How much do you knock off of the price of a horse if it is an ex racer?

C

Charliepony

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 December 2010
Messages
336
Location
Herefordshire, England
Visit site
Just wondering, as I have a nice little horse (who isn't for sale and hopefully never will be!!) who:

- Is young.
- Is flashy with nice markings (nearly black and four white legs), floaty paces and correct conformation.
- Passed a five stage vetting last year.
- Is the sort of animal you can do anything with. Had lorries let off their airbrakes next to him with no reaction, will stand tied for hours, is just generally so ridiculously easy to ride and handle that he would suit a complete beginner (and has been hacked, including canter and gallop in company) with beginners. Is truly the ultimate confidence giver. Honestly the quietest, safest horse I have EVER owned, continues to shock me with his unflappability!! Not lazy either, just mannerly and straightforward. Whoever schooled him must have been a genius.
- Not really competed at jumping but doing 2'9 courses at home, always placed prelim and novice dressage, done all PC activities including camp and is just completely and utterly unphased by everything.

Problem being, he's an ex racehorse. At first no-one believes me - because he's fairly chunky (I keep getting asked if he's a hanoverian or a connemara, strangely enough) and just so ridiculously laid back, but when I show them the papers they always say what a shame it is! Because otherwise he would be worth a lot of money!

Now the thing is, the reason I imagine people wouldn't want an ex racer is a) they have a reputation for being crazy, and b) soundness issues. He has neither of these - would the fact that he raced a couple of times still have a massive impact on his price?
 
I can't see that being an ex-racer would put anyone off - frankly he sounds a real gem and a good horse is a good horse! :D

He has been rehabilitated and that is the hard work with some ex-racers to re-school them to do another job.
I suppose the only bad point maybe if he was raced and broken young. Some are broken as yearlings which is pretty harsh on young bones.
 
TBH I would say, generalising, the main reasons you can often pick them up cheap, is that the bargains usually need some work putting in, building them up, introducing them to life outside of racing, and schooling, etc, and some may have wear and tear issues, or old injuries. However if you have a sound, clean limbed horse who is going very nicely and behaving himself, then I would not expect to pay any less because of his past history.
 
YasandCrystal said:
I suppose the only bad point maybe if he was raced and broken young. Some are broken as yearlings which is pretty harsh on young bones.
Click to expand...

This is very true. I have a 10 year old ex NH horse, who is retired due to arthritis, Navicular and KS. All due to being hammered as a baby.

On the other hand though, I know many ex racers, especially the ones who didn't do very much, or only trained and didn't race who have remained sound into old age. A vetting is crucial, but then it is when you're buying any horse... A lot of people I know who've recently bought horses worth several thousand, have had xrays done during the vetting. I also did when I bought my warmblood last year, so if you're thinking of asking a decent price for the horse, then potential buyers will be more vigilent when it comes to soundness and the likelyhood of them wanting to do xrays increases.
 
I dont see why a horse would be worth any less because he/she is an ex-racer, if they are capable of doing the work any horse that has not raced is doing why should the price be cheaper.
I have a ex-racer for sale that is exactly the same as OP's and i would not ask any less in price because she raced 6 times
 
I don't think there is any reason why an ex racer should be cheaper than any other horse once they have been retrained and seen to have no injuries, unsoundness issues. IME they are the most well mannered and intelligent animals. They are used to hacking out in company and travelling to and staying at new places. They are used to crowds and machinery. Give me an ex-racehorse any day.
 
A few years ago it used to be a case with horses like yours that passports would go missing and they’d end up being A N Other sports horse. Now with the introduction of RoR classes in most fields people are getting rewarded for taking them on.

I’ve got a fairly similar horse, no one believes that I have a ‘confidence giving ex-racer’ yes he has the odd moment but 98% of the time he’s a total gem and the horse I feel the safest on.
 
Yes, you see horses at dealers being called Sportshorses with unknown history, and yet they are blatantly full blooded thoroughbreds with spots from racing saddles... I was thinking I'd be slightly tempted to go down this route myself if his racing career meant his price being cut in half!! ;)

Ahh, I'd forgotten about RoR! I think they're a brilliant idea, anything that encourages the rehab of ex racers has to be a good thing! He would be elegible, I'm not a showing person but I should try and enter him in some!

I've always loved tbs, glad that they're fashionable now :p Makes me feel like a trendsetter! He is a fashionable sort of horse, big and black, looks good in sheepskin and newmarket stripe :cool:

Haha I feel better about this now, I was thinking if I ever did come to sell him it would be for a pittance, despite him being the best allrounder I've ever had, and that is never a nice feeling!
 
Charliepony said:
Ahh, I'd forgotten about RoR! I think they're a brilliant idea, anything that encourages the rehab of ex racers has to be a good thing! He would be elegible, I'm not a showing person but I should try and enter him in some!
Click to expand...

^^^not just Showing Classes, RoR class series in BE, Dressage, Hunters, SJ, Endurance :D perfect for an all-rounder :D^^^
 
In all honesty the problem is because they were started young and at least in training for racing, this is hard on young bones and there is a risk it will cause soundness issues

However this is a risk with any horse you do not know the history of!

ROR are very popular so increasing the value of horses like yours
 
I wouldn't knock anything off the price. Despite you being asked if yours is a connemara or a Hano - I wouldn't touch either of those - give me a TB any day!
 
Dab said:
^^^not just Showing Classes, RoR class series in BE, Dressage, Hunters, SJ, Endurance :D perfect for an all-rounder :D^^^
Click to expand...

I didn't know that! That's great :D Shame my TB never even made it into training :p (Although my job is much, much easier as a result)

J&C
 
If the horse is sound, trainable and the right tempremant the fact they are ex-racers shouldn't make a difference.

I love my TB's and have had several ex-racers, I may just have been unlucky but all mine have been written off before the age of 10 due to soundness issues, wouldn't stop me buying another though, love my TB's!!
 
The only one of mine retired due to soundness at a young age (the others are all old men!) is a hardy cob type. And it did put me off getting another cobby job, that and that he's really quirky and not an easy horse to handle... So just goes to show!! I suppose you can never judge a horse by it's breed!!

I do worry about my fella being worked at a young age, but my irish friend said that many of the slightly dodgier breeders often break theirs young and hammer them on the roads, and yet people will pay through the nose for an irish import, even with unknown breeding or history! So I think it's just different outlooks...
 
To my mind, once a horse has been reschooled and can stand alone as a normal riding horse then they should be judged and valued on an equivalent level.

I would never even mention the 'ex racer' part when selling a horse - I wouldn't hide it, but to my mind, if they've been reschooled, its no longer relevant and shouldn't affect their value.
 
amy_b said:
I would have to say the opposite, dare i say ex-racers are *cough* fashionable at the moment!! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

This is very true!! I bought my exracer 5 years ago now and everyone thought I was mad! He's 13 now and still going strong. Seems everyone has them now! Once retrained and if they're sound I don't think they should be discriminated price wise, at the end of the day they're tb (my fave!), intelligent and generally well mannered and been there, seen it, got the tshirt kind of thing! Can't beat them IMO!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top