What would you expect to pay for a 4yo potential eventer in SE?

[TGM]

So something that is bred to go up the levels, perhaps sire and full-brother successful at Advanced, for example. Decent conformation, nice movement, recently backed and done a few weeks under saddle, but hacking sensibly alone and in company, good in traffic, happy in the school in walk, trot and canter, and has popped a small cross pole or two. Good to catch, box and shoe and handle on the ground, no health issues or vices and around 16-16.2hh? So basically a nice, straightforward young horse to bring on.

Would would be the average market price in South East England do you think?

 

[Irish gal]

Wouldn't it depend on how far up the levels the horse is expected to go. As in an exceptional youngster with the attributes to go all the way, I'm selling a youngster like that at the moment and there wouldn't be much change out of £25,000.

 

[PorkChop]

So hard to say, but probably anything from 10k to 20k.

If you think about how much the 3 year olds at specific eventing/sport horse sales get sold at, generally around the 8k mark, its got to be more than that surely.

 

[Goldenstar]

Average 12 to 20k could be more.

 

[ihatework]

Depends! Anywhere between 6k and 30k

 

[AdorableAlice]

Minimum 10k if it was a bit plain. If it was a really correct type substantially more.

 

[Charmin]

Quick scan on Horsequest - seems to be about £5k upwards for a nice but plain and well bred type, then keep adding a bit more with experience, paces etc.

Can pick up some nice looking youngsters without the big breeding for £3k. The market seems bonkers at the moment!

 

[cundlegreen]

Following this with interest. i have a mare that matches this description....

 

[popsdosh]

Quick scan on Horsequest - seems to be about £5k upwards for a nice but plain and well bred type, then keep adding a bit more with experience, paces etc.

Can pick up some nice looking youngsters without the big breeding for £3k. The market seems bonkers at the moment!

Not sure you read the OP you will need 15+ with those requirements more likely nearer 30+ with close relatives doing well.
To be honest OP where it resides within the UK makes no difference .However whos yard its in may add many Ks. If its one your looking to sell get it in a known yard or at the very least an agent who has contacts. Get it vetted first with X rays so you dont waste your money

 

[TGM]

Thanks everyone, that's really helps to give me an idea. It is one that we own, and want to keep, but as I bought him as a 2yo and he is now backed and going well (fingers crossed, touch wood) I was thinking of upping the amount he is insured for. By the sound of things I think he is probably the lower end of your estimates as although he is quite nicely put together and most people describe him as 'smart', he is not perfect - he is quite short-coupled (which is not everyone's cup of tea) and a little bit short in the neck and from the side his head sometimes looks a little on the big side. Also he has not been professionally produced, my daughter has backed him and ridden him on herself so is not as polished as some might be at this stage. On the plus side, he is naturally very well balanced with three good paces - a ground-covering walk, expressive trot and a fabulous canter, plus a very trainable brain and generally a great attitude to life.

 

[ihatework]

A word of warning about upping insurance, once you get into the 10k+ you might need to present X-rays and an up to date vetting. If that is required by your insurance company I wouldn't necessarily rush into it, or you might find yourself with debatable exclusions.

 

[ycbm]

Whilst they will be very happy to accept your increased payments, the insurance company will pay out only what they reckon is his market value of you were to lose him, not the sum insured.

And proving he is worth more than the bottom end of the range of horses of his type would be very difficult.

Unless you would plan to buy a horse of the same quality and experience if you lost him, you would, I think, be wasting your money to insure him for a high valuation.

 

[popsdosh]

Whilst they will be very happy to accept your increased payments, the insurance commons will pay out only what they reckon is his market value of you were to lose him, not the sum insured.

And proving he is worth more than the bottom end of the range of horses of his type would be very difficult.

Unless you would plan to buy a horse of the same quality and experience if you lost him, you would, I think, be wasting your money to insure him for a high valuation.

Its playing up and doing its own thing again!!!!!

 

[popsdosh]

Whilst they will be very happy to accept your increased payments, the insurance commons will pay out only what they reckon is his market value of you were to lose him, not the sum insured.

And proving he is worth more than the bottom end of the range of horses of his type would be very difficult.

Unless you would plan to buy a horse of the same quality and experience if you lost him, you would, I think, be wasting your money to insure him for a high valuation.

Totally agree you will struggle to get an insurance company to accept a marked change in value without solid results to back it up. Most riders with young event horses only insure for replacing with a decent untouched 3yo as the costs above that outweigh any possible return.

As stated above it makes no difference what you insure him for they will only pay out what the loss adjusters agree is the value and you cannot put a value (they wont) on potential.

 

[TGM]

Thanks, yes I wasn't thinking of insuring him for a massive sum and would want to avoid a vetting. Just want to know if something terrible happened we'd have enough not to have to start totally from scratch again. To be honest, I'm almost superstitious about insuring them, its just I feel if I don't do it, then it will be s*d's law that something bad will happen!

 

[Irish gal]

Agree with others it's very hard to value the horse. TBH the fact he's by a top sire and his brother is at a good level only matter if the horse himself is talented. For instance it wouldn't matter what a horse is related to if he himself was deemed just average once broken and riding. Having a great pedigree on paper won't help him progress if he doesn't have it in him.

I'm not saying that your horse is like that but breeding doesn't count for much once they're broken unless they can display similar abilities to their good relatives. Like exceptionally good movement and jumping ability.

 

[TGM]

I'm not sure the final few posters have read my comment above, that I would would put him at the bottom end of the valuations on this thread! He is currently insured for a lot less than the lowest valuation given on here, hence me thinking I ought to up it a little bit, just so as not to tempt fate! I indicated the breeding just to show that he is a nice type of young horse, rather than by any old stallion out of a quirky mare that no-one could keep sound, if you see what I mean!

But from what some of you are saying it is not worth increasing the sum insured at all? Would they not even see the difference in value between an unbroken 2yo and a backed 4yo that can be ridden happily and safely?

 

[be positive]

If you want to increase the insurance with less risk of them refusing to pay out it is worth getting a valuation in writing from a producer or similar, one of my liveries had to do this years ago and they accepted the word of a well know local dealer/ producer that had seen the horse to give a fair market value and paid out promptly with no further questions.

 

[TGM]

Thanks be positive, my OH is a farrier and has often been asked in a cases where customers have sadly lost a horse to provide written evidence to support their insurance claim, which as far as I know has always been accepted. So I assumed if we were unlucky enough to be in a similar situation I could provide written evidence from, say, a qualified trainer who had good knowledge of the horse and could confirm its level of training, movement, conformation and behaviour, to back up claims of its value.

 

[be positive]

That is my understanding, the insurance company needs to cover themselves from fraud so having someone who is well regarded and not really connected to back up the valuation makes sense, a vet could do it but may not be really "qualified" to value a horse especially a good one that they rarely see. If you increase the insurance by a sensible amount now you should be fine if the worst happened, then maybe an annual increase in line with it's results could then be done if you wanted to keep on track year on year.

 

[Irish gal]

The producer valuation sounds like a great idea. Plus it would be interesting to get an objective appraisal as perhaps the horse could be better than you're thinking. Well if it was mine I would be keen to know.