The price of gypsy cobs in the USA

[SEL]

This little black and white cob was shared for sale on the PSSM facebook forum. She has 1 copy of the PSSM gene and has done just walk and trot mainly. Guess how much she's up for????? (Casey - no cheating)

https://www.serenityfarmgypsyhorses.com/for-sale.html

 

[pippixox]

From posts from a friend who has moved to Colorado, horses are all stupid money over there. Still would struggle to guess! £10,000?!

 

[hollyandivy123]

i visited an old school friend in the USA once and got to see his wifes new WB.............dressage contender, cost 50K+ shipping

pigeon toed, cow hock, major wind gall, and various other bits and bobs....................technically well bred

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Whatever someone offered me for my little coblet, I just wouldn't sell her!

She's way too precious for that.......

 

[chaps89]

I'm going to say around $15k. It's madness what horses fetch in the states - although really, if we use the recent breeding thread as a guide, it's probably actually more like what horses should be priced at.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I'm going to say around $15k. It's madness what horses fetch in the states - although really, if we use the recent breeding thread as a guide, it's probably actually more like what horses should be priced at.

Will need to go and compute that into sterling.............

But whatever, my little girlie still won't be getting any "For Sale" ticket on her... nope!

 

[SEL]

From posts from a friend who has moved to Colorado, horses are all stupid money over there. Still would struggle to guess! £10,000?!

You get the chocolate digestive award for the closest answer! $9,000 - but apparently she would be $12k if PSSM didn't limit her breeding potential. I'm rather taken aback and wondering if its worth shipping my PSSM +ive Appy over to the US. She's a pretty colour so that might add even more onto her value

Chaps89 - I know what you mean about how much horses cost to breed, but I suppose we have so many little cobs in this country going for peanuts that I found the price tag a wee bit surprising.

 

[chaps89]

Yes, absolutely. In theory a cob should cost the same to breed as WB say, but the reality is I suspect they don't given who breeds them for the most part, and likewise the costs involved in bringing them up and training!

 

[abbijay]

I'm on a number of draught horse groups on FB and was interested to see someone asking if anyone had any "miniature Drafts" (sic). I had never heard of such a thing so did a little googling to discover that what they actually meant was a good old fashioned cob. They ranged from 11-13hh (iirc) and came in both coloured and non-coloured versions. There are fields full of these types of ponies near me owned by a local traveller family.
What I really couldn't get over was that unbroken youngstock from these "specialist" breeders in the USA was topping $10,000! It is worth buying a few pens from beeston and sending them over for those prices!

 

[ElectricChampagne]

Anyone up for arranging trips to any of the horsefairs around the place where we can rope in (sorry bad pun) the 'Muricans and let them pick a cob, which we have haggled for and ship over to them for a rather large fee?

 

[abbijay]

Anyone up for arranging trips to any of the horsefairs around the place where we can rope in (sorry bad pun) the 'Muricans and let them pick a cob, which we have haggled for and ship over to them for a rather large fee?

Definitely!!
Genuine thought, what would it cost to ship a pony to the US? I know a dealer over there who usually buys OTTB and sports horse youngstock from Ireland, has them in for a couple of months and sells them for $15,000+ and must make a decent return out of each one. I reckon we could get a deal going with gypsy cobs!

 

[Laafet]

We were the quarantine for plenty of these types to South Africa, that must have cost a fortune and they had already paid around £10k for wormy/lice ridden gypsy ponies off the fens!

 

[supsup]

I think in part it's the cost of transport (i.e. shipping cross-Atlantic), and in part the rarity value. Mustangs go for crazy money on our side of the pond, when you can get them for meat money over in the US, with similarly poor conformation at times.

 

[pippixox]

Yay! I will find the biscuit tin!

It’s true that it costs a lot more really to breed and bring up a horse than what we sell them for here in the U.K.
Friend is after a dressage school master in the US- thankfully I think she has a very generous budget! But she would probably spend less on something better in the UK plus air fair!!!!

 

[SEL]

So that's my new business venture sorted then. Purchase of cobs for pennies, glam them up and ship them to the USA. Gypsy cobs and mini drafts here we come!!

 

[MagicMelon]

I was shocked last time I was in the States at a horse show, some horses competing were for sale for insane amounts and yet they were very basic horses hopping round 80cm working hunter... Anything that jumps 1m seems to be considered a decent competition horse and thus demands a ridiculous price tag.

 

[alainax]

Same with friesians. A few groups I’m on have them for $30k+ in the US!

I’d love to open a cob and friesian ranch!

 

[Xanthoria]

Import to the east coast around $10k, to the west coats about $13k. That includes quarantine and all the business, and is for a gelding. Mares about $3k more, stallions even more.

So that's part of the reason for the expense. The other things that make them so unusual (and hence, valuable) are:
a) Hair. Most American horses don't have feathers!
b) Colour: Americans are mad for paints/pintos/anything non-standard. Anyone got a palomino paint cob? YOU ARE SITTING ON A GOLD MINE.
c) Quiet nature: US riders are pretty low level as a whole, as they don't have a good Pony Club system here. The horse that fills the niche for happy hacker cob in US riding is the ubiquitous quarter horse. If you want something different...?
d) Irish-ness. Anything Irish is looked upon as if it is MIRACULOUS and sparkly and quaint and romantic and adorable, with a side order of tradition and history. People in the US are crazy for pedigrees and ancestry, and many have Irish roots, so they're always looking for things related to that. Hence a lot of coloured cobs here have fanciful (probably made up) pedigrees, with lots of "ye olde cob from Cork" and such in them...

Yeah there should be an exchange program - mustangs for coloured cobs! You can get a mustang off the range for a couple hundred.

 

[SadKen]

Import to the east coast around $10k, to the west coats about $13k. That includes quarantine and all the business, and is for a gelding. Mares about $3k more, stallions even more.

So that's part of the reason for the expense. The other things that make them so unusual (and hence, valuable) are:
a) Hair. Most American horses don't have feathers!
b) Colour: Americans are mad for paints/pintos/anything non-standard. Anyone got a palomino paint cob? YOU ARE SITTING ON A GOLD MINE.
c) Quiet nature: US riders are pretty low level as a whole, as they don't have a good Pony Club system here. The horse that fills the niche for happy hacker cob in US riding is the ubiquitous quarter horse. If you want something different...?
d) Irish-ness. Anything Irish is looked upon as if it is MIRACULOUS and sparkly and quaint and romantic and adorable, with a side order of tradition and history. People in the US are crazy for pedigrees and ancestry, and many have Irish roots, so they're always looking for things related to that. Hence a lot of coloured cobs here have fanciful (probably made up) pedigrees, with lots of "ye olde cob from Cork" and such in them...

Yeah there should be an exchange program - mustangs for coloured cobs! You can get a mustang off the range for a couple hundred.

What about Welsh?! They are just as quaint and they also have an accent!

My girl ticks all those boxes apart from feather. In idle moments I thought how nice it would be to take her over to the states and let her have loads of babies which she would like and I could sell later for loadsamoney.

I guess in the U.S land isn't at a premium the way it is here. I think that's what helps keep horse purchase prices low. It's not the buying, it's the keeping. In the states, the keeping of relatively straightforward and it's the horse itself that's the scarce resource.

There is definitely an untapped market in the states for breeding good native UK ponies IMO.

 

[chaps89]

There is definitely an untapped market in the states for breeding good native UK ponies IMO.

Tbh, I think there's a gap for that in the UK too! How many nutty (beyond normal for a Welsh) welshies exist now. And I'm not sure countless coloured cobs (lovely as they are in their own way) hits the spot either. From what I know trying to find a good quality native here is hard too! (Connies aside I suppose, but even those I've known more bonkers ones than sane- whether that's their upbringing or breeding I couldn't tell you)
But yes, I'm definitely feeling like there's got to be a gap here for the US too from the seems of it!

 

[Caol Ila]

Hey, the riding in the US is no worse than here and quite frankly, where I'm from, it's a lot better than most of the riding I see at most little barns here.

Unfortunately, other people have figured out that they can import cobs and sell them for silly money over there, so that business idea has been taken. Probably room for more, though.

 

[Xanthoria]

SadKen as far as land being at a premium, well, it depends where you live! Here in California it's ridiculously expensive, plus grass only grows for a few months so you need to truck in hay from Oregon. Suddenly, you discover all the horses live in 12 x 24' pens and it's hard to find a place that will let you turn out on 1/4 acre for more than an hour. Oh, and you're paying $600-1200 a month in board, $200 for 4 plain shoes, $500 to enter a recognized event, and so on...

Horse keeping in general is much more expensive in the US than the UK, unless you live in the middle states where everything is cheaper including the horses, and most people are republicans

Horses aren't scarce - there are cheapo quarter horses, OTTBs and grade (aka mongrel) horses everywhere for a grand or two. It's good jumpers/eventers/dressage horses that are super hard to find, usually imported, and very expensive. (also fancy western horses are v expensive too but I don't ride western so won't comment there) I am looking for an eventer to do BE Novice here right now - what I see for 10-15k sterling in the UK sells for $45-75k US here.

As for Welshies, much as I love them being from Wales as I am, they aren't all THAT hairy, or crazy colored, they aren't Irish (magical word!) and they're not exactly plods for the most part. So no, they get no love, even though they're awesome.