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!