Horse pricing - I am confused...

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Flicker

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I'm 'window shopping' at the moment and am hoping to be in the position to buy again in spring / summer next year. Basically I am looking for a well mannered allrounder that is good to hack alone and with enough talent to hold its own at local dressage comps, bit of jumping and XC, but very much a 'friend and colleague' rather than a competition horse. 16.3 - 17.2hh (I am 6ft). Age around 6 - 10.

I have a budget, but the ads I have come across are very confusing. I am looking at ads for horses with all of these criteria, but some are priced at under £3K while others are nearer £10K!!

I know that horses like this are extremely sought after and I don't mind paying fair market value, but I am confused as to what market value actually is because it fluctuates so much.

Any ideas what I should be expecting to pay for my new best friend??
 
Friend yesterday bought 16.3, 5 year old hacks on own and in company, jumps has done 1 small one day event. Advertised originally at 3000 dropped to 1450, paid 1200 with tack ! Buy now as people understandably desperate to get rid ! In spring u would pay good 3500 I would have thought.
 
Thanks Meesha - gosh that is cheap. Was that with clean vetting?
Unfortunately there is no way I would be in a position to buy now - too much going on at home and wouldn't be fair on the horse :(
 
It might have something to do with the age range. At 6 - 10 - especially at the 6 year old end - there is still room for development and a possibility of a reasonable low level competition horse. It is also the age band that will encompass young horses of good breeding who are not quite working out in the rider's chosen discipline and are being sold on. Plus horses bought to bring on, lightly competed and being sold on as competition animals.

You might find the prices more stable as you go toward the 10 year old end. Otherwise look at (and possibly avoid) those of good breeding, those professionally produced and those previously competed. That should stabilise your prices well within your budget.
 
meesha said:
Friend yesterday bought 16.3, 5 year old hacks on own and in company, jumps has done 1 small one day event. Advertised originally at 3000 dropped to 1450, paid 1200 with tack ! Buy now as people understandably desperate to get rid ! In spring u would pay good 3500 I would have thought.
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Your friend got quite a bargain:),

I think this awful weather will cause some people to want to just cut their loses and sell, while those that are less bothered about selling will still hold out for a good price.
I have a horse coming in to sell that fits your criteria, it is very smart, well educated to elem level with a few BD points, safe and sensible to hack/ hunt, jumps boldly sj/ xc and is a really nice person he is just a bit small at 16.2
There is no pressure to sell, the owner is moving abroad in Jan but is happy to leave him at livery until the right person comes along, he will be around £6.5 k and I expect a lot of interest because he is so easy.

The market should pick up in the spring and I would expect you to be looking at around the 5/6 k mark, part of the problem will be finding the right horse that actually passes the vet.
 
Thanks Shay, that's good advice.

I must say, the one thing that is really getting on my goat is the ads for horses priced at over £5K, with a long description of how AMAZING the horse is in every way, accompanied by one out of focus photo of the horse in a field, with a rug on. Really? Couldn't find one picture of it being ridden?
OR You Tube footage of someone riding the poor horse, badly, in trackies and no hat.
Can people not just make a bit of an effort??
 
be positive said:
The market should pick up in the spring and I would expect you to be looking at around the 5/6 k mark, part of the problem will be finding the right horse that actually passes the vet.
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yes, this sort of figure is what I kind of had in mind.
And yes, the vetting is so important, and at the older ages it is sometimes harder to get them passed
 
Flicker said:
Thanks Shay, that's good advice.

I must say, the one thing that is really getting on my goat is the ads for horses priced at over £5K, with a long description of how AMAZING the horse is in every way, accompanied by one out of focus photo of the horse in a field, with a rug on. Really? Couldn't find one picture of it being ridden?
OR You Tube footage of someone riding the poor horse, badly, in trackies and no hat.
Can people not just make a bit of an effort??
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It amazes me how bad some ads are, I try and get a really good pro photo to put in plus a decent video they can make such a difference, if I am looking to buy and spend a fair amount I will just bypass any that have poor ads, my view is if they cannot be bothered with a decent ad, have no photos to prove all the facts is the horse going to be worth looking at, probably not.
 
be positive said:
It amazes me how bad some ads are, I try and get a really good pro photo to put in plus a decent video they can make such a difference, if I am looking to buy and spend a fair amount I will just bypass any that have poor ads, my view is if they cannot be bothered with a decent ad, have no photos to prove all the facts is the horse going to be worth looking at, probably not.
Click to expand...

My feelings exactly.
Ditto poor grammar. I know this sounds pedantic, but if you are selling anything, you need to create the right impression. An ad that is rendered illegible through poor grammar and punctuation doesn't leave a good impression at all.
 
I think there are some people who try their luck with prices as well. I'd seen a 16.2 ID x TB advertised for sale which I tried as a share back in the summer. Apart from the fact the horse can jump, it needed a lot of schooling and the seller wanted £3,500!! Then saw a much nicer 16.1hh ISH that had done affiliated dressage (low levels) and done some jumping for £2,000.

When I was horse hunting I was approached by someone with a lovely TB that she advertised for £5,000! But as he was pin fired, I offered £2,500 for him but he failed vetting for other reasons and vet said to avoid.

I'm still looking but personally haven't found anything right and I've tried 14 horses so far since June! My instructor says most people think of a price for their horses and whack an extra £500 on top so it's always worth haggling.
 
I have a horse very similar to what you describe, but not nice to hack (although there is no hacking where I live so it doesn't bother me). He was bought 4 and a half years ago and was up for 3000 aged 12 and was eventually bought for 2700. For a younger horse I would have expected to pay up to around £5000, although horses are definitely cheaper now than they were when i was looking. Hope that's helpful and you find a lovely horse soon! :)
 
ive seen some horses advertised recently in HH for around 12-15k mark that although on the face of it, look nicely bred animals the main key word seems to be 'potential' with no actual competition history mentioned that the horse has actually done.
one had 'has completed BE90' although for if i was spending 15k on a horse id like it to have an least been placed.
 
Friend didn't get horse vetted. Only picked up yesterday, owner overstocked and had horse since 18 months, lovely horse so far but early days although sounds v genuine.
 
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