, intimidating experience for you! And yes, a successful, high level
dressage or jumping show-performer might be a great horse from an athletic point of view, yet it might
simply not be the best horse for YOU at this time!
A horse that you can enjoy at any time , your trainer being present or not. If you purchased a horse with
lower level training, it should be the task of your trainer to move your horse’s training level always
slightly ahead of your own, so you can comfortably catch up, without ever losing a joyful feeling when
you think of your horse and/or your next riding lesson. In most cases it requires a horse that has at least
solid basic training. A horse that has numerous securely functioning buttons to push yet with a
disposition forgiving enough to not explode if you push the wrong one. Yet: if you push the buttons
correctly, you reliably get the desired performance. These horses are hard to find, yet exist in many
different price classes anywhere from a gentle Trail- or Pleasure horse all the way to an experienced,
dressage or jumping schoolmaster. Again: YOUR goals will determine which horse is the best horse for
YOU!
Safe purchase procedures ( IMPORTANT!)
Check your horse thoroughly before you commit to a purchase. If you have the option meet the horse in
person. There is however nothing wrong with purchasing a horse straight over a video from an honest,
reputable seller. If you purchase over a video it is recommendable that you:
Ask for a demonstration of the horse’s stated performance level on a video. Do not believe any
performance level that is not demonstrated on a recent video. If a horse has basic dressage training it
should be shown on a video walking, trotting and cantering with a rider in both directions. If it is started
over jumps at least a few jumps should be shown on your video. It should be clearly visible the horse is
responding to a specific canter cue. Regarding a horse that supposedly goes 2nd level dressage, you
want to see a counter canter demonstrated on your video plus other 2nd level movements. A 3r/4th
level horses characteristically should show flying changes etc. etc. Respective, the jumpers should show
a full course ridden incl. different types of jumps at the height of the level advertised. A broodmare that
is sold as ‘broke to ride’ should also always been shown with a saddle and a rider on top! Again: do not
believe anything that the seller can not show on your video if you want to be safe from costly and
unpleasant surprises after the arrival of your horse.
Specify what YOU want to see on the video. If the seller knows the horse he/she can always
accommodate your wishes.( Most brokers sending mass-videos of x- number of horses that they do not
know, can typically not!)
The health status of your horse:
Perform a thorough vet check! A clinical vet check should never be older than 30 days. Insurance
requirements alone will suggest this general rule. If possible find/send your own unbiased veterinarian.
A complete set of x-rays if taken, should always (no exceptions!!), be available for review with your
veterinarian here in the U.S. before your purchase! Make sure your horse is clearly identified on every
single picture of the x-ray films! It is an old story that black sheep in the market circle clean sets of x-rays
which do not belong to the horse offered for sale! Be very careful! If the horse is not clearly identified on
the x-rays and the x-rays do not carry a date and the name of the veterinarian, do not accept those x-
rays! We recommend you stipulate in your contract that it will be contingent based on a new set of x-
rays if the existing ones are outdated. Consult your own veterinarian. Make sure if you have put a
deposit down it is stipulated in writing that all deposits are fully refundable if you can not accept the
results of the vet check. Again: do not believe anything your own veterinarian has not confirmed!
(Mares in foal present an exception regarding x-rays)
If your seller/importer claims own training abilities ask and make sure if there is any reason why your
purchased horse could not come back for further training or corrective training with your seller /
importer if training problems arise after your purchase. The answer here can be very important!
If the seller has a problem with those basic safety procedures upon the purchase of a valuable quality
Sporthorse, or appears impatient upon your many questions: safely assume he/she has a reason for her
objections. Sellers of Sporthorses who have nothing to hide have no reason to object. It is your money.
Make a safe purchase for a happy future with your new equine partner!
What makes Windermere Farms Friesian horses for sale different from others?
First of all that all the above recommendations would be standard procedure at Windermere Farms. The
very reason why we proclaim them so loudly.
Unique at Windermere Farms
Unique at Windermere Farms is our focus on the body & mind connection of our horses and to integrate
our buyers into the full understanding of their new equine partner. We make a targeted effort with
every individual horse to make sure it is physically/biomechanically and mentally feeling well. Cranio
Sacral therapy is one of our standard training tools! All of our horses enjoy regular Cranio Sacral
sessions. We will show you how to look for imbalances in your horse early on. Progressing
biomechanical and mental imbalance can potentially lead to soundness problems and/or resistance
issues.
Also unique to Windermere Farms is our offer to train any buyer to learn to fully understand and control
their horse!
This goes way beyond your regular training session. It comprises an understanding of how a horses mind
works – applied to your individual horse and it’s individual personality. How basic instincts rule your
horse and how to cope in situation where those instincts dictate your horse to potentially be reactive.
We will teach you how to understand the biomechanics of your horse and ‘where the engine is’. This will
be combined with exercises reg. how to ‘disengage the engine’ biomechanically in case your horse
decides to do something unexpected. All horses are ALIVE!
Yes, everybody is looking for the bomb-proof horse but is this horse a true performance horse? If you
are looking for a show performance horse, we all know that this horse is an athlete and we also know
that we all love those horses with a lot of presence and those pretty little heads and cute little ears –
pricked forward preferably. In most cases those Sporthorses with the big expression in their presence
and their gaits are not the ‘bomb-proof’ variety. But: it does not require a rocket scientist to channel
and control their energy reasonably – also in unexpected situations. It simply requires to understand
how the biomechanics work and how to operate ‘your machine’. We will help you to understand these
connections for a happy and safe future with your new equine partner. Don’t be just‘in for the ride’ –
instead: be the rider!
In general all of our horses are specifically selected to be amateur friendly and to have solid training
levels for their age.
This section is dedicated to the fact that regarding the purchase of any product it is recommendable to
carefully compare the price/quality ratio of the product and to ‘understand the operating manual’. The
purchase of your horse is no exception! As in any other industry; compare the seller claiming the largest
selection at the lowest prices carefully with the one selling consistently a small selection of exceptional
quality products and who offers proven and continued service beyond your purchase date!
Windermere Farms high standards combined with our training ability are your safety when searching for
your perfect equine partner!