Buying My First Draft

I wanted a Gypsy at first. However they're very expensive, or at least were. Some are still up there in price. While some breeders took payments, the fact of the matter was, I needed more than 4 months or a year to pay for their horses. It's not that I don't have the funds to care for a horse, I just don't have $9,000-$15,000 laying around, and I can't get a loan for it either. So I turned my eyes to Shires, which is another horse I am very passionate about. Admittedly my reasons for wanting Shires aren't grand and a bit juvinile. I like really tall horses, and they're critically endangered. That's pretty much it. The fact though that they're usually around the $4,000-$6,000 range helps though, as does the fact they're known to be very docile, which is great with two little girls running around. Also, as I plan to have a career in agriculture and at least grow the majority of my own food, if I wanted, I could use them for farm work and other chores around the farm. Spring 2014 had me staring at the 3rd foal crop of Shires I'd seen since first starting to become interested and enveloped in their world. Shire foals were popping up everywhere and I wished for so many of the cute gangly things that would soon develope into their powerful adult bodies. Of course I kept in mind conformation, although with such an endangered breed, as long as the fault isn't huge, any breedable female really shouldn't be over-looked.

There was a breeder I had started talking with the previous year, her name Dayla Kohler of Kohler Farms, who took payments on her foals until they naturally were weaned. Which usually is a year, give or take a couple months. She bred good foals, and had an excellently behaved stallion. She would sell her foals inutero (before birthed) but I wanted a filly, and couldn't risk a colt. (Buying inutero would have expanded the time I could have made payments and lowered the payment amount). 2014 one of her mares had an adorable filly which they named Elsa. She was for sale on payments for $4,000.

At the same time a mare came up for sale from a very great breeder. She was 3 years old (or was it 5?) and National Grand Champion Mare at the National Shire Show. She was only $5,000. A steal if I've ever seen one. A show proven mare at foaling age. Obviously, she nudged out just a bit over Elsa in my choices. I tried desperately to see if I couldn't get funding for her (as her owners were obviously not the type to do payments), but I couldn't.

I think after watching me struggle so hard to try and get that mare, and then defeatedly stare at her and Elsa's photo tugged at my husband's heart. He had been so stern to say no horses until we had a place of our own, but one night he walked up to me and asked how much the foal was and for how long the payments were. I tried not to get my hopes up at the questions, after all it could have just led to him saying we could buy from her later on. But I got the ok from my husband, and in August of 2014, I put $500 down on little Elsa.

Honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better breeder to buy from. Dayla is an incredibly understanding person. And whenever I had questions she'd call me right up and talk to me with so much energy and enthusiasm it was tiring. You can tell how much she loves Shires.

I planned out a payment plan of $350 a month, double at tax time, for 10 months. I did end up skipping the December payment as it was a very tight month for us, and not because of the holidays. At some point I forgot this and after I made what I thought was the last payment in May, Dayla kindly reminded me of my last payment due, which I quickly paid in June, as it was the month she was due to be shipped from her breeder's home to her new home with me.

Throughout the year, Dayla would send me news articles, videos, and pictures of Elsa. Although I'd find out after I got her that I hadn't received but a really tiny fraction of all the photos she'd been taking of Elsa. Elsa was supposed to go to the Mother Earth News Fair in Ashville NC but when Dayla had her trailer serviced before going, they realized it needed more work than they had expected and couldn't make the trip in the mountains. It wouldn't be fixed until after the fair, so she had to cancel. However she did still get to take Elsa out to anther fair before that. Which she sent me a picture of. (below)

Elsa came to me trained and exposed in June. She led on the line great, and didn't spook at the big green tractor when we used it just minutes after she arrived on our farm. She followed my daughter around and shared an apple with her.

I have to say, probably the best part of her arrival was seeing her as a yearling being just as tall if not taller than all the other fully grown horses on the trailer. And the hauler loved her as well. He said she was just great the whole trip, one of the best he's transported. And that is the story of my process in buying my first draft horse: A Shire named Elsa.