How much would you spend on a horse?

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Ali27

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I have just been having a discussion about horse prices with a few pony club mums? One of the mums is looking for a 14.2 pony which will pop a jump and most importantly hunts. She has a budget of around 2 - 2.5k. She is struggling to find anything! I know lots of people who have spent 4.5k - 7 k + on a 14.2 pony! However we got our 14.2 chesnut mare last Feb for a bargain 2.2k and she is super talented although not a push button ride! The mum was very surprised that I had found our mare for this price. It seems sometimes that if people spend lots of money on a pony/ horse then it will be perfect! However I know several people people who have spent mega bucks on a pony/ horse and still had problems.
I'm a great believer that it is not the cost of the pony/ horse but the work spent on it and also the rider ability. It has taken a good year for my daughter and pony to get to where they are now and the pony still has her funny little quirks but she is now flying round 3 ft courses with the ability to go much further in the future.
 
got no money to spend on anything these days!

but my mare was bought for me and my sister as a present 6 years ago for £1800. she was a green-only-just six year old but turned out to be worth her weight in gold. not a first pony but brilliant alround. all ours seem to have been bought for less and had a couple 'quirks' to work through but came good.

my sisters horse (she outgrew my mare within a year) cost £2800 but turned out to be an amazing jumper and they did BSJA etc, he was worth about £4000 before he broke down and now she's got new boy. but nonetheless sometimes you get more for less!

sorry if that has no relevance whatsoever :rolleyes:
 
Because I'll only do local comps and mainly hacking I won't spend a fortune as I don't need a perfect horse. I can cope with a lot of vices/behaviour etc and so won't spend more than 1k.

My youngster cost me £250 delivered.
The older one who is now fab was also bought as a project horse.

It would be different if I had a specific job/level in mind though, I'm sure.
 
You are right, it's not the money spent, it is the work put in and the riders ability.

None of my ponies cost anything when I was in pony club. They were all stiff, ancient ponies on loan that couldn't be sold but I did OK, I think my ponies were fabulous :).

My horse now is lush and he didn't cost much. Not that I'm a particularly amazing rider but I am consciencious and I do put lots of effort in.

I can't abide pony club mums. I'm dreading having a child and having to put up with pony club mums! I'm going to find my kid and old, scruffy pony and let them have fun. No posh ponies and pressure.
 
As much money as I had available. Right now, we couldn't afford to spend more than £500 on a horse, so we loan a really talented horse instead. This is what we've always done really.

But this mare cost her owner £2.5k. She had a nasty stop and hadn't completed a course over 2'6 in a very long time...
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But really, unless you do luck out, if you want a nice and solid allrounder to jump up to 3'3 and do teams on (Novice and maybe Intermediate) with a decent dressage, you could pay anywhere between £5k and £12k, depending on how well said pony does it all. If they're willing to take on the naughty ones, or the not-established one, or the pony who's got a bit of a rep, they'll pay less. Put it like this- we were contemplating buying a cute little 3yo conniexTB who'd make 14.2hh for about £600. We're fairly sure that by breaking her properly, competing her and getting some results and a decent basic outline/ willing jump we could ask £3k and get it in our area- this would be for a just turned 5yo without much to her name.

Nice ponies cost a lot, no matter what level they compete at unless they have quirks/ a odd background.
 
Ha ha - have to say our pony club is fab and all the mums are nice. However I did get told that my daughter's old pony (12.1) who didn't jump at mini camp years ago should be sold! Funnily enough, I did ignore that as she was the most amazing pony in every other way and taught my daughter to have a very good seat! She is now on loan to my old yard to their little girl who loves her! She coast £600 with tack eight years ago! I bought my 15hh mare for £1500 although at vetting discovered she was in foal so had her after the foal was weaned! The foal "Robbie" who is 14.2 is now jumping BSJA! I love my girl and would never part with her for all the money in the world!
 
firewell said:
You are right, it's not the money spent, it is the work put in and the riders ability.

None of my ponies cost anything when I was in pony club. They were all stiff, ancient ponies on loan that couldn't be sold but I did OK, I think my ponies were fabulous :).

My horse now is lush and he didn't cost much. Not that I'm a particularly amazing rider but I am consciencious and I do put lots of effort in.

I can't abide pony club mums. I'm dreading having a child and having to put up with pony club mums! I'm going to find my kid and old, scruffy pony and let them have fun. No posh ponies and pressure.
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The right PC mums are amazing! So rich they have no idea about anything, but the nice ones will lend anything, support anyone and help out with everything. Mad as a box of frogs, but lovely- just got to ignore the slightly annoying attitude about money!

The one thing about riding the naughty horses is that although you learn to be a confident and competent rider you never learn the fine tuning or how to look really good until you have a good horse/ the horse comes good. Al is only just working out how to ride well because until now she's been battling against having to ride conservatively/ in a very particular way for each specific horse...
 
My daughter is so glad that she has not got a push button pony and that she and DJ have progressed so much over the last year! That pony has made her in to a much stronger rider. So many people have commented on what a great pony she is and how they have clicked together! I love telling them that she was only £2200 and watching their surprise! got to love my bargain pony!
 
I paid £1450 for my 14.2 coloured pony about 7 years ago. He was 3 when I got him and a year later after alot of schooling he was worth £5k as would of won alot in the showing world. Unfortunatly he now has bone spavins and is probably not worth much at all. Doesnt matter to me though as he's going no where.
I would never spend more than £1500 on a horse. They are too easily injured and your money dwn the drain
 
i won't say how much my (slightly crazy) dad paid for his horse - he wanted something that was established and could compete at 1.30 so you can probably guess how much he spent (:eek:)

I grew up in dubai so I don't know whether we paid too much for my first horse but it was certainly much more than the numbers mentioned previously in this thread - the equivalent of £5k.


At the end of the day, surely how much you spend on a horse depends on whether you think it's worth the money?
 
i sold my 14.2 mare to a very competent 9 year old girl to compete BD. The mare had iso much ability already but needed someone who knew what they wanted from her. They bought her for £1500 from me - a complete bargain for the paces and ability the mare had.

There was also someone on my yard who spent 10k on a 4 year old warmblood by Gribaldi. A year later she is selling him for half that price after taking him to a professional yard where she was told to get rid asap as the horse had something 'wrong in the head'. Just shows, money doesnt always buy success!
 
The most we've spent is £2500, and the least £150. I wouldn't spend more than £2000 if I was looking now, that would be for a weight carrier for my OH, over 15.2hh, not nuts and not a slug - I would expect to find that type within my budget.
 
Ha ha - it is good to know that there are people like me that won't spend silly money on a horse!
Our little mare is probably worth double of what we paid for her but we would never sell her!
 
I know someone that spent £20K and it was a box of frogs! Bad mannered but had some excellent breeding, I remember leading it along and it dragged me. Blooming thing they had lots of problems with it and she ended up paying someone else to ride it for her! I wouldnt have paid a fiver for the darn thing!

At the moment I am looking and I cant work out the pricing at all. Looked at a £3k horse today and it was prob worth £1800for a hack. Looked at a nice traffic proof cob that was far too small for me(shame) it was £1200 I told the owner it was worth its weight in gold.! Another I probably will regret not buying at £3k but the yard owner was too pushy and expected me to buy in about 10 minutes(as she was "very qualified") and people coming back the next day....too much pressure and a lot of dosh for me to spend in a rush!

No rhyme or reason. Most horses are not as described either so I cant fathom most adverts out. I think a lot of people are really trying it on. I have met 2 genuine owners and am losing count of the number of viewings(10??)

For a hack I am looking to pay £2.5k and it was from this site that was the general ball park figure suggested to look at? But I would expect it to be pretty sane for that figure..um mine field.
I paid £1400 for my last 14.1 hack 13 years ago. My budget then was £2k.

A few years ago I bought a cheap little pony as a companion £500 and a pony club mum came to see it jump and was mortified that she had just spent £kkkk on a jumping machine and my little mongrel pony was flying over the jumps when her £kkkk didnt do the same.....
 
Titchy I paid £1 for as a yearling, now aged 2 she's out showing and doing extremely well so I'm guessing she's worth a bit more now!

Genie cost me £3.3k as a green 4 year old, at the time horse prices were high. She's now safely worth a fair bit more as she is an AMAZING allrounder. She does XC, SJ, Dressage and Showing all to a good standard.

If I were looking to buy now (which I'm not) I would be looking to get something young and unproven (as I have with Titch) and would not be prepared to spend over £2k.
 
Most people I know who have paid £££££££'s for horses have been several years down the line at the horse is damaged, broken down or simply the new owner cannot ride and produce the results the horse used to get.


I am very happy with my cheap as chips horse ;)
 
It always baffles me how much ponies/horses are costing in England etc! In NI, I am looking for horses at the min and have a rough budget of nothing extortionate but prices range from zilch to about £2500 for a great pony/horse (apart from the select few!) You're getting an 11 yr old pony club/ riding club pony for £1500, forward going but no vices! I'm glad I'm not in England paying 7k!! You need to put the work into every horse regardless of the price :)
 
£4k for a backed and turned away 3 year old (was 16.2hh, now pushing 17.1hh, ShirexHackney) about 18 months ago. Probably a bit much but he was worth it and possibly worth a tad more now, imo.

A few years ago I paid £1000 for a 15yo pony, hadn't done much over the years but was a safe and sensible. (sold her 2 years later for £1000 inc tack)

If I were to buy again (hopefully in the next 12 months) I'm after a foal/yearling, at least 15hh (either welsh D, ID, or something heavy) and ideally want to pay £600-800.
 
The problem with pony club is most mums, if they have the cash, will spend thousands of pounds on a pony so that the darling child is a) safe and b) winning.

The safe push button pony does not make them decent all round riders in the long run tho.
 
no more than £4k though really less i think ex racers are too lovely and cheap as chips the way forward for everyone!
 
lexiedhb said:
The problem with pony club is most mums, if they have the cash, will spend thousands of pounds on a pony so that the darling child is a) safe and b) winning.

The safe push button pony does not make them decent all round riders in the long run tho.
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I've always been a bit puzzled as to why anyone would want a push button pony. My kids have to get on & ride what we haven because our ponies are family members and are not going to be replaced with newer / faster (or in our case less quirky) / better models. They're never going to do pony club teams but that doesn't really matter. They love their ponies, learn to work around their quirks & have fun with them.
 
Lme - so agree with you! Our horses are treated as part of the family too! The only reason we got a new pony was that daughter outgrew her first pony so put her out on loan! All we wanted was a pony that could do a bit of everything and gave some fun on! The previous owner didn't really hack but luckily DJ is great in traffic and out hacking in company! She isn't great on her own but we work round that! It is a bonus that she has an amazing jump on her and will hopefully make PC teams this year!
 
Quite agree. I can only go from experience, when I was at pony club many moons ago I had the scruffy, plump cobby type, whose mane stuck up and who pulled like a tank. I moved on to an ex racer who cost £1000 inc tack and rugs.

It was not until we swaped horses that I realised that others pointed their horses at 3ft fences and then sat and did naff all, while I had to work every stride of the way.

I also went back to teach the babies once I had outgrown pony club and watched a pony put in nasty stop after nasty stop, and his poor rider fall off time and time again, for the pony to sail over it beautifully next time round. When she had finished her lesson I overheard her run squaling to her mum saying "mum mum mum, guess what I only fell off 10 times today"- mothers response " well done darling that is 3 times less than yesterday"

Builds character! :)
 
I know of a girl who out grew her 14hh pony, who was an absolute star and turned a foot at anything. Parents have a huge amount of money :rolleyes: so they buy her a 15hh gelding for approx 7k... He looks the part and certainly has the ability but he is an absolute swine apparently and too much horse for the girl.

Money can't buy you everything :)

I love nothing more then hearing of the cheap, bargain pony which was bought for buttons, that goes out and beats all the pricey ones!
 
Well it depends on what is available and how much money I have.

I would not spend all the money I had on a horse as I think it is good to have plenty of savings for security.

If I was really rich then I would be choosing the nicest horse I could find that was suitable for what I wanted to do, not just buy the most expensive horse I could find as being expensive does not always mean they are best for me.

I do understand though parents spending as much as they can on their children's ponies as good school masters can teach a child a lot and give them confidence as well as fun.
 
It seems to me there is quite a lot of inverted snobbery going on in this thread. So what if someone wants to buy their child, or themselves a pony that's all ready to get on and ride? Unschooled and inexperienced horses are not everyones cup of tea and not every child is confident to bring on a pony... Especially if it's their first or second. So well done to all of you who have bought cheap ponies and had a fantastic time with them ... Just because a pony might have cost four times that, it doesn't make a persons achievements with that pony any less remarkable to them because they bought one that they felt comfortable with and not a cheap one.
 
The whole point of this thread is that you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a good pony! I have no problem with people spending whatever they want on a pony but it makes me feel sad when people think that they can't get something decent for 2k or under!
 
my mum bought a 15.2hh 4yr old (that had already been put into foal at 2 and not been broken in properly AT ALL etc etc but had an amazing temperament and is now a lovely horse) for 2500 last year.
Then we bought my 15.3hh 2yr old coloured sports horse type for 2500 as well and then my little morgan filly who was one this year for 500 :)

i used to ride with people who paid 120,000 for one of their horses...15k for another and 80k for a mare....i used to feel good beating them at comps. with my 800squid 14.1 little pony :D

xx
 
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