What sort of horse could I expect to buy with this budget...

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silverstar

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3k to 3.5k. Ive had 3 horses that had problems that werent identified when I bought them but I suspect that the sellers knew exactly what was wrong with them. Height wise 16-17hh.

Would I be looking at another problem horse? Id look at loan with view to buy but there arent very many of these even in the summer there werent any.
 
Where abouts are you and what are you looking to do? I am looking for a really good home for my 16.1hh chap (pics on my profile) talented and only a few quirks so I would have thought you could get something quite reasonable for that budget, especially at this time of year.
 
Iv never ever paid anything like that for a horse and wouldn't. My mare cost me £800 and iv had her 8 yrs she's a push button ride xc and hunts up front, jumps anything. Iv never found anything my mare won't do and all for £800. Iv had no health problems with her either.
My gelding was £500 and he's a complete saint and coming on well up through the grades.
As long as you know what your looking at and get a vetting you can pick up bargains I always do
 
You should have no problems finding a really decent horse with that budget. Just remember to add a couple of hundred for a 5 star vetting.
 
It depends what your looking for. I wanted a fairly sensible horse with no quirks that could do abit of eventing now or eventually (not high level) under 11 years and couldnt find anything for under 5k and ended up upping my budget a fair bit to get the lovely boy i have now. but there are occasional bargains at this time of year.
 
My friend paid around £700 (I think) and her horse is as good as gold. I paid alot more and got more that what I bargained for!

Were the unmentioned issues behavioural or physical out of interest?
 
Oh my goodness, I would imagine you could get a great, sound, sane horse with that kind of money. Like the others say, a 5* vetting is a must. I bought my girl for under £1000 and she is a lovely, straightforward mare that I would imagine (and hope!!!) will be worth a lot more in the next few years.
 
You should be able to get a good horse for that.

I have recently been looking, and have just purchased. Although my max budget was higher, I was viewing some horses at £3k. I had two horses fail the vetting, both of those horses were considerably more than £3K.
In the end I was torn between two horses I really liked, and one was priced at £2750. She was a nice, genuine, 9 year old, allrounder, who had a proven record in unaf. sj, xc and dressage. She was a nice straight moving mare, and had decent conformation and had a nice attitude.The only reason I didn't go for her was she was a little bit smaller than what I ideally wanted. She was 16.1hh and I wanted something me and my husband could both share, and the other horse I went for was a very similar stamp, but 17hh (and more money unfortunately).
 
it does seem that there is loads of variation in asking prices of horses atm. might just be that the market's so slow but IMO there is a huge variance.

the girl I ride with never spends more than £1k on horses and has some very lovely ones-from the calm, unflappable, turns his hoof to anything 17.2 to the extraordinarily flashy but nervous and hard to train 16.3.
 
It's crazy the difference in price for more or less the same thing. I always buy young stock, weanlings mostly, handle them (spoil them wrotten, as in, keep them in at night in winter, feed em morning and evening, treat them like riding horses etc.. ), and when the time comes, break them and ride them. They never cost me any more than 400 euro to buy, add the cost of looking after them, and at 4 they are costing me about 1200 euro, but at that point, i know them inside out and tend to get on very well with them. I went to gorsebridge horse sales may of last year (2010), with my sister to buy a horse for my sister. She bought an 11 year old gelding by cavalier royale, fab looking horse, great jump, well done for sales, 17.1hh. What a nightmare. I've had sold him 6 weeks later but she loves him. He was cheap for what he was, and there was a reason, or more to the point, reasons!!!! really bad hooves, to the point farrier could have moved in. 12 mths of pro feet, which didnt work - new farrier in the last 6 mths (my farrier, by the way), sorted that. stung by bee during summer, allergic to bee stings, anafalactic shock, nearly died!! goes lame if you sneeze near him, or for any other far fetched reason!! Can jump 1.20m course for sport, when he's in the mood, but can also blow poles into tomorrow if he feels like it, which is normally when at local shows so everybody knows you. 1800 euro is what he cost to buy, I think she's paid more than twice what she paid for him in looking after him since. So while I wouldnt pay loads because of the way i do it, I'd have paid an extra 1000 to get a better horse that what my sister bought, but as I said, she loves him - some people, eh!!!!
 
mistletoe maletto said:
it does seem that there is loads of variation in asking prices of horses atm. might just be that the market's so slow but IMO there is a huge variance.
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I agree with this and very often even when you try them there is no real difference.
I had a budget of £3-£3500 I tried lots of horses and most of them were not as stated

Then I found Micah he is a 15.3h WB he was 5 (now 6) well put together but had a slight blemish on his front leg. As I wasn't bothered about showing him it didn't bother me. He has an amazing temperament and movement he is not a perfect novice ride and had not done much mainly hacking but the potential he is is fabulous. However I only paid £2400 for him and got a serious bargain compared to what most people want for them.
The most amazing thing is is that he has had a perfect upbringing, the lady I traced in the Czech rep who bred and started him did a perfect job!! and I will be forever grateful
 
silverstar said:
3k to 3.5k. Ive had 3 horses that had problems that werent identified when I bought them but I suspect that the sellers knew exactly what was wrong with them. Height wise 16-17hh.

Would I be looking at another problem horse? Id look at loan with view to buy but there arent very many of these even in the summer there werent any.
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If you want a WB and are prepared to go abroad to find one then there are many opportunities to get something with wonderful paces for approx £3.5K in that kind of height range.

Go to someone who will take you abroad and introduce you to their contacts such as www.jmsporthorses.co.uk
Highly recommend as bought horse in siggy from him six years ago and never looked back.
 
I would say it depends entirely on what you want.. When I was looking I wanted what everyone else did (4-6 with some talent to bring on to event) and I got something perfect but at slightly more than your budget. However, if you are flexible on age, breed and what its done then yes you should find something a little bit older (or a younger OTTB) for that budget.

Good luck!
 
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