by Allyson Coluccio
An expert in importing, Allyson Coluccio provides her take on what to look out for before buying a horse from across the pond
I have been importing horses since the early 90’s. Well, I suppose it actually started with the ponies! I started with importing British Riding Ponies from England. At the time, Warmbloods were just becoming more popular, so in 1995, I began importing horses as well.
To date, I’ve imported hundreds of horses from Europe to the United States, primarily focusing on horses from Holland, Belgium, and Germany. While at this point I’m a seasoned professional in the importing business, I still manage to learn new things everyday—and I hope to share that sentiment with others that are interested in importing.
While finding the horse that fits your needs for the ring you wish to compete in is important, I encourage buyers to seek out the most amateur-friendly horse you can find. While these do exist in America, I find that the horses in Europe with the best brains are actually less expensive than here.
In Europe, they value a little more blood than the average person in America. While they have caught on to the idea of “hunter-izing,” you may be able to get the slow and steady horse for a purchase price of $40,000 that would otherwise cost six figures in the United States.
Outside of the potential savings you could get from this type, the obvious reason to buy the best-brained horse is for safety and assurance in the ring and on the ground; that quieter horse means less prep, which means less wear and tear on the horse.
I currently have a horse that I think is the best horse we have ever had. It doesn’t matter if he hasn’t been turned out or ridden consistently. Every day that he comes out, I am just as likely to put an eight-year-old on him as I am an eighty-five-year old. That’s what makes him great!
A Common Trap
As an expert, even I have been fooled by the rumored “X-ray swap.” I recently purchased a horse from someone that I have bought from before, and sure enough, the X-rays I was given were not the ones that belonged to the horse. Luckily, they were mediocre X-rays exchanged for other mediocre X-rays, but it’s important to make sure you do everything possible to ensure this doesn’t happen to you!
Even if a seller has X-rays for a horse, be sure to pull your own and confirm that the name, microchip number, or other identifying qualities match with the horse that you are purchasing.
On the subject of X-rays, I’d like to stress the importance of sometimes looking beyond the X-rays. As a whole, what comes up in films is very rarely what becomes an injury to a horse. More horses get soft tissue injuries due to the excessive work we do in America. That’s not something that has anything to do with an X-ray; that’s a people problem!
If you’re on a budget, I highly recommend you consider the horse with a blemish. Consult your vet to see how it may impact them long term. Who knows, you may end up with the WEF hack winner at a fraction of the price as it would be in America.
Importing can be a super fun way to find your next partner. Just make sure you’re smart about the buying process and find the one that is the best fit for you.
This article originally appeared on The Plaid Horse and is published here with permission. All photos courtesy of The Plaid Horse.
There are many more interesting articles in our section on Recreation & Lifestyle.
Cornell Equine Seminar Series - "Pre-purchase Headaches in the Sport Horse: Risky Bone Chips, Lumps, Conformation and More!" presented by Dr. John Pigott, recorded April 18, 2023 via Zoom.
This lecture discusses common abnormalities and questions that veterinarians, buyers and sellers face during pre-purchase examination of the sport horse. If there is a bone chip, is it ok to still buy the horse? What are the chances of a conformational abnormality turning into a problem in the future? This seminar will explore the concept of risk assessment during pre-purchase and how to make the most informed decision when questions arise.
The following is an excerpt from How Two Minds Meet: The Mental Dynamics of Dressage by Beth Baumert.
Horses are herd animals, and when it comes to riding horses, the importance of this fact is often overlooked and underestimated. All successful horse and rider partnerships are based on understanding the herd mentality.
By instinct, horses are “fight-or-flight” creatures, so they need a responsible leader to protect them in the face of threats. That’s how horses are in the wild, and those inclinations are still with horses that have been domesticated. They still need a leader and they will either fight or run away in the face of danger. Although your horse may come to trust you as his leader, it will serve you well to keep his innate needs in mind.
Emotionally, horses are as innately as different as people are, or as dogs are. Some are friendly, self-assured, and trusting like a Labrador; some are scrappy like a Jack Russell Terrier; others are insecure and unreasonably fearful. But unlike dogs who love you no matter what, horses require that you earn their affection.
When horses are wronged, they certainly don’t come back for more like dogs often do. They’re closer to cats on the spectrum of showing positive emotion. They might, in fact, feel love, but they don’t express it like dogs. Horses are matter of fact when it comes to what they like and what they don’t like. They’re more apt to show their fear than their positive responses. As a trainer working on gaining their trust, you try to reverse this trend. In the face of a fearful situation, a trained horse ideally turns to his rider for direction.
Being the leader isn’t always as simple as it sounds. Some horses wander aimlessly and don’t act as if they want to follow you. Others are pushy, and don’t appear to see you as the leader, either: they invade your space and don’t seem to want to be a follower. A horse might not be safe and trustworthy; you need to find a way for him to accept your leadership so you can trust him. Trust has to go both ways.
There are many different exercises and tasks that you can do to establish trust, like teaching your horse to respect your space, playing games together, being clear with your aids, and being trustworthy yourself.
When a new mare came into my daughter Jennifer Baumert’s life, she was eager to listen to everything the horse had to say. She wanted to get to know the new mare, so her first time in the saddle, she asked lots of questions: “How are you? How do you feel today? What’s your opinion of this and that?” The first day went well. Despite some basic connection issues, Jennifer felt she had a great rapport with the mare. The next day, Jennifer was armed with an agenda that she felt was a positive and appropriate plan. But the mare could feel Jennifer’s determination and felt threatened. In the past, other riders hadn’t been very kind and fair leaders, so the mare was immediately concerned about her rider’s position as leader. Jennifer was surprised that the mare suddenly became defensive.
Individual horses determine the limits to your leadership, especially when it comes to mares and ponies. There is a saying, “You ask a stallion, tell a gelding, negotiate with a mare, and pray with a pony.” Some might say you submit a 10-page request form to a mare! The bottom line is that all horses are different. When, over time, Jennifer’s mare grew to trust her, she was a very willing partner, but Jennifer always respected her leadership limitations—always made small talk during the warmup to check on the mare’s basic comforts.
Mares have a reputation for being opinionated because they have a keen sense of fairness. Ones with a history of less than ideal riding are particularly guarded. It isn’t simply about gender and temperament, but about history and whether the horse is trusting or not.
To be seen as trustworthy, you need to be consistent, clear, kind, and fair. This doesn’t mean you spoil your horse. Consistency and clarity require the physical skill and ability to follow the horse precisely, then to give exactly the same aids for the same request every time. This helps the horse better understand what, exactly, you are asking. This is important in all aspects of horsemanship, whether you are working with your horse on the ground or under saddle.
How Two Minds Meet: The Mental Dynamics of Dressage
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This excerpt from How Two Minds Meet: The Mental Dynamics of Dressage is reprinted with permission from Trafalgar Square Books. Visit them online at Horse & Rider Books. All photos courtesy of Horse & Rider Books.
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by Lee Foster
On December 2nd, careless driving turned deadly in a quiet Colorado equestrian neighborhood. A local schoolteacher and her horse were on their way to ride the trails at a park near their barn when they stopped at a stop sign, looked both ways, and proceeded to cross an intersection they had ridden through hundreds of times over their years of riding the neighborhood together.
Halfway through the intersection, the rider saw a car approaching the four-way stop much too fast. She screamed for the driver to stop as she urged her horse out of the car’s path. The driver, she would explain to the local news later, did not even look up from his lap.
He smashed into her horse, shattering his front legs on impact and sending her flying onto the hood and windshield of the car. When law enforcement arrived on scene, the shaken rider said she was unhurt and stayed with her companion until he was euthanized in the street fifteen minutes after the crash.
The driver was sent home with a ticket for running a stop sign.
A Tight-Knit Community
Nestled between the foothills and the plains, the laid-back town of Arvada, Colorado might not seem like a hotbed of equestrian activity – blocks of condominiums and strip malls have largely replaced the historic barns and pastures that once defined its landscape. But the equestrian community hasn’t gone anywhere.
Instead, it’s adapted to the shut-down boarding barns and increased housing development. Town-broke pleasure horses can be found in drive-thrus and at tavern hitching racks, while A Circuit champions go about their workouts alongside youth drill team and gymkhana horses, tucked behind privacy fences and long driveways. Keep your eyes peeled and you might even spy a field hunter conditioning in the grass strips along the parkway.
As the traditional infrastructure for horsekeeping disappears from the area, horse folk of all backgrounds have become increasingly resourceful and reliant on community resources. People board in friends’ pastures and ride in dilapidated public arenas where the footing quality depends on neighborhood organizers.
Unofficial routes through neighborhoods are established and negotiated with neighbors in order to access riding areas. Sometimes, conditioning is just done by walking around the block. As jokes about invading local golf courses become less tongue-in-cheek, horse owners have come to realize that self-reliance in the local horse industry is becoming a thing of the past.
Tragedy Strikes Too Close to Home
When Griffin the off-track Thoroughbred was struck by a car, the outcry was immediate and vast. The collision occurred on a busy residential street near the school where the rider teaches, and dozens bore witness to the tragedy as the rider’s worst nightmare played out before her eyes. Within hours, news of the crash had spread from the northern reaches of Colorado to the remote communities in the Rocky Mountains.
The local equestrians’ anger and grief were palpable, and cries for law enforcement to do more to punish the driver rose up all over social media. Soon, a post was circulating on Facebook with instructions for how to write to Colorado State Patrol as well as the state congresswomen representing the district where Griffin died.
Dozens of people raised their voices and spoke up on behalf of the crash victim and her horse, demanding a safer city and a safer county for equestrians as the area becomes more urbanized. People contacted the media, and the outrage grew as two TV stations aired stories about the devastating wreck.
From Social Media Rage Comes Real Life Hope for Change
Within days of the launch of the email campaign to the state congresswomen, the district’s state representative reached out by phone to one of the organizers, expressing her heartbreak at the senseless loss and her firm resolve to help bring change. At the same time, the scheduled monthly meeting of the Arvada Area Horsemen’s Association was opened to the aggrieved equestrian public.
The meeting’s organizers scrapped the original agenda and put together a PowerPoint presentation on how the local horsemen’s associations and horse councils are already working toward a horse-friendly development plan for the county.
Thanks to a grassroots Facebook campaign that reached thousands without boosting a single post, the December 11th meeting’s attendance was standing room only with overflow tuning in via Zoom.
Over two hundred equestrians, representing every corner of the state, turned out to discuss positive changes that need to be made in the community. The state congressional representative was there with her six month old baby. Accompanying her was a county commissioner as well as a representative from the county planning and zoning commission.
Over the course of two hours, the gathered crowd discussed an equestrian-friendly master plan for the county’s infrastructure; statewide legislation to protect equestrians on public roadways; and steps individual equestrians can take to protect themselves when hacking out on the street. The overall takeaway from the meeting was that equestrians, when organized, are a powerful force for community change.
The main obstacle between equestrians and a safe community is the difficulty of organization and community participation in local government. Fortunately for the Arvada community, the outcry surrounding Griffin’s death has united equestrians around a common goal of safer infrastructure and enhanced legal protections for horses on the road.
A Fight for Change is Just Beginning
Many equestrians are aware of local horsemen’s associations and horse councils, which are typically nonprofit organizations geared toward providing group riding opportunities as well as giving the equestrian community a voice at the political table. The Arvada meeting boasted representatives from the Colorado Horse Council, Community Equestrian Arvada, the Arvada Area Horsemen’s Association, and the Jefferson County Horse Council.
Attendees were urged to join at least one of these organizations and keep the organizational momentum going. Changing laws and infrastructure policies is a noble goal that requires a lot of dedicated and at times tedious work on behalf of the citizens who want that change.
The need for substantial fundraising was also brought up, since infrastructural changes to make the community safer for horses require a significant amount of professional services just to research as well as permits, materials, and labor in order to implement them.
The prospect of raising enough money to buy a going grand prix horse may be daunting to some in the local community, but the reality is that the horse community is well-connected and generally affluent compared to other communities who have successfully enacted change in their towns and counties.
As the Arvada community processes its shock and grief over the unconscionable loss of our friend’s equine partner, community members are taking comfort and inspiration from the messages relayed at the December 11th town hall meeting. Even better, they are mobilizing under the banners of their local horsemen’s associations to bring about crucial protections for equestrians in a rapidly urbanizing neighborhood.
Although the #JusticeForGriffin outcry is centered in Colorado, riders within the state have expressed hope that their efforts will be seen and mirrored throughout the nation as equestrians strive to preserve their way of life in the modern world.
Lee Foster is a lifelong equestrian hailing from rural Colorado. Raised by a rodeo cowboy in a Pony Club family, he has a soft spot for quirky grade horses and off-track Thoroughbreds with a certain gleam in their eye. When he is not cleaning his tack for the hunt or malingering in the local consignment shop, Lee can generally be found hacking around town or teaching lower-level dressage to local eager youths.
This article originally appeared on The Plaid Horse and is published here with permission.
There are many more interesting articles in our section on Recreation & Lifestyle.
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