Got side tracked by another thread and was reading the UHC’s 2009 study results.
per that study, a survey of a large number of Horse Owners (NOT breeders) who had purchased their horses, sold them for $3000 or LESS. Like 70% of the owners.
I can’t believe that’s actually true…do you think they just surveyed part time recreational riders?
Because I would think that the “average” price of a horse in America today is more than $3000. Maybe I’m missing something…
I don’t know, I actually think that could be possible? A lot of volume goes through sale barns and dispersal sales, so if they are taking those numbers into account it might be possible. My town has a weekly sale, a couple of hundred horses/week and I would guess that the average price is less than $500. No joke. Easily can pick up yearlings and under for <$50. That’s hundreds of horses each week, week in and week out for very little $$$.
There is a big difference between saying
“70% of horses sell for $3000 or less”
and saying
“the average horse price is $3000 or less”
As an example-
if 70% of horses sell for $3000
and
30% of horses sell for $100,000
The AVERAGE price would be $32,100
from the survey:
Horse Owners perceive the value of their horse at time of departure as equal to the value at time of acquisition. Most horses are valued between the range of $1,000 and $5,000 at the time of acquisition.
In response to a question about horse revenue from sales, Horse Owners indicated they receive a broad range of revenues from sales of their horses:
32% — $1 to less than $1,000
38% — $1,000 to $3,000
30% — $3,001 to $80,000
Where’s this 70% number coming from?? (delete this!) ETA …umm, never mind, I was not using my math hat (LOL excel is open on the other pc) and focused entirely on the middle number! But the number makes sense. Show and competition horses are in the rarified air of horse ownership even if we like to think it’s a larger slice of the pie.
And Janet’s dead on about average versus 70% of owners comment. Even if my math hat was off for the addition/reading for comprehension piece, the bit about averages, medians and so on really are not as simple as declaring that if 70% pay less than $3000, then the average price is $3000. But he median is probably closer to $3000
Agree with the post above mine and not really surprised based on the sheer number of horses out there and where prices seem to be.
DMK, your post reads an excerpt on the math SATs. I had a math panic moment there.
The 70% is the 38% + 32%, the first two figures added together because both categories are under $3000.
Around here, the majority of horses sold will be QH or paint, for $1500 or less.
I can believe 70% are selling for $3000.00 or less if you include all the many pleasure riders and saddle club riders and trail riders.
Now you have given me more data.
The median (50% more, 50% less) has to be between $2000 and $3000.
The average (using the midpoint of each range) is $13,370.
If I use the top of the range to calculate the average, I get $25,460.
These all seem reasonable to me.
I can believe this too. I wouldnt have a year ago, but since, i’ve met more people in different disciplines. Most people I know that ride western (for fun, lessons, small shows, cow sorting etc) purchase all of their horses for under $1500. My SO’s father has owned 15 or more horses over the past 10 years and none have cost more than $1500. He buys from auctions a lot.
SO has 4 horses. Most expensive was $2400-ish, the others were under $1000. I think discipline and breed play into it quite a bit.
I do hunters and have only owned TB’s and have never spent less than $5k on a horse. In fact, SO and his father were horrified when they found out how much I spent on my new guy. I was similarly surprised to learn how much they spent on theirs. Different worlds!
I believe it. The most I’ve ever paid for a horse is $1200. The average price I’ve paid for a horse is $400.
Recently I was inolved in a project for a county in NY state. In the area under study there were about 1000 horses that had shown ( some only once or twice).Values listed for these horses were spread over a wide range. Some of them were clearly listed at a price that was unrealistic given current conditions. However, this area often has top 5 horses in USEF Zone 2 awards, and someties the Ch or Res.
In the same area there were about 4000 horses that were primarily used for trail riding, pleasure and some fox hunting. Their owners valued these horses at an average of $2000. These prices were more likely to be ‘real’.
Most of the horse owning population has horses for pleasure.
.
Have paid between $1000 and $3500. One was $400 from a kill buyer to save
from the truck…invested $ and training into her and ended up donating to a rescue to find a home. She was young and largely unhandled at the time.
Gorgeous mover!
Probably pretty accurate. Especially over the last several years. And given that according to Am. Horse Council stats, something like 90% of horse owners are involved with horses for 5 years or less.
Sounds pretty accurate. Only a very small percent of horses in America ever set foot in the show ring or on the race track. The over whelming majority of horses are trail/pleasure horses aka pets. The “average” horse in worth a couple grand. The ABOVE AVERAGE horse is worth tens of thousands. Most horses are average =p
[QUOTE=Hillside H Ranch;5662690]
weekly sale, a couple of hundred horses/week and I would guess that the average price is less than $500. No joke. Easily can pick up yearlings and under for <$50.[/QUOTE]
Same here. We have a bi-weekly sale about 30 miles away, and papered weanling ranch AQHA’s were going for $35-60 and yearlings for $60-$150. Average price would definitely be in the $300-500 region at best. There will be a few that go through for four figures, but anything over $2500 is rare.
My area has alot of auctions as well and prices vary widely. They had a big one 2 months ago in Salmon, ID (150 horses & 50 mules)and the top seller was $14K, but there were plenty of horse/mules under $2K go as well.
I guess I just thought this was more in my area…
So – do you guys think that if breeders have truly cut back the last few years (and it seems they have, based on the fact that registrations are down in ALL of the biggest breed registries: AQHA, Paint, Arab, TB) – this “typical” (rather than average) price will go up in the next decade?
Will horses TRULY become a luxury item? Out here there is so much land almost everyone has a horse or two…
I don’t find it that hard to believe. Look at the “average” income in most areas. When I grew up working in a large boarding stable the majority were inexpensive horses - on a rare occassion when someone came in with a high dollar WB we used to all assume that person had wealth (and frankly in every situation I can think of back then, we were right).
There are SOOO many free horses these days, quick sales, “must sells”, and I’ve seen some horses that would normally have a higher dollar tag selling for next to nothing. I don’t think there are a ton of buyers out there in the upper upper price brackets, and lets face it over 10k is upper in most peoples world for a horse. We have a filly this year priced higher than any horse we have owned b/c she is such amazing quality - and our interest has been non-existent. When I’ve had them priced $6500 or below I got a lot more replies. The TBs I had under 3k I almost had someone come to look on a weekly basis. And the economy is much worse now. For a small breeder without the ‘network’ that the larger breeders have, it is quite hard to sell an excellent quality foal for a good chunk of change.
So while the average price may be higher, I’d believe that 70% sell for less than 3k, especially if that includes free and auction results.
70 percent
Yup…we just sold a horse at our barn for $2500. Had him for sale for one day! First person that tried him bought him.
yes. The majority of horses around are recreational/trail horses, lower level 4H kids etc. and that is not a pricey horse. If you factor in that a lot of horses still go through auscions like New Holland (where 3K would probably be the TOP priced selling horse of the day) that is even less. The show horse market most of the breeders here are breeding for is really a small percentage of the market. The polo pony prospects my hubby has bought have averaged about 2,500.
The “average” horse in worth a couple grand. The ABOVE AVERAGE horse is worth tens of thousands. Most horses are average
that quote sums it up perfectly!
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