Are we being realistic?

I think it totally depends on the horse though - I spent £2000 on my horse a few years ago, my friend the other day said she though I would be unlucky to get less than £5k if I sold him now (he's not for sale!) as a really decent RC allrounder.

Equally we bought a horse much like what you are looking for la while back for my OH - she was a very competant and capable allrounder, 16.2, ISH, not a plod even to hack and quite capable of an open ODE (Had jumped round a Novice BE XC track - awesomeover solid fences!) and paid £3500 because she was 12, which some people see as old - lots go out looking for a 6 - 10 year old. She was a brilliant buy until she got injured!

So the horse you are looking for is out there and price will depend on many things - age, looks, breeding, but for the right horse those things will fall into place for you so if the price is right for you then its nobody's place to tell you you are spending too much/too little IMHO!
 
I think we may well look for horse that is 10 or over as that isn't old at all!
We want to keep the horse for the rest of its life if its the right one so we'd still get several years out of him/her.

I'm on the oxon/bucks border which is very expensive usually. But a good horse will be worth its weight in gold!

The one mentioned above for £2000 sounds amazing - they were very lucky to find that! I think it may take a while to find the right one but i wont give up.

I've got a confidence shattering horse at the moment but i've had some really good horses in the past - i know the right one is out there somewhere...
 
You are looking for what I wanted - sods law will dictate that every thing you like that is in your price range will be the other side of the counry I had a much more limited budget than you and ended up impulse buying and regretting it.

18 months later the horse (lovely but just not suitable for me)
is out on loan with a view to buy. The problem now is that there seems to be loads of horses close by and in budget, but typicaly until the old horse goes I have no money - arghhhhh And horse hunting is addictive, I just cannot stop torturing myself by scanning the websites every lunchtime.

Sorry to sound like a cynical old whinger, I am sure with your budget you will be able to find something cracking, I wish you the best of luck. BTW make sure you post us all the details when you do start to look!
 
I think £5,000 is the price of safety for that kind of horse. For me an allrounder, who is suitable as a first horse and is a safe hack is worth his weight in gold. Out of interest how many people on the forum know of or own such a horse and would they be prepared to part with it for £3,000? Of course you will find horses described like that for about £3,000 but will they be genuine? Owners are highly unlikely to allow you to trial a horse and you will have to make your mind up on the basis of one or two rides so you may never notice the problems. For me £5,000 is more of a guarrantee of safety.

As for viewings: ask every question you can think of and look out for evasions, e.g. "Is he good in traffic? He is a great hack we have no traffic around here" hasn't really answered the question. Then ask to see the horse in its stable loose, touch him, pick his legs up, do all the things you would normally do with him if he were your own. See him trot up, then see him tacked up. Ask the owner to ride him first (some people advertise maniacs but won't tell you until you ask them to sit on them). All this while look for signs of stress: will the horse leave the stable and return to it without problems, is he happy to leave other horses behind, go for work, stand still to be mounted, etc. Watch the horse schooled, then if you like him have a go yourself. Take your time and ask the owner for tips, this can be really helpful for getting used to a new horse. Ask to take the horse out for a hack. If you want to hack on your own ask to at least walk the horse out on his own down the lane (turn it round, head home and look for any signs of stress). Ask to see the horse in traffic, if there is none around ask someone to start up a car and drive past you, even better if they have a tractor. Ride the horse on a loose rein on the hack to see what happens. Head for the stable, then gently turn around as if you were going to do more work to see what happens, etc. In general try to do as many things, calmly and sensibly though, to see how the horse reacts and if he is likely to be upset about anything.

Good luck! I would definately go see the one in the advert and if he does seem like the one buy him (well get him vetted first)! Sometimes the right horse is the first one (but if you have any worries pass on him, seeing a lot more horses will make it easier to make your mind up).
 
For a £5,000 horse I would want a full vetting (as opposed to two stars) but no x-rays (unless the vetting brought up something really worrying that needed looking into further), which I think is between £250 and £350 depending on the area of the country and travel costs (however I haven't had one for a year so may be sadly out of touch!).

Did you call up about the horse in the advert? Did you go look at him? Any good?!!!!! Do update, I am really curious now
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5k is way over budget, unless you want something that can do things you don't need. Around 3k is more likely.

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What a daft thing to say. And actually £5k is bang on the money!
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Why is it a daft thing to say and 5k is way over the top!!

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I must say i agree, for a happy hacker and the occasional unaffiliated show i would be looking at 3000-3500, i certainly wouldnt pay 5k for it anyway

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I agree with you. I sold my mare, an allrounder and a SJ schoolmistress for under 4k. If I just wanted a low level allrounder and happy hacker I'd be looking to pay around 3k.
 
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