Love it! Looks like he’s got a big jump 
Did you use a broker in the UK, or just personal contacts?
The hardest part was getting a shipper - ended up having to contract two legs (first from Ontario to layover in Lexington, then Lexington to TX). Still, was about ~$1,200 all in to ship, which is much much less than $8k to fly over from Europe. It just seemed very, very silly to spend half my budget on transport. Yes, I’m sure there are plenty of nice $15-20k horses over in Europe and clearly people on this board have first hand experience with horses in that price range. But again, I’d rather take my chances with a horse in the states and put more of my money towards the actual horse.
Re: the actual horse and the search, I was looking for a high adult jumper and had $15k to spend. Was ok with something younger as long as it was started and coursing at least 1.0m. Max age I wanted was 10, wanted a WB for resale value, preferred a gelding for the same reason. I think by the time I made my choice, I had a pool of 6-10 horses I was interested in, with 2-3 very serious candidates. Because I was buying off video, as well as making the switch from hunters to jumpers, oh and I was 5 months pregnant so not riding at the time, I ended up buying mine because I saw multiple videos of him packing a kid around the 1.0m. Found him on Facebook, did entire deal on facebook and over phone. If you spend time digging through there, you will find a lot of interesting horses.
The horse I got was NOT the horse I expected, but it has actually worked out better than planned - he has a LOT more attitude but also a LOT more jump. I just think yes, Europe has a lot of really nice young horses, but when you don’t have a lot of flex in a small budget, it makes no sense to blow a large portion on transport. I am starting to look for replacements for mine, as it’s time to find him a new home and move on to the next one, and still seeing a lot of great options in the same price range as before. I will PM you one that really interests me and if mine was sold today, I’d put on a trailer tomorrow.
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This is great to hear! I’m glad you had a good experience, and I would love to look in Canada. I’m surprised that transport was only $1,200 - even if it was a bit of a headache to arrange, that still seems pretty reasonable.
Would you mind sharing some of the facebook groups you looked at?
Facebook Ad. Regular person. Swear to God.
Cudo was a bit funnier. I found him because another person in a Facebook English based sales group had put up an ISO ad, and Cudo’s owner replied with 1 picture. No comments, nothing. and it was posted 3.5 weeks before I saw it. I tracked him down and long story short he’s my superstar.
In both of these cases the horses were owned by girls in their 20’s who needed to sell for good reasons. Cudo’s owner was buying a house and had a pregnant mare 3 months from foaling. Chad’s owner is moving to Australia in a few months.
This is what I am saying. Normal people with logical reasons to sell can and do have nice horses.
Em
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Wow, that’s great (and also reassuring). Once I’m closer to being ready to purchase, I’ll pound the pavement a bit. Looks like you have a lovely string of horses!
And if you include all costs on both… less than their equals here by A LOT.
Em
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Right, that’s what I’ve heard from a lot of people. But there are also people on the other side who are just as vocal. Someone earlier in this thread said that a $10k horse in England is the exact same quality as a $10k horse here.
I’m left with the impression that there is no single right answer - it seems to be a combination of who you know, where you look, what you need, and a hefty dose of grunt work & luck.
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FWIW I spoke with Amber Aslin from Exchange Hunter Jumper and when I was buying Cudo she valued him (Based on her experiences) as being worth a minimum of $30k here. Since then she has valued him with his show experience this year (Complete with my issues) as being worth $40-60k now. None of these amounts are anywhere close to what I paid.
Em
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Potential seems to be the most expensive quality in a horse. The best way to get a bargain is to buy someone else’s disappointment. 
That can involve a lot of right place, right time; it can also mean buying a horse that has found the top of its ability.
I think some of the disagreement on this thread is about the definition of “all in.” Does “all in” include your costs to travel to see all the horses on your search and all the vetting and the shipping and every bit? or just the cost on the one you settle on? I would say most people are not wholly honest with themselves on the “all in” number if they traveled to see horses. Gas money in the US isn’t free either, just easier to ignore.
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Fair enough.
In that figure I am including: PPE, sale price, commission, and transport/quarantine. I’m not including things like traveling to go try horses during my search, although I did acknowledge earlier in this thread that I wanted to limit travel costs to go try horses. For example, I can probably fly to the U.K. or Alberta for the same cost as a trip to Virginia or Florida, and I might be able to sit on more horses on each trip. Anyway, I’m willing to travel a bit, but want to make sure it’s really worthwhile.
I will be doing most of the legwork, so I don’t expect I’ll need to pay my trainer a super large commission (in fact, she recently helped a client buy a new dressage horse and I’m not sure she charged her a commission at all), but it’s a discussion we’ll be having over the next few months.
I will second this wholeheartedly!
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I’ve added them on facebook - looks like they’re going to Argentina this Thanksgiving! Too soon for me, but maybe next year. Anyone know what the going rate is for transport between Argentina & California these days?
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Chiming in here to say I bought my little guy through Rancho Pampa- I cannot say enough good things about them. Honest, reasonable, forthright, and they have (and have access to) amazing horses.
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Nice! If you don’t mind sharing, was your horse one that was already in the U.S., or did they source a horse from Argentina for you? Do you think they would have something within my price range? I’m actually not sure what shipping from east coast to west coast runs these days.
Be careful when asking any large dealer, “Do you have anything for $X” because for sure they’ll say yes and 10 mins prior the one they’re mentioning could have been priced $5k less. Instead ask buyers what they have for sale that fits the skills you want in an age, size and gender you want. Don’t tell them your price. Just ask what they have.
Em
Thanks, this is great advice. I suppose I can still give a broad range (e.g., low to mid 5 figures) just so they don’t show me something that’s 10x my budget, right?
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Just a note from a small time young sports horse producer in the UK- Yes you can get a lovely quality horse here in the UK if your budget is around the 20-30k mark. (£) You just can’t buy them from the big name dealers in Europe or here in the UK. If you buy from small low key jump, event or dealers yard who’s main clients are producers in the UK the prices are realistic. In fact 30k would get you a very good amateur 1.20/1.30 horse here. They add zeros on if you’re from the states… if you are brave and buy from a private seller here then you can get a quality horse. Yeah it may not be a six figure hunter jumper but plenty around at 1.30/1.40 level (national level usually) we have plenty of great vets too for PPEs.
I have often bought and produced horses that have gone to advanced level eventing and winning 1.45 FEI shows for less than 15k (normally unbroken 3yos or just sat on 4 or 5yos) It’s just knowing the right places to look, having a good eye and to have a bit of imagination when they’re green and in their winter woolies, oh and the lengthy sometime soul destroying process of breaking them in and doing all the crappy baby shows for a year or two! It’s soooo worth it though! We obviously have it so easy with loads of local cheap shows and just everything is cheaper here than the states so it makes it viable. I also buy small ones, they all grow if you give them time to mature and I like that to be the reason they slipped through the net…
Another example, I have a friend selling a lovely 7yo 16.1 Dutch x Irish gelding who probably won’t make an advanced event horse as a tad too careful but has just won a 1.30 national show jumping competition with scope to safely pop around a 1.40, he is a lovely character, hunts, hacks, and has a good clean vet and X-rays and he’s £18,000. He’s just not ‘good’ enough for the pro scene (he doesn’t have a flashy back end or over the top jump) for any big name yard to bother to try and get six figures for but for so many people who riding is their hobby they would have so much fun competing him as he would win 1.20 and 1.30 straight away and be your best friend! He has also got the eventing experience so derbys no problem!
And yes over here we have totally caught on to the hunter/equitation thing so unless you are prepared to trawl around private sellers the big yards will see you (Americans after a hunter prospect) coming. I took a lovely young Dutch gelding I was selling to a dealers so they could show him to American clients they had over and i told them I wanted 20k which was realistic for him and found out they were trying to sell him to the Americans for 70k…
If you want any help I’m more than happy to point anyone on here in the direction of nice young horses under 30k. (pound sterling!) From fantastic talented producers who do it on a small scale, yes horses won’t be as flash and wow or jump 1.60 but they will have been better produced, given time to mature and as aimed for the amateur British market they will be safe, sound talented enough for a good mid level and reliable. Don’t be mugged off by these big commercial yards, so many are just plain greedy. Support small time yards who put their heart and soul into producing one or two a year (for sale so they can fund their eventing or jumping habit not normally for profit!)
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So, they are friends of mine, and I bought when they still had their home in Argentina. My guy was a horse they had bought as a weanling and trained up- I got him right when he was turning five. They have their breeding operation there still, and Martin makes frequent buying trips to Argentina, but they now live in Aiken.
I don’t know what their price ranges are like with their current crop of sales horses, which are competing in the H/J and dressage rings, but they are super nice people and not at all sketchy, so it won’t hurt to ask. I’d buy from them again in a hot minute.
ETA: Mine was champion of the four year old free jumping competition in BA and he’d been competing very successfully in the young jumper series down there so he was a bit pricier than some of the others I looked at, but I had a lot of amazing options.
Wow, this is great to hear. Thank you! I am absolutely willing to look at horses owned by private individuals or smaller dealers, I’m just not sure where to look yet. Obviously the larger breeders and dealers have good marketing, web and social media presence, etc., so they make it pretty easy. Though I’m sure the money for that marketing comes from the premium they are charging for their horses, esp. exports to the U.S.
Anyway, you’re totally right, I don’t need anything super flashy - sound, sane, safe, athletic, and reliable will do. I’d also love a horse who can hack out in a field and pop over some XC fences without losing its marbles. Coming from an eventing background, I think cross-training a horse is really valuable (and fun).
Your friend’s horse sounds perfect, If I was ready to pull the trigger now I would totally ask you to send me some videos! I actually might prefer a horse with an eventing background to be honest, I feel like I am more familiar with how to ride them since I grew up in that world.
At any rate, I really appreciate the insight and would love to get in touch once I’m closer to being ready to buy!
Im not sure if Xctrygirl has posted on this thread, but she was in the market and ended up importing a really nice horse from UK and I think another one that looks flipping amazing from UK. I would think any information she could provide would be very very helpful.
Ha I just saw that she’s posted plenty. As you can tell I’ve not gone thru and read the posts. One thing, if you can track down the actual seller vs. an agent you’ll save some $. That will get you a good green horse with some experience - they start them jumping higher there. Of course the issue if finding that seller.
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