i've had the opposite problem with some I've had for sale.
Go out and take more, current photos, maybe even some video. Send it. They can only come out the one or two days im actually at work and can't take off. Some talking back and forth and OK to the 3rd day I work - which I can get off. I request it off. The time is far enough out that I'm able to tune up the horse a bit w/o upsetting anything. I clean up the horse the evening before and then rinse off the morning of the appointment (our horses on pasture, I don't usually set up a stall anymore). While drying, I wipe down the equipment and wait. And wait. And wait. and wait...
a phone call - goes straight to their VM. Go into the house, quiet enuff not to wake the 2 adults sleeping that work nights. Turn on laptop and pop out an email. No response. I go about my day - either riding or driving the said horse myself just to enjoy. Later, I try again - still no email or phone response. I never did hear from that person (& have had several more like that).
I actually took a deposit on two ponies from someone. Then didn't hear from them for 6 months. They suddenly show up with the balance of the $ owed for the actual purchase and ready to have the ponies delivered. They totally didn't understand that they would need to pay board, farrier & vet fees (each was pretty minimal actually BUT still) before the ponies were delivered and once again I told this family that the ones they chose were all wrong for them. Well they "ante'd up" the payment (totally wish they hadn't) and I delivered them. One of the few times I went against my "gut feelings". Three years later, I get a call that they need to be picked up. Both had become bucking broncs (the mare was driving when she left and had been sat on though not saddled, the colt was too young for real work but was lounging on voice command and ground driving had been started)! I had been out to their place a few times and was always assured that they were happy with their purchase and the ponies looked good. They had cancelled the castration appointment for the stud colt (I hadn't realized that) who is now a coming 5 yr old who has been left running with mares and big horses - chasing anyone who comes into the pasture with them... OI. What a mess. Had that colt had his appointment to be castrated - we'd have known, BEFORE he was mature, that what I thought was his 2nd testicle wasn't and life would have been so much better. He's still with me - w/o as bad of an attitude due to a couple of "come to Jesus" meetings he and I have had...
The guy flagged me down at the feed store recently (Ive had the two ponies for 16 months, have had vet issues with both and one almost died, but pulled thru) and told me that I owed him for 3 yrs of "board & training"... NOT.
I think 4 years ago, i was talking with someone about possibly selling one of my mares. I was pretty reluctant. I don't remember how it happened but I did agree to haul her 2 states away for a trial... I was the one that backed out because I did come down REALLY sick (this would have been after 2012 AMHR Nationals where I had originally come down with some type of gastro flu and never got over it - found to have a growth on my kidney - was "let go" from the job I had, so I wasn't working). I had a hard time talking with her - little to no voice, high fever, severe chills. I was willing to wait (it was a possible trade - she had a younger mare that was hotter/more get up and go; I had an older mare that was quiet and fun to drive - single, pair & 3 abreast) and try again, but she flat out turned UGLY - on the phone, on voicemail and on email. I did call her a couple of days before, not the night before or the morning i'd have been leaving. She did sell or trade her mare, I believe locally and replaced her with another that she was happier with - but has never been happy with me since. I do check out her site now and then, she breeds pinto Saddlebreds.
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All that said, I totally understand wanting to go look at and evaluate a prospective horse. I've had lots of people set appointments and then not show up, but never quite like the one you mentioned. I'm not sure which is worse!
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Can't wait to hear how your possible new purchase goes. R you the one I saw with a horse in the white trailer in a different post?
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While going thru all my posts and such, I realized that the two full sisters that were my first pair took two whole years to really get good together and work together and fun to drive (well, they were always "fun", but at least it became a little more relaxing and easier). Part of that was their training &/or lack there of. Part of that was driving pairs and hooking anything to a wheeled vehicle was VERY new to me. I purchased them in late September 2009 and started getting them used to the equipment in Jan 2010. I was ground driving them individually BEFORE I started taking pair driving lessons in April, then started taking them to the lessons & worked them separately. finally started working them together as a pair in June & had the one mare's foal with us the whole time... Bit was a 91 model & Bell was a 92 model, so they were 19 & 18 yrs old when we started driving them... I drove them thru Oct 2014, moved to this new place and haven't really done any driving (ground or hitched). Bit was euthanized after a pony fight earned her a broken bone right below the hip joint and she went down, never to stand again - last December... She was 25-3/4 yrs old. I drove both Bell and Bit with other ponies, once they were both trained and have always loved this pic of Bit driving with Koalah - taken the summer of 2014. I was driving alone with the wagon. Bit was already going blind in her left eye here, so she had become more comfortable always being on the right side... Koalah's knifey withers were almost a full 3" taller than Bit's muttony type, but the rest of their build and their movement was VERY similar. Koalah's VERY laid back personality seemed to calm Bit and many of her last months of driving she seemed to be less competitive and more relaxed/happy than she ever was with her full sister...
The year before this pic was taken, I was pairing Bit up with Cassie (who ended up being way more re-active than Bit had been). You'd think that putting two re-active ponies together would be bad, but Bit seemed to help Cassie while I still drove her (I gave up and eventually sold her and her daughter who had the same personality. I just was getting to where over reactive wasn't easy to deal with and was no longer fun AT ALL)... They really didn't move the same, but Bit just seemed to "fit" with Cassie well. In the first pic, I swear Bit is askin' - "Do I hafta, Ma?" To which I replied, "yep". and we had a great drive!
The 2nd pic - Bit & Cassie were both tired (later totally EXHAUSTED) - Bit had kept Cassie pretty much grounded and held steady after Cassie blew up when she stepped over a wire (not connected, not hot) and went ballistic. She ended up getting her right hind leg not only over the other side of the pole, but between Bit & Bit's trace. It was unbelievable how quiet/steady Bit held while getting re-sorted - all while riders on this particular mixed ride/drive were getting tossed left & right by their mounts... It was a terrible start to what turned out to be a good drive.
So - happy hunting!
