Looking For A Horse
Black Hawk Farm does not “sell on behalf of”, a legally shaky and opportunistic practice. We believe the ownership and riding of horses is a unique passion that in relationship terms is second only to human relationships and that horses are people, too. You, and the horses deserve much more respect than just being treated as parties to a transaction.
Black Hawk Farm provides a professional sourcing service that starts with you contacting us with your needs. If we believe we are able to help, we will explain our services and how we work (you can review our Terms of Engagement on the right side of this page if you’d like to know a bit more before getting in touch) and take things from there.
We were lucky enough to be introduced to Carolyn after a disastrous year for my daughter in terms of her horses. When I first rung I was concerned that Carolyn would not be interested in us as our budget was not massive and we were looking for a first hack, however I couldn’t have been more wrong. On talking to Carolyn we found her to be warm and she listened to our situation, what we were looking for and our budget.
Within a couple of days Carolyn had found a number of horses for us to consider, all of the horse fitted our outline and budget. She conducted background and performance checks and within a week had arranged sequential viewings of those that we liked. As we were travelling from the South Island to North it was important that we had a number of horses to view.
On arriving in Wellington Carolyn arranged to meet us and accompanied us to view the horses offering support, unbiased opinion and interacting with the owners as required which left my daughter and I to get on with trying the horses. Any of the horses would have been suitable for my daughter.
We settled on a horse from the Auckland area and informed Carolyn of this. She then negotiated the price, arranged vetting, purchase contract and transport. As my daughter had been severely frightened by a floating accident Carolyn also arranged that the horse would be fully assessed for his calmness to transport. She has remained in contact to ensure that things have worked out once the horse arrived home.
For our part we have an amazing horse and our family will always be grateful to Carolyn for her help in finding us the “right horse”. Never did we feel pressured to buy and at all times felt we were treated with respect and integrity. When we are next buying I won’t be trolling the pages of TradeMe, I will instead be picking up the phone and calling Carolyn as she made the process stress free and easy. I never thought that using a broker was for an average family like us but I am happy to say I was proved very wrong by the service offered by Carolyn.
Kyla, David, and Stephanie Jasperse (Dunedin, 2014)Upon deciding to work together we will create you a personal web site that is password protected, where we will place profiles of horses for you to review. An example of such a web site is just below.
Example of a Personal Portfolio
Once you have come up with a shortlist of horses we can create you an itinerary and arrange your travel and accommodation to visit the horses. If you will be visiting horses in the North Island of New Zealand we can pick you up from the ferry or airport and drive you to each horse.
It is essential that you are as informed as possible about each horse you are seriously considering so we will introduce you to the owners of these horses in order for you to gain an unfettered understanding of the horses.
If you decide to proceed to purchasing any of the horses we have introduced you to, we can arrange any vetting needs, insurance, and all going well, delivery of your horse.
We encourage new and past owners to stay in touch with each other for the benefit of the horses, and for past owners to be able to continue enjoying the horse if they choose to.
What Does It Really Cost to Purchase a Horse?
Most people have a budgeted amount in mind when looking for a horse. If you’ve purchased a horse before then you’ll be aware of the number of costs involved. If you are looking at purchasing your first horse then there’s a few things to keep in mind that will have costs associated with them. Black Hawk Farm has a worksheet with all of the above costs included to help you make a more informed decision. Send us a message or call us and we will happily email you the worksheet.
The price the seller wants for their horse. Make sure you know if the seller’s price has been stated including GST (New Zealand sales tax) or this is to be added (15%). New Zealand law requires GST to be included in any stated price unless it is separately itemised. GST is not applicable if a horse is exported within 28 days of a sale.
The commission if a Broker is involved. It is convention in New Zealand for Brokers to charge 10% of the sale price of a horse and this is Black Hawk Farm’s practice (GST is generally required to be added). Ensure any Broker has declared their commission to you and require them to prove the funds they receive as part of a sale. Black Hawk Farm provides copies of all transactions to all parties involved in the sale and purchase of a horse.
Vetting costs. Black Hawk Farm recommends having thorough vettings of horses prior to purchasing a horse. The thoroughness of a vetting will largely determine the cost of the vetting and these can range from NZ$350.00 to NZ$2,000.00.
Transportation costs. Once you’ve purchased a horse you’ll likely need to have it transported to you. If a horse is in a different country to you then the costs will likely be a bit higher. Quarantine costs are included as part of international transport costs. Black Hawk Farm can arrange national and international transport for you and inform you of relevant quarantine holding periods.
Importation costs. Different countries have different importation requirements with regard to duty and tax. Please ask us what is required in your case.
Your travel costs. You will likely be travelling to view and ride horses as you make your decision and this will involve personal transport and perhaps accommodation costs. If you are travelling to a part of New Zealand you’re not familiar with then Black Hawk Farm can arrange travel and accommodation on your behalf.
Purchase Costs Guideline
Black Hawk Farm has prepared a Purchase Cost Guideline for use when considering the costs involved in purchasing a horse. Feel free to download the guideline.
How Will I Know I’m Not Being Deceived?
Transparency is a hallmark of the way we work. Throughout our working together we will be completely transparent, including providing copies of any payment details to all parties, historic vetting records where possible, competition records where possible, and anything else we consider may be relevant to you.
If you would like to talk with people we’ve worked with in the past please tell us and we will happily put you in touch with a few of them.
For your own use we have put together a checklist of the most important things to consider when buying a horse. Please feel free to use this checklist when looking for a horse yourself or in conjunction with someone else. The checklist is available from the gold panel titled Buyer Checklist.
Buyer Checklist
Black Hawk Farm has prepared a Buyer Checklist for use when considering a horse. Feel free to download the checklist.
Please review the rest of our web site. There’s plenty of useful information on the Selling Your Horse page to help you understand how we work to source horses.
Terms of Engagement
Black Hawk Farm has formal Terms of Engagement for Looking for a Horse and for Selling Your Horse. Whilst Terms of Engagement are legally required, we find them to be more useful to explain how we work and making sure everyone has the same understanding.
Love to hear from you!
You can reach Carolyn by phone on +64 21 972 433, by email at carolyn@blackhawkfarm.co.nz, or by sending a message below.