Buying a Dressage Schoolmaster

Firewell

Firewell

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Hi,

What websites advertise the sale of Dressage horses?

Also what sort of price would you expect to pay for a 17yr old Warmblood Dressage Schoolmaster that is comfortably trained and competed up to and including Grand Prix? Just approximate price brackets please :)

Thank you!
 
I would have thought £15k to £20k for something like that.

I think alot of good dressage horses are sold through word of mouth, instructors, breeders etc rather than 'the open market'.
 
getting good marks at GP or making up the numbers?

I would have thought £15k min and up to £25k depending on record, how lightly competed (years left to compete) etc.
 
British dressage website is a good start. Maybe horsequest. Ridehesten, horsedenmark if you are prepared to look outside the uk.

Price I would say 15k upwards. As they get older value comes off quickly so if its 15 it will be more expensive than 17 reflecting likely more vet bills and likely to get 3 seasons rather than 5 out of it. If you mean a horse that's done GP not PSG harder to find and will cost more, as a lot of horses that get to PSG and won't go further get sold on as psg schoolmasters. If its been a top horse more. The one the poster above referred to as being 1500 is not a GP horse and has a vet issue disclosed in the ad plus has been out of work so that is the reason it is cheap.
 
A horse doing WELL at GP (proper FEI level competition) and suitable for an amateur is a rare bird. I know someone who paid $850k for one. :) Of course, it could "make up the numbers" at Olympic level so perhaps not what you're asking.

A horse that can go through the movements but not win in decent company would be much less, say mid to high teens and up, depending on other issues such as soundness and ridability.

A horse to win at Small Tour might not be a lot less though, as the international YR market is there for that sort of horse and parents will pay for something their kid might win a medal on.

A horse that has done GP and can go through the movements at home (which usually means it really isn't sound) will not fetch nearly as much, in part because the main market is recreational riders who want to impress their fellow liveries, or instructors. If the horse can also go out and show at lower levels it might be in the 7k-ish range, again depending.
 
TarrSteps said:
A horse that has done GP and can go through the movements at home (which usually means it really isn't sound) will not fetch nearly as much, in part because the main market is recreational riders who want to impress their fellow liveries, or instructors. If the horse can also go out and show at lower levels it might be in the 7k-ish range, again depending.
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*snigger*
Surely not ;)
 
I'd be tempted to go abroad and have a look in Germany or Holland. I would imagine there would be many more horses to try.

When I have asked (just out of interest) about a PSG schoolmaster (I couldn't ride one side of a GP horse and PSG would still be ambitious for me!!!), prices seemed to vary depending on my ambitions. A nationally competitive PSG schoolmaster with a decent temperament could be as much as 50k, the price doubling for a horse that had international potential for team selection as the YR are really competitive and drive prices up. An older horse that could do the movements but couldn't really go out and win at that level would be substantially less with age driving the price to very reasonable levels, even 5k.

Just out of interest, many of the YR I have seen with GP horses end up having to keep them with professional rider who fine tune them regularly (prof rides at least twice a week, YR gets a lesson at least once a week), otherwise they can get into trouble quite quickly.
 
Agree with TS and Booboos, but prices for competitive PSG horses are even higher than that -- a pupil at my old yard purchased a horse who, at the time, was competing at Advanced Medium (not PSG yet!) for £180k as a potential Junior team horse.

Booboos, I agree that most of the Juniors and young riders are based with their trainer but I don't necessarily think it's down to being overhorsed, I think it's actually the norm in most countries (well, at least those countries I know!) to be based at your trainer's yard and get daily lessons included in the monthly price. In most cases it's not even more expensive than most full livery contracts in the UK :)
 
Ok, what about (don't laugh) a GP horse purchased from Holland as an 8yr old for 80k by a novice rider back in 2002, has been placed in livery since and not competed at all in the Uk but horse is now 17...
I'm guessing it wouldn't be worth much at all now...
 
part of the issue around buying a highly trained schoolmaster is that the buyer really does need a lot of "aftercare" - you have to learn to ride the horse. Often if you press the wrong button or confuse the horse, you will get something very odd, or nothing at all, or just a pissed off warmblood in extended trot with its head in the air. I think a lot of people don't put the whole package in place when they buy a trained horse.

(not aimed at OP, just an observation!)
 
FrodoBeutlin said:
Booboos, I agree that most of the Juniors and young riders are based with their trainer but I don't necessarily think it's down to being overhorsed, I think it's actually the norm in most countries (well, at least those countries I know!) to be based at your trainer's yard and get daily lessons included in the monthly price. In most cases it's not even more expensive than most full livery contracts in the UK :)
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I didn't mean to sound critical of people who do this at all! I was just thinking of being at Spencer Wilton's yard for a week and seeing quite a few riders who kept their horses there. Some were younger riders who were learning and others were people who were too busy working or living abroad to ride every day so they needed the extra support. I remember thinking at the time that it would be very difficult for me to keep a PSG horse all by myself but I wouldn't want to keep a horse at a livery yard either (very spoilt by having them at home) so overall I would rather stick with a lower level horse but have him all to myself!

I have also heard of decent riders who bought advanced schoolmasters but had quite a bit of trouble figuring all the right buttons for the horse, so I imagine it helps in that respect. By the time a horse reaches GP it would be so sensitive and tunned in to some many different signals that if the rider wasn't as delicate in what they were doing they might have trouble getting out of walk!
 
FrodoBeutlin said:
Booboos, I agree that most of the Juniors and young riders are based with their trainer but I don't necessarily think it's down to being overhorsed, I think it's actually the norm in most countries (well, at least those countries I know!) to be based at your trainer's yard and get daily lessons included in the monthly price. In most cases it's not even more expensive than most full livery contracts in the UK :)
Click to expand...

That's true in North America, too. Most serious students aiming at the higher levels would be in a "barn" with an experienced trainer, getting very regular help. To be honest, one wouldn't really be competitive otherwise, especially give the short window of opportunity. Out of curiosity, how many of the British YR squad keep horses at home and only get intermittent training and/or never have their horses schooled?
 
TarrSteps said:
That's true in North America, too. Most serious students aiming at the higher levels would be in a "barn" with an experienced trainer, getting very regular help. To be honest, one wouldn't really be competitive otherwise, especially give the short window of opportunity. Out of curiosity, how many of the British YR squad keep horses at home and only get intermittent training and/or never have their horses schooled?
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I think the rain has shrunk my brain . . . Sorry, Booboos, just saw your explanatory note!

As above, it's really hard to keep an horse, even a good one, working well at a high level, especially if it's "cool" enough for a less experienced rider. Without regular upkeep the old codgers soon start swinging through their changes, trailing their shoulders/quarters and otherwise letting their standards slip. So the rider doesn't learn the right feel and, because these horses are on the down not the up, it might not be possible to get them back up to snuff if too much time goes by. I've also seen some people get in real trouble not knowing where the buttons are or coming to the end of even a good old horse's patience. Most people I know with horses like this have had then "sourced" by trainers (usually by word of mouth) in the first place so already know they will need the horse kept up and their own riding brought up to the horse's level.
 
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