# What do you do when test riding a horse?



## LovesMyDunnBoy (Aug 11, 2011)

What's up horse forum members?! How are you guys today?  

Here's a little background on what I have been up to:

For those of you who don't know me, I'm 15 and I've been riding kind of odd ball horses since probably second grade. I bought my first horse back in sixth grade maybe. Now I have ridden a good amount, but hadn't had any formal lessons until recently.

I've wanted to get into barrel racing for along time, but never had the money for a decent horse or lessons. Well my boyfriend's dad has now decided to help me, he is paying his friend to give me and his daughter lessons. And he said when we prove we have the determination and responsibility he will buy us whatever horse we want lol. 

So I've grown a lot more confident in only the past few weeks of lessons. I came across a horse on craigslist who I like quite a lot. He's a pretty solid 3D and 4D barrel horse, with potential to go higher the more he is hauled.

My question is what should I do when test riding? 

What I plan to do is catch him, clean his feet and all that. I'll tack him myself. I obviously am going to w/t/l in circles both directions.. trot and lope figure-eights. Do stops, backing, roll backs. See if he will go straight from a roll back into a lope or anything of that nature. Side-Passes, half-passes making sure he works of my legs well. Maybe trot him around the barrels. My barrel racing trainer will be with me, and I'll have her actually run him on the barrels.

What else should I do? 
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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Truthfully, that sounds to me like it will give you a pretty darn good idea of the quality of training he's got and what he feels like. Another thing to consider is that if you ever plan on riding him outside of an arena, you'll definitely want to try him (or see him ridden) on trails to make sure he's not one of those horses that is Dr Jekyll in the arena and Mr Hyde on the trail.


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## LovesMyDunnBoy (Aug 11, 2011)

Ok, he will defiantly be ridden on roads a good amount. I had probably better see about that, she says he does well on the ranch riding around in the pastures.
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## xJumperx (Feb 19, 2012)

Sounds like you've got the bases covered  But just like smrobs said - horses that are perfect in the arena can turn unbroke on a trail - because they've never gotten out of the arena! See if the facility has trails. Don't care if it's 3 hours long - It will be a nice time to really see how much you will enjoy pony, and check his stamina as well. If you have somewhere to be, or there are no trails, then just get him out of the arena and ride him around the whole property. Don't take somebodys word for it

Good Luck!! I bet your BF is wealthy - good choice my friend XD


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## heymckate (Nov 23, 2010)

Not to be a downer on this conversation, but you're 15 and your boyfriend's dad is going to buy you a horse? ...What happens when you and BF break up? Who gets this horse? And who is going to pay the bills? This all sounds a little too good to be true to me. So please be careful. There's a high probability you'll get burned in this deal.

Back to the original topic, I would suggest you have the horse's current owner or rider ride the horse before you even think of getting on. That way you can watch him move, and you can get an idea of what kind of handling this horse has had in the past. Plus you'll have a better idea of his manners--is he super quiet and behaved, or does he buck/rear/toss his head/not listen/whatever?


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## LovesMyDunnBoy (Aug 11, 2011)

Now, in any other situation I would defiantly not be doing this. But, first I'll be paying him back in payments. To avoid any ownership problems. I'm paying for his feed and all of that. I'm extremely close with his parents, as well as his sister. Because of some things going on with my boyfriend, he has been gone for almost two months. The whole time he's been gone I still go over there at LEAST three times a week. So me and his sister are very good friends too, and his parents get along with me a lot. I don't depend on my boyfriend to have a relationship with his Dad so it's not a problem. And I did plan on having her ride first sorry I forgot to mention it 
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