Anybody here buy and sell horses?!

[Rochelle]

I have my own yard of 10 stables which we currently use as livery. Lately ive been getting really itchy feet to do some thing else with the place (and getting increasingly hacked off with my liveries) ie buy and sell horses. The plan would be to just get 2 maybe 3 to start with. Ive also thought about taking horses in to sell for clients. If anybody has any thoughts or advice or even any ideas id love to hear them : )!! Thankies

 

[Horsey_Gal]

My Dad has a livery yard and thought he would try something different plus his liveries were 'hacking' him off too so he bought two horses to start with to school etc (well the girls on the yard did) and then sell. So far so good i think, he's just sold one for £4000 that he bought as a cheap youngster, he only had it a very short while as well. But then again one of the others he bought has just gone badly lame so is having to have the vet out quite a lot! so i guess there pros and cons as with everything!

 

[sillygillyhorse]

Personally I would have thought that if you have a good reputation for schooling and bringing on horses that you would be better off taking schooling liveries. That way you do not tie up your own cash in the horse, you charge a schooling livery fee whilst the horse is with you and you get a commission on the sale price when sold.

 

[JM07]

the money to be made these days is with coloureds/gypsy cobs/or anything resembling a cob.

also natives..foals-yearlings...dont hang onto them if they are over 2 years old...you'll never get any money back.

buy and sell quickly, if that means going to sales every week/fornight then so beit.

don't expct to make a fortune!!! expect disapointment/losses etc

also if you are going down the route of buying/schooling/selling be prepared to get out and about to a fair few events to make a name for yourself.

and the important stuff...Insurance...if buyers are trying animals out on your property, make sure EVERYTHING is covered...even the area the clients park their cars!!!!!

 

[Tia]

I sell between 3 and 7 horses a year and I am starting to make very good profits on my horses; around 5 - 10 times what I paid for them, however I buy the best bloodlines available and I produce them very carefully and gradually. I have, in the past, bought them as yearlings, kept them for 2 years and then sold as riding horses with trail miles under their belts. This year I have decided to take a longer-term view and have bought a handful of foals which will be ready to go in 3 years. Next year and the year after is covered by horses I already have allocated for sale in these coming years.

I stagger my horses; I have 3 to sell next year and then 2 (at the moment) to sell the following year; the next year the foals will be 3 and ready to sell. I plan on buying a handful of foals each year to eventually build up to having at least five 3 year olds to sell every year....but we'll see how it goes and what the profit margins are.

You definitely don't want to be lumbered with 2 year olds - very difficult to move on.

My first year over here of doing this, I tended to deal with 4 and 5 year olds but the profit margins are so low at this level that I knew fairly early on that this was not where I wanted to be - I wanted big buck returns in the long-run, however these horses did get me started so it wasn't a waste of time at all as the profit, albeit much smaller, did allow me to put more money into my stock.

The market is different in my country though - in the UK, if you want to be in it for the long-run, then you need to be looking at 3 year olds, produce them and have them ready for sale at 5 years old.

There are two ways of dealing; either you flip them or you put the time in and then price them accordingly. I don't flip horses; not my style and not something I am comfortable doing, so I keep mine for far longer than most - in my opinion, this is the difference between a dealer and a producer; I like being a producer.

Whatever way you choose to do this, the priority is gaining a good reputation....without that reputation you are doomed in this business.