Price of horses: sorry know it's been done before but........

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Today on one of my FB groups I saw a cob advertised: a chunky cob, nothing pretty, too much on the heavy side TBH to ever be a decent ride. 2yo and nothing done with it. Sold "out the field". Price-tag £6000. Are people mad, seriously disillusioned, taking the Yellow Liquid, or what?? Or am I living on a different planet.

Discuss..........

 

[milliepops]

sort of feels like everything there is to say, has been said....

 

[KittenInTheTree]

Did you miss the recent thread where Birker2020 ran afoul of the resident pack mentality for voicing a similar opinion, OP?

 

[PeterNatt]

Yes! Some people are dislussional. Wait until next year as prices will crash below sea level.

 

[Neversaydie]

I’m waiting for the crash, the prices for substandard animals are ridiculous right now. Many are arguing that these are more realistic prices for quality animals etc but many advertised just aren’t that at all.

 

[dogatemysalad]

It's difficult to say without seeing the horse, but I paid £4K for an unbacked 3 year old 15.1hh traditional cob, 20 years ago, despite knowing he'd been starved almost to the point of death previously. I just knew he was superb.
Every horse is an individual, some are beautifully put together and talented, some aren't. Some sellers are deluded, while some know what they're selling.

 

[EllenJay]

Today on one of my FB groups I saw a cob advertised: a chunky cob, nothing pretty, too much on the heavy side TBH to ever be a decent ride. 2yo and nothing done with it. Sold "out the field". Price-tag £6000. Are people mad, seriously disillusioned, taking the Yellow Liquid, or what?? Or am I living on a different planet.

Discuss..........

People can put any asking price they want - doesn’t mean that is the price they will achieve. Sellers are also aware that buyers will want to knock them down, so put on a higher price tag, get knocked down, both buyer and seller are happy.

 

[webble]

I'm another that thinks that's crazy money especially approaching winter

 

[FieldOrnaments]

Did you miss the recent thread where Birker2020 ran afoul of the resident pack mentality for voicing a similar opinion, OP?

What does this mean please?

 

[SOS]

If it’s tall (16.2hh+) or to make that, it’s a reasonable price. Give it two years to mature, break it, clip it out and if it’s sensible it could fetch double. Big, heavy horses are quite literally worth their weight in gold.

If it’s small… I digress.

 

[Horseysheepy]

Pre Covid that Cob wouldve been £950-1200?????. Someone out there will fall in love and pay that £6000, the sellers are seeing what they can get. I suppose you can't blame them really!.
I know well how underpriced horses have been for years haven broken and ridden many young horses, I know the work that goes into them. However, I remember reading posts on here pre Covid where a poster would ask for a value on their horse and many would reply, £950-1500 at a push because it was young or just green as green. I bought a couple of youngsters in that price bracket and with investing in training and time had a couple of nice horses which if I still had them, I would happily market them now at the mid four figure mark due to the work I'd put into them.
I couldn't afford to pay these young horse prices now though!, which does mean the people on low budgets, who are very good, knowledgeable horse people, who want a lightly backed and ridden away horse to slowly produce at home to go on to be a good allrounder PC/RC are being priced out of the market.

 

[Merry neddy man]

There is a 20 yr old 15:0 riding school cob in h&h this week at £3•5k so sad pure greed.

 

[JumpTheMoon1]

They wont be able to give them away soon.Greedy sellers - everybody is on the make.

 

[windand rain]

It likely won't reach that price but if I had covered the costs of my Highland foal from transport to stud and until on the ground at £4500 add a couple of grand to get to 2 it would have needed £7,000 to give me a tiny profit. She only made 133cm

 

[fetlock]

Prices are crazy. 40 years ago that cob would have been around £500. Average salary back then was under £7k so about 8% of average salary then, compared to 24% of average salary now.

 

[maya2008]

Depends on size, whether it would show well, and whether it had been fly grazed with no vet/farrier attention/passport vs having money spent on it from birth. The former costs their owner next to nothing, so sells for a song. The latter costs their initial owner just the same as it would cost to get a fancy WB to the same age!

 

[Glitter's fun]

Plenty of buyers wouldn't be able to tell a good 2 year old from bad. Guessing the seller is hoping someone will presume if its dearer then its better. Only takes one.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Did you miss the recent thread where Birker2020 ran afoul of the resident pack mentality for voicing a similar opinion, OP?

^^^ Ohh must've missed that one!!

Frankly I couldn't give a stuff what people think: I've fell foul of several FB groups I'm on for telling the truth: mainly those damn-silly posts where people ask one of two questions: i.e. "Am I too heavy to ride this.........."; and "Is my horse/pony too fat"...... Usually the answer to both quandraries is a resounding YES, and sometimes people don't like the truth!

But I digress: I am consistently amazed by the prices of horses at the mo: Five years ago now nearly to the day, I gave £950 for the little mite in my profile pic: she was just-backed and I took her on and "produced" her into the nifty little happy-hacker she is now. If I sold her (not a chance!) I WOULD be wanting about £5-£6000..... she's good in all ways, manners to die for, and steady in traffic. But that said, I know how good she is, but someone else doesn't, so to them she'd be just a "bog cob" tbh......

 

[Roxylola]

Prices are crazy. 40 years ago that cob would have been around £500. Average salary back then was under £7k so about 8% of average salary then, compared to 24% of average salary now.

But wages are literally the only thing that hasn't gone up exponentially. If you look at the price of fuel, or food, or houses or pretty much anything the increase in horse prices is proportional. You're comparing apples and oranges by comparing prices and wages, sadly they're very much not the same thing.

 

[Barton Bounty]

^^^ Ohh must've missed that one!!

Frankly I couldn't give a stuff what people think: I've fell foul of several FB groups I'm on for telling the truth: mainly those damn-silly posts where people ask one of two questions: i.e. "Am I too heavy to ride this.........."; and "Is my horse/pony too fat"...... Usually the answer to both quandraries is a resounding YES, and sometimes people don't like the truth!

But I digress: I am consistently amazed by the prices of horses at the mo: Five years ago now nearly to the day, I gave £950 for the little mite in my profile pic: she was just-backed and I took her on and "produced" her into the nifty little happy-hacker she is now. If I sold her (not a chance!) I WOULD be wanting about £5-£6000..... she's good in all ways, manners to die for, and steady in traffic. But that said, I know how good she is, but someone else doesn't, so to them she'd be just a "bog cob" tbh......

I think she would be deserving of that, because she has had the effort put in, not everyone does that, some just looking for a quick turnaround i guess.
And then some sellers just tell fibs ?

 

[The Xmas Furry]

But wages are literally the only thing that hasn't gone up exponentially. If you look at the price of fuel, or food, or houses or pretty much anything the increase in horse prices is proportional. You're comparing apples and oranges by comparing prices and wages, sadly they're very much not the same thing.

Wages and livery charges.....
1990 I was charging £25 pw for DIY Inc stable and storage which was the local average.
32 years on and it's only gone up a minute amount locally. Usually around 150 pcm round where I am.

 

[fetlock]

Wages and livery charges.....
1990 I was charging £25 pw for DIY Inc stable and storage which was the local average.
32 years on and it's only gone up a minute amount locally. Usually around 150 pcm round where I am.

Early to mid 1980s we paid £25 a week for full livery (14.2 pony) with a producer. That included show prep and exercise, for those who wanted that, and tuition. It was £35 for a horse.

Late 1980s, I paid £5 a week DIY, including stable and storage. £1.50 a bale for hay, 50p a bale for straw, £18 a set of shoes and spent around £30 a month on feed (stabled overnight year round and grass poor). Horse transporter cost to bring the horse 200 miles to me when purchased was £80/£85. Paid £305 for a brand new custom fit Sabre saddle back then (which I then got more for when I sold it 4 years later).

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Early to mid 1980s we paid £25 a week for full livery (14.2 pony) with a producer. That included show prep and exercise, for those who wanted that, and tuition. It was £35 for a horse.

Late 1980s, I paid £5 a week DIY, including stable and storage. £1.50 a bale for hay, 50p a bale for straw, £18 a set of shoes and spent around £30 a month on feed (stabled overnight year round and grass poor). Horse transporter cost to bring the horse 200 miles to me when purchased was £80/£85. Paid £305 for a brand new custom fit Sabre saddle back then (which I then got more for when I sold it 4 years later).

What part of the country? There is still a huge disparity say from the SE to the NE in livery costs even now.
Mid 80s I was charging out at 45 pw or 200pcm for production and also backing livery with extras on top (entries, share of diesel, stabling away etc)

 

[sport horse]

Today on one of my FB groups I saw a cob advertised: a chunky cob, nothing pretty, too much on the heavy side TBH to ever be a decent ride. 2yo and nothing done with it. Sold "out the field". Price-tag £6000. Are people mad, seriously disillusioned, taking the Yellow Liquid, or what?? Or am I living on a different planet.

Discuss..........

Forget the price. What would you expect to have been done with a two year old?

Of course it will be sold out of the field unless someone ignorant has got busy lunging it and destroying its joints before they are mature - especially not difficult if it is fairly big boned.

What they have done is to take a mare (usually not free) put to a stallion (again usually not free) incur veterinary charges to scan mare etc, keep mare for one year, foal down mare and maybe incur more veterinary charges, keep mare and foal for at least 6 months, wean, keep foal for two years, call in farrier. vaccinate, pay vet to complete registration papers, purchase registration papers. etc. etc.

It may not be worth £6000 in which case it will not sell for that price. If it is what you are looking for and you are prepared to pay that price (or near) then view, if not leave alone.

 

[bonny]

Forget the price. What would you expect to have been done with a two year old?

Of course it will be sold out of the field unless someone ignorant has got busy lunging it and destroying its joints before they are mature - especially not difficult if it is fairly big boned.

What they have done is to take a mare (usually not free) put to a stallion (again usually not free) incur veterinary charges to scan mare etc, keep mare for one year, foal down mare and maybe incur more veterinary charges, keep mare and foal for at least 6 months, wean, keep foal for two years, call in farrier. vaccinate, pay vet to complete registration papers, purchase registration papers. etc. etc.

It may not be worth £6000 in which case it will not sell for that price. If it is what you are looking for and you are prepared to pay that price (or near) then view, if not leave alone.

Or alternatively someone had an old retired mare, took her to their mates stallion up the road, left the mare in their field for a year till she foaled by herself. Wait two years, do nothing with the foal and then want £6000 for their trouble. We just don’t know !

 

[fetlock]

What part of the country? There is still a huge disparity say from the SE to the NE in livery costs even now.
Mid 80s I was charging out at 45 pw or 200pcm for production and also backing livery with extras on top (entries, share of diesel, stabling away etc)

True (NE)

 

[PurBee]

I always thought horses were too cheap, discounting comp. horses that always have commanded higher prices.

Human nature (generally) is that the more something costs us, the more we value it. The more disposable income a person has to buy a one-off item for thousands generally also means there’s disposable income for maintenance - whether thats a classic car, or a horse. So in a way, by pricing a horse towards the ‘disposable income’ market, ensures there’s money there for its care too.

I know its not that rigid in reality, and many good horsemen/women look for a bargain to save their money on exceptional care for the animal.

I never understood how breeders make a profit either on yearlings under 1k.

So although the market has gone a bit bonkers compared to pre-covid prices - i hope it settles to better prices for horses overall, for their sakes.

 

[LEC]

I saw £14k for a 4yo with ropey conformation that had just come out of training but hadnt raced. You can price horses how you like and they either sell or don’t. I don’t really get too worried about it. I am off to see a horse next week that was £20k at the sales last year and has finally come down to my budget.

 

[Ratface]

My current horse was a complete bargain. Owner had bought him for her partner to ride. Partner hated horses, and her horse in particular. My horse was a relative of her horse.
Partner was carrying far too much condition, hadn't been on a horse, but had been on a camel, so believed he could ride.
My horse, 16hh of purebred Crabbet Arabian, is a Horse With Attitude.
Partner hauled himself aboard. My horse took off. Fast. Very fast. Took a sharp turn. Partner fell off in a gibbering heap. Horse grazed quietly nearby.
My horse's previous owner was instructed to sell Devil Horse immediately, or partner would leave her.
Strangely enough, she did . . .

 

[GreyDot]

But wages are literally the only thing that hasn't gone up exponentially. If you look at the price of fuel, or food, or houses or pretty much anything the increase in horse prices is proportional. You're comparing apples and oranges by comparing prices and wages, sadly they're very much not the same thing.

Yep, this^ My wages are in no way in line with current inflation. I understand why things are getting more and more expensive, but the majority of peoples wages are not increasing at the same rate. This winter is going to be very tough for a lot of people.