How much would you expect to pay for a decent thoroughbred?

tobiano1984

tobiano1984

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Following a post of mine a few months regarding rehabbing racehorses I just wanted to see what sort of price people would expect to pay for a decent TB. I'm looking at working with a couple of racehorse owner friends, rehoming their failed or non-starter flat racers from my yard (currently train/sell 'normal' horses). The only ones I'd take on are all under 5, good conformation, vice free and sound.

We would take them in and rest/let down if needed, go barefoot, lots of groundwork, hacking, basic schooling so they're ready to go out and do a dressage test, maybe some jumping. What I'm wondering is:
A) would you rather buy the raw product, I.e no reschooling, just adjusted to normal life and healthy or buy something that has all the basics (schooling, hacking, jumping)?
B) what sort of price would you expect to pay for either of the above?

This is generally an on-the-side activity aimed at giving ex-racers a chance, but obviously needs to at least wash its face if its to be practical. My aim would be to have horses that are essentially the equivalent of their peers in the warmblood/ISH breeds - whether they're capable of eventing, dressage or just suited to hacking/RC/hunting, not sad cases that look half dead and end up with someone only because they're cheap. We'd also offer after-sales support and advice particularly on feeding, feet (my TBs so far are all barefoot) and behaviour.

Thoughts please!
 
I used to do this as a sideline alongside producing show ponies and whp's.

The tbs woukd come in staggered, eg 2 at a time every 3 to 4 weeks.
They would be with me for anything from 6 weeks upwards, fetching from 1k to 8k depending on how long we had them, what they were doing etc, the average price being around 2.5k

Good luck, have fun, keep your sense of humour when ambitious purchasers arrive, and dont expect a fortune for them :)
 
Tricky one really because the type you describe are coming out of 'rescue' centers and racehorse rehabilitation charities all over the country so I guess they would be better able to put a price on them perhaps?

If it were me I would expect to pay anything from 1k to about 2.5k? :confused:
 
I've just paid £1k for one, done nothing since he left the track really so having a holiday with me then starting from scratch (actually that's a bit harsh he'll stand at mounting block and potter round the school ok) but he's nicely bred, nicely put together and a top personality (non horsey OH can change his rug in the field etc.) hasn't put a foot out of line yet, 100% to catch and likes being around people - so a very trainable attitude.

I guess you'll be paying £200/300 for them and you won't know until you've had them a week or so whether they really do windsuck/ weave or not etc. So budget for having some not 'make it' though your retraining.
 
Price I think would entirely depend on the horse... I have a friend who does this, but he probably does much less than you are proposing. I think he gets the horses for free then sells them on for around the 1k mark. Lovely types, but usually havent done much...

In answer to your other question, personally I would rather buy something that has had some reschooling as the raw product is very easy to come by.
 
I would say around the 1 to 2k mark for an average TB let down from racing and restarted in schooling basics. For one at the same stage of schooling with really good conformation or displaying obvious talent then up to 3k.
Should be more really but market dictates not unfortunately
 
Great - this sounds along the lines of what I was thinking. I get them in for the cost of transporting them from my friends (about £100 per horse), and would expect them to be as described as I know them well and doubt they would send a crock over! I hope not :-)
 
Any where between 300 and 5000 pounds depending on what someone is willing to pay
Top notch event horse a lot more
Friend of mine sold a lovely low level dressage horse for 400 pounds
 
I am on my third ex-racer. First one was sane and had done a bit, the other two were the raw product. Personally for me, I prefer the raw product straight from the trainer, but I would not touch a flat raced horse straight from the track, only ever national hunt horses which tend to have had a more rounded background and not just hurtled from A to B. . If I were to go for a flat raced horse then I would want it to have had some sort of training first.
 
amymay said:
How much is any decent horse worth?
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This!

If a horse is sound and will pass a vetting then if it has raced once or a hundred times isn't an issue IMO. If it's come out of racing sound and well then all things are pointing towards it being a fairly sound creature. As the horse gets towards it's latter years then yes, you'd expect them to slow down but I'm not sure how hugely it shortens a working life realistically...

A young TB reschooled off the track... Anywhere from £1.5k to £6k. Maybe more if it's seriously nice! Which is much like any other horse really. Depends on the quality of the horse and the reschooling.
 
I'm not too keen on flat racer bred TBs, I prefer the (generally) more old fashioned, sturdier steeplechaser bred ones. Some TBs are very much diamonds in the rough when you first see them so, as you probably know, you have to try to see beyond what's in front of you. I always prefer to have them in their raw state and build up. I've paid between 500 - 5,000 for my TBs.
 
Spring Feather said:
I'm not too keen on flat racer bred TBs, I prefer the (generally) more old fashioned, sturdier steeplechaser bred ones. Some TBs are very much diamonds in the rough when you first see them so, as you probably know, you have to try to see beyond what's in front of you. I always prefer to have them in their raw state and build up. I've paid between 500 - 5,000 for my TBs.
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I'm with you on this aesthetically, but I think the flat racer type is easier to sell... 15.2hh-16.2hh is much more desired than a hulking great 17hh of muscle (even if the 17hh one is the gentlest soul on earth and the 15.2hh is off his head most of the time)!
 
Lolo said:
I'm with you on this aesthetically, but I think the flat racer type is easier to sell... 15.2hh-16.2hh is much more desired than a hulking great 17hh of muscle (even if the 17hh one is the gentlest soul on earth and the 15.2hh is off his head most of the time)!
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Yes you could very well be right. They're also probably more structurally compatible with doing dressage which is what a fair amount of people buying TBs seem to enjoy doing. I breed, and have mine approved with WB registries so mine have to be big hulking beasties to compete alongside the WBs :smile3:
 
I think the problem comes value wise when you start advertising them as ex racers. I some people have a notion that you can pick them up cheap as chips and anyone can retain them, so why pay more?. I know of someone who hadn't don't much riding and having seen my ex racer 5 years down the line thought she was so easy that she would just pick up one of her own for nothing and do the same....needless to say that it was a disaster (despite the horse being actually very nice). I think that there is definately a market out there for this kind of thing but I would shy away from selling them as 'retrained racehorses' as I believe it drops their value.
 
I just paid £1400 for my six year old mare having been let down and done a couple of months of re-schooling at a private yard who knew her trainer.

There is a racehorse rehoming centre in the midlands who sell their ridden horses for £1000 and non/ ridden projects for £500 upwards- I'm not sure if there is regional variation or they're sadly this cheap everywhere?!

Re: your age limit, I wonder if a broader age range may be better? Some purchasers are looking for the mental maturity of something a little older and don't mind something with more racing miles- just wondering if you might be limiting your potential audience there?

Sounds great though so good luck! :-)
 
Off the track about £300-£500, re-schooled around £2000, unless it is showing great talent. I love re-schooling OTT tb's but there is no profit in it. Generally I would expect a whole year for one to be in a position to sell and after a year of keep, feed etc this would leave me in excess of cost of 2k, without any problems in the way. It's sad but tb's just are not making any money. We did have a good mare that we could have sold 100x over but it took 3years to get her eventing and showing to a high level. I would have priced her at £5000. Still meaning we were 1k down. Good luck OP, they are highly rewarding but for profit, no way.
 
I paid 1600 for my 12 year old ex racer who had done unaf dressage, bsja and be. He's about to do his first novice bd and was reserve champ trailblazers ROR combined training 2013.
 
Lolo said:
I'm with you on this aesthetically, but I think the flat racer type is easier to sell... 15.2hh-16.2hh is much more desired than a hulking great 17hh of muscle (even if the 17hh one is the gentlest soul on earth and the 15.2hh is off his head most of the time)!
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I've found ex-chasers to be an absolute nightmare before, mostly because I've wanted to jump with them. I haven't had so much experience with flatwork schooling with jumpers but trying to get them to shorten strides and jump normally was always pretty trying. And hard to keep weight and muscle on. I quite like the smaller stocky ones, plus the flat racers I'd be getting are all very young and of the two I've got coming in at the moment one only raced 8 times and the other didn't even make it to the track so they hopefully aren't too indoctrinated.
 
avthechav said:
I think the problem comes value wise when you start advertising them as ex racers. I some people have a notion that you can pick them up cheap as chips and anyone can retain them, so why pay more?. I know of someone who hadn't don't much riding and having seen my ex racer 5 years down the line thought she was so easy that she would just pick up one of her own for nothing and do the same....needless to say that it was a disaster (despite the horse being actually very nice). I think that there is definately a market out there for this kind of thing but I would shy away from selling them as 'retrained racehorses' as I believe it drops their value.
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I completely agree - I'm intending to market them as TBs not ex-racers, and steer away from lingo like 'rehabilitation' 'rehoming' etc as it makes them sound like charity cases and the ones I'll be selling won't be! One of the ones I have at the moment has been let down and fed well and looks more like a WB now, people are actually surprised when I say he's a TB.
 
Melody Grey said:
I just paid £1400 for my six year old mare having been let down and done a couple of months of re-schooling at a private yard who knew her trainer.

There is a racehorse rehoming centre in the midlands who sell their ridden horses for £1000 and non/ ridden projects for £500 upwards- I'm not sure if there is regional variation or they're sadly this cheap everywhere?!

Re: your age limit, I wonder if a broader age range may be better? Some purchasers are looking for the mental maturity of something a little older and don't mind something with more racing miles- just wondering if you might be limiting your potential audience there?

Sounds great though so good luck! :-)
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I know the place you're talking about, I follow them on FB. I think their ridden horses are very much just walk/trot/canter round the school and not much more than that - but I know they are selective about homes and don't sell youngsters to people who wouldn't know what they're doing.

The horses I'm offered are all failed flat racers and they are usually pulled out of racing by the time they are 3, anything older tends to have been a bit more successful if it's lasted longer! I wouldn't turn down an older horse if it was very sane and sound but my feeling is that the longer they're in racing the longer they take to come out of it. Saying that each one needs to be treated individually so never say never :-)
 
The wife said:
Off the track about £300-£500, re-schooled around £2000, unless it is showing great talent. I love re-schooling OTT tb's but there is no profit in it. Generally I would expect a whole year for one to be in a position to sell and after a year of keep, feed etc this would leave me in excess of cost of 2k, without any problems in the way. It's sad but tb's just are not making any money. We did have a good mare that we could have sold 100x over but it took 3years to get her eventing and showing to a high level. I would have priced her at £5000. Still meaning we were 1k down. Good luck OP, they are highly rewarding but for profit, no way.
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I don't think there's a huge profit to be made and that's not the reason I'm doing it, but I disagree that there's no profit at all. I get them in for free off the track, I don't pay livery for them, and I would aim to sell some of them on pretty quickly to homes that want to retrain themselves, and others would be reschooled first which in the past I've done in a few months, if I had them a year I would expect them to be out competing and therefore worth more than £2k. Obviously you're going to get some duds along the way and nothing is guaranteed, but I think if approached sensibly there's some money to be made, albeit not very much! And a rewarding service to otherwise wasted horses.
 
Personally i wouldn't take one for free but then i don't like tbs anymore. My friend takes them for £1 lol
 
I think you're doing a fab thing. TB's are smart horses, I agree not everyones' cup of tea, and it's heartbreaking to see them wasted. My friend has an ex NH, who I often ride, and he's so quick at picking up new stuff it's amazing. Just have to transfer it to his jumping - it's a bit hair-raising. Hang on and pray.
 
Just thought I'd update on my original post, for any that were interested..! I've had two TBs come in straight from training in Newmarket this year. One was 3 and although in training never raced. He had 2 months rest and turned barefoot, and then very lightly brought him on with a bit of schooling, hacking out and popping a little course of coloured. He is a bit of a gem - I think he was dropped on his head as foal..! Very quiet and cuddly and never going to be a world beater at anything - not a competitive bone in his body. I listed him for £2750 and got full asking price 2 weeks later from the first to view. Not a bad investment considering he was given to me and I kept him at grass for 5 months.
The other one is also 3, and currently won't be sold as my rider (an eventer) has fallen head over heels for him and he has a seriously trainable attitude and amazing jump so we're going to hang on to him to do BE80 or age classes next year and see how it goes - he's also barefoot and had raced 8 times, and has transformed in the last 6 months or so from a very excitable racehorse to pretty much the same attitude as his cob field mates. So I think he will be our 'flagship' ex-racer!!

Will definitely take in some more early next year, I don't really want to have loads as I think you then increase the risk of getting a dud, and would prefer not to have them over winter, but it is rewarding and their former racing owner (the same person owned both) is following them with interest and delighted with what we've done!

Here they are - the bay with the silver tail is the one we're hanging on to, the chestnut is the one we sold:

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Lovely update! I have an ott TB who is now 25! I love seeing ott TB's in their new career and what a couple of crackers they are! Well done you should be really proud x
 
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