Potential for 1.30 classes - do I really have to pay over £15K? *rant*

little_flea

little_flea

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I am looking for a 5-6 year old at the moment with the potential to do 1m30 classes in a few years. Of course, this is a fair height, but it is still miles from the highest level! I am not even looking for a horse that has done very much at the moment, just one with good potential and a good jump. I can spend £7-8 - which doesn't go very far at all.

Having called LOADS of dealers, it seems that a horse with potential for 1.30 is at the very least £15K. This sounds horrendously expensive to me. Have I just had bad luck, or do you think a youngster for the budget I have can't be expected to have much talent?
 
If it has potential to win at this height then it would be worth £15k, however for that money I would expect it to be out jumping at least newcomers by now.

If you only have £8k you need to look at 4 year olds or younger.
 
Shame you wanted a youngster i've just let my 9 yr old go he was in your price range had incredibly low mileage, as i don't compete, and he could comfortably jump 1.40 1.50!
 
I bought a 5 year old 2 years ago for £5K and he was doing 1.20s last year as a 6 year old, jumping 1.30 quite easily at home though. He was a bit of a quirky sod though, so I sold him!
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Sorry, doesn't help you much, but there must be something out there!!
 
I'm not sure why you wouldn't have to, to get an intermediate eventer your looking plus 12-15k, often plus 20K and its a similar level in affiliated eventing.
 
But to get a potential intermediate eventer (which is quite different from one at intermediate - and the OP doesn't want a horse doing 1.30 now) you don't pay nearly that much. I paid below the OPs budget for my horse who is certainly capable of going intermediate but who hadn't done much at all when I bought him.
 
I think it's madness to think about paying that much to be honest. Horse are NOT worth as much as people like to think in my opinion. Do you have a good eye for a horse? Are you prepared to do the work yourself?

As an example, we bought my sister's horse 4 years ago as a 4 yo who was broken and had competed (about once) at a local show clear round SJ or something. We paid £2650 for him (he's a 16.1hh Andalusian x TB). He has since won BSJA up to Discovery level and is jumping PN eventing (and we REALLY do not do a lot of work, we do not have facilities to school often so we do what we can. The only reason he has not done more is really because my sister was away in Oz for a year last year. and only got back in Oct. He will BSJA this winter and will be looking at doing up to Newcomers at least by the end of the winter. He is capable of more really, but it's the sister who's out of practice!

He finds jumping soo easy, he is soo laid back but LOVES his jumping and it's so natural for him. He also has a lot of presence but is so very very sane and he makes the job look easy.

When we got him he was weedy and his feet turned out in front too - you wouldn't know it now though! I just think it's daft to pay silly money for a horse that's all. I trust my judgement not what someone else might say about a horse and I would much rather bring one on myself to jump than take on other people's problems. Temperament is the key - a horse with a positive outlook and a trainable attitude and willingness has the potential for anything in my mind!
 
Im not helping, but my friend has just been given a horse that compeates @ 1.30, as it had no rider. Its on loan until she gets board of it.
 
Maybe a bit more work than you would perhaps want but ex racers normally go for alot less than normal horses and if you know what you are looking for then you may be able to find something suitable. My TB sails over 1.20 with no effort( a bit scary really!!) The more old fashioned chaser/national hunt type horses seem to be better as they have jumped from a relatively early age although their take off points sometimes leaves a bit to be desired!! Would look for something a bit younger maybe something that hasn't made the grade rather than one that has come to the end of it's career through age or injury. Hope you find what you are looking for.
 
Hang on everyone...to say that a horse is jumping disco but is capable of more, or that your horse jumps 1.40m at home is fine, but to find a horse with the capabilities, enthusiasm and knack to jump 1.30m COURSES is a completely different thing altogether! I reckon most horses jump a good 20cms - 30cms higher at home, over a single fence, than they are capable of jumping a course at comfortably.
 
Weezy does make a good point - the conversation is not about a horse that can jump a few bigger jumps and/or do it once and awhile, it's about a horse that will be able to jump a full course, in different conditions, and win at it. Yes, it's not the highest level but it is where you start to separate the wheat from the chaff and where most horses cannot make the grade. (Most horses can jump a 4' fence or two under the right conditions but that's a long way from being competitive in competition at that level.)

Out of curiosity, how does one define "able" in a horse that hasn't done the job yet? Jumping 1.30+ loose? Showing significant scope over smaller tracks, jumping clean if not fast enough to win? Bred for the job and looking the part? In all of these cases, if the horse is showing those signs, the people likely know what they've got and know enough to know it's relatively rare. If the horse has never done any of those things how does one even know enough to suspect it will jump at that level?

Most of the young horses I've known that have gone on to successfully do high amateur classes - 1.30/1.40 - have looked the part as youngsters. Either they looked like good soldiers with good but not great scope or - perhaps even more commonly - they looked like potential GP horses which, for whatever reason, don't end up making it to the highest level. I think many good horsemen know the difference.

Of course there will always be flukes but by definition flukes don't look the part! And there will be horses that exceed expectations but again, the whole point is that's not obvious. Then there are the ones that look the part but have a hole somewhere - ridability, soundness etc. - and there the lower price reflects that the rider will have to spend more time and money getting to the goal IF the hole doesn't interfere with that path seriously enough to make it impossible.

Horse prices often reflect risk - the more risk you are willing to assume, the less you might have pay for the potential to succeed.

(And yes, people ask crazy money for horses. MANY horses priced as potential 1.30 horses will likely not make it. But that doesn't make the ones that WILL any less valuable, unfortunately.)
 
[ QUOTE ]
Weezy does make a good point - the conversation is not about a horse that can jump a few bigger jumps and/or do it once and awhile, it's about a horse that will be able to jump a full course, in different conditions, and win at it. Yes, it's not the highest level but it is where you start to separate the wheat from the chaff and where most horses cannot make the grade. (Most horses can jump a 4' fence or two under the right conditions but that's a long way from being competitive in competition at that level.)

Out of curiosity, how does one define "able" in a horse that hasn't done the job yet? Jumping 1.30+ loose? Showing significant scope over smaller tracks, jumping clean if not fast enough to win? Bred for the job and looking the part? In all of these cases, if the horse is showing those signs, the people likely know what they've got and know enough to know it's relatively rare. If the horse has never done any of those things how does one even know enough to suspect it will jump at that level?

Most of the young horses I've known that have gone on to successfully do high amateur classes - 1.30/1.40 - have looked the part as youngsters. Either they looked like good soldiers with good but not great scope or - perhaps even more commonly - they looked like potential GP horses which, for whatever reason, don't end up making it to the highest level. I think many good horsemen know the difference.

Of course there will always be flukes but by definition flukes don't look the part! And there will be horses that exceed expectations but again, the whole point is that's not obvious. Then there are the ones that look the part but have a hole somewhere - ridability, soundness etc. - and there the lower price reflects that the rider will have to spend more time and money getting to the goal IF the hole doesn't interfere with that path seriously enough to make it impossible.

Horse prices often reflect risk - the more risk you are willing to assume, the less you might have pay for the potential to succeed.

(And yes, people ask crazy money for horses. MANY horses priced as potential 1.30 horses will likely not make it. But that doesn't make the ones that WILL any less valuable, unfortunately.)

[/ QUOTE ]

I totally agree with you,
So many people think that their horse has "the gift" when in reality, they can only pop 1 or 2 fences at 1.40
Asking a horse to go out into a strange enviroment, with 1.30 - 1.40 tracks and getting a good result is completely different.
 
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