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Buyer's Guide

This section of our website is dedicated to helping buyers make educated decision to find the horse of their dreams. The following is a collection of facts and tips that we have put together for educational purposes. If you have any advice you would like to contribute, please e-mail it to us at westwood_farms@yahoo.com.

Color | Conformation | Registration | Paperwork
Breeding | Pleasure

Color

Remember, although some colors are more "popular" than others, color does not make the horse. Just because a horse is champagne or palomino does not mean it can jump 5', barrel race, or gait any better than a black, bay, or chestnut! A GOOD HORSE IS NEVER A BAD COLOR. Check out our color genetics section for more information on color.

Champagne
  • When buying a champagne...You want to make certain that you are actually buying a champagne. Other colors can have the "glow". Appaloosas are mottled. Palominos and Buckskins are golden. But that doesn't make any of them champagnes.
  • A champagne MUST have at least one champagne parent in order to be champagne!
  • Just because a horse "has champagnes in his/her background" does NOT mean it is any more likely to produce a champagne dilute if they are not carrying the gene. It doesn't matter if every horse in his/her pedigree is champagne, the horse DID NOT get the gene and CAN NOT pass it on. 
  • My favorite Champagne resource: Champagne Horse Breeders' & Owners' Association
Cream
  • Horses with the cream gene include: palomino, buckskin, smokey black, cremello, perlino, and smokey cream.
  • If you want a 100% guarantee of cream color, your best bet is a cremello or perlino with an agouti or two.
  • Just because a horse "has palominos/buckskins in his/her background" does NOT mean it is any more likely to produce a cream dilute if they are not carrying the gene. It doesn't matter if every horse in his/her pedigree is palomino or buckskin, the horse DID NOT get the gene and CAN NOT pass it on.

Conformation

  • When judging a for conformation, follow the horse's breed's standards. A Quarter Horse should be well balanced, slightly short, and stocky. A Tennessee Walking Horse should be taller and slimmer in build, have a bigger shoulder, longer neck, & longer front legs

  • Stay away from serious conformation faults that may hurt the horse such as slew foot, pigeon toe, which interferes with the horse's movement, or parrot mouth, which hampers feeding and grazing, ESPECIALLY when buying a horse for breeding purposes!

  • Some conformational abnormalities may be overlooked if the horse is only going to be used for pleasure, and not bred. Two examples of this are ewe necked horses (A ewe necked horse will always carry it's head high) and jug headed horses (not pretty, but they ride just as well!).

Registration

  • If you are buying a registered horse, make certain that you get a signed transfer report/certificate for you to fill out and send in to the association. Transferring the horse's papers to your name can prevent disputes over ownership. Transferring the papers to your name is often cheaper to do within a certain amount of time (usually 30 - 90 days) after you purchase the animal. This is the association's way of trying to encourage people to keep their records on the horse up to date.

Sale Paperwork

  • Be sure that you get a sales contract when purchasing a horse. This protects both the buyer and the seller. Both parties should get a signed copy. Some sellers even go as far as to include a "care package" with information like worming, farrier records, health records, breeding history, and foal photos.

Breeding

  • When you are buying a horse for breeding purposes, remember to take several factors into consideration. Color alone does not make any horse a "stallion prospect" or "great broodmare prospect". What makes a horse a breeding prospect is a combination of bloodlines, conformation, gait, and disposition.

  • Just because a colt hasn't been gelded yet doesn't mean he shouldn't be. There are many stallion owners who love their stallion dearly, but that does not mean that he should be bred. That puts inferior horses on the market. If the market is flooded, then some horses will be displaced...usually to slaughter houses...

Pleasure Horses

  • If you are buying a horse for trail riding and pleasure only, you can forfeit the fancy bloodlines. Bloodlines don't make the horse.

  • Some conformational abnormalities may be overlooked if the horse is only going to be used for pleasure, and not bred. Two examples of this are ewe necked horses (A ewe necked horse will always carry it's head high) and jug headed horses (not pretty, but they ride just as well!). But stay away from conformation problems that may hurt the horse such as slew foot, clubfeet, pigeon toe (interferes with the horse's movement), or parrot mouth (hampers feeding and grazing).

  • Buying an older horse has its advantages here. A green 3 year old may not be the best thing to take out into the "big, dark, scary woods". By the time a horse is 5 years old it has usually reached maturity (size, gaits, disposition, etc.) and it is easy to determine whether or not the horse will be suitable for pleasure riding.

  • When trail or pleasure riding, many people prefer geldings. Mares can cause problems when in heat and sometimes get "attitudes". Stallions are a usually a "no no" on trail rides, ESPECIALLY with inexperienced riders. Even if your stud is extremely well behaved it may cause problems as geldings tend to fear or compete with stallions and mares tend to go into heat or get "witchy" when a stud is around.

Westwood Farms
Locust Dale, Virginia 22948
stephanie@westwoodfarms.net