Chatting with my daughter while watching the pony hunters at Devon, we were wondering - some of these famous ponies that have been around forever and seem to be pretty auto-amazing, how much is an annual lease? Asking just for fun!
Same as a successful big Hunter IF they even are available for a full year off property lease and there is not a three year long waiting list.
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How much have do you have to spend?
In all seriousness…I think these ponies are amazing but you should really ask yourself what kind of rider would you like your daughter to be?
These ponies are almost machine like. My friend has one that was gifted to her by a family friend. The pony is 26. Her daughter is 6. They win EVERYTHING.
But at the end of the day, the pony does not perk up and gallop to catch up on a trail ride. The pony never breaks out of showring perfect striding or frame.
I would never voice out loud what I think, but I don’t think that kid is really learning much about how to actually ride. 
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I have also wondered this and have been told 6 figures to lease for a year from people who supposedly know. But things like this are just worth whatever people are willing to pay…
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OP said she was asking just for fun, but even if she didn’t, there’s really no need to be so judgmental.
I’ve noticed that most questions here in the H/J forum don’t get direct answers - instead, they get passive aggressive, snotty, holier than thou, I-know-the-answer-but-you-obviously-don’t-belong-to-the-super-special-club-so-I’m-not-going-to-tell-you retorts. Why is that? Why not just answer the question, or if you don’t know the answer, refrain from posting?
OP, I have no idea but hopefully someone who is accepting of newbies to the sport will see this and give you a direct answer to your question.
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Kid you referenced is 6. Let her gain her confidence on a saintly, safe, forgiving pony that’s earned its place to be treated like the piece of gold it is.
Promise, kid will get plenty of hard knocks in the horse world as she progresses.
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We have one in our barn who is usually at Devon. It’s not super-famous but usually top ten in the country. It leases for mid-six figures annually.
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I think that’s not a good reading of the post to which you’re referring. It’s an honest issue - do you want your kid to win everything (5 figures), or do you want them to learn to ride?
Not saying at all that those professional ponies aren’t worth the money - they certainly are - but if you’re in it for the (kid’s) long run, that might not be the use of your money. I guess it all depends on how much money you’ve got.
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The pony leases for $500,000 per year?! Wow.
There was a very well known pony who won a lot with his owner some years back. I forget now if he was a small or a medium.
After she outgrew him, she leased him out for the next several years. Rumor had it his lease fees paid for her tuition at college and medical school.
I did not see the actual receipts, so I don’t know it for a fact. But I find it easy to believe. He was a really, really, really good pony.
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This is a lot but shockingly not unheard of for a winner for a kid. This is the world where top junior hunters lease for 7 figures a year. different world than most of us live in, for sure!!
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Six figures to lease, IF it is available. As far as I know, there’s certainly ponies going for $500k+, but a lot of good teachers will be in the $100k-$250k range. That’s not my scene though.
Ponies are in high demand, right up there with top Eq horses. And THOSE lease for part of the year/show circuits, for BIG bucks. The good ones are worth what someone is willing to pay, and their weight in gold besides!
(I also think that learning to ride on a safe, made packer is MUCH preferable to learning a ton of bad/defensive habits or getting scared. It’s much easier to teach a horse to go well when you know what correct feels like.)
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Mid 6 seems very logical (?) to me. I had a friend in that space gosh pushing 20 years ago. Her ponies were in the $100-300k range. With inflation I’d imagine those would be mid 6 figure and they weren’t famous by any stretch. So if you’ve got a million dollar medium, an annual lease at $300-600k seems aligned. They purchased a fairly big name eq horse for $750k back in the early 2000s so probably would be closer to a 2M horse now?
Not my world but much like a birkin bag, I find it fascinating to get a glimpse into a totally different world. That world creates a lot of jobs and industry for others so I don’t resent how people spend money. If they’ve got that to spend for a year on their child, I don’t think it’s probably even “irresponsible” spending relative to their net worth or annual income.
Debating whether anyone “needs” these leases feels both irrelevant and moot.
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This is so true. And applies to across the forum. I can’t count the number of times I’ve thought, “Why can’t anyone just answer the damn question?”
But, I think that’s just human nature. If you pose a question in any large social group, you’re going to get a whole lot of conversation and most of it is not going to directly address the question.
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And yet you voice to the whole internet world the well worn out cliche kids on suitable mounts cannot ride and pronounce a 26 year old veteran saint with a 6 year old is a robot and the kid cannot ride because it wont gallop to catch up to a trail ride.
Don’t tell some of the riders on our International Show Jumping team they will never learn to be good riders if they start with made, suitable, safe Ponies.
And let us not forget Ponies are not all saints and earned their reputation as the only legal form of child abuse and God named them Pony because all the other 4 letter words were taken. They can be wicked creatures and some of the best bred, best looking, best performing can be nasty to get along with. And really tough rides.
Back to the original question of cost, shared estimates are pretty close. Leasing for shorter periods of time or specific shows is popular and some owners make the really top Ponies available as meet at shows catch rides. Rider works with Ponies regular trainer at the shows, and there is some pressure there.
Away from the rarefied atmosphere of Devon and Pony Finals, you can probably find a season lease of a B quality Childrens Pony or Short Stirrup at mid 5s but if you want a Division Pony that can get a piece of the hack, jump Division heights, has the step and will model you are talking 6 figures.
As always, you can get lucky but you would need to regularly be around those who have these pricey little devils and might need to move one. Also help if DD was an actual Pony Jock and can catch ride the tough ones, that can open some doors as far as getting a quality lease under market.
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Speaking of a good reading of a post, the OP said they were asking just for fun.
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Exactly. Let’s remember that Lillie Keenan, whose riding helped pilot our Nations’ Cup team this weekend, was Best Child Rider on a Pony at Devon — and her family wasn’t exactly just scraping by on hand-me-downs. Every time I think adults have outgrown the 'ole trope of “you never learn anything on a pushbutton horse,” I have COTH to bring me down to Earth.
ANYWHO, the numbers folks have thrown out here are generally correct. I know of a pretty good small at the tail end of its career (e.g., probably last year doing the “real” division, but had done it all with great success) leasing for around $150k a year.
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In other words, the pony is polite and safe…
And some how you find that to be a negative.
Why do you want something that is not polite and safe for a 6 year old to ride?
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Thank you for increasing my supply of satanic-pony descriptions!
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IIRC it was LK gracing the cover of a catalogue maybe 20 years ago. Tiny tot with big bow pigtails on a rotund buckskin Pony ( who was a well known veteran) over a jump. Cute as can be.
She was trashed here on COTH for being coddled and on a push button robot, wearing spurs she had not earned the right to wear, it was obvious she had no chance at ever really learning to ride and was an example of all that was wrong with the horse show world. She was no real rider and never would be. Nasty train wreck of a thread that was. And boy, were they ever wrong.
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