How much are ponies these days (also in breeding)

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I am looking into various options for my 5 year old 15.2hh Cevin z x Concorde warmblood mare, who most likely will be retired due to a field injury. I consider breeding from her to keep the foal, however, I want to weigh up how much it would cost to simply buy the sort of youngster I would want rather than attempting to breed. It may be better for me to buy another horse that I can ride, and sell/loan her as a broodmare.

So my question: considering the market right now and that winter is coming:

How much would one need to pay for a nicely bred 14-14.2 hh 3-6 year old pony (preferably mare/filly) which would grow to max 148cm? Must have excellent legs/feet, good trainable temperament, and the potential for jumping 120cm classes, medium dressage and BE90/100. Ideally backed and ok with small hacks out alone in company, and ok with traffic, but backing is not a must and it would not need to be schooled. Must be well handled though (good to catch, lead, groom, pick out feet) etc and have no vices. Doesn't need to be of any particular type/breed, just good sound performance stock.
 
I guess I am asking for quite a lot! Basically the ideal pony would be a straight forward youngster with the potential to become a really good allrounder, but it doesn't necessarily need to have what it takes to go to the top in any particular discipline.
 
so... if someone needs to reduce stock before it is under saddle, could I get a bargain? :-) Any idea what prices are for 3yo unbacked vs. 3-4 yo under saddle?

I had a look at the SPSS sale list, but it seems that many of the ads are rather old and there aren't that many prices.
 
I think backed and broken 2k + depending on how much experiance/potential and breeding ect, if you got a unbacked 3 yr old you could get one for much less :)
 
You can have my 13.2 NF for £1500 - I'll get him shod and he'll stand on tippytoes to pretend he's 14hh ;)

Not too sure really tbh - I dont know how easy it is to tell with a 14hh 3yr old how capable they will be to jump 1.20. Would imagine prices will vary hugely :)
 
Thats quite a serious sports pony tho to be doing medium dressage and 120 courses..... I would think you would need more than £3k unless you find one where they don't know what they have! My youngster is bigger than that but has that level of breeding/potential (mum jumping 130s) and he was £2700 which tbh was probably a bargain as they didn't know his breeding or what his mum is doing now (she was 5 when they bred him).

Friend of mine on here has hers for sale with a local SJ rider and she is maybe not a medium dressage potential (but should do elementary I would think) plus is maybe now 7? But got a nice pop in her (again couldn't promise 120cm courses). You could PM her - its Fruity. Mare is either 6 rising 7 or 7 rising 8 I can't quite recall sorry! Measured in bang on 148cm. She's always been a fairly hardy sound little soul. And hacks nicely.
 
ecrozier Hehe, yes, I am asking for quite a serious "allrounder" pony. If the pony is 7, does that mean she has a life time height certificate?

suzie86 - you're right, I don't think one can know for sure. So I would look for something out of strong performance bloodlines, where both the dam and sire have done well. And with good paces and a big natural loose jump.

montyforever - that sounds nice. where does one spot those bargain ponies though? :0)
 
_CJ_ said:
montyforever - that sounds nice. where does one spot those bargain ponies though? :0)
Click to expand...

My friend used to deal horses/ponies like that. Although she got them as raw youngsters and brought them on alot!

Try horsemart, and some of the free ad sites have some rough diamonds on them! Im sure theres still plenty of dealers out there doing the same thing as my friend was :D
 
CJ yes she does. PM Fruity on here, or me and I can give you her number (the owner) or the number of the girl who is bringing her on for sale who is also a very good friend of mine! We are relatively close to you in south bucks.
 
thing is they can come from anywhere. A friend of mine has a sec D she got as a 2yr old from the sales. He is meant to be 15hh but i would call him 14.2 tbh - he can easily do all those things and she got him for a couple of hundred quid :) But i guess with those its just luck - sure the training is important but for a pony that size to reach that level I guess a bit of natural talent and quality is also required :)

ps when you find this pony i will be veeeery jealous ;)
 
Echo Suzie 86's comment. You won't know what a 3 year unbacked/just backed will be capable of especially jumping-wise. I've got a 14.1hh NF recently backed 3 year old who is up for less than £1500 but he's a gelding . . . .
Edited to add that his grand-sire is a serious performance pony but the mare is a proper NF mare wild out on the Forest!
 
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Suzie 86, it sounds like your friend was very very lucky :-)

Faithkat, is the dam and sire proven though, or would that have bumped up the price?


I agree that you won't know, a youngster is always a bit of a gamble, but I would look for things that may make the odds better than if I picked up a pony from the sales, such as
- if the dam and sire both did well in competition
- if the pony shows a nice natural loose jump (potential for jumping)
- if the pony has for example a BEF premium then that is of course reassuring as well.

so that is the type of pony that I am trying to figure out the current price bracket for.
 
just had a nosey on horsequest on the competition ponies bit, under youngstock. OMG there are some expensive 3yr olds on there and thats without mentioning particularly good breeding!!! Feeling like i should up the price of my 5yr old now ;) honestly, how can a just backed 3 yr old 14.1 be worth 3k+!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
 
It sounds from the other threads that some people have had horses advertised for ages and others have had to halve the asking price - so I don't think the horsequest asking prices are that realistic?

Asking prices vary a great deal. On horsemart I have seen several as low as 700-800 but those don't seem to be that well bred...

Perhaps I need to wait until November and see if any of the horsequest 3k ponies with good performance breeding become available at half price ;-)
 
_CJ_ said:
Faithkat, is the dam and sire proven though, or would that have bumped up the price?


I agree that you won't know, a youngster is always a bit of a gamble, but I would look for things that may make the odds better than if I picked up a pony from the sales, such as
- if the dam and sire both did well in competition
- if the pony shows a nice natural loose jump (potential for jumping)
- if the pony has for example a BEF premium then that is of course reassuring as well.

so that is the type of pony that I am trying to figure out the current price bracket for.
Click to expand...

As I said, the grand-sire is a proven competition pony :
http://www.hollybrookestud.co.uk/branston.html.
The sire has only just started life as a ridden pony as he was a Forest-run (unbroken) stallion until a couple of years ago when he came off the Forest and was cut. Again, as I said, the mare is a Forest-run mare and therefore unbroken so who knows what her potential might be. If mine had proven parents on both sides he would be a lot more expensive!!! NFs in general do jump pretty well but as mine is only 3 and only been backed a couple of months I'm not even thinking about cantering him yet, let alone jumping, he's far too young and I don't have a nice springy school, I have a rock hard field!
 
Suzie86 said:
just had a nosey on horsequest on the competition ponies bit, under youngstock. OMG there are some expensive 3yr olds on there and thats without mentioning particularly good breeding!!! Feeling like i should up the price of my 5yr old now ;) honestly, how can a just backed 3 yr old 14.1 be worth 3k+!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Click to expand...

Strewth! and the best of luck to them. I'm asking less than half that and I haven't had a single call from the Horsequest ad. NFED has, at least, produced some replies (although all but one have been timewasters)
 
Very big danger with breeding a 15.2 you will not get a pony! (Depends also on what way she herself is bred i.e out of horses or small hroses/ponies?)
Prices could be from 400 + for an unbroken 14hh, probably around 8/900 for a nice looking one if you look hard enough.
 
Yes - her breeding is out of horses. If I did breed from my own mare I would probably put her to a WB stallion that suited her. (I have thought of finding a nice 12.2 stallion but you are right that it would be a big gamble height wise since her dam and sire were both around 16.1. She is bred to jump so I would probably use a SJ or SJ/event stallion because that would fit her best.

I were to buy a youngster on the other hand, I would probably look for something to mature at 14.2hh. I would expect to get much more for my money than if I bought a 16h WB youngster. I would look for an allrounder type in the hope for it to eventually become a family pony that could turn a hoof to anything. I am only 5'1/5'2 so a big pony will do :-)
 
It sounds like you want what all BSJA parents want... A potential top class pony that will measure in AND be safe... We have a 148cm 4 year old stallion very well bred, broken and going well, nice flat work, does a change ect, jumping round courses on 1m ish happily with fillers, water etc, hacks nicely etc etc etc. He is not for sale at present as we are looking to get him graded and buy a couple of pony mares to put him to to breed a pony for my son, but we would have to have in the region of £10k offered to us before we could even consider parting with him!! He is the little bay in my siggie jumping loose ( as a 2 year old )

People give very very strong money for good jumping ponies, I think £3k is quite an unrealistic price if you want it to jump round 1.20's - The 148 classes are sometimes only 1.20, and ponies that jump round them are £35 - £40k +

Good luck in your search

xx
 
Thank you. I am amazed that people spend that kind of money on their children's hobbies :-)

I don't expect to afford anything that is already out competing, but was hoping there may be cheaper "potential" jumping ponies that are still unbacked or just started.
 
Mine is bred to event - she is currently two.

So far she has been highest scoring sports pony (foal/yearling) at her venue then when they amalgamated ponies into disciplines, she was highest scoring eventer at her venue - never been out of the top 10.

She also has a superb temprement, out of proven parents (both head studbook graded, 9/10 for loose jump) with other offspring from the same stallion doing very well.

I can say for sure, I wouldn't sell her for less than £3k as she stands, and once under saddle, if she has half the ability of her mother, her price will increased dramatically.
 
For a pony with bloodlines then 3k is reasonable, esp for a nice connemara which would be what I would go for in your circumstances. You are almost better going to a few dealers and just seeing a few (just some rough irish ponies) as there are bargins to be had and they tend to be the sorts to do the job. All of our really good ponies have been real fluckes and just come from dealers, look for good conformation, paces and a nice loose jump, the rest is workable.
 
had a chuckle reading this. My hairy cob can clear 3'6 from a standstill, so I think I've bought a youngster to do happy hacking with - and he has ideas well above mine !
 
Unfortunatley my mare isn't straight forward and would probably be a bit too quirky for you,she has just turned 7,is currently jumping 1m at home,is doing courses with ease and has jumped the top of the wings on the lunge as if it's nothing! i think the producer is aiming to go higher this weekend, she has quite a pop and is going well so far,i doubt she will also dressage as she isn't keen,when it suits her she will do it but most days it's a no no,we're aiming her at Junior SJ's as she is she loves it and is very good at it! very point and shoot,but is fairly hot and can be sharp,she's v nearly had producers friend off a couple of times and she is used to 17hh ones that are naughty! She needs a young rider who is used to riding fiery ponies that can have the patience to work with her sometimes when she has 'a moment',i'm sure she will win many red rosettes for the right rider. She will also go with a LH certificate.
 
I have what you're after :P . Bought her last year as an unbacked 3yo, coming into the winter, for just under £1000. She was originally up for £2000, but has a scar on back leg (so won't show), and needs a nose net in summer, so was prob a fair price. Given my time cost of keep and work put into her (competed successfully unaff, safe as houses, seen most things, hacks out nicely, schooled well, been xc etc), I'd need to take £3800 or more if I sold, just to break even. Couldn't sell for that this year and love her to bits anyway, so am having fun schooling her on with the aim to do some proper dressage on her in the winter, and am gonna have fun really letting her go round some bigger unaff classes and aim at the champs for C&T, UK riders etc, since I can't find a small enough, reliable junior jockey for BS. She is SO much fun (is SPSS - by Laban, got two by him at mo and both are fab), and just amazing, real quality.

So yeah, I'd def buy not breed, as this is what I got for a very reasonable price:






and this last one is with a novicey child!
 
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I paid £3500 for my daughters unbacked 3 yr old 4 yrs ago. He had the makings of a top class jumping pony, ie right confirmation and I just liked the look of him. A lot of ''look at me'' presence.
It took a year of doing coloured chaps and hoys classes (showing) so we didnt rush his jumping and then in the last 2 yrs he has started BSJA. He was a very slow learner but is now jumping 1m15 (Bicton pony championships this August in the main arena, a very proud mummy!!!) confidently. She won a fun class last week jumping 1m 35. we were told not to jump him by her dressage trainer as she thought he would make an international Dressage pony. If I put this pony on the market now I would expect to get at least £12000 for him as a 7 yr old.
When you get a youngster you have no idea how it is going to turn out and I could not have looked at Harvey and known he was going to be as good as he is, only time and patience will achieve that.
by the way one of the best little jumping ponies on the circuit at the moment is a hairy little cob and he is just amazing............. look at cj's kemosabi another cob but has taken many of his junior riders onto the England team now and is worth his weight in gold.
So you never can tell. ,,,,,Harvey isnt a cob he is arab x quantock pony. no TB in him at all but every inch a champion and very much admired! :)
 
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