Realistic price for a horse like this?

[only_me]

No, it's the "Go For Gold" special sale which has the stupid inflated prices; the regular monthly sales are where you want to look, and you can do that on line, where the catalogues of both Goresbridge and Cavan sales are easily accessible.

They are higher prices than normal as they have all had to go through a selection process to be picked and onto catalogue. They have had top people look at them and top vets looking at them - have a look at the past sale horses and see where they’ve gone onto!

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

Have a look at Exmoor Eventing's website. They are in upstate New York but also spend a lot of time in Florida. They are UK people who breed/produce eventers. If they didn't have anything suitable, they could put you in touch with someone who might...

 

[Xanthoria]

carolineb I'll ask them: I'm though sure their prices are right up there if they are importing for resale! Here, a green horse or has been to a couple lower level events to the specs I'd described is $25-35K. Add on flight costs to see it, hotels, about $2000 for a pre purchase exam, and cost to deliver to CA of course - could be around another $5k (NJ is about 3,000 miles away from me.)

Import to California is about $10k give or take, so if a good prospect can be had for below $20k (about 15k pounds) it's worth it.

 

[Xanthoria]

I found the ordinary Goresbridge sport horse sale had unrealistic reserves on many horses, and several were too cheap for their breeding to be genuine. All have a 5 stage vetting.

So there's a chance some of the Goresbridge horses aren't exactly... legit?

 

[Cortez]

So there's a chance some of the Goresbridge horses aren't exactly... legit?

There's always a chance of that, I suppose, but Irish horses have to have a passport, and have to be DNA tested if they have recorded Irish breeding (most do), and have to be microchipped. I'm pretty sure our passporting requirements are actually more rigorous than the UK's?

 

[be positive]

There's always a chance of that, I suppose, but Irish horses have to have a passport, and have to be DNA tested if they have recorded Irish breeding (most do), and have to be microchipped. I'm pretty sure our passporting requirements are actually more rigorous than the UK's?

Definitely and there is only one issuer with strict criteria for ISH foal registration so you should get the right horse.