What's the least you've paid for a horse that came good?

£80 for a pony who needed to go ASAP. Couldn't face her going to the sales so bought her there and then.
Hoping to back her and have a friend loan her who is interested.
 
Wagtail, I am so sorry to hear about your mare, but reading through this thread it sounds like there are serious bargains to be had if you're willing to travel and consider the Tbs/Welshies/older horse

I personally have bought 3 horses in my life, and the cheapest has been the best in every way, the most expensive has been the least pleasurable to own but has taught me the most. They didn't cost loads but more than those being talked about here on this thread. Info that is probably no help to you at all. Good luck!
 
my cob....£220 with tack and rugs. absolute angel, 15.2hh irish coloured cob age 15, bombproof plod type. now know why he was so cheap though...one word..lameness and feet!!
 
I know of a good racehorse breeder who sometimes has youngsters that haven't made the grade in training and some have been schooled on a bit and they want good homes for life for them, if you want me to ask let me know.

Also I have found that asking your farrier/vet is a good idea, they get to hear about horses that may be coming up for sale/not suitable in current home etc. My vet the other day was telling me about somebody who needed to get rid of several nice horses due to loosing grazing/personal issues.
 
I've seen some good stuff come out of York sales... if you look at the website should give you ideas of prices too
 
RaynerK said:
I'm sensing a theme here, everyone who has got a bargain has awesome horses! Most people who spend £20,000 on one end up slightly over-horsed and frequently get dumped or have gigantic vet bills!
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I guess few people would consider mine a bargain - no one really wanted him even for free, but to us he is priceless. he may not go on to do anything useful once my kids get bigger and want to do more, but should that be the case he can be useless with us - he owes us nothing having restored my love for ponies and ignited a spark in my children !!
 
I spent my childhood on free and often dangerous ponies all of whom I loved despite them rarely even taking a break from trying to kill me. Between them they turned me into a brave but unsophisticated rider with an enduring taste for speed.
 
I had one for £50, she was fabulous. I bought her from the field, retired. She was 25, I owned her for 4 years and had a huge amount of fun. We did a bit of everything, jumping, endurance, games.

I was given another free, he was an interesting ride and it took me 6 months to get the hang of him. Once I did he was a lovely allrounder, sadly after 3 years it did turn out he had djd so I passed him on to a friend who had always wanted to pamper a pony. He is still with her nearly 10 years on.

Both section D by the way. I've taken a punt on another D last summer, did a few basics with her, turned her away last winter. She is just starting to get it together, she was a couple of hundred. She has been hard work so I hope it is going to pay off!
 
RaynerK said:
I'm sensing a theme here, everyone who has got a bargain has awesome horses! Most people who spend £20,000 on one end up slightly over-horsed and frequently get dumped or have gigantic vet bills!
Click to expand...

Hmmm. Can I turn that on its head and suggest that these 'bargain' owners are kind of people who have the confidence to take on a problem, and/or they are offered horses for nothing because they know what they're doing.
They're patient, firm and consistent, so their horses do well.

So many 'problem' horses (+ dogs and children!) just need a bit of time and good sense.
 
I paid £700 for G (brown horse in siggy) as a six month old (his ticket price was much more, but I made a cheeky offer). He is a lovely, lovely person and in the three years of work or so that he has done, he has gone affiliated BD, winning classes at prelim and novice and qualifying for regionals, won his first ODE round a BE track on his dressage of 25.5 penalties and has had numerous showing wins, including qualifying for HOYS this year. Under saddle he is the most simple to ride horse and I could put a child on him (he's a 16.2hh WB).

He is now 10, and has only had roughly 3 years in work due to the downside of all of this: he had grass sickness aged three, and it took pretty much two years for his stamina to recover, he then had a mystery lameness (think deeply bruised soles in the end) which kept him off for most of another year, then this year, after working hard for all of our qualifications, he sprained his pastern in August and will only be coming back into work in the next couple of weeks, having missed everything! He also has sweet itch and sarcoids, though these have calmed down to virtually nothing with age. I sometimes wonder if karma is paying me back because of the cheeky offer! Not that I mind, he is fab, I love him to bits and we will keep persisting! I often wonder how much he would be worth if he had none of the above.....quite a bit I would think, but he would never be for sale!
 
£150 for various rugs, pony came free if you could catch him. Two years on he's gone from a fear aggressive, seriously dangerous pony to being the sweetest little chap I've had the fortune to meet. He has exceptional paces, jumps like a stag and will do anything to please me. I'm hoping he will make a great little hunting/eventing/fun pony to counteract my nutty mare who is as talented as an olympian but completely bloody dotty!

£400 for a 2 1/2 year old that cowered in the back of a stable, now a 10yo who is completely priceless. He's a massively talented chap who would try and jump the moon if you asked him to.

Sometimes the cheapies are worth more than the expensive neddies.
 
pennyturner said:
Hmmm. Can I turn that on its head and suggest that these 'bargain' owners are kind of people who have the confidence to take on a problem, and/or they are offered horses for nothing because they know what they're doing.
They're patient, firm and consistent, so their horses do well.

So many 'problem' horses (+ dogs and children!) just need a bit of time and good sense.
Click to expand...

I would have to agree with you here, I have been given or bought for very little money, several "problem" horses over the years who turned out just fine with consistent handling and time. just as well as I could never have afforded to buy anything decent :-) The horse in my siggy was a yearling I bought cheaply for a couple of hundred as he was taking the mickey out of the owner and she was plain scared of him, I still have him aged 12 now. his confirmation is not the best, but he is hardy, consistently sound and easy to keep, just loves jumping, a real superstar who will try his best for you at everything you ask. dressage ODE SJ. usually come home with a rosette when we go out. but does have a quirky side at times- guess that is why i love him :-))
 
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I paid 500 pound for papered Spanish horse from French meat market. He amazing talent in dressage and doing really well in jumping too. But hes not great to handle only really experience people handle him. But have been offered 6 times as much for him already. but he not for sale due to his quirky nature
 
I paid £600 for my horse nearly seven months ago. To be honest he, like many other ex racers, do go for that kind of money but I am incredibly lucky because he is such a well natured, kind and friendly horse. I cant say he comes with any bagage and I've tracked down his previous owners and none of them have a bad word to say about him (well unless you class him being too slow to race, lol)

I only got him sadly due to his previous owner having an awfully bad life changing accident involving one of his other horses and I count my lucky stars every day I own him because he is a super star ..... and its just uncanny how alike we are in character :D
 
I inherited my first pony from my SIL who gave up riding but my MIL didn't want to sell so I had her, she was a fabulous Welsh D X, 14hh of pure joy! I bred from her to a TB 21 years ago and still have that mare who was 20 in July. She cost me £150 stud fee!!
 
£900 at Doncaster for a Le Moss three year old who went on to represent his Riding Club nationally.

£1300 at Doncaster for a horse who went on to event BE Intermediate.

£1 for a navicular write-off who has since won nationally at his breed show, won unaffiliated elementary dressage, and did the 2013 New Year's Day Parade in London.
 
Fatty was given to me after he was written off for loss of use with a heart condition both specialists recommended PTS .
He came right ( long story ) and his veterinary bills will always be big ( I spend at least £3000 a year on him.) but he's fab MR GS loves him he's a complete scream to have around ( fatty I mean ) the best gents hunter I think I have ever met.
My first horse an Anglo Arab which my dad bought from a meat dealer outside the sale ring just after the dealer had bought her .
She was with us until she was PTS hunting until 23 took me to my first novice BEs a great horse.
My horse of a lifetime cost£4000 we were offered more than ten times that after her first Bramham , although £4000 is a lot of money she was the bargain of the century .
 
My field is full of cheapies. Several were FTGH, four were colts from the NF sales (between 10 and 38 guineas each).

Latest purchase was £200 - a 6 y/0 unbroken welsh d (sold as a 14.1 section C!). He was cheap because he kicked. Previous owner was nervous and jumpy, so this sensitive soul was on a knife edge every time she came near him. He's now quiet as a lamb, affectionate, and a lovely safe ride and drive.

My best free pony was a yearling Shilston Rocks Dartmoor with only one testicle, who has been an absolute cracker for both me and the children. He has given us so much fun over the years, especially driving, where his preferred pace is a gallop that makes my eyes water!
 
Thanks for all your responses! And Jemima*askin, thanks for taking the time to write so much about your lovely boy.

All these stories have given me hope that maybe I won't have to save up for a year! So many lovely horses needing homes, and so many people in awful pickles having to give them up. It is almost overwhelming. I just hope that I find the right one as thirty years is a long time.
 
Wagtail - you nearly got twenty times as much as that, I wrote it and was too embarrassed to post it all - he's only small but he is just so much fun and has meant so much to us.

Incidentally, if you like the Section Ds that look like that I tried to get a 15hh version of our lad and found some super horses at Cathael stud - and the owners are really lovely. They didn't have anything that was quite what I wanted at the time but I've just seen that someone on CR has bought a horse from them recently who looks rather nice. *just checked, it was miss_c and she has some pics up

And for those of us that live in the flatlands their farm is AMAZING!
 
Free! A mare of ours was an ex-racehorse who never actually raced because she would rear up when mounted! We got her free through word of mouth. Turns out she had seriously bad teeth and back and within six months she became a nice eventer and competed at novice level just before A seriously bad tendon injury which meant that we retired her about two months ago and she has been covered by one of our stallions Concept.
 
Alf cost me £1, as he had soundness issues, and was being naughty with his previous owners clients (She bought him as a schoolmaster to teach the advanced dressage moves-but he's a devil for bogging off broncing when new people ride him!)
He cost me a fair bit to get right, and will always be a bit fragile - but he's an absolute darling, as well as being a seriously nice dressage horse. He tried to dump me the first couple of times I rode him, but hasn't even considered it since, and is the most fabulous horse to ride. He's pre-programmed with all the GP moves, as well as being fun to hack - hes my dream horse, and I wouldn't swap him for a sounder one even if I was offered one!
My luck continued with no2 horse, who was supposed to be a companion/light hack, but has turned out to be the remains of a very well educated little dressage horse, as well as being the sweetest natured horse I've ever met. He cost me 50p!
 
Never bought anything massively cheap, apart from my first horse who was £900. Fantastic chap but was lame on and off the whole time I had him. :o And my tb, he was very much a project though :)

Solo, our irish sports horse, was 2k aged 13, he's retired now (had him 8 years) but he was a total schoolmaster, taught my sister to ride and got on the PC dressage team etc. So I think he was a steal at that price :)

sloloooo.jpg


Seen some yummy tbs advertised for > £500, it's whether or not you'd be willing to take on a project. I would also probably get it vetted if you want an ex racer.
 
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