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

Not quite as bargainous as a lot of these but paid £1200 for my 15.2hh as a 4½yo.

She has subsequently competed up to PSG, been to regionals at most levels.
Graded into head mare book of SHB-GB, produced a beautiful colt foal who got a very good premium at the futurity.

Fab temperament, 3 years off competing and had to pinch hit as a team horse for intercounty dressage comp. Won her practice run and qualified for regionals in medium freestyle and then came 9th in the team comp.
 
I paid £1,100 for my ex racer Fig. Including £100 livery.

Currently competing Elementary, about to debut at Medium and training Advanced. In two seasons of BD he's taken me to Prelim and Novice regionals. Novice and Elementary area festivals. Qualified for BD winter champs twice. Affiliated scores of over 80%. Placed at ROR champs 2012 and 2013.

He hacks, jumps and looks good in matchy and bling. He's barefoot and snaffle mouthed. He's cute, cuddly and handsome to boot.

I love him and it is the best money I've ever spent :)
 
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I was just in the same situation as you Wagtail, lost my mare and had no funds for another, I have a lovely boy from a very nice stud on loan for 6 months (with potential to extend it), with a price agreed up front and if I dont want him at the end any profit will be split between us. He needs lots of wrk but is proving to be a complete star in the making.

Good luck my best tip is tell all your horsey contacts, thats how I found my boy!
 
Wagtail said:
She looks lovely. I wonder why she's so cheap?
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I have no idea Wagtail, and I know some things are too good to be true but if you go into it with your eyes open and really try a horse out and get it vetted and have a good gut feel for it then you can get a bargain. Personally I recently bought a very well bred youngster for a lot less than he sold for as foal, it was just down to circumstances, not because of any problem with him.
 
If you like tbs have a look at rocke racehorses on fb they are in shropshire ,I had quick look to see if you were local to them but unsure where you are located.All ready to move on to new homes :) around £500 :D
 
£300 for my Blue bear, and he`s worth every penny and then some. 13hh (more like 12.2hh lol) of chunky monkey ..... I love riding him, he`s having the winter off now as he`s only a babe (backed, started and ridden away this year), and next year we`re going to have so much fun :D
 
Free!

I got given my TB semi wild out of a field because my old one died suddenly and his previous owners we ready to let one move on after the death of their daughter. I couldn't believe it when they told me I could have him! He is such a quick learner and was re-halter broken very quickly and taught to lead, trot in-hand, load, have rugs and boots on etc. in 2 weeks. Then a further 4 weeks to break. He has been a doddle and is an absolute star. I'm only 5ft 1 and at 16.2hh he is a big lad but is so soft and quiet. He is extraordinarily spoilt so I don't want to think about how much I've spent on him!!

In todays market you can pick up some very good horses/ponies for under 1k, so good luck x
 
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I paid £1 for my ex racer including tack (2 saddles) rugs and they even delivered him :-) we are competing elementary affiliated and medium unaffiliated dressage. He's a total superstar!
 
£100 for a 7yo TB. She has very good breeding, but is the slowest TB I have ever come across, hence she never made it to the race track. A novice bought her, and very quickly got scared, so I got her from the field at a bargain price as the owner realising after 2 years she was never going to dare ride her.

Within 6 months the horse had won 2 BE90's and went on to compete at Badminton Grassroots Championships. She finished the 2012 season ranked 7th in the country for the number of BE foundation points won that year.

Her limit is BE100, but she is the easiest horse to ride. Unfortunatly she does now have arthritis, so not sure if she will be eventing next season, but she is spending the winter being hacking buddie to my 3yo and dressage with my Mother. Amazing horse who gives her all and is a pleasure to own.
 
You can get a lot for your money with a TB just out of training .
You need to chose well one with a good nature good feet they can be very good movers and then is a fun retraining project , you need I think, to be a TB person and realise they are taught to take contact and go and to stop when you drop the rein so they need to be retrained right from the basics.
I adore mine .
 
I paid £30 for this ugly duckling -
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Who grew in to this -
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I sold her as a 3 year old as sadly she didn't grow big enough for me.


I also bought this for £90 -
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Who I've still got 15 years later -
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Got my TB X Danish Warmblood for nothing. Free to a good home. He could be tricky to handle and had a bad rep at pony club, so they couldn't sell him and were desperate. I knew his breeder and knew he was a cracking generous schoolmaster. I managed him the way he needed, and he was the nicest and most generous horse I have ever ridden.
I also got a lovely Arab x Lippizaner for free too, turned into a cracking hack and dressage pony - I gave him to my sister an she won a few trophies with him. His problem? Owner was a barefoot cultist, and he was never sound. I shod him all round, never had a problem.
 
Many years ago my mother paid 2p for a 17.1hh grey Irish draught that had thrown a competent jockey off, and fractured his skull.
She had to have him tubed, then hunted him all over the UK, including 2 seasons with the Beaufort. He was her horse of a lifetime, and his picture sits on our mantel piece.
 
Well I'm not sure what the charities in the UK are like, but in Ireland they are rehoming horses broken and ridden. Small donation to cover the training costs etc. The horse never belongs to you but if you decide the horse isnt the one for you they take the horse back. Looking at some of the updates on Facebook some of these horses are doing very well. Possibly something to look into?

Over here there have been a few well bred horses seized from breeders. Hence the good horses occasionally coming up for rehoming
 
Small ginger useless pony was free and served me as a pc pony til I got too fat for her. My four project horses ranged between £400 and £600 two were fantastic Fell ponies the other two were slightly quirky ISHs, Fudge my Welsh Cob was £1000 and Merl was £1200 and he was dangerous to handle but turned out to be my dream horse.

Don't give up hope Wagtail there are bargains to be had :)
 
£3000 for my late 13 year old mare. She'd evented with Jeanette Brakewell and was a cracking school mistress. Sadly she had various issues which meant her vet fee's altogether came in at around £6k, £3k of which I paid (insurance paid the rest). She was expensive to keep too with special shoes that cost £100 every 6 weeks, expensive supplements, extra bedding, feed and hay as she was always on box rest. I only had her a year before she was PTS because of her health :(

Second mare cost me £0 and is proving to be an absolute dressage star.
 
Thanks everyone for those amazing stories. I have found a horse that I am going to see. A section D. Not cheap but not expensive either. Owner may consider a LWVTB but if I really like him and that is not possible then I may just have to take out a loan. I am saving around £200 a month on not having my darling mare as she had to have Marksway horsehage, loads of expensive supplements, prascend and danilon, bless her.
 
Don't rush at it take a bit of time .
Only take the LWAVTB if you love it as it will close down your options .
If you want something to ride while you have nothing put the word about and I am sure they will come at you from all directions because people have heard I have PTS CF I've had four offers of a horse of the winter .
 
No, I will not go into it if I do not absolutely love him. I have a fabulous horse to ride belonging to one of my liveries, but she's £20k. Worth every penny but sadly way out of my budget! But I need something that is mine and to develop a bond with. The one I am going to see is very young and I won't be able to do much with him at all until the Spring. I did want a mare but there is something drawing me to this boy.
 
Wagtail, you sound like a very experienced horsewoman but please still take a knowledgeable horsey friend with you to view this potential new horse. Someone whose opinions you can trust 100% and who will look at the horse perhaps rather more dispassionately than you. You've a right rough old time lately and it could be easy to fall for the wrong horse.

Apologies if I sound patronising, I don't mean to be.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Wagtail, you sound like a very experienced horsewoman but please still take a knowledgeable horsey friend with you to view this potential new horse. Someone whose opinions you can trust 100% and who will look at the horse perhaps rather more dispassionately than you. You've a right rough old time lately and it could be easy to fall for the wrong horse.

Apologies if I sound patronising, I don't mean to be.
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Not patronising at all. I am hoping to take my sister. I don't want to buy on the rebound.
 
I paid one whole pound for this mare -

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She was very much a project, nine years old having been in the field since she was 4 having only hacked a few times as a 4 year old. She was a little quirky but got her going well before i then sold her a year later after taking a job on a yard where I could only take one horse with me.

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at the young age of 18 i have always bought my own horses, or people have given them to me for free 'to fix' because we found more fun in that, and my current boy cost me £150, he's an ex-racehorse who i planned to give to my sister but when i realised he could jump i thought i'd better keep this one and we're starting Novice BE next year, and he's only been with me for 2 years! we certainly don't win but we have so much fun, i used to be really competitive but now i am happy not buying another horse for a few years just so i can have fun with my lad now... though we took great care in the horse we chose, he was fully vetted despite his low price purely because you never know with ex-racehorses and vets fees are nuts these days!
 
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