over priced horses!

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lah-de-da

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I posted on here the other day about a horse I'd seen for sale, the general consensus was that it was overpriced. I rang about another today- 8 yr old 15hh welsh part bred gelding which has done nothing for 4 months, has never really done much anyway, is a bit silly/spooky, bit funny with back feet, but has ' potential' and is pretty - she wants £1500.

The main point of this post I guess is to ask who is living in la la land- me or these owners? I am under the impression I could find something a bit more 'up and running' for £1500 - am I wrong? Just an RC type, doesnt have to be a world beater but for over £1000 would like to be able to ride it first!
 
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One man's overpriced horror is another man's bargain..............Horses are worth whatever somebody else wants to pay for it; I'm sure you can find something in your price bracket, but you will have to search harder for it than if you had more to spend.
 
I think the sellers may be asking too much, they need to put in some work and sell the horse up and ready to go, not necessarily fit and going really well but it needs to be able to be tried and vetted in order to sell for a sensible price, basically they are too lazy, nervous, or whatever fits to the individual case, to get the horse in a decent state to sell, they then wonder why they have so many "timewasters" calling who don't buy.

I do think you may struggle to find something that is halfway decent for under £2k unless you make compromises, good RC types around 15.2 are hard to find and if someone has put in the work to make the horse then they will usually know the value, I would be expecting to pay around £3k for what you describe unless it has a quirk that brings the price down or find one that is being sold for a genuine reason but needs to be moved very quickly but even then it may go for over £2k
 
In the grand scheme of horse buying £1500 is peanuts.
Without seeing the horse in question I couldn't give you an opinion but that price doesn't surprise me.

I'd be surprised if you found a decent RC type for 1k easily. I'm sure they are out there but will take a bit of searching for
 
I have a 15.2, what I'd describe as, a nice RC horse. I bought her for £1500 green with some quirks and a minor fail on her vetting, but I saw potential that made it worth a punt for me that maybe others didn't see and so thought she was over priced. Two years later we have many rosettes I'm proud of, BD points and contested some championships. She's not a world beater but wouldn't be going anywhere for less than £3500. One persons overpriced was my bargain.
 
What do you call a RC type? If you are wanting something that hacks safely alone and in company, is good to shoe, clip, box and handle, is sound without any special health needs, is not very young or rather old, can do a relatively OK prelim test and jump round 80/90 SJ and XC courses without killing you, getting eliminated or destroying the course, then the market price is likely to be greater than £1500 as this is what most people want. Obviously there are bargains to be had, but you may need to be prepared to travel further, put a lot of work into the horse, accept one with quirks or special needs, and perhaps kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince!
 
TGM said:
the market price is likely to be greater than £1500 as this is what most people want. Obviously there are bargains to be had, but you may need to be prepared to travel further, put a lot of work into the horse, accept one with quirks or special needs, and perhaps kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince!
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THIS.

It depends on the horse, where you/the horse are based, age, all sorts!

As Cortex said "Horses are worth whatever somebody else wants to pay for it"
 
I was lucky, I found my main man for just under 1k, he was very green but so honest and willing it didn't take much to get him up and running. 5yrs later andf I was offered 5x that. Wouldn't part with him for the world or the moon on a stick though.
 
Problem as I see it is people all want things for next to nothing, I have a rising 5 year old, backed last March hacked till October then turned away. He'd never be for sale but, if bringing up youngsters to sell as ridden horses was my living then the cost of keeping him, feeding him and the time spent turning him to a nice little sort would have to be a factor in the price surely?
 
Tbh I think you will be lucky to get a half decent RC type for £1500. For that price bracket what will be available is likely to either have issues/quirks, be aged, or just off the track.

A budget of £2500 is more realistic for what you are looking for….
 
Safe and sound doesn't come cheap - it is what a lot of people are looking for.

Cheap horses are usually cheap for a reason and depending on your experience could work out as a great buy or an expensive mistake.
 
My mum used to pick up the odd "bargain" produce them to be a total RC allrounder (would do a good local dressage, xc, showjump, show, hunt etc....) safe sane and sound etc, all around the 15.2 mark.
This was when the market was good and she would get around the £5k mark for this type, now the same horses would be making £3k at least.
I think with £1.5k you would struggle to get the finished product.
Not impossible but hens teeth springs to mind.
You will be getting young and green or older with a lot of mileage. Or something with a quirk or long standing condition.
£1.5k is not a lot for something that doesn't need work.
My filly cost £850 off her dam at 6 months old.
 
We were looking for a riding club allrounder with a £5000 budget and struggled!so u less your looking at older or younger £1500 budget is unrealistic unless it has a quirk, blemish etc even a good older rc type will still make good money
 
Depends on what you want. A friend is looking for a safe as possible not green mare for hacking/pleasure rides and she's talking about spending £3000. I think it's worth it for her peace of mind/safety and I can see why she's happy to spend that much. She's retiring this year so wants a horse to see her out as my gran would have said and she wants to do it comfortably.
 
£1500 is nothing for an allrounder! I find when selling anything up to 3.5k people want it for £1500 once over 10k people don't moan!!! Don't get why people don't want to pay for the right horse anymore. Everyone seems to want something for nothing!
 
My lad is 15.2hh is an awsome allrounder type. Turns his hoof to anything I ask him to with a smile on his face.
He is very very safe.

I bought him as an unhandled 4 yr old for £1500, he is now 5yrs old and a superstar, he wont be going anywhere but if I did have to sell him he would be priced somewhere between £3500 and £4500 depending on how fit he was at the time and how he does this show season.
 
The last horse I sold was a all rounder happy and confident at 90s she was never going to go on eventing .
She achieved the same price as a smart but green Irish event horse .
 
I think they're out there, it's just a matter of sorting the wheat from the chaff, which can be very disheartening at times.

Years ago we were looking for a horse for my tall hubby and had a budget of about £4k. We looked at quite a few, none of which were suitable, then heard that a dealer not too far away had a nice horse for sale, but it sounded too cheap at less than half our budget. We went to look anyway, and as we drove in the yard, a lovely big bay had his head over the stable door and I thought "Well, it won't be that horse at that price". It was and we bought him. He was a bit green, but a lovely genuine Irish horse with no ifs, buts, maybe's or hidden issues.
 
All I have to add to this is that I think sometimes owners can be bias toward their own horse.
For instance, A girl I know was wanting £2000 for a 16hh 10 year old TB who had god awful conformation ( pigeon toed(badly), neck on upside down etc) who wouldn't hack alone, and was still tricky in company, wouldn't (read :hadn't ever been) work nicely in the school, spooky, and wouldn't go near coloured poles (and spooked at the sound of them) cost an arm and a leg to feed, couldn't keep his shoes 2 weeks and wouldn't go barefoot. Wouldn't load lorry or trailer ( broke someones trailer when she tried to load him ), and needed sedating to get the dentist .With the right rider he would have been a good horse but I'm pretty sure that he wasn't worth 1k, never mind 2!
 
I think its overpriced. I bought from the field a pretty 5yo, backed but not ridden for months. Paid £600 and now at rising 7 I could easily sell with an extra 0 on that price. He's amazing, but he was a ***** bag when I bought him!!
 
muckypony said:
I think its overpriced. I bought from the field a pretty 5yo, backed but not ridden for months. Paid £600 and now at rising 7 I could easily sell with an extra 0 on that price. He's amazing, but he was a ***** bag when I bought him!!
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I wish some of you with low expectations of what to pay would try breeding some of the horses you think are overpriced that would be an eye opener for you. Or perhaps the breeders should become registered charities as well.
Seriously if you are looking for a cheap horse get it soon ,because I predict in 5 yrs time you will struggle to buy at 5x the price as there will be an under supplied market because the breeding numbers have fallen back.
 
I negotiated a 3.5k horse down to 1.5K before I went to see it. When I got on her I thought jeez she's worth a lot more than 1.5k. She was nappy hacking but this wasn't an issue for me and I cured it in a week. She was an absolute bargain. Sadly she died after 6 months (from EGS so nothing to do with being a bargain).

Now I am looking for another one of the same breed and folk want 3k for a 3 year old with minimal handling and not such quality and I just look at them and think "not a patch on her". I did get lucky with her (then spectacularly unlucky) but there are bargains to be had. She was a brilliant horse and I miss her every day.
 
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