Asking this as a “down the road” question. My current horse, Angel, is a 16 yo OTTB- got her when she was four and she had only been ridden 13 times since leaving the track). She has turned out great. I’ll be looking at getting something younger when Angel is getting older and wanting to slow down. I like TBs but I’m thinking I might want to get a warmblood with blood about 3/4 TB- and something that has never been at the track. If you are looking to economize by purchasing a young green horse- what age seems best? Probably looking at 3 years old and down. Not looking at upper level eventing. Want a horse capable of training level and doing fun things like trail riding. Keeping in mind the cost of maintaining an unrideable animal (for example, if you purchase a weanling vs yearling vs 2 year old etc). Thanks for any wisdom on the topic.
I’d say a 2yo coming into winter. Preferably one that’s in the middle of a fugly growth stage
That sounds like a good idea. Fugly could even be a nice name for this future creature. I guess you look at the Fugly one’s parents and hope for the best!!!
I’m hoping that by purchasing something younger, I will get a higher quality animal for less money. Also I like the idea of training the horse (with help of trainer as needed). In addition, I just had to put my nearby 30 year old guy down and though I know that a horse can die at anytime, I’d hope that by purchasing a young animal, we would have many wonderful years together.
I realize that prices are wildly variant depending on numerous factors such as location of horse, time of year, desperation (or lack thereof of the seller), and moon phase. However… what do you think of these prices. Not sure how old this is.
a lot of this looks low, like prices 5 years ago. Prices are higher now for WB prospects and WB horses in training. I think the non-WB prices are still pretty accurate.
Well my OTTB was super cheap (less than $2000). They originally wanted $4000 for her but it was November and she did not get pregnant when bred (thus her sale was for herd reduction). I hope to get some sort of steal of a deal and would prefer to stay under $10,000 if possible. I’m on the west coast but am quite open to looking elsewhere in North America. I’ll start an account for the purchase of this future horse tomorrow. That way I should have several years of savings.
I agree, a 2 year old is the way to go. They’re old enough to do some light ground work but not so young that you’re going to unridable for more than a year. Two is also at the point where they’ve done the most of the growing so you can get a good sense of the quality of their gaits. When you jump up to 3 year olds the price goes up significantly because 3 YO’s are usually going to be lightly started u/s. So if you’re comfortable doing the backing yourself, you have a decent eye for conformation, and don’t mind doing the “boring” ground work then I say go for a 2YO.
You can still get solid warmblood weanlings under $10k - just not from the trendiest bloodlines, or the best-known breeders.
I don’t think anything related to horses is boring. I enjoy ground work.
Oh I do too, a lot don’t though. I bought my mare as a 2 YO and I had almost a full year to just play with her and do ground work and go on walks with her in hand and when I finally backed her at 3 it was completely uneventful and easy.
I bought my Anglo/Trakhaner at 6 months. I needed a companion for my riding horse and didn’t want to end up with 2 old retired horses. Bought her for $2300. She’s 6 1/2 now and probably worth $25,000 easy. You get your best deals coming into winter, especially if it’s been a bad year for hay.
Bear in mind how many things can go wrong with babies before you can ride them let alone jump. I bought a 5 month old who ended up being PTS aged 7 with multiple impossible to predict issues that I would have discovered had he been 3-4 when bought. He also was a pretty mediocre jumper and I wanted an eventer so we did dressage.
Wouldn’t take much to calculate the cost to buy a youngster, feed and care for it for x years. You might find it’s cheaper to buy a going horse. Unless you don’t mind spending a few years waiting.
In that case buying unstarted (rising) 3yos in late winter/spring is the best deal - as soon as someone swings a leg over you can easily add $10k or more
That would be perfectly fine. I’m just looking for a healthy, athletic horse with a sound mind who can be used for lower level eventing and all around fun (trail riding, horse camping, etc).
Also since horse will be kept at home it will be much cheaper vs boarding (though still expensive of course).
I love the young ones and prefer that to fixing someone else’s work. However, age is not the primary factor in pricing - quality will determine price. If you buy young, you have an excellent opportunity to see them at the breeder’s farm and evaluate the care and knowledge of the breeder to give you more insight about what to expect. Tending to details and not cutting corners is important to me and should be to any buyer. Just don’t expect to do alot with a young one - let them grow and mature and do only what is appropriate for SHORT durations. Pay attention to growth spurts that can cause joint soreness, which if addressed, is easy to fix. Get advice from an equine nutritionist and don’t get in a hurry. I love watching them grow and develop and teaching the basics. Gaining their trust and confidence is so important - seeing that “light bulb” come on is such a reward! If you want to add some blood, look at some Trakehners. They have been very successful in eventing because they have so much “blood”. Good luck!!
I browsed some ads for Cleveland Bay crosses and saw a 3 yo filly with a trot to die for who’d won (IIRC) some championships in hand for $9500. She has since sold, she was in Washington state. A CBxTB filly who won the yearling USEA future event championship in 2018 is listed at $7500 on the farm website, but it looks to be out of date. She’s in MD. Just some food for thought on one of my favorite breeds. (Gee what could the other one be?)
OTTBs in Ky and surrounding areas are a dime a dozen. Straight off track 1-3k, and a fair amount of these are decent horses. If you want some contacts PM me. Most can provide some under saddle (not at track) basic video. From a rescue, broker, or being presented as actively restarted 3-5k. Local miles 4-7k. Some of these TB are ginormous and look like WB, and honestly some are too slow to race. Now is the time to buy around where I live, some decent horses are even free to a good home (provided you have connections w the trainer) with winter coming on and the meet wrapping up. I don’t know about the WB pricing except anything in my Purchase price budget prob has some major issue
Long yearlings are often the same price as weanlings, and you Only have a year and a half before you can start them…And that time goes by very, very quickly!
Make sure you do your research in terms of pedigree, it’s difficult for an inexperienced person to look at a long Yearling and have any idea what kind of adult horse they are going to be.
Greatly appreciate everyone’s input. I am in no hurry to rush a young horse along as I want to do right by the horse and develop a solid working relationship with her (I am definitely a mare person). I’m hoping for 20+ years with the young one and why squander the early years? There’s plenty of time.
You’ll need to go into it knowing exactly what you want.
I dabble in breeding and I’ll say, most breeders want to get foals off of their hands as quickly as possible so that there aren’t the sunk costs of feeding/care for 2-3 years. They will know when they’ve produced a quality animal, and you should expect to pay $$ for anything that has rockstar written on it as a young foal.
If they don’t sell in their first year (foal - weanling), there are usually two camps of horses - horses that weren’t quality enough to sell for $$ when they were younger so fingers crossed they find a niche, or horses that are nice enough to hold on to and pay to get going under saddle. Like someone up thread said, once they’re going under saddle - even just 30 days - the price increases dramatically if the horse is nice.
You’ll find some gems that fall through the cracks, or have an owner facing job loss/divorce/hardship/etc. But by and large, a lot of the horses that are on the lower side of the $ bracket by the time they’re yearlings thru 3-4 years have something wrong with them - either they aren’t super fancy, or they’re harder keepers, or they have a mind that requires a specific type of person. After all, most young horses are produced by small breeders - they have to stay profitable to continue going. Taking a loss on a horse only happens if they’re backed into a corner, since it’s not financially feasible year after year.
If you’re wanting the entire “ride”, I’d recommend trying to find something quality as a young foal and, if you can, perhaps from a stallion owner you like. It’s much cheaper for an operation that owns the stallion to produce foals, versus a small breeder who has to pay the stud fee + shipping + etc. Sometimes that can mean a price break.
