Horse prices! What would you expect to pay?

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Patterdale

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Have horse prices gone up massively!?

I’m tentatively looking for a new pony...14.2-15.2, capable of doing an 80 later this year but with scope to possibly do 90/100 one day. Doesn’t have to have competed as long as it’s jumping 80 at home now. 5-10 year old with no health issues.
I set out window shopping with a budget of £5k - and I am stunned at the prices now! It’s a while since I bought a riding horse.

Seems my budget (which I thought quite healthy!) would buy me a just broken 4 year old, an 18 year old or something with massive quirks/ugly/no scope and no hope.

Am I looking in the wrong places?? Or have horse prices changed so much in a few years? It was last like this before the credit crunch!
 
You won’t find the horse you are after at that price unless you are very very lucky .
you may get one with some ifs and buts .
if you where looking for a horse to do 80 full stop you would see more but prices are buoyant in the grass routes market .
you might find a horse doing another job cheaper but you won’t find a straight forward horse marketed for the grass roots market for 5k unless you are very lucky .
 
If you’d consider small TBs they’ll be loads in that price range but I know they aren’t every ones cup of Tea.
I’ve had one a tiny bit over your budget, capable of doing BE90 now, not a world beater on the flat but decent enough that you could be placed in most with an accurate test and the double clear it would then produce, ability and bold enough to probably even go Novice this year - barely an ounce of interest. Looks like she’s sold now but has taken an age!

I do have to agree horse prices do seem a bit erratic at the minute. But I think they’re starting to get more in line with how much it genuinely costs to produce a horse. Although some adverts do seem to just pluck a number out of thin air.
 
I’m seeing mostly very very average 5 year olds with no record, and no class popping round 80 courses at home having been nowhere.....ask for the price; £6-7k. Which I think is just nuts!

I’m not typing in ‘grassroots horse wanted’ im looking outside the box, I’m capable of bringing something on, but I’m just stunned.

So I started looking at normal but nice 3-4 year olds instead - and they’re even more!!
 
Yes prices have shot up. I was looking a couple of years ago and ended up paying £7500 for a 6yr old who’d done a little bit but pretty green. you can pick them up cheaper but you need to be in the right place at the right time I think.
 
You are shopping in perhaps the most sought after grass roots / riding horse bracket which keeps prices high. You could try varying your height requirement or age. Or just up your budget! We bought a lovely overheight 5 year old Connie about 18 m ago - fairly green, hunted one season, no schooling, lovely scope but no respect for coloured poles. £7500. Yes he was expensive but he had - and has - massive potential and with schooling is worth his weight in gold. We started looking in the £4 - £6K bracket but found nothing.

There are still loads of low value animals available, sadly. But not the standard you are looking for.
 
Patterdale said:
I am very much put off by ex racers sadly.
Lovely horses but too expensive in special shoeing, constant lameness, more feed than three normal horses and ulcers.

If not for that I’d have one!
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Interestingly, the horse with the least problems I’ve had was an ex racer. Admittedly this was in Jo’burg so abscesses weren’t really a thing, but despite his racing related conditions (windgalls, a splint and a bit of a roar) he was sound for 100% of what we wanted him to do. And he was safe enough for me to ride and hack (I was a teenager) completely unsupervised.

If you find the right one, possibly through one of the good Rescue centres where they are already in work, they really can be super horses.
 
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Patterdale said:
I am very much put off by ex racers sadly.
Lovely horses but too expensive in special shoeing, constant lameness, more feed than three normal horses and ulcers.

If not for that I’d have one!
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Neither of mine are shod, neither get extraordonary amounts of food, neither have ulcers, neither are crackpots, one has never cost me anything other than routine vets bills and was only lame for 2 days in 8 years with an abcess. The other did a stupid tendon 10 years ago and has been sound ever since.

Not all racers cost money.
 
Patterdale said:
I am very much put off by ex racers sadly.
Lovely horses but too expensive in special shoeing, constant lameness, more feed than three normal horses and ulcers.

If not for that I’d have one!
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They are not all that needy, the 15.2 we had here went barefoot very easily apart from needing shoes to wear studs as he did struggle competing on grass, he was lame when he arrived but apart from a few minor scrapes he remained sound, raced again then became a RC allrounder with enough ability to easily do a 90, he lived out most of the time on nothing other than grass, in winter he was on the same as my others, it was only when we raced him he cost a fortune in feed, not saying you should get one but don't rule them out based on prejudice against them all.
 
Patterdale said:
I’m seeing mostly very very average 5 year olds with no record, and no class popping round 80 courses at home having been nowhere.....ask for the price; £6-7k. Which I think is just nuts!

I’m not typing in ‘grassroots horse wanted’ im looking outside the box, I’m capable of bringing something on, but I’m just stunned.

So I started looking at normal but nice 3-4 year olds instead - and they’re even more!!
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I had a scout as well. Expected to be able to get a 4year old average green Connie from Clifden for 2/3k. Absolutely not, they have been going for 4K plus minimum this weekend.

I messaged where I got boggle from (very well bred if a bit badly put together) and paid less than 3k, he said he’d be 5/6k now minimum.

I think I’d rather just get a new forest or something tbh, less fashionable but seems to be some nice ones for reasonable prices. I would just be looking for something to do a bit with and sell. I don’t want to outlay 4K as wouldn’t want to risk loosing it if the horse went lame. Has really put me off!
 
Your best bet might be a raw Irish horse straight from a dealer bought before they have done much with it .
I bought a horse in November too big for you but a show standard ID very good jumper good paces a nice type being openly sold because he did not suit his owner and he was quite naughty I paid 7 k .
He would do your job very easily
He’s been a really good buy he’s a fun horse who likes a busy life .
 
Would you be willing to take a punt on something unbroken? But bred to do the job? I know of a breeder, who breeds small sport horses in England. They are all 14.2-16hh, Connemara x tb/warmblood/ish - but they are minimally handled. She has a few rising 4 year olds and the odd rising 5. Very reasonably priced due to ill health.
 
Patterdale said:
Ooh that looks nice, I’d love to get something with a dash of Arab. Other end of the country sadly though.
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If you like pba's then have a look for one as they are not in fashion so prices tend to be lower, I love them and they do get overlooked by people wanting to compete, most jump well, my old boy never took to it but tried anyway, a sporty pure bred would also be worth considering.
 
Not all TBs are money pits and heart breakers, but the problem is that you dont know til you've got them home if you've bought one that is!

On the whole, I've found that they do cost more to run than other horses. My current one costs me four times as much in hard food as his bigger bedfellow and was looking like a very dodgy bet until we found his intolerance to soya recently.

.
 
I have been looking and thought the same! I ended up buying a smart chunky 13.2hh, luckily I'm small enough to ride that size.
 
It’s hard to value horses, the market seems quite mixed up at the moment. I would absolutely expect to pay top dollar for a nice horse from a good dealer, who has put the work in and produced a sane and sound ride to do a job.

What does annoy me somewhat is all the ‘potential dressage’ (ie doesn’t jump) horses out there, who have done nothing and been nowhere, and are on the market for north of £5k. We get this a lot where I am. That then just pushes the price of the genuinely nice horses up even more.

My favourite example of this is a friend who went to see a 12 year old cob mare, who seemed quite sweet and was on the market for around £3k. Turns out, the mare hadn’t left the yard once in the 6 years she’d been owned by the seller, the ‘dressage potential’ was a remark made by a visiting instructor that she had ‘nice paces’ and the owner was very reluctant to ride her when my friend asked to see her under saddle! My friend thanked the owner for her time and left, but I know the mare sold not long after that. I would have been reluctant to offer more than £1k, but there you go...

So, by comparison, a nice 7 - 10 year old, who has done a bit, has good manners, shows a bit of potential, is easily going to be 4 times the value of a hairy heap that even the owner doesn’t want to ride.
 
Charla said:
Would you be willing to take a punt on something unbroken? But bred to do the job? I know of a breeder, who breeds small sport horses in England. They are all 14.2-16hh, Connemara x tb/warmblood/ish - but they are minimally handled. She has a few rising 4 year olds and the odd rising 5. Very reasonably priced due to ill health.
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Yes definitely, please send me the details!
 
Eventing has become massively popular amongst amateurs, or so it seems, so many people have ambitions to do and it so good all rounders that can be competitive at even the lower levels are in demand and that will push the price up.

I also wonder if buyers are becoming more educated and even those with money but perhaps less experience are going for a mid range horse without quirks with perhaps less ability instead of over horsing themselves and buying something flashy and more athletic.

Something that size and ability is also going to be suitable for pony clubbers.
 
be positive said:
If you like pba's then have a look for one as they are not in fashion so prices tend to be lower, I love them and they do get overlooked by people wanting to compete, most jump well, my old boy never took to it but tried anyway, a sporty pure bred would also be worth considering.
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My best horse ever was half Anglo Arab and he was just about to go up to old 2* when he sadly died in a field accident. They are tough and sound and go all day!
 
ycbm said:
Not all TBs are money pits and heart breakers, but the problem is that you dont know til you've got them home if you've bought one that is!

On the whole, I've found that they do cost more to run than other horses. My current one costs me four times as much in hard food as his bigger bedfellow and was looking like a very dodgy bet until we found his intolerance to soya recently.

.
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Yes, completely agree! It's all very well posters saying that their TB is an easy doer, but there's no denying that a fair few of them aren't and, as you say, you just don't know until you get them home. My sister is currently having no end of trouble with hers - ulcers, poor foot balance, won't put weight on etc.
 
HashRouge said:
Yes, completely agree! It's all very well posters saying that their TB is an easy doer, but there's no denying that a fair few of them aren't and, as you say, you just don't know until you get them home. My sister is currently having no end of trouble with hers - ulcers, poor foot balance, won't put weight on etc.
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Yep. I’ve had a few over the years, and known many more through working in racing and teaching. And I can’t recall a SINGLE one that stayed sound for longer than 3 years or so.

So whilst they’re lovely horses, and I’m sure there must be a sound one out there, Im not prepared to take the chance..!
 
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