Since I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, owning a horse as a child was not a possibility for me.  When my family moved to Nevada at the age of 14, I knew my chance of getting my own horse was greatly improved.  My dad was wonderful, and he purchased a house in an equestrian neighborhood so that I could eventually get my own horse.  I was the only horse crazy person in my family so that meant a lot to me.  I finally got my first horse when I was almost 16 years old, and I was in heaven.  She was a beautiful black 12-year-old Appendix Quarter Horse named Tess, and we spent hours together riding in the desert.  Other than what I had learned from reading books as a child, I didn’t know much about caring for a horse, and my riding experience was with rental horses only.

I look back now at my ownership of Tess, and all I can say is that I was extremely lucky she didn’t get seriously sick or injured, and I didn’t get seriously hurt or killed.  I thought I was very experienced, but I knew very little.  Tess was the first and only horse I looked at, and  I bought her right away.  I didn’t  do a pre-purchase exam on her to make sure she was healthy and sound.  When I bought Tess, she came with her saddle, and luckily I had enough common sense to know that the front of the saddle sitting down directly on her withers probably hurt so I stopped using it.  Because I was a teenager and couldn’t afford a new saddle, I had to ride her with a bareback pad.  I went to a tack store and bought a bit, and didn’t know a thing about them or the type that would be best for her.  I fed her alfalfa hay and gave her clean water every day, but I knew nothing about supplements.  At least I knew not to feed her moldy hay.  She was a hard keeper, and no matter how much I fed her she always was a little thin.  I had a farrier trim her feet when they looked long, but without any knowledge of what a proper trim or shoeing job should look like, I had no idea if I was contributing to soundness problems in the future.  She did get her immunizations from the vet, and the vet did come out once when she had a mild bout of colic.

My only riding experience I had was riding rental horses a few times a year, but in my teen-aged mind, I was an expert.  Tess was fast, and I loved to gallop across the desert at full speed. Luckily I was smart enough to only do that where I knew the trail.  Back then I thought you kicked a horse to go, pulled both reins to stop, pulled the right rein to go right and the left rein to go left.  Didn’t I sound like an expert rider!  Luckily Tess was an older horse who was very forgiving, and she took really good care of me.

I learned a lot from all the mistakes I made with Tess, and as I already said, I am really lucky to still be here.  Now that I know a lot more about horses, and have more experience, I would not recommend getting your first horse the way I did.

One thing I had going for me was my love of horses, and I had no doubt in my mind that I wanted one.  Whether you already know that you love horses and want one of your own, or you think it might be something you are interested in trying, there are things you should do before you even consider buying your first horse.

If you are considering buying your first horse, I highly suggest you read Before Buying Your First Horse…Part One.