What questions should you ask before buying a rope horse?

The questions worth asking before buying a rope horse are the ones whose answers a dishonest seller would be unwilling to give and an honest seller would answer without hesitation. Start with history: how long has this seller owned the horse, why are they selling it, and who rode it before them? A horse that has had multiple owners in a short time period warrants an explanation, and the quality of that explanation tells you something about the seller's honesty. Ask specifically about veterinary history: has the horse had hock injections, back treatment, ulcer treatment, or any lameness workup? What is the horse's current maintenance protocol? A horse that requires regular joint maintenance is not necessarily a bad purchase, but a seller who conceals that information is. Ask about the horse's management requirements: does it need a specific bit, tiedown, or martingale to perform correctly? Are there things the horse does not do well, environments where it struggles, or cattle types that cause problems? Ask about the horse's competition history specifically — where has it been shown, at what level, and what are its results? Ask to ride the horse yourself on cattle similar to what you rope, not just to watch it go. Ask whether the seller will allow a prepurchase veterinary examination — a seller who declines or hedges on this is almost always concealing something the examination would find. The answers to these questions, taken together, give you a far more complete picture of what you are actually buying than any number of demonstration runs.