Annagain
Well-Known Member
I think prices were rising before COVID and that's just exacerbated / accelerated the whole thing. I started looking for my new horse in June 2019 and found him in August 2020. I started thinking 5k would be plenty but within a month or two upped it to £7k as I wasn't really seeing anything that I liked at 5k. I took a break over Christmas 2019 and then with COVID, didn't see another until July. Charlie was the first one I saw after lockdown - by that time I had to pay another £1k again. I'm now seeing similar horses for £10-12k.
I was quite fussy in what I wanted but could have paid less if I'd been prepared to compromise. If I'd wanted a TB, I could have bought a very nice one for £3.5k but despite trying, I just couldn't get used to his shape after years of hunter types. I saw a nice horse locally that was only £2k but he'd been out of work a long time and was obese - far more so in real life than the (presumably old) photos suggested. I didn't mind bringing him back into work but my yard's set up isn't good for getting horses to lose weight - our grass is too good and the YO won't allow fatty paddocks as she hates the way they look. It would probably have suited him eventually when he was doing enough work but it didn't suit him then.
From what I'm seeing now, that end of the market is the most affected. I currently have a friend looking and while she could afford to buy a Charlie even at today's prices she doesn't want to spend that much and she is prepared to make some compromises as she only wants a happy hacker but even so, we're seeing very little in that <£7k price range. The sort of cheap compromise I found quite easily (but didn't take) 18 months ago, are as expensive as the decent ones were when I was looking,
It's very unfair to say those with a £4k budget can't afford ongoing care. Plenty of people could pay more but don't want to, don't think they need what one that would cost more would offer or are deliberately keeping the budget low to ensure they have a decent fund to look after a horse. Look at Red-1 and Rigsby. He was far less than £4k and has had the best of everything from the moment he arrived home in every aspect - veterinary attention, education, diet and, most importantly, love and care. I agree that, had he fallen into the wrong hands, it could have been very different for him and that may be more likely to happen at the lower end of the market but it doesn't mean it definitely will.
I was quite fussy in what I wanted but could have paid less if I'd been prepared to compromise. If I'd wanted a TB, I could have bought a very nice one for £3.5k but despite trying, I just couldn't get used to his shape after years of hunter types. I saw a nice horse locally that was only £2k but he'd been out of work a long time and was obese - far more so in real life than the (presumably old) photos suggested. I didn't mind bringing him back into work but my yard's set up isn't good for getting horses to lose weight - our grass is too good and the YO won't allow fatty paddocks as she hates the way they look. It would probably have suited him eventually when he was doing enough work but it didn't suit him then.
From what I'm seeing now, that end of the market is the most affected. I currently have a friend looking and while she could afford to buy a Charlie even at today's prices she doesn't want to spend that much and she is prepared to make some compromises as she only wants a happy hacker but even so, we're seeing very little in that <£7k price range. The sort of cheap compromise I found quite easily (but didn't take) 18 months ago, are as expensive as the decent ones were when I was looking,
It's very unfair to say those with a £4k budget can't afford ongoing care. Plenty of people could pay more but don't want to, don't think they need what one that would cost more would offer or are deliberately keeping the budget low to ensure they have a decent fund to look after a horse. Look at Red-1 and Rigsby. He was far less than £4k and has had the best of everything from the moment he arrived home in every aspect - veterinary attention, education, diet and, most importantly, love and care. I agree that, had he fallen into the wrong hands, it could have been very different for him and that may be more likely to happen at the lower end of the market but it doesn't mean it definitely will.
Last edited: