A WWYD - Sell now or wait?

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almostthere

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And yes I know that ultimately only I can decide but I would really appreciate your views on this one.
Short story - bought a young horse last year - 6 but only backed late 5 so fairly green..had been in the country (from Ireland) about 6 months when I bought him but seller had only done 2 x dressage tests with him (which he did well in).
Liked him because he was safe and sane and good paces. I was told by person who went with me "he has very little scope so should be perfect for you"! Errr...moving on ;).
Anyway, got him home and he became very nervous and insecure. I was going through a bad time so together we were a bad combination. He was NEVER naughty but just a little unsure and with my then lack of confidence we didn't "work". So, I sent him to a pro eventer who has ridden for me in the past and my goodness has he come on. He has really grown up since being with her (she is a beautifully quiet rider) and has now completed 4 x BE events (2x90 and 2 x100) and placed in them all. She is over the moon with him and thinks he will go at least intermediate if not beyond. She has jumped him over 1.20m courses and a 1.30m oxer and it appeared effortless.
So here is the dilemma - I have another horse with her who has been off for a year due to injury (he was at intermediate level) and is now back in work and he is due to start eventing mid season. I can't keep both.:(
Pro wants to keep youngster and take him Novice soon but if he does go Novice and does well (as we all expect) he will be out of the Grassroots market, once he has points. As he is such a sweetie and would be a perfect mother/daughter/son share - should I keep him at Grassroots and max out the return there? Or let him go Novice and sell him as a good Junior Novice horse (he is only 15.2hh)? Or let the Intermediate horse come back in, prove he is fixed (how many events to prove that though?) and sell him?
All thoughts welcome!
 
do you click with the newer horse now when you ride it?

If I was in your boat I would let pro take it to novice and sell as a junior novice horse. But i'd wait to see if your original horse was fully back in action. The worry with the grassroots buyer is that the horse might struggle getting a downgrade in rider, especially if it had issues with you previously when ridden by an unsure person.
 
There are lots of "if's" involved as with horses it can all go wrong so easily but my thoughts are, the young horse is not yet a grassroots horse, or at least not one that will be top end pricewise as he is possibly still going to revert and be a bit tricky once out of a pro yard, he has only done 4 events with a pro on so I would not expect him to command a really good price within the GR market, as a junior horse with points at novice he may catch the eye of someone wanting a team horse and the price will reflect that, they will be more capable, or should be, of dealing with a few quirks that a talented horse often has, not saying he is quirky but he may be best in a relatively pro set up and being pushed rather than held back at 90/100 for the next few years.

I think I would run the young horse a few more times before making a decision and be careful not to pigeonhole him too much, he is only small but that does not always mean he will be limited to juniors.
 
Top end grassroots horses (the really expensive ones) tend to come from amateur rider homes - they've proved they can take a missed stride/total fluff up on the chin and not let it bother them. Yours sounds like he would suit the young pro or JRN rider much better.

Also depends how attached you are to the older horse?
 
If you decide to sell PM me. Looking for something for a tall, ambitious teenager who has outgrown her pony which she produced from scratch but would like something with a bit of affiliated experience BE for first horse.
 
Put him up for sale and see what the interest is. If the right buyer is looking at the moment brilliant. If not, go for the Novice.
 
I would be tempted to give him a go at Novice, and sell him on if successful at the end of the year (and pm me when your ready to sell) ;-)
 
If you're not totally attached to either of them I'd put them both up for sale at decent prices and see what unfolds.
In the meantime continue with young horse; as the others say, it sounds like he might suit a pro yard better so the more experience the better IMO.

Either way, a nice problem to have.
 
Have you tried riding him since sending to the pro? if not why don't you see how you get on with it now?
 
Thank you very much all of you for your responses - definite food for thought as always :). To clarify - for various reasons unconnected to either horse - it is not my intention to keep either horse with me so the question is more which should go when? Very good point about grassroots horses needing to be seen to be proven with an amateur. He has been ridden at pro's yard by a variety of people with much success but I take the point that his record is with a pro albeit a petite lady rider.
Really helpful input as always - thank you again.
 
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