Buying - but what price?

zoon

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I am interested in a friends horse and she has annoyingly said "make me an offer". I think she honestly has no idea what to ask for her horse. Unfortunately, neither do I! So need your help. I have also posted this in CR as interested to see if there will be a difference in opinion - I think there will be! So here's the horse, let me know the price...
14.2hh coloured irish pony
4 year old
lightly backed
Well behaved and nicely put together
Still needs gelding and passporting/microchipping
 
It would be easier with photos of the pony, however from your description I would think that he should be under £1000.

^Agree with this. My first reaction was £800 maybe go in at this and be prepared to go up to £1000? Given you have a £300ish (probably more?) to pay for passport, gelding, microchip and maybe flu and tetnus jags I think you could justify a low start offer. Also it is coming into winter.
 
Haven't got any pics, but nicely marked and well put together chap.

My only issue is having to pay expensive livery at a yard that allows stallions until he is gelded and safe to go out with others
 
I might be wrong, but how could he be Connemara X TB if he's coloured? Thought both of these breeds don't have skewbald/piebald. (I know there are now some coloured TBs but this is very recent.)

Anyway, I think around £850.
 
I was thinking £300.................
Friend has just bought something similar sounding, but, a mare (so no gelding costs!) for £300. Apart from being well handled, good ground schooling and sat on a few times, she's done nothing showing wise.
She was advertised locally for ages, price started at £800 and went done about £100 a month. Lovely mare, fabulous chestnut and white markings and will be a good, full up 14.2 by spring.
 
I would want a vet to check he is suitable for normal castration, that can be £250+, if he needs to be oped up £450+, so not really a cheap pony.
Last year I had a colt which I had to rent a seperate field for so that cost me £30 a week. Walk away until its geded or offer under £500.
 
i was thinking about £500. Not a lot going for him is there, other than *potential* after gelding, passporting etc. Wont appeal to many people.

But it is tricky when someone says - make me an offer. I usually then reply - can you give me a price in mind that you would be happy with. In my experience, everyone knows what they want, they usually use the figure that they paid out in the first place...
 
my first thought was when reading through this - how can he be coloured if he's connema x TB?

2nd thought - at 4, why does he not have a passport?

also why has he been left a stallion until this age? if he's gelded he will still retain some of this behaviour, i had one of mine gelded at 4 and he's still very stallion-y but he's well-behaved most of the time.

i wouldn't offer more than £500.
 
Id be worried about gelding at that age, you could do a normal gelding at prob £400 but at that age, it could be the full surgery and you are looking at about £2000! Id get a vets opinion first as you could end up with a serious bill, or a horse that had bled out!
 
£500, he is a colt & they fetch nothing because no one wants them, I saw a pair of nice ride & drive section a's up for £250 the pair the other day because they were colts still at 3 & 4. Even though they were ridden by small kids!
 
Would not personally buy a 4 year old that hasn't been castrated, things can go wrong occasionally. Could try negotiating that they have the horse castrated and vaccinated and then you will buy for what you think he is worth to you.

Good luck with your decision:)
 
i paid £850 for my 4yr 15.2hh coloured back in May, she was asking £1000 for him. But he had been gelded, CHAPS registered and microchipped. He had been backed at 3 and turned away for 12 months so needed re-starting but is turning out to be a little star. Given the time of year and the potential problems associated with having him cut late i think she would struggle to get £800 for him. There seems to be alot of very nice youngsters out there for under £1000 at the moment.
 
No so recent.
My boy is 7 and 95ish % tb and skewbald.
What's the other 5%?

Op I'd be weary of buying a 4 year old that hadn't been gelded....a friend of mine bought a 6 year old stallion, with the intention of having him gelded, she couldn't find a vet that was willing to do it at home, she would have to sent him to them to be done at the clinic, because he was older than the average it would have cost her a small fortune so she ended up selling him entire...at a loss!
 
Really does depend on where OP lives, any of the vets local to me will geld at home & charge the same as gelding anything else. It certainly wouldnt put me off buying him, as for price i would say definitely no more than £500. Good luck OP whatever you decide.
 
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