Horse Shopping Travel Adventures in Idaho

A Baby Boomer Tries Shopping on the Internet for a new horse and ends up on a cross country horse buying adventure.

Part 2 of 2-- Read Part 1 Horse Shopping Online

By Karen Prell

Once again, fate or the universe or whatever you want to call it led me by the hand and the adventure began. I was in my local mega-bookseller (you remember books, don’t you?) browsing the magazine rack when I was blown over to see that not only did they have an equine publication section, but they actually had a very popular Arabian magazine on their rack.

horse shopping

Horse Buying Tip: When horse shopping on the Internet, make sure to read between the lines in the horse description and ask questions to get the details. A horse with "plenty of energy" might just be energetic or could be hard to handle. 

I picked it up to browse the contents page and then my eye was caught by an ad for a farm in Idaho, Payback Ranch Arabians and it said they bred for performance. It had pictures of their stallions and a brief description of accomplishments. But the beautiful bay stallion in the ad grabbed me by the throat and I had to find out more.

At the bottom of the ad, they listed their website. I bought the magazine and at first opportunity when I got home I hit their website. Wow! Not only could I see photos of my new infatuation, I found out his name was Payback Typhoon. How prophetic, I thought. I live in Florida, home of many typhoon like storms called hurricanes, but there was video downloaded as well. Yippee! Long distance shopping at it’s best! Of course in the rush of my eureka moment (pun definitely intended) how was I going to see the horse in person?

I did what any sensible horse hunter would do–– I emailed the farm and asked for the videos. I described briefly what I was looking for. This time I wanted a dressage prospect, aka nice mover. When I spoke to the owner in a follow up call, she said that the lovely bay was a beautiful mover, but more of a Western performance prospect. They said they had several younger horses that would fit that bill and asked if I had a preference of gender and/or age.

I decided that the younger the better, so told them I really wanted to see Typhoon but would look at yearlings as well. As to gender, well I have to confess a preference for males, but my dear friend, Patty reminded me that I just lost the best stallion on the planet and maybe I should go with a filly so I wouldn’t constantly be comparing the next horse to him. I thought this was a wise piece of advice and decided to look only at fillies. Yeah, right!

I have to confess right here that at the point that I saw this ad; I had not been on an airplane since 1983. Twenty years! You might find it hard to believe in this day and age, but when it comes to flying there are still those of us who are big chickens and flying that far was definitely out of my comfort zone. In my usual procrastinating style, I just figured there was no way I’d actually find my ideal horse that far away, and besides I could worry about that later.

The requested video arrived, and it was two hours of not only her yearlings, but the parents and older siblings as well and (it seemed like) every known relative thereof. By the time I finished the video, I was bleary eyed, exhilarated and even more confused by the choices. And this was only one farm. Can you imagine if I looked at more than one? Yikes! So, now it came down to the fact that being the hands on person that I am I really needed to go see these babies in the flesh.

So I did what any woman usually does–– I phoned my best friend in New Jersey for advice. Now I have to tell you, Patty is way braver than I am and more adventurous, so when I jokingly asked her if she wanted to take a trip to Idaho with me to look at Arabians she immediately said, sure! I never figured that with her own business to run and kids to take care of that she would be able to go. Of course with those things to get away from for a long weekend, I should have known flying from New Jersey to Florida and then to Idaho would have looked like a piece of cake to her. I asked another friend, my farrier, if she wanted to tag along. Again, I got an immediate, “yeah sure.” So, I was trapped into flying across the country to look at horses.

Now here is the interesting 21st Century part of this whole adventure. In speaking to the farm’s owner, she related to me how she sold 90% of her horses via online and in most cases never even met the new owners. Huh? She said she would send videos as she had done for me. People narrow it down to two to three choices, and if the particular horse they want is still available, they generally use PayPal to send a deposit and arrange a vet exam and shipping on their end. Money comes in, horse goes out and that’s it!

Connemara ponies

Horse buying tip: If you're buying a horse online, look for reviews and comments and see if you can contact those buyers directly to find out more about the owner of the horse you'd like to buy.

I was staggered. Did these shoppers not think it important to actually met their new equine partners first? Well, I told her not to think me from the stone age, but that I actually liked to meet any horse I’m buying face to face and see what their personality was like and make sure I wasn’t buying the next rodeo champ. She said that she would be more than happy to meet with us and asked when we planeed on coming out. I told her we were thinking of around the second week of June. She let me know that would be a good time to come out, because we would miss the winter weather starting. Winter weather starting… in June? Uh oh!

Well, the day came when the three horseketeers flew out of Orlando to meet our connecting flight in Denver and then onto Missoula, Montana where we would pick up our rental car to drive to Salmon, Idaho, where Payback Ranch was located. To say you couldn’t get there from here would be a huge understatement.

It started out with our flight out being late and what should have been a lovely three hour layover in Denver turned out to be the three of us running the entire length of the Denver Airport to make our flight to Missoula! By the time we got on the plane, I was ready for oxygen and it had nothing to do with how high we were above sea level.

Patty sat on the window seat and I took the aisle (I figured I did not want to see how far away from terra firma I am). I was glad to see I wasn’t the only nervous flier as my farrier, Kim, ordered a drink the minute they became available. Me, I was too afraid I’d lose my lunch if I drank anything more exotic than a Coke, so I just listened to Patty telling me over and over that I would be fine. And she was right. I was and we made it to Missoula in fast on a smooth flight. I have to say, the flight crew was very good to this Nervous Nellie and their free cookies weren’t bad either.

On the Road to Idaho

Missoula is a little airport–– no International in their name for sure. But what they lacked in size they made up for in ease. You stepped off the plane right on the runway and walked over to the door to get into the airport, at which point you were immediately greeted inside the door by an enormous stuffed Grizzly bear. Welcome to Montana!

I could not believe I was actually west of the Mississippi never mind actually in Montana, I was so busy concentrating on collecting our rental car. Did I say car? Oh what I meant was monster truck!

The rental agency made a mistake and instead of the “little” Blazer I reserved, I got a full blown Chevy Suburban! Can you say bye-bye gas mileage? Oh well, it’s a vacation, and not to worry. We would all have more room, and it wasn’t too far to drive to get to the ranch and our B&B that awaited us.

So, we all piled into the “tank” and proceeded to leave the airport. Patty was navigator and I acted as pilot. Kim decided we needed to eat something before we started driving, and we all agreed that in flight cookies and soda were nice, but we had left Orlando at eight this morning and we were all hungry. So, right outside the airport was a big old diner that looked good and there were plenty of Semi’s in the parking lot so we figured the food had to be good if not plentiful. Fortunately we were right on both counts.

This is where we became acquainted with Bison (as in the big furry American Buffalo) in the form of burgers. We met the live version later in our travels. We found out that Bison burgers were common “eats” in this neck of the woods and as much of a novelty to us visitors as I guess Gator tail is to anyone who visits Florida. Well when in Rome…..


Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Having satisfied all empty bellies, we embarked on the final leg of our journey. Following the directions I had gotten from the farm, we turned right out of the airport in anxious anticipation of stopping at the farm before going to check into our B&B which was “a little ways” down the road (remember that expression from above?) from the farm and close to the actual town of Salmon, Idaho.

What was supposed to be a two hour drive, the end of which we would see the ranch on the right hand side of the road, turned into two hours of being in the middle of nowhere with no ranch in sight. Just mountains and curves and uh oh–– something called a runaway truck lane!?! This was what looked like a little side lane just past the right hand lane of the road, and it was covered in gravel and rocks. No guard rail on these roads. Oh No! We get a Runaway Truck Lane.

At this point Kim let us know that the purpose of said lane was that if any of the Big rigs lost their brakes, they would head for the Runaway Truck lane and the extreme friction of the gravel and rocks would stop the truck before it went over the side of the mountain. Oh Great! That makes me feel sooooooo much better! Where is my lovely flat little state of Florida when I need it.

Anyway, after driving and not seeing the farm, I decided to stop at the first thing that looked like it had a land line phone (cells are pretty useless when your between two mountain ranges) and phone the farm to make sure we were headed in the right direction. We came upon what could only mildly be described as a convenience store, so I stopped and went inside to get better directions or barring that the use of a phone.

Now it would just figure that I did find someone inside running the place, but I also happened to find probably the only Korean family running a convenience store in the entire state of Montana, and they did not speak English well enough to understand my dilemma. We communicated just enough to be directed to a pay phone outside in the parking lot, hidden by some Huckleberry bushes.

SIDE NOTE: When travelling in Montana, you will learn that Huckleberries are a big culinary deal here. There is Huckleberry jam, Huckleberry pancakes, Huckleberry wine, chocolate covered Huckleberries–– well, you get the idea. In any event, I called the ranch only to be told that we took a wrong turn at the airport and to go back and start out from there going the other way.

Horse Shopping in Idaho

The scenery we experienced while driving 2 hours in the "wrong" direction from the Missoula Airport!
 

I have to admit, while I had been planning on seeing the horses before we checked into our B&B, with it getting later and driving in unfamiliar territory all I wanted at this point was to get to a shower and bed, in that order. I admit it. I was very cranky and took it out on my dear friend, Patty, the navigator. I’ve long since apologized, but as is her usual way, she just thought the whole thing was terribly funny.

When I get mad, my gas pedal foot can get pretty heavy, so when I looked down at the speedometer and saw us approaching 90 mph, my thoughts returned to the Runaway Truck Lane and believe me, I slowed down really quickly!

Well we got back to the airport and started out (again) in the right direction. I was too tired to care about the length of the drive at this point and it was coming on late afternoon and I really wanted to be checked in off unfamiliar (mountain) roads when it got dark.

I called the ranch and let them know the landmarks we passed and they confirmed that we were finally headed the right way. We didn’t make it to the B&B until 9 p.m. that night, but they were very gracious and let us three wanderers in and got us sent up to our rooms which were lovely. We didn’t realize how lovely until day break when we finally saw the view!

We showered, changed and I called my husband holding down the fort in Florida to let him know we all made it safely. I left the details of our trip for another day when I was back home in Florida. Despite being away from home and family (2 legged and 4 legged), I slept like the dead!

Let the Buying Begin!

As I said, by the time we got to the B&B it was dark, so other than the parking area, we couldn’t see much of the place when we got there. But we woke up the next day and the views outside our rooms were spectacular and photos only give you a “hint” of how exquisitely beautiful it was.

Idaho scenery

 The scene out of our window at the Lodge.
 

We all trooped down to breakfast in the dining area and met up with some of the other guests who were all very nice and interesting to talk to. Let me just say here that this was a breakfast with a capital “B”! No wimpy Danish or cereals here, the table fairly groaned with bacon, eggs, sausage, homemade bread, etc. We stuffed ourselves like we had never eaten before. It must have been the mountain air..

Patty and Kim, being the more sociable types were not in any hurry to move from the table, but I was itching to get to the ranch and check out the horses and meet the owner, Melanie in person. So, off we went! Except once I stepped out he door of the Inn and looked around, I was struck by how very beautiful this area was and historic.

Turns out we arrived in that area of Idaho where the Lewis & Clark Expedition came through and right out the back of the Inn was the famous “River of No Return”.

We could walk back to the edge of property and look down the gorge and see it with steep cliffs rising above it. It was like looking at a set for every Western movie you’ve ever seen. I could just imagine the Native American tribes standing along the ridge looking down at this incredible valley. We found out from the owners of the Inn that Sacajawea had led the expedition through here and there was a visitor center in town dedicated to her and her bravery for leading the expedition westward. I made a mental note to check it out later.

Idaho lodge

The very welcome scene the morning after we finally arrived at the Syringa Lodge our Bed & Breakfast.

So, off to the ranch we went!

The ranch was situated at the foot of the mountains but the scenery wasn’t the only thing that took my breath away. The horses were incredible. Greys, Bays and Chestnuts–– oh my!

In short order we were greeted by the Melanie Johnson, the owner, and we all trooped up to the barn to see the stallions. I did meet the pin up boy who was responsible for getting me on a plane, Payback Typhoon. He was incredibly easy on the eye but the icing on the cake was his kind disposition. He was a lovely bay with some white trim, a beautiful mover and an “in your pocket” kind of disposition. I could see what the owner meant when she said he was more of a Western performance prospect. We had oodles of horses to look at, so much so that the choices had my head spinning.

We spent most of the day walking through the pastures with the mares, foals and youngsters. The herd was kept outdoors in lovely large pastures with Alfalfa at the ready. Despite the presence of many rocks in the pastures (the result of long ago glaciers leaving their geological calling cards behind) these horses all had great feet without a crack or split on any hoof. My friend/farrier confirmed my observations, and added that they looked like hardy Arabs of the type we both remembered growing up with.

This herd of Arabians was descended from two breeding programs that had been in existence for over 60 years. The bloodlines descend from Al Marah Arabians, in Arizona and Shalimar in Nebraska. While there are many different types within the Arabian breed, these horses were of the type I remember as a child in the days before breeders started to “improve” the breed. Sturdy, well built and hardy, all of these horses were curious, friendly and took great interest in checking us out as much as we were checking them.

We looked at all the fillies and some mares. We saw some terrific two-in-one packages and three-in-one packages and the prices were real–– not in the stratosphere like so many other farms I have seen.

I had explained to the owner that I wanted a horse that could do dressage, but had to be versatile enough to do other things as well, everything from showing to lessons. I have to say almost all of the horses we saw that day would have fit my description, and I could have taken almost any of the fillies and been happy.

I narrowed it down to a handful, and we watched those in the ring one at a time as they were turned loose so that I could get a better idea of how they moved, how animated they were and be able to decide from there. The one thing I was looking for seemed to be missing–– that indescribable wow factor that seals the deal. The horse that looks at you and says, “It’s me. You want me!” It just figured that the one filly I did fall for was definitely not for sale! But our paths were to cross later on.

All this time, my dearest friend, Patty had been “whispering” about keeping my eye on the fillies–– no colts.

We chatted with the owner as we were looking and she asked me to get really specific on what I wanted to do with this horse. I told her I was looking for a really nice mover who could take me to some upper level dressage and perhaps be successful at the regional level. She then told me that she had one that we hadn’t looked at that she thought would be a star in this area, but it was a colt and maybe I should just look at him go.

At this point, Patty & Kim were looking at me with “the look” that said, no colts! I figured we came all this way to look at horses it couldn’t hurt to just look, right?

Well, we walked over to the ring located next to her stallion, Am Ghost Ship.He’s the big gun in the barn and he knows it. He was not at all happy about the youngster in the ring next to him and did his best to scare him away from his fence. The colt was unimpressed. I remember thinking “Mmm, he sure doesn’t scare easy. That’s good!” This was my introduction to a colt with the name of Payback Nick Atnite.

We all situated ourselves outside the ring to watch as Nick was caught and turned loose into the big arena. With a little encouragement, he took off in the ring. Unlike what I expected, he did not explode with bucking and kicking. Rather, he took off in the most magnificent extended trot I have ever seen before or since! And it was with no effort on his part at all to do this.

I vaguely remember voices talking around me, but I had literal tunnel vision and could only see this horse. Amazing fluid movement, lovely big dark eyes and so balanced it was incredible. I could already see us coming down the centerline and cleaning up at the shows!

Eventually after a few minutes of being in horsey LaLa land, I could hear what my friends were saying. All I could hear was Patty and Kim saying “Holy Crap. His feet hardly touch the ground!”

Idaho horse shopping

The floating movement that just "got" to me especially for a yearling.  

To say he left the three of us breathless would be an accurate statement of fact. And you have to realize here that none of us were novices to this whole horse shopping thing. Between us we had over fifty years accumulated experience with horses, so if it were just a case of a pretty face, we would not have been all that impressed. This horse had the whole package.

Uh Oh! I’m in trouble! This just confirmed what I was thinking. I had to have this colt! So, I made a “deal” with myself. I figured, if it was meant for me to buy the colt that the price would be in my range. If not, then I knew it was not meant to be and it would be time to move onto something else. But I didn’t want something else. I wanted this horse!

I’m sure it was pretty obvious to Melanie that I was very interested. The last test for me would be his personality. With permission, I got into the ring with him to see for myself just what type of soul inhabited this exquisite package. Nick was stand offish at first, so I just sat down in the ring to let him come to me, which he did after checking me out from a distance.

When he finally got close enough to touch, the first thing he did was reach out and grab my baseball cap off my head, shake it around and then drop it at my feet. All right! We got one with a sense of humor, too. My head was fairly spinning. I really tried to stay cool and very non-committal when talking with the owner about Nick, but inside I was jumping up and down at finding him.

Knowing we were leaving the next day, I finally got to asking about the price for Nick. The worst would be if I really couldn’t afford this horse and we had to start the Internet shopping all over again. The best would be if he was going to go home to Florida.

I approached the owner and asked about price, holding my breath and hoping it could go my way. This was it, he was either going to be mine or not.

She told me the price. He was priced very reasonably! I could do this! I called my husband right then and let him know we had a new family member, and I was writing a check! Nick was now mine.

My new horse

My new horse.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Buying a Horse Online

In this age of the Internet, you can buy a horse easily enough from anywhere on the globe, but you still have to get it home. If I thought the shopping was an adventure, I still had to arrange to get Nick from the mountains of Idaho to the beaches of Florida. Now that was an eye opening adventure that had unintended consequences of its own. But that’s a whole other story for another day!

So I’ve discovered how easy it was to Internet shop for a horse, but I still just had to go see him in the flesh before buying. I had now done it both ways. Can I say one was better than the other? Not really.

Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. I think if you are purchasing a youngster who is not yet trained then the Internet way is just as valid as visiting the farm. But if you are buying a horse that is already “made” and riding/showing in your particular discipline, while you may find him on the Internet initially, you really need to go and see him and try him in the flesh to see if he will be a good fit for you before you buy.
    

About the Author: Karen Prell, aka "Triple Crown Karen," came from a very non horsey, working class New Jersey family and started riding at age three. With over thirty years experience as a riding instructor, Karen is passionate about developing beginners into confident riders and compassionate horse owners. A favorite expresion heard often by her students is "It's ALL about the horse!" A lover of all things "horse," she is especially passionate about promoting the retraining of retired Thoroughbreds and adoption and rehoming of unwanted horses. Her ultimate dream would be to see the US Equestrian Team mounted on these great reclaimed athletes. Her career in media focuses on the everyday equestrian adventure and how a horse lover of modest means CAN make a difference for even ONE horse.