Setting aside the fact that I never even met the seller in person, not once did the barn owner ask me where I planned to keep Dakota or how I planned to take care of him. Red flags go up for me if a horse has passed through too many hands because I miss out on that important information about the seller and, ultimately, the horse. In truth, if there were any flaws in this horse, I wasn’t about to hear it. The reason why it was hard to get him to canter was because of the slippery footing. The reason why I couldn’t get him to move off of my leg was because he was desensitized to kids climbing all over him. And for every obvious flaw, there was a good reason. He’d been a lesson horse, a ranch horse, a therapy horse and that wonderful horse some older lady rode “all over before he was sold to the current owner.” On the spookiness scale of one to 10, he was a zero. This horse had apparently done and been everything. Take your time Red Flag: Dakota seemed too good to be true. Finding out as much as I can about a horse before I see it is a safeguard against my emotions taking over when there’s a real, live animal in front of me. This is an old interrogation trick and it works. If I’m not satisfied with an answer, I try asking the question in a number of different ways. Call me cynical, but when I see a horse advertised as “no kick, no bite,” I immediately wonder why they left out “no buck, no rear, no bolt.” I’ve learned that “needs a job” could mean a horse is a handful, and that when a person tells you a mare is “too good not to be ridden,” chances are she hasn’t worn a saddle in a long, long while. I now listen to what the seller has to say but also note what’s left unsaid. Pertinent questions vary with different situations, but for virtually all, I start with these: Why is the horse for sale? How long has the owner had him or her? What is his training? How spooky is he? Where is he in the herd social hierarchy? Is he buddy or barn sour? Does he have any bad habits? Rule 1: I ask important questions on the phone, by email or via text first, before seeing a horse. Regrettably, I didn’t press for further explanation, so convinced was I that the horse standing before me was the calm, sane animal advertised. The barn owner told me Dakota had been purchased from a private owner a year ago, and then in the next breath, that he had been bought from a broker out of state. One minute, Dakota’s owner was selling him because she had lost her job, the next, because she was moving. Do some homework Red Flag: I got inconsistent answers from the seller. Just in case, here are eight red flags that I missed the first time around, along with the ways that I am protecting myself in my continuing search for a new horse.
![my horse and me 2 for sale my horse and me 2 for sale](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-99_ExDL3MFY/VUT2g5MzrmI/AAAAAAAAAa4/xebJlZgPkJI/s1600/The-Horse-and-the-Crow-cover.jpg)
And if it happened to me, an informed horse shopper, don’t be too sure it can’t happen to you, under the right circumstances.
![my horse and me 2 for sale my horse and me 2 for sale](https://www.lukiegames.com/assets/images/Wii/wii_horse_life_adventures_p_r5ys29.jpg)
I wanted Dakota to be the right horse for me, and that desire clouded my judgment in ways I refused to see. This was one of those cases that we are all warned about-when emotion and wishful thinking overwhelm rational decision making.
![my horse and me 2 for sale my horse and me 2 for sale](https://www.equisearch.com/.image/ar_4:3%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1200/MTQ1MjM0OTQxMzYyMzgyMzA1/english-versus-western-riding---whats-the-difference-promo-image.jpg)
The sheriff’s deputy stood by while I returned Dakota, and the barn owner agreed to give me my money back in full. Mind you, I saw Dakota for the first time on Thursday, bought him on Friday evening and by Sunday morning, I was hauling him back to the boarding barn with a sheriff’s car behind me. I called the local sheriff’s office and was told that they didn’t have the legal authority to intervene but that a deputy could escort me back to the barn and write up an incident report so a record would be on file in the event of a lawsuit. After repeated unanswered calls to the previous owner, and an uncooperative barn owner, I began to wonder if my dream horse was dangerous or stolen or had been drugged. He was “chargey” on the trail and buddy sour-not at all the horse advertised or the behavior I had seen when I tried him out. I discovered Dakota had other issues, too. Only then did I realize that the bill of sale in my hand could be invalid: It had been signed by the barn owner on behalf of the owner, whom I never met in person.