How much would you pay for...

[TT55]

This horse:

15.1 irish bred gelding 6yo, suit a PC/RC home. Serious little hunting horse, hunted with the Quorn and never backed off anything, He has competed in lower level arena eventing and trailblazer dr/sj. good to clip box shoe etc. excels on the hunting field.

Photos in my opinion show a nicely put together horse with a kind eye. Although i'm no conformation expert...

Apologies, I know there are quite a few posts like this, but interested in this horse and wondered what you think he might be worth. He is over budget, but not sure if that is actually the going rate for a horse like this?

 

[wench]

Depends on how much scope he has to go further with the competing, and how easy he is to ride!

 

[TT55]

Depends on how much scope he has to go further with the competing, and how easy he is to ride!

Don't know about his scope as haven't been to see him yet... not really sure i'd be able to tell to be honest! By the sound of it, he is quite a straightforward ride and he sounds lovely by the owners description... but again, not ridden him yet! Don't want to waste the owners time if i'm not prepared to pay asking price... However, I might be able to stretch to the asking price (or make an offer near it) if it is genuinely the going rate for a horse like him!

 

[be positive]

Whether the asking price is the going rate is not relevant, it is whether he is worth it to you, the owners have set a price which may be negotiable this could be anything from £4k-£10k depending on how much they need to sell and how highly they rate him, the market may not be that good but it is still very hard to find a decent, sound horse that will do the job required, buying is only the start of the expenses involved and if the horse suits it is worth paying a premium for a really good one.
A good hunter can be worth it's weight in gold, if it does 10 seasons and costs £5k to buy at £500 per season that is a bargain, as this one is only 6 it could have far more than 10 seasons ahead of it which would be very good value indeed.

 

[JoClark]

I would look to see if he's working from behind correctly, nice leg movement. At 6 some horses have already had a lot of training but some can be very green. Id say it should take approx 20 minutes for a horse to warm up before working well, the is he balanced, corners will show this well, in trot and canter. What bit he is in, forcing head down or working correctly etc. Can he do anything extra, leg yielding, flying changes etc. Watch him being jumped, does he rush or is he forward and controlled, does he hesitate.

Ask to get in from the field and tack up or be there while owner tack's up, look for any flinches/ears back etc especially girthing.

Id say a horse as you describes can go between 3-5k really depends. If the horse is well schooled then towards the higher would be realistic.

 

[martlin]

A nice person of a horse that hunts well and brave would have to be at least £5K regardless of how well schooled it is.

 

[kassieg]

I would say if hes got a good temperament & is a straight forward ride probs about 7k

 

[Polos Mum]

A nice person of a horse that hunts well and brave would have to be at least £5K regardless of how well schooled it is.

Agree with this and then some, able to do a pleasant test so you could do a unaffiliated ODE next week and not come last, then work on over the summer to do some BE at the end of the season I suspect more like 8-10k if straight, sound and nice to handle.

 

[becca1305]

Something like him to me would be worth about £6-8k if he is schooling fairly sweetly on the flat has a nice straightforward easy jump and you can get references/confirmation to the claim that he has been hunting well with the Quorn. He is a youngster still so a little green-ness wouldn't worry me so long as he is displaying a nice attitude to his work. The difference in price for me would depend on whether I thought he had the potential to be smart at the lower levels eventing and maybe have the potential to move up later, or whether he was more of a decent allrounder capable of popping round lower level eventing.

 

[lurcherlu]

This kind of horse to me is priceless , a brave, polite hunter is worth it's weight in gold if it has a good few years left in it and at 6 I shold hope so .

As a pointer I was offered 2500 for a rising 4 year old with pretty much n schooling , no breeding but apy x 15.2 mare because she hunts politely in a snaffle and will stand for hours in between so I would say between 5 and 10k

 

[L&M]

We paid £2500 for a 14.2hh 5 yr old version of this - he is not yet as established as the chap you mention but shows all the signs that he will. He was hunted a season in Ireland and we have just finished a season with him over here and he has been worth he weight in gold on the hunting field. He is fun/has enough scope for me to a good blast on, but also been totally safe for my novice son to take out.

I would be looking at around the £4-£5k mark.

 

[paulineh]

A horse is what you are prepared to pay. As I have never paid over £600 for any of my horses then I can only presume that people are prepared to pay high prices.

It the same as a car or mobile phone. If you want something fancy then pay the price if not then don't.

 

[pip6]

Ditto Pauline re price. If the horse is exactly what you want, who cares if someone else thinks he was pricey.

 

[OWLIE185]

If the horse is also bombproof in traffic and spookproof and 100% controllable in all situations then £3,500

 

[Wagtail]

I would say between £5 and £7k.

 

[ihatework]

It is a very difficult question to answer.
It will depend a lot on how much the current owners want to sell, their location (and the demand in that area).
It will also depend on how easy he is to have around, any medical issues/quirks and how much potential he has to compete successfully outside of the hunting field.

Furthermore his value to a purchaser will depend on what they want him for.
It sounds to me as though the bulk of his value at the moment is as a hunter. A decent hunter will always command a price to that market and probably a baseline value of 5K working up depending on his other attributes.

To a market as more of an allround competition horse it comes down to how well he is proving himself now and what his potential is to go on further. This is not clear from your post. Taking the decent hunter out of the equation (assuming you have no aspirations in that field) then with 3.5K in your pocket you could probably go out and buy a nice unassuming small 6yo that had done a bit of unaff stuff with moderate success.
With 10K in your pocket you could buy a smart small 6yo showing all the attributes to be a decent JRN/PC Open team horse.

So it really depends on where the horse you are interested in fits in the grand scheme of things.

 

[TT55]

Thank you all very much for your replies! It seems that this horse is reasonably priced (he is £4k). I know that a horse is whatever you want to pay for it, however, it's nice to know you are not getting ripped off and can get a similar standard of horse for half the price.

My main love is polo and I already own a polo pony (6 year old TB mare). I have been shopping for a second polo pony, however, I always feel a bit left out when my friends compete in showjumping/ arena eventing/ XC. So basically want a polo pony that can turn it's hoof to those sorts of things. Since decent polo ponies are hard to come by and expensive, let alone ones that can "multi task", I am looking to get an allrounder/RC type horse and will train it to play polo.

This horse seems to tick all the boxes and seems like a real genuine sort (however, as I said previously I haven't viewed it yet)... It's great that it seems to be a good hunter, but in reality, i'm not going to be doing lots of hunting more unaffiliated riding club level SJ/XC/dressage etc and of course polo. I should really just go and have a look, but i'm so careful in what I view as I never want to be a time waster!

 

[TT55]

Just saw this ad:

http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/110454350/142hh-palamino-7yo.html

Wish she was a couple of inches taller, but might be worth a look. Opinions?