Anyone from England bought from Goresbridge

[golddustsara]

I have put a couple of wanted ads for a 14.2 + connie/irish type but no response yet. After a friend of mine went to Goresbridge and picked up 2 connies for 4k that are lovely (one got a bit battered on the lorry mind) I was half considering taking a holiday off work and going over there. Is this a completely silly idea or will I find the type I want over here for £2500?

Any experiences would be gratefully received. Or just to tell me not to be such a mad cow and look for something over here.

 

[glenruby]

You have a fair chance of finding that type for £2500. However if you are looking at purebred Connies, especially fillies/mares registered as class1 - they tend to go for quite a bit more. Also depends on the age, experience etc. A friend of mine has just bought a registered Connie gelding 4yo 146cm unbroken for 1800euro. However most broken registered 4yos can cost from 2000upwards, Most will be about 4000euro.
If you are interested in Connemara type, then you can get ponies that have very obvios connemara influence for well within your price range.

What sort of age/experience are you looking for? Might also be worth ringing up a few Irish connemara breeders to see what they have for sale. Many of the equestrian centres over here buy and sell 14.2hhs quite often - usually true irish types and with plenty of jumping ability. The majority of these get sold to England so might be worth ringing a few ECs to see what they have. I know of at least 2-3 no more than an hour from Goresbridge who do just that.

 

[golddustsara]

Thanks for the info - I have an overheight class 2 connie gelding on loan at the moment so wouldn't mind a similar type or a partbred/nice MW type up to 16hh ish. I'll have look and see if I can find some Irish dealers.

 

[glenruby]

Well if I can be of any help le me know.
If you are interested in younger animals - ie 2-4yos unbroken then you can pick up a deal. This website tends to get a lot of farmer breeders (as well as dodgey dealers and travellers though so beware) and there are usually quite a few nice Connemaras or partbred Connies - though as i say they do tend to be abit younger. Theres a lovely one just up there now - shame hes a 2yo.
www.donedeal.ie
Most people in Ireland still dont advertise online though so you might be better off looking up the irish field directory for names and numbers of yards and dealers.

 

[ttt]

We went to Goresbridge recently and although £2500 would buy you something, it wouldn't buy you a nice Connie or Connie X, they were going for E3500 to E4000. Then you have to pay the VAT and buyers premium, the vetting and shipping.

 

[diggerbez]

ask in CR- i'm sure someone in there will have done this...maybe not for a connie but they will have been to the sales!