Arabian/HA sport horse market?

[Wonders12]

I bought a papered HA (Arab/trak) mare a couple years ago. The intention was to play around with her and put some miles on her and then sell her to a child/amateur home in a very different market (WI).

I ended up liking her and moving back to CA earlier than expected, so she’s still mine and lives here now. Trainer and I were talking about future plans and the potential of getting some Arabian shows under her belt to increase her value.

I really like the mare, so I would only sell her if I could get enough to buy a more athletic (and probably greener) horse for the same price. Does anyone know what the market is like for a cute HA 2’9" hunter (can do the jumpers) if we get her a show record on the Arab circuit? I can’t find much that’s comparable, and in the traditional h/j world her size and breeding are big downfalls.

[oldernewbie]

I would suggest posing the question on an Arab-oriented Facebook group like Arabian Sport Horse Alliance. I think there are some other Arabian sport horse groups as well. Sadly there isn’t an Arab equivalent to COTH.

[ladyj79]

Not having a lot of details, just your short description, I would say her value is its highest if she is competitive at Arabian shows. From there it is a matter of how competitive. But I would say at best, like a national championship, you would be looking at low fives.

price as always will vary with how pretty, size, how easy, etc. If you get her going to Arab shows I’ll put you in touch with one of my oldest friends who is an Arab trainer and competitor who can give you some good advice or feedback about the realities of that market.

[mvp]

Ooh… if she can jump in the USEF hunters, sell her to me! I have been looking for a big-enough, good-jumping/good-moving enough HA hunter for awhile. And I have to be in California next week… the Bay Area and LA, kind of.

I’m not sure what folks are paying for Arabian Sporthorses, but there are some FB pages where you can advertise her. But I think that if you want a premium price, you will need for her to have a show record at USEF shows or Arabian Sporthorse Shows.

[Halt_Near_X]

When I put my half Arab up for sale, the prices on the Arabian FB groups were either $$$ (for horses good enough to compete in USEF shows, whether they did or not) or $. There wasn’t really anything in between.

So we ended up not really marketing my guy to the breed circuit. I listed him on the FB pages just in case, but at least for my local market, he was worth more marketed towards eventers and hunter jumpers on our local open circuits. They were interested in him at 2-3x the price of what people on the Arab breed circuit wanted to pay.

He ended up selling to a therapy barn, and they paid more for him than any of the breed circuit people offered.

YMMV, especially if you can get connections to people on the breed circuit (which I didn’t have), but my experience was that it isn’t a very good market unless the horse is good enough for open rated shows.

[HLMom]

What size is she? What is her stride like?

[Wonders12]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I’ll look at Facebook groups. Great tip!

Sorry @mvp, she’s still mine for at least another year!

She has the step to make the lines, and she’s a nice enough mover to hold her own in the USEF shows, but she’s only 15.1hh. If the “Small Hunter” classes actually took off, she could be really competitive in that, but as-is, she’s a tough sell to the regular market. That and her breeding. So that’s why we were considering getting some Arab miles on her.

[HLMom]

I think that’s such a nice size and can be more confidence-building for a kid than a big 17 hand horse. I wish hunter classes were a bit more accommodating. For 2 years, my teen daughter rode a 14.1 Arab/Welsh cross; luckily he didn’t seem too out of place in some of the pony classes and they had a ball. The bigger horses had nothing on him jump-wise–he had the self-confidence and gumption to jump anything he was steered toward.