Green horses - prices

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cheekywelshie

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I know it’s a how long is a piece of string question but a green horse 15h 4 -5 year old native how much would you expect to pay? Prices seem to vary quite a bit!
 
We looked at a newly backed 15.1 Connie last autumn and the dealer originally wanted 6.5k for him, we declined - interestingly she then reduced him in October to 5k
 
It’s a piece of string question 😀 however
cost of getting the horse on the ground - so stud fee and keep of mare whilst in foal and until weaning
Passport / registration costs
Vaccinations for 4 - 5 years
Wormers / farrier / dental checks
Feed
Cost of keep - ie sum for field maintence etc / or livery cost
Handling - time cost per hour? NMW
Backing / breaking by professional yard - currently £200 /£300 a week

So 4 year old anything upwards of £7000 ……..or you could buy one at a sale with no history for around £3000
 
Depends how nice the horse is, correct to type, confo, movement, temp, correctness of the backing.

It really is a piece of string question.

I don’t know the native pony showing/performance market but it wouldn’t surprise me if really nice examples were 10-15k.

But equally low quality and/or badly done 1k if the owner is in a bind and needs a quick sale.
 
I saw one advertised at 9! I couldn’t quite get my head around it! I’d have thought around 5-6k. Seemed sensible but unbalanced as you’d expect and at that age no jumping (whereas some of the Irish ones have but then I worry they’ve done too much too soon). But I guess people are paying these prices …
 
ihatework said:
Depends how nice the horse is, correct to type, confo, movement, temp, correctness of the backing.

It really is a piece of string question.

I don’t know the native pony showing/performance market but it wouldn’t surprise me if really nice examples were 10-15k.

But equally low quality and/or badly done 1k if the owner is in a bind and needs a quick sale.
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I paid £8000 for a 4 year old nicely bred Gypsy Cob.Nice conformation, excellent temperament.Not long backed.Worth every penny.
 
Some of it depends on how fashionable a breed you're looking at, for instance in general a Connemara will cost you more than a Welsh of similar age/quality as they're more popular.
As above, unbacked will be cheaper and you can ensure they're not rushed through their education/missing foundations.
 
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Yeah as above. Green as in backed 2 weeks ago or green as in established w/t/c and over small fences sensibly but no competition experience? People have very varying definitions! And as others have said also depends on breed, Connemaras are popular at the moment especially the overheight ones, and if the pony would be child/teen suitable for Pony Club in time then that would be a lot more valuable than something too hot/fizzy/sensitive.
 
We’re looking tentatively for over 14.1hh as I’m seriously worried we’ll hit half way through the summer and my son’s legs will be dangling under everything! Unbacked/just backed but must be handled.

So far I have seen:
- 14hh rising 4yo. Well grown, good body condition in pics, has attitude and kicks in certain situations, been sat on but not ridden away off lead last summer. £2.5k. They can’t sell and have just reduced the price. It’s not a bad price - it’s just a spring/summer price and we’re in February.
- A few with nicer temperaments around £3-3.5k
- Lots of too big for under £3k (including one I would love if it was a couple of inches smaller!);
- A few in my budget: a little scrawny or a little odd shaped as they are growing or with issues on the ground (my budget is small!).
- A Connie or two for many thousand each!

The greener you go or the less popular the breed the cheaper you’ll find them. The converse is also true. I’ve seen a fair few that are obviously waaaay out of my budget. Lovely kind faces, nice conformation, going well.

There’s so much about now as people run out of hay though - see an ad one minute and can’t find it the next!
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
Depends how green you go.. it would be cheaper most likely to pick up something unbacked but ready from the sales and then pay 6 weeks of £250 a week to send off for backing than it would be to buy something green but backed already.
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Well yes, or you find you have bought a Myka and it takes you a year, £££££ and a lot of angst to back her! I am only just describing her now as 'green' as opposed to 'currently being backed'! She is absolutely amazing though. No regrets. But buying unbacked does come with risks.

If you can test the horse w/t/c and pop a small x-pole/log, hack out and they are kind, easy, mannerly, safe and sound, obedient and nice to ride, but pretty ordinary ability wise then I'd expect to pay 6-8K. If all the above AND athletic, good movement/jump or with potential in showing etc, then low 5s.

Big difference between 4 and 5 too

4 is just 4 (or not actually chronologically 4 yet) and may have only recently been backed.
5 can have done a fair bit and been under saddle for a year +.

Good luck!
 
Ambers Echo said:
Well yes, or you find you have bought a Myka and it takes you a year, £££££ and a lot of angst to back her! I am only just describing her now as 'green' as opposed to 'currently being backed'! She is absolutely amazing though. No regrets. But buying unbacked does come with risks.

If you can test the horse w/t/c and pop a small x-pole/log, hack out and they are kind, easy, mannerly, safe and sound, obedient and nice to ride, but pretty ordinary ability wise then I'd expect to pay 6-8K. If all the above AND athletic, good movement/jump or with potential in showing etc, then low 5s.

Big difference between 4 and 5 too

4 is just 4 (or not actually chronologically 4 yet) and may have only recently been backed.
5 can have done a fair bit and been under saddle for a year +.

Good luck!
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I can beat you on that - one we have arrived off the moors at auction. Lady bought her. Couldn’t get near her, turns out she was pregnant. So time to have the foal, who was then on her 9 months before they could separate. Sold to me with full disclosure as still completely feral. Took me a year to get her backed, 90% of which was getting her trusting enough to be caught! So… she was 6 by the time anyone sat on her and she came off the moors at 3!
 
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maya2008 said:
I can beat you on that - one we have arrived off the moors at auction. Lady bought her. Couldn’t get near her, turns out she was pregnant. So time to have the foal, who was then on her 9 months before they could separate. Sold to me with full disclosure as still completely feral. Took me a year to get her backed, 90% of which was getting her trusting enough to be caught! So… she was 6 by the time anyone sat on her and she came off the moors at 3!
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I can beat that!!

He's now 13 and sat in a field being a companion - but was 'started and turned away' by his less than honest previous owner and then came to us at rising 5 years old. Hence why I'm dubious about the grey area of 'green/just backed' ponies.
 
There is a strong market for kind but green cobs 15hh plus. At 4 they are compliant (and this is when they are sold by dealers) but you may have to get them through the 5/6 teenage years. However (I am in my 50s) so can say this - lots of women in their 50s are looking for a kind cob and it is very hard to find one that is older than 5 for sale, so they sell from £7500 upwards.
 
Ambers Echo said:
Well yes, or you find you have bought a Myka and it takes you a year, £££££ and a lot of angst to back her! I am only just describing her now as 'green' as opposed to 'currently being backed'! She is absolutely amazing though. No regrets. But buying unbacked does come with risks.

If you can test the horse w/t/c and pop a small x-pole/log, hack out and they are kind, easy, mannerly, safe and sound, obedient and nice to ride, but pretty ordinary ability wise then I'd expect to pay 6-8K. If all the above AND athletic, good movement/jump or with potential in showing etc, then low 5s.

Big difference between 4 and 5 too

4 is just 4 (or not actually chronologically 4 yet) and may have only recently been backed.
5 can have done a fair bit and been under saddle for a year +.

Good luck!
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No, absolutely, but someone who churns out horses could likely have rushed Myka so she could be sold as green and you still would have had to unwind her and go back to the beginning to get a happy horse out of her. You have that risk at any stage in buying. I would prefer one that I know hasn't been ruined and hedge my bets on a temperament assessment on the ground, I think you get a good idea of their stress tolerance in an auction type environment or in general handling.
 
cheekywelshie said:
And when you do offer…do you stick near the asking?!
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Everyone loves a bargain, me included!
I always try and haggle BUT in good humour and proportionate to how much I want the horse or am prepared to walk away, how competitively priced the horse is already etc.

So for instance, I bought 2 well bred sport yearlings a few years back. Yearling 1 I paid 60% of the asking price and yearling 2 I paid 70% the asking price. Yearling 1 I paid nearly double for than yearling 2!

I’ve just bought a nice 12yo native hack/low level allrounder. She wasn’t expensive and worth the asking price all day long. I tried a half hearted £250 off offer, got a sharp look 😂 and defaulted to asking price immediately!
They did go on to vaccinate, worm, new shoes and deliver 3 hours … so that more than made up for my lack of haggling 😆
 
cheekywelshie said:
And when you do offer…do you stick near the asking?!
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I think you need to read the situation. Someone keen to sell will likely take an offer, someone desperate to sell will likely take any offer. Someone looking for a good long term home for their home bred youngster may not be so invested in the price, but more the environment and home you can offer. It's a tricky one and each situation is different.

For instance our Reggie's previous owner was incredibly desperate to sell and was in a sticky situation having already sold his field companion. I offered her somewhere safe and knowledgeable to take on a 9 month old colt and 20% of what I knew they had paid for him a few weeks previously. She snapped my hand off and had him delivered (5 mins down the road) the very next day.

When I bought my daughters cob, I offered a little lower than asking and was refused, I offered full asking price with transport and was refused. I asked for a farrier visit and back shoes to be removed and was refused. So I paid full asking price and did all the leg work myself. He came with an extensive wardrobe and lovely tack so i couldn't complain really. (so much stuff we nearly had to leave the kids behind to fit it all in the car!!!)
 
dorsetladette said:
Someone looking for a good long term home for their home bred youngster may not be so invested in the price, but more the environment and home you can offer. It's a tricky one and each situation is different.
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I agree to the above - Rabbit my now rising 3 year old was originally out my price range when I enquired about him (I wasn't aware of this till after I enquired!) x

But when I mentioned to his breeder that he'd have a home for life with me, I do a lot of groundwork and natural horsemanship, I enjoy spending time with them as well as riding, he'd want for nothing and if I ever had to sell him she'd have first refusal, she was more than happy to come to an agreed lower price x I did say to his breeder that I would be happy to make up the difference after paying the agreed lower amount, but she was so lovely and said not to worry about it, as the home I'm offering Rabbit is everything she wants for him x
 
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