Top end horse prices.

HuggyBear

HuggyBear

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 May 2010
Messages
698
Visit site
You often hear the occasional word or whisper about a horse that has been sold at a price equivalent to a a small countries GDP in the competition sphere.

My question is does a particular discipline happen to see more high priced horses being sold? For instance, my personal knowledge (which is very limited on the subject) has heard more about horses been sold for lots of £££ in SJ and Dressage and then less so in Eventing.

In fact, I have rarely heard about big priced event horses. I however would be happily corrected if I am wrong. As I said my knowledge on this is limited and it is a general query.

We know that the amounts paid for racehorses, heck yearlings that haven't even seen a racetrack, is phenomenal at times but what about the other disciplines?

Is there a tendency for more money to be spent buying Dressage horses than event horses, etc or maybe it is the other way around?
 
I do think dressage horses seem to be far more expensive than eventers. Don't know about showjumpers though.

I was re-reading an article on H&H yesterday (from a 2010 summer issue) about young riders who make the step up to senior level and how especially difficult it is for dressage riders, because to get a really good horse you often need £200-500k. And not many people can afford that :)
 
FrodoBeutlin said:
I do think dressage horses seem to be far more expensive than eventers. Don't know about showjumpers though.

I was re-reading an article on H&H yesterday (from a 2010 summer issue) about young riders who make the step up to senior level and how especially difficult it is for dressage riders, because to get a really good horse you often need £200-500k. And not many people can afford that :)
Click to expand...

Ouch! How often are horses sold at that price do you think? Obviously, as you said, not many people can afford that. So that must make the market slim when it comes to potential buyers. Are the horses being snapped up at those prices, does money of that amount regularly change hands or do those horses stay on the market (whether its not officially advertised or not) for a while?
 
Top eventers are peanuts compared to top SJ'er and dressage horses! I'd hazad aguess that the very top sj'er in general go for more than the very top dressage, but the mid-top dressage probably fetch more than the equivalent sj. However that is me basing things on my limited knowlege of what specific horses have sold for.
 
little_flea said:
Top show jumpers are mega bucks, but are rarely bought/owned by private individuals.
Click to expand...


A lot of the top SJers in this country are lucky homebreds, Britain doesn't have enough wealthy people interested in SJing to fund multi million pound purchases into the country for our riders.
 
HuggyBear said:
Ouch! How often are horses sold at that price do you think? Obviously, as you said, not many people can afford that. So that must make the market slim when it comes to potential buyers. Are the horses being snapped up at those prices, does money of that amount regularly change hands or do those horses stay on the market (whether its not officially advertised or not) for a while?
Click to expand...

To be honest, I think dressage horses are sold at those prices very frequently. I mean, just look at auction results -- at most auctions, the top price is often between £200k and £500k and often for a totally unproven 3 or 4 year old!! And if you look at the top-end auctions, like PSI, the *average* price for a YOUNG horse is often over £200k.

Prices are high for upper level horses. A while ago I spotted a nice Danish horse for sale, nothing out of this world but a nice 8yo working at PSG, something I could have ridden easily, good paces etc. I enquired and was told he was 200k euros. And he definitely was not a huge mover either! Couple of weeks later I looked again and he had been sold.

I guess there are *a lot* of very wealthy people in dressage. Where this leaves us mere mortals, I don't know ! :D
 
ihatework said:
Top eventers are peanuts compared to top SJ'er and dressage horses! I'd hazad aguess that the very top sj'er in general go for more than the very top dressage, but the mid-top dressage probably fetch more than the equivalent sj. However that is me basing things on my limited knowlege of what specific horses have sold for.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Do you think that is to do with the disciplines themselves?

For instance, most able bodied horses with a moderate rider can get around a 1-1.20m track. There is quite an abundance of horses at that level and often you can bring on a very moderate horse to jump successfully at that level, regardless of breeding or movement, so you won't pay through the nose for horse doing that. Once you go above that you need to have something with a little extra, the field thins itself out and the amount of horses capable of doing the task is smaller. Less availability, higher prices the higher the level you go up.

In dressage, my understanding is that the only way you can move up -even from the lower levels- is have horse with naturally good movement and is well trained. Even with training you would only get a little up the ladder before you find yourself always behind horses who have naturally more ideal paces for dressage. So buying horses from the start with the flair for dressage would put a premium on those horses even if they aren't that high up the training ladder. A possible reason why they tend to more expensive in the lower end than the show jumpers of a similar status?

With eventing, I don't want to generalise but eventing comes off as a sport that takes a lot longer to progress in than the other disciplines, even with money, and it is less glamourous than the other two sports so attracts different individuals than SJ or dressage. It comes off as more grass roots if that makes sense.

Large generalisations I know but can you see what I mean or am I talking complete and utter trap like usual? :D

BBH said:
A lot of the top SJers in this country are lucky homebreds, Britain doesn't have enough wealthy people interested in SJing to fund multi million pound purchases into the country for our riders.
Click to expand...

Very true. America is often heard of as being a big player for buying expensive horses.

Has anyone else seen the prices they have on their horses heads? If you think the prices we pay are crippling to the average Joe blogs rider, you have not seen anything compared to what the Americans seem to pay for their horses. Even the average ones. I would buy horses in Europe and take them over with me rather than purchase horses over there.

The Middle east seems to be also getting into buying big priced horses. Flashing the cash, a little like the players that buy up our football clubs!

FrodoBeutlin said:
To be honest, I think dressage horses are sold at those prices very frequently. I mean, just look at auction results -- at most auctions, the top price is often between £200k and £500k and often for a totally unproven 3 or 4 year old!! And if you look at the top-end auctions, like PSI, the *average* price for a YOUNG horse is often over £200k.

Prices are high for upper level horses. A while ago I spotted a nice Danish horse for sale, nothing out of this world but a nice 8yo working at PSG, something I could have ridden easily, good paces etc. I enquired and was told he was 200k euros. And he definitely was not a huge mover either! Couple of weeks later I looked again and he had been sold.

I guess there are *a lot* of very wealthy people in dressage. Where this leaves us mere mortals, I don't know ! :D
Click to expand...


It leaves us here, chatting about it. :D
 
This is just a musing, but perhaps horses sell for more in sj and dressage because they change hands more often than eventers? It seems to me that an eventer is more likely to produce a horse to top level and keep the ride, whereas an sjer or dressage horse at top level seem to change hands more often? Not saying that top level eventers don't change hands, but owners tend to keep them and just change rider if necessary rather than sell them on? Just my musings really could be completely wrong!
 
Sarah2207 said:
This is just a musing, but perhaps horses sell for more in sj and dressage because they change hands more often than eventers? It seems to me that an eventer is more likely to produce a horse to top level and keep the ride, whereas an sjer or dressage horse at top level seem to change hands more often? Not saying that top level eventers don't change hands, but owners tend to keep them and just change rider if necessary rather than sell them on? Just my musings really could be completely wrong!
Click to expand...

Sounds fair to me. Come to think of it, I hear a lot more of horses swapping riders than swapping ownership.

Also, it seems that there is a lot of the top level SJ or Dressage horses that are stallions. They have breeding potential and the stud fees that come off the side of their career. Purchasing them can be seen as an investment, even when it comes to buying a mare because you can still breed and make money of progeny even if less so. I see very few entire males competing a top level eventing. Most are geldings and mares. Once a gelding finishes its career there is little that it can do to make money for owner afterwards, so the people buying them wouldn't be willing to put as much money in and even with mares there is only a certain amount of breeding can be done simply due to the gestational time period for each foal you wait for whilst a stallion can effectively mount an army of mares in a season and make you far more in less time.
 
supersteve said:
TOP 2 horses on H&H at the moment with video

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/mark...r-sale.htm?category=4&priceRange=50000:100000
Click to expand...

Those are really not top level horses - they are good horses, but not top level. I'd say top level is something that gets to at least European Championships. As an example, Rolette was sold for £3.5 million, there were rumours of offers for Oki Doki of much more than that... totally different ballgame - well-off amateurs pay in the £100K region for horses every day...
 
HuggyBear said:
Has anyone else seen the prices they have on their horses heads? If you think the prices we pay are crippling to the average Joe blogs rider, you have not seen anything compared to what the Americans seem to pay for their horses. Even the average ones. I would buy horses in Europe and take them over with me rather than purchase horses over there.
Click to expand...

An American contacted me about my Big Coloured Lad, asking if he was for sale or if I knew of others for sale just like him as they were willing to pay well for him/others like him. Despite him being a common horse of unknown breeding and a gelding to boot! I paid £2500 for him, they were talking ten times that!! :eek: (yes american dollars, but it still worked out at a wee bit more than £2500! :D)
 
Isn't there, generally, a much lower risk of injury that will permanently put them out of the sport, regardless of level in SJ and dressage?
 
kirstyhen said:
An American contacted me about my Big Coloured Lad, asking if he was for sale or if I knew of others for sale just like him as they were willing to pay well for him/others like him. Despite him being a common horse of unknown breeding and a gelding to boot! I paid £2500 for him, they were talking ten times that!! :eek: (yes american dollars, but it still worked out at a wee bit more than £2500! :D)
Click to expand...

I can easily believe that.
 
BBH said:
A lot of the top SJers in this country are lucky homebreds, Britain doesn't have enough wealthy people interested in SJing to fund multi million pound purchases into the country for our riders.
Click to expand...

This is interesting and It wouldn't surprise me if it's true. We, as a country are simply too small. Most multi-millionaires/billionaires do not base themselves in the UK, they have residences here but don't live here and out of the few that do even less would be interested enough in SJ/DR to spend millions on it for our riders.

I guess top dr/SJ horses command higher prices because of higher prize money? Maybe the arena competition atmosphere/hospitality makes these disciplines more attractive to patrons?
 
kirstyhen said:
An American contacted me about my Big Coloured Lad, asking if he was for sale or if I knew of others for sale just like him as they were willing to pay well for him/others like him. Despite him being a common horse of unknown breeding and a gelding to boot! I paid £2500 for him, they were talking ten times that!! :eek: (yes american dollars, but it still worked out at a wee bit more than £2500! :D)
Click to expand...

True but he's a type that was extremely fashionable a few years back and people were paying silly money for hunter-type (your hunters not American hunters) coloured horses. People were buying them at the fairs for peanuts for export and rebranding them "Gypsy Vanners" and the like, but one that was actually ridable would have commanded a premium. You also get agents looking for very specific types with price no object, although that's happening less these days. To be fair, it works the other way, too. I've known people from UK/Europe pay way over the odds for horses that wouldn't be anything special in North America.

The European import market has been sussed, believe me.:D Agents organise buying tours and people used to bring in very ordinary warmbloods by the plane load, although that's not as common now as everyone breeds the same horses, although people still pay for the sort of training and competition records you're somewhat more likely to see in Continental horses. The Germans etc are very clued up about the HUGE, lucrative (and extremely particular) show hunter market, so much so that they have even promoted particular stallions for it and they know exactly what type of horses are worth marketing to the Americans. It's just such a huge pool to buy from.

On the price front, big money is often paid for kids' horses - I know at least half a dozen GP horses sold for around the million mark for teenagers to ride. Sometimes it works out better than others.;) But a horse that will jump at international level AND go for a Junior/Amateur is a rare bird and while the market may not be huge, the supply isn't either so premium prices get paid.
 
I worked in the US for a good while on the top showjumping circuit and yes horses were imported at crazy money but there is a very specific 'type' for the US market and if things don't go right you have to be prepared to take the horse back if you hope to sell out there again. Don't even start me on producing hunters to sell out there .... :-D
Wasn't there a chestnut eventing stallion advertised in the H&H a few years back for £300K? I think at the time it was the most expensive horse with an openly advertised price to feature in the magazine?
 
I've heard an event horse that was bought for Mary King quite recently (well not that recently) which sold for £400-450K. I also remember hearing of another being bought for a top british rider for £700K, and the most I've heard from a reliable source is one of WFP's (one of the relatively new horses) came from abroad for a nice round price of 1-million. I am not 110% sure on all of the above, but 90% sure because of who has told me/heard it from.

X :D X
 
hmccord said:
I worked in the US for a good while on the top showjumping circuit and yes horses were imported at crazy money but there is a very specific 'type' for the US market and if things don't go right you have to be prepared to take the horse back if you hope to sell out there again. Don't even start me on producing hunters to sell out there .... :-D
Wasn't there a chestnut eventing stallion advertised in the H&H a few years back for £300K? I think at the time it was the most expensive horse with an openly advertised price to feature in the magazine?
Click to expand...

The thing with hunters is they're SUCH a specific type that people will pay top money for a really good one because the pool is so small and it's almost impossible to make a top horse out of one that doesn't have the good to begin with. Again, if they "jump a 10" and will "pack and Amateur", the sky's the limit but people tend to know what they've got . . . .

Was that Internet? We've discussed him on here before. He actually went to Canada but is now in the US. He had a pretty bumpy road but I think might have done a 2* last year.

I wonder what WFP's people paid for Seacookie? He came from Klimke's, didn't he? They would certainly have known what they had . . .
 
I do know for a fact that a few years back during the celtic tiger, someone went to the top dressage auctions (no idea which) saw a lovely 4 year old and he was outbid at a cool 3 million...
Person said it would be maddness to pay more than 3...!

Suppose top dressage and top showjumpers get more press coverage (possibly because the rules are simpler) and therefore have more oppurtunity for sponsering and marketing?

But seriously nice horses for eventing, especially ones that are young and doing well eg. a 6 year old winning a CCI* - they come with a very very big price tag, even in ireland!

Mary King once sold a horse that paid for her house - said she couldnt miss out on the oppurtunity.

Eventing horses also tends to be a more specalist sport - ie. you can't buy your way into a 4* as the risks are simply too high - wheras in dressage and showjumping you can buy into the topish levels (1.40 and PSG) where the risks as a rider are less.
Above comment is not meant to be taken that dressage and sj are the safer options, as they are certainly not! But SJ and Dr are easier to get into than eventing :)
 
I think eventers don't in general make the same prices as you need much more of a relationship with a horse to do really well. a half decent rider with decent instruction can get on a well trained SJ'er/Dressage horse and do an ok job and get placed as long as they sit still and don't get in the way too much ;) :p An eventer though and you need to have that level of trust, experience and ability to do it safely. The relationships that take years to develop at top level unless your a rider like William Fox Pitt or Mark Todd or the like!

Add in the qualifying criteria you can't buy yourselg up the levels like you can with dressage/SJ. You can go out up to PSG I believe with no previous results at any level, SJ I think you could prospectively go straight in to a national 1m50 GP if you were mad enough, eventing though you have no choice to start at Prenovice now whether you like it or not. So the riders at the top are those who have spent years and often prefer to take their own horses up to 4* as they then know them inside out which is essential at that level meaning although some still do very few top level horses change hands like they do in comparison to showjumping for example!

I may well be talking nonsense though!
 
I know of a 4 year old eventer that the rider was offered a large sum for (more than ten times what he'd paid a few months previously and it was top price when it was purchased), it hadn't done anything at all but it was gorgeous - rider turned it down saying it was his 2012 horse, don't know what happened to it but I've checked it's records and it never got past pre novice, did a few events and disappeared. So go figure.
I think it becomes like a status thing, like buying footballers for clubs, to be able to say we have the most expensive player.
Went to a Carl Hester clinic recently and he kept saying of none of his horses cost more than £10,000 so there is hope for us yet!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top