Firstly Irish Sport Horses, can be anything from 16 16 3hh, even bigger depending on parentage.... as they are usually crossed with a Irish Draught..... and don't reach full height until they are 5/6 ish (as we found out with our last one, 16 hhs when we bought him as a 4 yr old , reached 16 3hh.

Forget the XTB ,if it is skittish, to much for a 12 yr old child.

Mares can be temperamental, so you may have that to deal with, along with any other problems.

You don't say how old the Mare is , is she youngish??

Hi, she is 5yrs

There are usually reasons why people put youngish mares in foal, and none are good....1)

I think on a stud its pretty much the done thing,, I would just like to clear up, A its not a dealer, B its not someone just selling horses,,,the chap breeds connemaras,

they have proven to be un rideable...2)

she has been broken and apparently rides well

they have been injured, and the owners have taken the opportunity to breed from them while they are out of work.

Again she is not owned by someone who has one horse she belongs to the stud,

Also looking at the pics of the Mare, I don't like her forelegs...her feet turn out, (you should be able to run a straight line down through her shoulder, knee , to her feet.

This is the thing that kinda gets me about her,

Same with her back end, you should be able to run a straight line down from point of tail through hock, cannon and fetlock , and altought she is not standing straight, her lower leg is not straight, bring her heel to the grownd, which will put pressure on the Fetlock joint .


Don't be tempted to go to Ireland to buy your own...leave that to the people who know how to do it....when buying from the sales in Ireland, you need to have contacts, know someone who will work for you, and know your horses in and out. to many people go over thinking they can get a bargain, don't you believe it, by the time you have paid the price of the pony/horse, paid for its vetting , transport, and you own accommodation, you will be paying top prices.

Thats the next option, as mentioned before, Gayle who rode for GB when younger does regular trips to Ireland, she would be able to look out for a good one for us,

The Gelding in the field , although overweight, seem in this case the best option, but as you will know, you should never go on just apparences, with horses.... their is a whole bigger picture to look at , temperament and ability.

Not to bad Shona, but then I'd had her since she left her mum, I knew her from when she 2 weeks old, she had her moments, but was basically 100% bomb proof as they say, when she was 4 years old, I took her to Horsemans Sunday at Hyde Park, expecting her to be a bit iffy, but she wasn't, she just took it all in her stride, even when someone came past in a horse and cart, she just looked and we carried on as if it were an everyday occurance, the only problem I ever had with her, was when we started to do cross country and she loved it so much it was difficult to stop her

, I agree, they even hunt them as 2 year olds in Ireland don't they!! Mine had been in the ring in Ireland when I bought him as a 3 year old, but of course he wasn't quite good enough and that's why they sold him on. Luckily for me that's all they had done with him though, coz I don't like the idea of hunting them at such a young age, stopping on a sixpence and all that, tendons etc. Not good!