Offered Horse to Buy

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RookyRider

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Hi, currently loan a 5 year old, 15.1h, Frisian X Cob, not broken in, but currently in the process of trying to do the same. The owner has recently asked if I would like to buy the hourse for a sale price of £1,000! I think this is too steep, but I am no expert. The horse was unvacinated, teeth never been seen to and causing problems, hooves badly over grown and came with very little equipment. So as well as the cost of transporting the horse to current yard I have had to incur vet fees of around £200 to sort these problems, purchased tack, rugs, all other equipment to keep a horse in tip top condition. Is a £1,000 a fair price?:cool:
 
A horse (like anything else) is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. As the current Market is dire and very little is selling, probably not.
Offer £500, she'll probably grab it.
 
not in a million years, is its breeding was 100% quality i would, but it's not.

I'd deduct costs for dentist, vets, transport and then pay what's left.
 
The costs you have incurred would have been incurred when buying many horses (to a greater/lesser degree).

£1000 sounds reasonable to me TBH.
 
RookyRider said:
Hi, currently loan a 5 year old, 15.1h, Frisian X Cob, not broken in, but currently in the process of trying to do the same. The owner has recently asked if I would like to buy the hourse for a sale price of £1,000! I think this is too steep, but I am no expert. The horse was unvacinated, teeth never been seen to and causing problems, hooves badly over grown and came with very little equipment. So as well as the cost of transporting the horse to current yard I have had to incur vet fees of around £200 to sort these problems, purchased tack, rugs, all other equipment to keep a horse in tip top condition. Is a £1,000 a fair price?:cool:
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How long have you had the horse on loan?
 
Considering the depressed market and the fact that he's not yet broken I would say it's a little steep.

As someone else said all the other expenses you would/could incur with any other new horse.

A horse is worth what someone is willing to pay. Earlier this year I loaned a horse for 5 months and if given the chance to buy her I would I'm sure have paid over the odds - because I was very attached to her and her owner knew that. She was a 4 year old welsh cob x who was broken just before she came to me as a loan horse. I invested a lot of time, money and emotion in her during the 5 months I was lucky enough to loan her. That included providing everything from tack to the obvious vets/farrier fees and vaccinations etc. although she did come to me in nice condition too - having had all these things undertaken by her owner before loaning her.

So you are in the position where you have invested a considerable amount not just financially but emotionally in this horse. The question is do you make the decision with your heart of your head?

Despite what I've said above, now I'm detached from my particular situation I would make the decsion with my head and only offer what you consider he is actually worth - which I would think would be around £500 - £800. I don't think you can expect his owner to reimburse you for what you have invested in him through your own choice so far.
 
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As someone who has been looking to buy for a while and have found it hard think 1k is a little steep, if she put the horse on the market she wouldhave to advertise as a project and at £1000 think it would be on for quite a while, i agree would offer £500 and take it from there, maybe point out expenses already incurred to get the horse in the condition it should have been in when you loaned it?
 
If you do intend to buy and the owner wants to sell it makes sense to buy as soon as you can, agree a fair price based on its current value around £1000 sounds about right if the horse is nice and what you want to have. If you wait it will go up in value, it may be your work that increases that value but there will be nothing to stop the owner having him back when the agreement ends and selling for whatever price they want then.

The purchase price is hardly relevant in owning a horse as you are finding regular dentist, vets bills, farrier and all the day to day expenses soon add up.
 
RookyRider said:
On loan since April 2012, contract for 24 months, always hoped to buy, but not expecting it so soon.
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Was the agreement that you would break the horse in? (Are you doing this yourself or paying someone else to do it)?

If I had taken a horse in the state it came to you and paid all costs so far then I would not consider paying more that £500 tops and only then if you consider it was worth that when it came to you. If you have not broken in yet I would stop the process until this is sorted out as you will be doing all the work for someone else.
 
That seems a lot to me going into winter as well. I'd offer £500 expecting to be negotiated up a bit but if she wouldn't negotiate then, depending on how you feel about the horse, you can say you'll have to think about returning him to her should she need to sell now.be very careful to phrase it that you'll have to think about it though, because that way you can back down if she wants to take him back without backing up too much. ;)

Of course if you really like and want to buy the horse then your best bet would be to pay her asking price.

Good luck whatever you do :)
 
If you really like this horse and the owner cares enough to sell it to someone who it's already settled with, then a bit of careful negotiation might get you a bargain and a happy ex-owner.

No point in insulting the owner and getting her back up, just lay your cards on the table.
 
I was in the same situation as you, and also a friesian x cob! He was in a very bad state and the seller wanted £900 but I told her what was wrong with him and how much it will cost me if I bought him to make him better and I offered no more than £300 (yes that's how bad he was!) and I told her I'm not going higher than 300 and she accepted it :) just maybe try what I did it might work! X
 
Many thanks for all your helpful posts. Things have progressed a little, but unfortunately not in the right direction. After daughter posted various pictures of her progress in breaking the horse in, the owner has taken to objecting to it (this has only become an issue since we would not go any further with purchasing said horse for £1,000. She will not budge on the price as she believes it is worth a lot more as a proven breading mare!!). She has said that she will gladly have the horse back if we are struggling!! Looks like she wants her cake and eat it! Do we continue or do we give her up ... younger daughters would be very upset to see her go!
 
Is there any way you could post a sneeky picture - a friesian x cob could turn out many ways..

If you think that the horse will turn into something quite nice, and you will regret not buying, then do it - £1k is not a ridiculous price for a horse at the end of the day, and the value will go up anyway once the horse is broken and working.. We bought my stepson's first loan pony for more than we should have, but she was young, we did lots of work, she turned out really well for us, and we sold her on for more anyway..

If you're having any doubts, walk away, there will be a lot of unbroken projects around at that price..
 
I think it is too much, have you looked at other similar horses advertised online? If you can find any similar you could perhaps show the owner although it may annoy her.. what does the horse look like? If it looks flashy like a freisian then it may be worth more, but if it just looks like a cob then I wouldn't say it was worth more than any other cob really. I think you wouldn't be ripped off it you paid 800, but should probably be more like 700, if the horse was any smaller I'd say less.
 
Hhmm....tough call.

Has the horse successfully bred a nice foal or foals? If she hasn't then she's not a "proven" breeding mare is she?

Personally for the work, time and cost involved in breaking I'd say the asking price is too high however when you take into account the upset to all of you to let her go then and considering she is a youngster with her whole life ahead of her with you then paying a couple of hundred pounds more for her at this point going forward will one day become almost incidental to you. The fact will be you have her, she's yours. As mentioned previously had the owner of my loan horse not decided to keep her for herself I would have snapped her hand off and paid over the odds for her - for the very same reasons as you mention here.

I was totally distraught in the week that my loan horse returned to her owner. On the day itself I couldn't bear to be there when she went. Going to the field after she'd gone and her being missing was just awful. Unbelieveably hard. Her field mate was as distraught as I was to be left and had it not been for having to focus my attention on him and getting him through that period of time I would have been in a much worse state i think. I went the previous evening with all the family and did a special photo-shoot with her and those pictures are precious. But my "story" has a very happy ending....

It's a long story so I won't go into all the whys and wherefores but I ended up taking on trial a horse which, on paper at least didn't seem ideal for me. However she was and we bonded, along with the rest of our family, very, very quickly and I have now purchased her.

My loan horse was a just broken 4 year old who required an awful lot of work to develop her to enable her to reach her full potential. Her owners were quite keen for her to do dressage and some showing - something I am not up to date with (I had quite a break from riding for a number of years) on the showing front and have never undertaken on the dressage front. So looking back maybe I as a "happy hacker" was not the right person for her given her owners remit.

The ironical thing is my new horse is 8 years old, has beautiful paces and has bred two stunning foals to date and going forward I think I may well have some lessons and try some (very elementary) dressage tests with her, my daughter is also interested in learning dressage on her.

I could not have brought on the 4 year old to that point without professional help - so this is something for you to think about on the breaking side. I am amazed I have found a horse with whom I and my family have bonded relatively quickly - when she went I thought the loan horse would be such a hard act to follow.

So I guess what I'm saying is this won't be the only horse your daughter will feel that way about should you decide to let her go. What I suspect would happen however if you offered the owner say £800 or to return the horse that at the 11th hour she would "reluctantly" accept your offer. If you do try this though you have to be prepared to lose her if the owner sticks to her guns.

Ironically as far as I am aware my ex loan horse went straight out with her owners other horses and hasn't been touched since. So she's not reaching her potential there either. But I could be wrong on this score.
 
I am the original poster's daughter. Very upset about the whole situation but trying to keep myself together.

This is our beloved horse, the friesian x cob 5 year old mare.
This photo was taken last week, but believe me she looked nothing like this when we got her:
54383_10151158061074422_1748224142_o.jpg


She bred one foal when she was 2 and a half, that is all she's bred, unsure how much the foal sold for but she was a nice looking foal. She is an unregistered friesian cross and her parentage includes a uncredited dam and a sire by the name of Liewe (spelling may be incorrect).

Would appreciate all replies.
 
Hard one quick answer £ 500.
Not so quick answer if you you love the horse and want her and want to ensure her future how much more is that worth .
 
If you really love her and her owner won't budge, I'd bite the bullet and buy her anyway. It would be such a shame to lose her after all your hard work and you're clearly very attached to her. Its so hard to find the perfect horse and if you think she is it, don't let her go! :)
 
Well, while she is nothing amazing, she is a nice type, who could turn into a great allrounder for pc/rc/hunting etc when a few years older.. I think that they are asking top whack for her, but if you like her and she will suit you for a few years, then I would go for it, especially as you've already bought all her tack and rugs etc. You may find more for your money, but sometimes its better the devil you know, and you already know and love this one..

I think if you do things properly, and she goes well, you could double your money in a few years easily.. I would bite the bullet, buy the horse and get the owner off your back, or else give the horse back and look for something else. I wouldn't put anymore work into the horse for an owner who will not give you anything back..
 
patchy_horses said:
I am the original poster's daughter. Very upset about the whole situation but trying to keep myself together.

This is our beloved horse, the friesian x cob 5 year old mare..
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Pay it if you have it.


She may not be "worth" it on the market, but she is to you. Don't cut off your own nose to spite your face. The fact that the current owner gets more than she deserves is not relevant if you get the horse that you love. She'll get her come-uppance some time in her life or the next one!
 
Sadly hindsight is a wonderful thing and although you are very proud of what you have achieved with her (and so you should be, she looks lovely) you should have kept the hard work to yourself. That way you would have given yourself a better hand when negotiating!

Its a tricky situation and if you are that fond of the horse then pay the asking price. You are still in a contract with the loan so you either end that contract and send her back or perhaps suggest the owner puts her up for sale and you STOP work on her and if she isnt sold within a certain amount of time at that price you will purchase her for for a lower price!

Good luck
 
hollybear said:
If you really love her and her owner won't budge, I'd bite the bullet and buy her anyway. It would be such a shame to lose her after all your hard work and you're clearly very attached to her. Its so hard to find the perfect horse and if you think she is it, don't let her go! :)
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This is what I think but her owner is unlikely to get £1000 for her in the present market elsewhere since she is unbroken. Is she microchipped and passported?

It is also going to cost her owner some money to keep her through winter. If she goes to sell her it's likely she would take an offer from someone else. I think she's trying to cash in on your attachment to her.

But on the flip side of this as Goldenstar just said you can ensure her a safe future with you so how much is that worth to you? All the time you are keeping her and working with her and putting condition on her you are increasing her value. I'd try to get it sorted one way or another.
 
Well I think she is very nice, I would be tempted to call her bluff, she obviously knows you love the horse and I think she is trying to take advantage! I reckon in theory I would make an offer of 800 and say put her on the market.... But even as I type this you've got to think is it worth the chance of losing her for the sake of 200 quid? It's not a lot in the long run really and you would kick yourself if you lost her over it.

Still, if you make a lower offer the worst that can happen is she says no, and if you came back a week or two later saying you'd had a rethink she'd hardly turn you down. I very much doubt anyone else would beat you to it at this time of year.
 
Seeing as you say you have all her tack and rugs already, and the owner really won't budge I'd likely be tempted to pay it.

1. Your attached to her and by the sounds of it regret loosing her.
2. The couple of hundered pound your trying to save, it will most likely cost you more than the £1000 to buy and kit out a new horse- as such is it worth it?

As others have said a horse is only worth what you are willing to pay for it, does she know this - yes, is she taking advantage because you love the horse - most likely yes.

I think you need to evaluate whether this horse is really for you. Would you be better with a just broken horse to save you some but not all of the work? But what it all balls down to is if you really want the mare, most likely you'll have to pay her price. If she knows how attached you are to her calling her bluff is less likely to work. Try it by all means, but there is a risk you will loose her.
 
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