BUYER BEWARE!

[OldStageMinis]

Just a word of advice or reminder to all potential horse buyers out there.

Make sure when you are buying that registration paperwork is complete and in the seller's name. I have heard of issues with people selling horses with "pending registration" or paperwork that will come from another party and just want to say---it may not. I have personally been in this situation. If a horse is sold and money is still owed to the original owner, getting the paperwork back in order is very difficult and sometimes impossible. You may be unhappy to find that your new horse cannot or is not registered after all.

There are alot of great horse people out there, but a few----not so great. Don't let yourself get pulled into something complicated.

Word to the Wise!lol

 

[Ellen]

Amen Sister! That is a hard lesson to learn. I can be too trusting sometimes!

 

[Katiean]

I was recently looking at a mare not far from here that was for sale. The Owner said she was AMHA registered and was something like 5 years old. I emailed back and forth for a couple of days. She said all she needed was to be brought permanent and she was not in their names. Then I asked the $64,000 question; Do you have a signed transfer for that mare from the registered owner? That did it. They didn't email me back again.

 

[Margaret]

Calling the registry that the horse is claimed to be in, and verifying who the owner is- by providing the registered name of the horse will put that issue to rest ...

It is also good to check on other concerns , like if buying a mare in foal, was a stallion report filed?

 

[targetsmom]

The Stud Book is another good place to confirm owner, age, height, pedigree, and foaling history, (but not that the stallion report was filed). At $25 a year for AMHA Stud Book, it is a real bargain.

 

[Charlotte]

like if buying a mare in foal, was a stallion report filed?

Boy I ditto Margaret on this one!

We bought a lovely bred mare at an auction. Even got a stallion service certificate. When it came time to register the new foal...oops! That mare wasn't listed on the stallion breeding report for the stallion. We got lucky. AMHA contacted the seller (they were still alive and able to be tracked down). They no longer owned the stallion, BUT he had already been DNA'd so we were good there and the seller was willing to file an amended stallion breeding report.

We could have easily ended up with an unregistered foal.......if the stallion had died without being DNA'd, if the seller had died or was unable to be located, etc. So many things could have gone wrong!

That paperwork trail is SO important! I should have contacted the seller as soon as I bought the mare and asked some questions. I didn't. I thought everything was ok. Lesson learned.

Charlotte

 

[Margaret]

The first Miniature that I bought ( many, many years ago) was a filly from a large miniature horse breeder that said that the filly had registered parents and was an- A-sized miniature.. ( I should have checked - but I trusted the breeder)

The owner recieved full payment for her, ( 2500.) but never sent me the paperwork..

4 months later of asking this breeder if she would please send me her papers, only paid off in excuse after excuse from her....

Finally I called the A registry and in my horror I discovered that no stallion report was ever filed for her]- listed under the fillies 30"-AMHA National Grand Champion Sire..

Further investigation showed that her dams registered name did not even appear in the AMHA registry!.

Finally the owner confessed to me over the phone that her mother was 38" tall and in AMHR only,- but her sire was both AMHA/AMHR, so her papers would be AMHR..

I was speechless when she added "I know you asked for an A sized filly, -and since she is small, at 5 years old if she stays under 34" then you can hardship her into the A registry for only $500.00- Isnt that a great deal she added?"

I knew I had been taken, so thats why today I verify information when purchasing miniatures..

She finally did file the AMHR stallion report for the filly, and a couple months later I got her AMHR papers... ( not what I had in mind)

So its good to check your info to make sure you are getting what you think.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Absolutely! If you buy a horse at a local auction and are handed a folder of paperwork at the time of paying, be sure to check everything before you leave the sale. Make sure not only transfer is there, but that all the names on the paperwork match the horse you bought.

This happened to my sister. The AMHA registration paper was correct, but the transfer paper was for a different horse. Unfortunately, she didn't check all the names until she tried to register the horse in her name several months later.

 

[Annabellarose]

If you buy a horse at a local auction and are handed a folder of paperwork at the time of paying, be sure to check everything before you leave the sale. Make sure not only transfer is there, but that all the names on the paperwork match the horse you bought.

ACTUALLY, you need to check everything at the sale office BEFORE you bid on the horse.

 

[Joanne]

I agree about having the Studbooks online. They have saved me several times!

My only addition to all the wonderful advise.

We want any horses we buy to be Parentage Qualified BEFORE we buy them.

Nothing like buying offspring from a National Grand Champion and finding out....NOT!

 

[OldStageMinis]

All really great thoughts..It may seem like a no brainer but if you've been on the "wrong side" of one of the deals gone bad, there is really not much recourse.

Believe me, you'll only do this once! My issues were not with what I bought, but what I sold on payments and the issues that occurred following. If the papers aren't available--it may be that the person selling the horse is not the "complete" owner yet---hasn't paid them off so they don't have the paperwork---going back to get them is difficult if not impossible from the original seller as the new owner. I could write a book!lol