Horse market at present

bonnysmum said:
It's possible. Our new pony was very low 4 figures (and the seller was fighting off dealers and other unsuitable people the whole time she was advertised). She has issues but nothing we feel is unmanageable (fingers crossed!). I think the only way - if you don't want to back a youngster - is to deliberately seek out the imperfect horse that those with money would pass by.

(After our previous experience I felt strongly this time that I would be more comfortable taking on honestly disclosed issues than an expensive bundle of issues as yet undiagnosed).
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Even with money a decent,sound,sane all rounder with some good basic schooling can be a very hard find.Eventually some compromises have to be accepted.Some will compromise on manageable health conditions, some will go down the young horse route.
 
Shantara said:
Reading this had made me realise that I probably won't ever be able to buy a horse again. Unless I want an untouched foal with dubious lineage.
My budget is £1k. It's depressing to be priced out of my passion.
I'm enjoying Serenity as much as I possibly can while I have her.
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Theres cheap horses out there if you look hard enough and are prepared to compromise. You'll get a TB for that budget.
 
Red-1 said:
I gave up and bought unseen from Ireland, knowing he was cheap enough (8K) that he'd sell on if he wasn't what I wanted. I'd always said I would never do that, yet here we are!
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You still have to be careful as a Irish person there is some awful dealers that buy very old broken down horses for cheap and sell them on as young very drugged up sound horses with a new passport so the buyer can’t find the history and they often target people from other countries because they know they can’t return them . Ireland is is as bad as the uk when it’s comes with people trying to make money with problem horses and broken horses I have seen hacking only 21 year old for sale for €5000. The only value is young horses Ireland 🇮🇪 but you have be careful that they haven’t been hammered some of horse a jumped massively when they have just been backed weeks ago.
 
Celtic Jewel said:
You still have to be careful as a Irish person there is some awful dealers that buy very old broken down horses for cheap and sell them on as young very drugged up sound horses with a new passport so the buyer can’t find the history and they often target people from other countries because they know they can’t return them . Ireland is is as bad as the uk when it’s comes with people trying to make money with problem horses and broken horses I have seen hacking only 21 year old for sale for €5000. The only value is young horses Ireland 🇮🇪 but you have be careful that they haven’t been hammered some of horse a jumped massively when they have just been backed weeks ago.
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Agree.
 
Celtic Jewel said:
You still have to be careful as a Irish person there is some awful dealers that buy very old broken down horses for cheap and sell them on as young very drugged up sound horses with a new passport so the buyer can’t find the history and they often target people from other countries because they know they can’t return them . Ireland is is as bad as the uk when it’s comes with people trying to make money with problem horses and broken horses I have seen hacking only 21 year old for sale for €5000. The only value is young horses Ireland 🇮🇪 but you have be careful that they haven’t been hammered some of horse a jumped massively when they have just been backed weeks ago.
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I was very careful. Recommended dealer who had them for a few months before sales. Saw a few go through her hands. Saw regular videos from his education, from the gangly thing he was the year before to the finished for sale product.

He was doing age appropriate things, not jumping massively, had been trained sympathetically.

He was not claimed to be perfect.

He was exactly as described. My vet, on seeing him, performed a mini vetting which he passed with flying colours.

I also bought one who would have been highly saleable if he'd not been for me.

He is a charmer. I was offered a fortune for him around 9 months later but he's not for sale as he's golden. Well, he is when he's been laid in the poo, as being grey is his only sin!!!

I was also aware it was a risk and would simply have written off the money if i'd had to.

The state of the horse market in 2021 was even more dire than now. I repeatedly scoured adverts and set off within the hour to view, only to be cancelled half way there as someone had bought unseen. I decided that, if I was not going to be able to get to view, it didn't matter where he came from. I may as well save some money.

I also did a 5 stage vetting, and spoke to the vet personally so we understood each other. I think that one is important.

Always buyer beware.

I would always prefer to view, but the market was crazy.
 
Even youngsters are decent money (which they probably should be as it costs a lot to breed a half decent quality one).
 
I'm Dun said:
Ive never seen a horse by AAA who wasn't a lovely easy person!
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and with excellent conformation, superb paces and versatile. There are 2 youngsters on the market at the moment. They will be sought after given the wonderful stallion is no longer with us. They take no starting and learn quickly. Mine was confidently hacking out within 2 weeks of backing. The whole starting of her was a non event.
 
I'm Dun said:
Theres cheap horses out there if you look hard enough and are prepared to compromise. You'll get a TB for that budget.
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That's what I have now. Got her at 10yrs for £600, but that was 9yrs ago! I'm not actively looking, I'm hoping it'll be a few years before Serenity will be fully retired (although I did think she'd be retiring this year, but she has come good again!) I don't have much hope that the horse market will get any better when that time comes. I feel I got unbelievably lucky with Seren, she is incredible! Although she did come with a few typical TB ailments and quirks, which for £600 I was/am happy to deal with.
Maybe I'll have a better financial situation by the time I'm ready to buy again, but it's just all very disheartening!
 
A friend went to look at a child's pony last weekend. She got there hadn't checked her messages the woman told her she couldn't get there for 2 hours. Her father was there and told my friend I wouldn't buy it you can't get near it in the stable it's so nervous. The woman who was selling it was obviously going to dope it first.

Advert said perfect child's pony.
 
Kirstd33 said:
Also following and reading with interest as I am tentatively looking after coblets retirement and getting increasingly despondent that we may never find our elusive unicorn. Our search is made slightly trickier in that we are looking for a mother-teen daughter share and with a 5K budget ! But only a very low level alrounder and are open to SB, TB, and arab x's.
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I know one who will be coming up end of the summer
Waxwing said:
Anything I buy will also be a mother teenage share; we can be despondent together! :)
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I know of one who will be coming up end of the summer if rising 15 isn't too old
 
I'm Dun said:
I dont even mind lame, and love something a bit quirky, but I would only ever spend money I could justify losing, sub 1k back before covid. The problem is the unsound, might be fixable might not horses are now all large amounts of money. If I was spending 10k I would absolutely expect safe and sound as a minimum. When prices have gone up it represents a sizeable investment for most people, a third of the UK average pre tax salary is around 10k.

The same conversation goes round on here a lot. The horses people need, the nice hunter types, smart cobs or native x TBs arent being bred. Just endless rough cobs, sports horses and ex racers. So people go for the sports horses and they seem to suffer more soundness problems and are absolutely too much horse for a lot of people. But apparently its to expensive to breed the normal every day horse that used to be everywhere and so the cycle continues.
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We breed native Xs with a view to aiming them at the average rider who can do a bit more if the rider wants or a bit less if that's what's needed. I was asked what are you aiming to get? Answer we gave. Breeding best friends, type temperament, substance ans style
 
Ddraig_wen said:
I know one who will be coming up end of the summer

I know of one who will be coming up end of the summer if rising 15 isn't too old
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I would potentially be interested if the horse was middle weight ish and over 15.2. I am no worries about the age of the horse
 
Shantara said:
That's what I have now. Got her at 10yrs for £600, but that was 9yrs ago! I'm not actively looking, I'm hoping it'll be a few years before Serenity will be fully retired (although I did think she'd be retiring this year, but she has come good again!) I don't have much hope that the horse market will get any better when that time comes. I feel I got unbelievably lucky with Seren, she is incredible! Although she did come with a few typical TB ailments and quirks, which for £600 I was/am happy to deal with.
Maybe I'll have a better financial situation by the time I'm ready to buy again, but it's just all very disheartening!
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TB prices have barely changed unless the have been reschooled and are out competing at a decent level so if your happy with similar you will be fine Hopefully she goes on for years though!
 
AdorableAlice said:
and with excellent conformation, superb paces and versatile. There are 2 youngsters on the market at the moment. They will be sought after given the wonderful stallion is no longer with us. They take no starting and learn quickly. Mine was confidently hacking out within 2 weeks of backing. The whole starting of her was a non event.
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I used to follow the owners facebook when she was breeding and see the youngsters being sold. Not one I wouldn't have snapped up had I been in the market and had the funds.
 
Ddraig_wen said:
We breed native Xs with a view to aiming them at the average rider who can do a bit more if the rider wants or a bit less if that's what's needed. I was asked what are you aiming to get? Answer we gave. Breeding best friends, type temperament, substance ans style
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Oh thats interesting! Do you sell as youngsters? How do you find the market for them? What natives are you using?

Sorry for the nosey questions and don't answer if its too intrusive, I'm just delighted to hear someone is breeding this type of horse.
 
I'm Dun said:
Oh thats interesting! Do you sell as youngsters? How do you find the market for them? What natives are you using?

Sorry for the nosey questions and don't answer if its too intrusive, I'm just delighted to hear someone is breeding this type of horse.
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Foals and youngsters if they're around long enough, most get snapped up before they're 2yrs old but sometimes we have 3 and 4 year olds or sometimes older around.
Most are welsh based with Irish draught, warmblood, cob or arab mixed in, sometimes a bit of all of them . They vary from 12.5% but usually 25% to 75% native. It all started when a friend and I struggled to find something that was sane and trainable with a bit of class. Something that could cope without being ridden every day and could be handled by a less experienced person in an emergency or if you couldn't get to the yard. Our arab/welsh colt is quiet enough to be handled by someone using a walking stick and everyone thinks he's a gelding.
Bugsy on the foal thread is 25% welsh, 25% quarter horse 25% tb and 25% trad cob.
 
Ddraig_wen said:
Foals and youngsters if they're around long enough, most get snapped up before they're 2yrs old but sometimes we have 3 and 4 year olds or sometimes older around.
Most are welsh based with Irish draught, warmblood, cob or arab mixed in, sometimes a bit of all of them . They vary from 12.5% but usually 25% to 75% native. It all started when a friend and I struggled to find something that was sane and trainable with a bit of class. Something that could cope without being ridden every day and could be handled by a less experienced person in an emergency or if you couldn't get to the yard. Our arab/welsh colt is quiet enough to be handled by someone using a walking stick and everyone thinks he's a gelding.
Bugsy on the foal thread is 25% welsh, 25% quarter horse 25% tb and 25% trad cob.
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They sound flippin lovely, thats my aim to breed my own when my the 3 kids vacate the premises and hubby and I move to a small holding with land in deepest wales! do you advertise?
 
An old friend of ours set out to breed PC eventers after she could no longer ride by crossing natives or show ponies with Arab & TB. She admitted that it was all at a loss but she priced them ridiculously low IMO even for the time (she sold them backed). Her best one was a little horse that ended up named Fair Dinkum (she named him Crollo) if anyone's heard of him. He was by Welton Apollo out of a show pony mare by Oakley Bubbling Spring.
 
I've been looking 2 plus years.

I'm looking for a middleweight 16.2hh - 17hh gelding, 6 -12 yrs. ISH or WB x ID or similar. Just for hacking, odd riding club activities and fun rides. With no medical history. How hard can it be??

Videos I'm sent show lame horses, horses with ears flat back, horses desperate to change behind in canter due to physical issues, horses that have a 'buck or nap' or are cold backed when you first get on.

I've tried three, none were suitable, one had a potential dust allergy and had lived out for the past two years. One took off with me broncing around the school.

Anything under 10k seems to have issues. Anything around 15k seems to be too much 'horse' for me.

I'm not being unrealistic in my requirements either.

No I won't do an 8 or 9 hour round trip or buy unseen. But it should not be this hard.
 
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Birker2020 said:
I've been looking 2 plus years.

I'm looking for a middleweight 16.2hh - 17hh gelding, 6 -12 yrs. ISH or WB x ID or similar. Just for hacking, odd riding club activities and fun rides. With no medical history. How hard can it be??

Videos I'm sent show lame horses, horses with ears flat back, horses desperate to change behind in canter due to physical issues, horses that have a 'buck or nap' or are cold backed when you first get on.

I've tried three, none were suitable, one had a potential dust allergy and had lived out for the past two years. One took off with me broncing around the school.

Anything under 10k seems to have issues. Anything around 15k seems to be too much 'horse' for me.

I'm not being unrealistic in my requirements either.

No I won't do an 8 or 9 hour round trip or buy unseen. But it should not be this hard.
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It is hard because you are looking for a perfect horse and when people produce perfect horses they keep them to enjoy themselves and rightly so. Lets hope your advert on the ID pages this morning finds you something of interest.
 
A lot of people don’t understand there’s no point complaining you can’t find a horse if 1) You poo poo anything that isn’t perfect 2) Look for issues when they aren’t there 3) Won’t compromise.

Add to that an element of being slightly out of touch or novice and yes it will be impossible.

Either you want something that is perfectly behaved with zero physical issues and pay 20k or you accept you need to compromise on some medical history or behavioural quirk and spend 8-10k or something that is good enough to do the job you want it to do but a bit ugly!
 
AdorableAlice said:
It is hard because you are looking for a perfect horse and when people produce perfect horses they keep them to enjoy themselves and rightly so. Lets hope your advert on the ID pages this morning finds you something of interest.
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So my search criteria is 'looking for the perfect horse'?

How on earth do you make that out?

It's hardly an extensive list is it?
 
IrishMilo said:
A lot of people don’t understand there’s no point complaining you can’t find a horse if 1) You poo poo anything that isn’t perfect 2) Look for issues when they aren’t there 3) Won’t compromise.

Add to that an element of being slightly out of touch or novice and yes it will be impossible.

Either you want something that is perfectly behaved with zero physical issues and pay 20k or you accept you need to compromise on some medical history or behavioural quirk and spend 8-10k or something that is good enough to do the job you want it to do but a bit ugly!
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Im not sure if that's aimed at me or another person.

ButiI will talk about my case. In my case I put the horses I'm interested in, in front of two friends, both are professionals for a second opinion. I won't go and look at a horse that is lame on video nor will I want to visit a horse with ears wrung back or constant tail swishing when being ridden or one that is desperate to change behind in canter as all of these points are indicative of pain.

I am happy to compromise in age but not height.

I don't want existing medical history but that doesn't make me fussy, it makes me sensible.

I'm certainly not out of touch, nor am I novice. I've owned 7 horses, schooled and brought them on, competed up to Discovery SJ and elementary dressage.

There is a lot of horses between 10k and 15k it's just finding something suitable for myself and my own preferences.
 
Birker2020 said:
Im not sure if that's aimed at me or another person.

ButiI will talk about my case. In my case I put the horses I'm interested in, in front of two friends, both are professionals for a second opinion. I won't go and look at a horse that is lame on video nor will I want to visit a horse with ears wrung back or constant tail swishing when being ridden or one that is desperate to change behind in canter as all of these points are indicative of pain.

I am happy to compromise in age but not height.

I don't want existing medical history but that doesn't make me fussy, it makes me sensible.

I'm certainly not out of touch, nor am I novice. I've owned 7 horses, schooled and brought them on, competed up to Discovery SJ and elementary dressage.

There is a lot of horses between 10k and 15k it's just finding something suitable for myself and my own preferences.
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It wasn’t aimed at you 😊
 
Shantara said:
Reading this had made me realise that I probably won't ever be able to buy a horse again. Unless I want an untouched foal with dubious lineage.
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There are nice ones out there. I bought a lovely foal last year - very nicely bred and a great temperament - for £1,500 due to the seller's circumstances. Keep sniffing about and it's not impossible.
 
I'm certainly not looking for the "perfect horse" either but would absolutely still class myself as a novice despite riding for nearly 40 years, having multiple share horses with/without daughter and owning coblet for 2 years.
We bought coblet "cheap" (its subjective) as he had scared his previous owners daughter with a handy bucking habit and a dislike of doing anything in a school/arena setting and had very questionable ground manners. We sorted those out sharpish and had a good year mainly hacking, funrides and low level stuff, some in an arena and some out and were having fun until he went lame :( the one mistake I made was not having him vetted due to the low purchase price, although maybe he would have passed I'll never know?

I just cant believe that anything, safe, sane, sound, of decent size, aged 6-12, healthy but non-competitive is costing upwards of £10K
 
To be fair when I was looking for my next equine partner in crime after retiring Baggs, I looked for a few months but only one came up that perked my interest. I enquired about the horse, got plenty of videos and photos, sent them to my vet, chiropractor and a few close friends who know my riding style extremely well and they pointed out that the horse didn't look sound behind, but it was something that you had to really look at to notice. I went back to the owner and politely explained why I wouldn't be proceeding with the sale and they came back very amicable and even got an independent vet out to see the horse. Turns out the horse had the starts of severe issues in the hind end, so the seller ended up taking it off the market. I must admit after that I felt quite gutted and I realised that the only way I could see myself going forwards was if I went down the young horse route. Me being me went the extreme and ended up going down the foal route and brought Rabbit.

He's now 2 and I've had someone come up to me when I was walking him out in hand and offer me double what I paid for him - he's never for sale so I politely declined, but when I explained my reasoning for declining their offer, the person who came up to me simply said "I don't blame you love, he'll make a cracking horse one day - anything that is younger than 2 gets snapped up quicker than I can view and anything over 4 is usually started and I don't want that".

My friend is looking for her next horse, she has quite a healthy budget (in the 15k to 30k bracket - lucky goose won the lottery twice!) and she said to me the other day she's loosing the will to live, as any videos that get sent to her the horses are either lame, got undiagnosed issues, are absolutely nothing like their adverts or they are riddled with health issues :(
 
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