They are $5000 straight off the track here in Canada. $8500 doesnt seem all that crazy,
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It seems the days of $1500 ottbs are gone.
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Is this mare a chestnut TB? If so, count me in as one of her fan club members.
They are for now for sure, although I just had someone send me a nice sound 8 year old mare for $500…anyone looking lol
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Using an inflation calculator, $1,500USD in 2002 (20 years ago) is almost $2,500 now. That’s 65% inflation. So if, like me, your mind still thinks in “20 years ago numbers” then we need to do this adjustment!
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I was thinking in pre Covid numbers!
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Same, I paid 2k for my very nice moving, beautiful uphill canter TB as a 3 yo in 2017. He moves a lot better than horses I now see going for ~3x that off the track. Granted, he’s cost that many times over now that I tried to rehab his kissing spines and ultimately sent him to surgery… but we didn’t know that then. Honestly seemed like a great price for such a lovely horse.
I know so many TB now with KS that I wouldn’t consider another without back rads… and going through everything I’ve been though with Expi, the current increased prices would be a hard sell for me.
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The Canadian RCMP is holding an auction for their breeding program. Range from 1yr to 17yr olds. The younger ones are not the right colour, the others are not the right ‘temperament’ for the Musical Ride program… what that means exactly I’m not sure. I would assume that they are well handled at the very least?
Apparently they usually average around $12-15k.
https://gcsurplus.ca/mn-eng.cfm?snc=wfsav&sc=ach-shop&jstp=sly&hpsr=&hpcs=8800&vndsld=0&saleType=A
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My best friend gave me the one and only homebred she and her trainer father bred after he passed away unexpectedly and nobody else would take the nasty bugger. They celebrated the day he left the track. He’s the nicest horse I’ve ever owned and turning into a great sport horse!
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I have seen multiple OTTBs listed with Canter or similar non-profit from our local track go for $8-$15k straight from the track off of a crappy jog video and a couple of candid photos. Really hard for the resellers not to charge more than track prices for their time and risk in choosing good prospects. I agree that it sucks—a nice OTTB was going for more than the warmblood filly I bought this summer. I looked at both and ultimately went with the warmblood for the same kind of money.
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Agreed. Plus they put a lot of time, effort, and money into turning them around. They’re not making the kind of profit people think when they compare the price of a horse straight off the track to one that gets a month or more of turnout, good groceries, shoeing, chiro, teeth, vet, etc. etc.
They’ve also gotten burnt on some horses, so it’s not like everything that comes through is pure profit. There have been a couple they ended up having to put down within days of them arriving because the seller at the track didn’t disclose a catastrophic injury. Others had huge vet bills for surgery or other illnesses that probably cut their profit margin to zero or in the negative.
I respect them as a horse seller for their transparency and honesty, and that alone is worth a lot.
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Oh wow. I am in love.
Um, can anyone recommend a shipper/ agent who can get one of these horses to the US?
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The descriptions are pretty transparent about why the older horses didn’t make it for the musical ride program. Other than the 17 year old (surely that horse could be placed through word of mouth given his long tenure with the program) the rest of these all make sense given the descriptions.
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Ooo I’ll take me an Oceana all day long!
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Yes I realized as soon as I started going through and drooling over them. I’m only a few hours away from them, but husband said our backyard is too small for a herd. (We live downtown Montreal)
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I’d love a horse like the 17 YO, if he was shrunk in the wash. 
But I also wonder why he’s being disposed of in this way.
From the news article it said they only run the auction when they have 6 or more for sale and that they are picky about the homes. Winning the auction is not a purchase guarantee. I knew these happened, but this is the first time I’ve gone and looked during the auction, so I don’t know how true things are. I was also surprised to see him there… One would think he would have had an internal line up of buyers? But maybe there are rules?
Lol! My 20-years-ago numbers were $0. Between 2001 and 2004 I got four gorgeous, sound OTTBs with fancy bloodlines straight from the track (one big bay gelding, one big chestnut gelding with lots of chrome, one smaller brown mare and one big chestnut mare) for a grand total of $100 (had to pay my farrier to pick one of them up at the track for me).
You almost couldn’t give those awesome horses away back then.
So I guess, my costs would be about $200 today (maybe more with the price of diesel). 
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It’s not being disposed of, these horses are highly coveted and go to good homes, the auction brings in a lot of money to support the breeding program. My coach and her assistant trainer regularly work with these guys so they are getting dressage training from an Olympian/FEI barn.
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Same here.
Paid $1200 for one on a payment plan, she was 7, this was 8 years ago, gone Training level a few times but not really any real training.
My current Novice eventer and 2nd level dressage horse were free from a friend who helped rehome from the track.
My newest I paid the most for, $2,500 3 years ago lol
