Ha ha ha. Thanks GG. I did jump in and comment. I am the person who is defying all the ideas that you have to spend SOOOO MUCH, to get a quality horse from Europe. If people knew what I spent, well to coin a European phrase, they’d be Gobsmacked.
Em
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As someone else pointed out to me, they’re all in pinch boots. Hence the ridiculous hind ends, landing on their faces, and “pronky” canter or even trot away. I’ve never seen them in person but suspect without the boots…?
This might be a dumb question but how can you tell they are “pinch boots?”
https://www.google.com/search?biw=19…mg.XjrNq_HkqZw
Sometimes it will be hard to tell, but when there are tons of clear photos available and a good quality video that you can pause you can.
Just found this which gives a decent description and images of both front and hind: https://www.theyard-equine.co.uk/blogs/news/bsja-boot-rules
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You are all the greatest - thank you! To the OP - we go back and forth to Argentina a lot and are always happy to look at horses. In your price range, including import, you’ll be looking at a 3-4 YO most likely, may not be under saddle yet. HJ has an auction coming up in Dec. There are several others as well. To give you an idea - we bought (and broke) and imported this one aa few year ago and he would have been in your budget. He’s worth considerably more now;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGcprUrPODE
The economy is going through some challenges so it’s a good time to shop there. WE just bought 3 more ourselves over the last month! Feel free to email me at rachel at ranchopampa dot com if you have any questions as I’m not always on here. We really do try to make a good match with rider and horse and we’re willing to work with all clients.
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See how easy it is to make useful contacts once you start digging?
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Everyone has sung your praises here and it sounds like you’re very well-respected in the community, so I really value your opinion! I’m alright with a 3-4 YO and would prefer something backed, but I’m flexible. What are import costs like these days, specifically for transport to California?
I likely won’t be ready to purchase until next summer but will certainly get in touch once that time comes! Thank you again.
Just another note from across the pond: I do see some good quality horses for sale throughout Europe for prices that are quite good and would be very appealing to an American looking to import. These prices and horses are usually found with small private sellers looking to sell their personal horse, or a seller that doesn’t have a Big Name Stable or business. I think this is kind of what Xctrygirl has been doing, no?
If you can dig through the Facebook groups, hang around the local forums (such as horse and hound), and do a little networking you are more likely to find yourself a deal, even after import costs.
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ATM - it’s $9500 through quarantine in FL and then whatever cross country would be (price varies time of year). There used to be a flight into LAX but no longer AFAIK. My gut says the import costs may go down over the next year but nothing is official. Keep in mind that for horses coming from Argentina, you have a 1 week quarantine but that’s for stallions and mares as well as geldings. That is considerably different from Europe (to buyers favor) if you’re thinking of a mare or stallion.
I’m always happy to chat about the process. La Tatabra is no longer breeding horses in Argentina. Henry Jota is the other big one and their auction should be live. You can follow it online this year in Dec to get an idea of prices. We’ll be bidding on a few there from the US. There are also many smaller auctions that aren’t online and we’re happy to talk to you about those as well. We just got a lovely hunter prospect and two jumper prospects in the last month (because you can never have too many horses 
FWIW - and I tell people this - if you buy a 3 or 4 YO, you’re going to be in the costs and time of getting it moved up the levels. You just need to be prepared for that.
The grey I posted - we bought him as a turning 3 YO in dec '15. He will be 6 this december and we’re just moving him up to the 1.20 and he’ll spend the winter getting confirmed at that height. He’s got a lot of scope and he’ll jump the big sticks but that’s still a ways off.
It’s important to be realistic about your budget and your goals. Are you willing to wait 2 years after buying to get to those 1.20 classes? Or do you want to be showing now in the 1.20s? (not to kill a future sale but I always try to be honest with everyone. Figure out what you want and what you must have and want you can live without.
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Absolutely. I have 2 such deals standing in my barn munching hay.
Given the feedback on Facebook I think it can be said that I chose well. 
But hey friends are biased.
Em
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Thanks - I appreciate the advice! It’s definitely important to be realistic at the outset.
Yes, I’m totally willing to wait a few years to move into that level. I don’t have serious competitive goals at this stage, so I’m alright with the time/effort to bring a horse along. I think it will be a rewarding project and if I have a nice 1.20/1.30 horse at the end of it, that would be wonderful. I don’t need the flashiest horse or the best bloodlines. My main goal is to have a horse to enjoy at home, and maybe a handful of local shows a few times per year. Of course I miss jumping the bigger stuff, but I feel like if I can see tangible progress (like in bringing along a green horse) that will keep me pretty satisfied in the interim.
That’s a shame there are no flights to LAX anymore 
as that certainly makes it a bit more expensive if I’d have to ship FL -> CA.
Can you chime in? I thought there are flights to LAX still. I’m nearly positive there are.
Em
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that flight to LAX probably refers to those originating out of South/Central America, not necessarily Europe. Context may apply.
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He’s nice. 
I like him!
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I think DMK’s right.
There are, of course, a million flights to LAX from Europe, but I know nothing about importing from South America.
But I can add that the last time I shipped from East Coast to West Coast, the cost was $3500.
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Thanks - that’s good to know!
OP, if you want a 1.20 jumper, consider Switzerland. They have interesting competition rules that make it harder to find a horse a job once they have topped out at their level. So, while your budget does still need to come up some from where it is, you could potentially find a decent 5 or 6 year old with good experience at 1.20 and some at 1.30 who isn’t going to be the greatest 1.30 or 1.35 horse that needs to get sold. This can be found with some of the bigger dealers who can get you a lot of horses to try, versus searching more backwoods in the EU. It wasn’t the best place for me to be looking because I do hunters, although some in the French part will do the style classes in France. Anyway, just another potential location to consider if you can get your budget up over 20 before import.
Personally I’d avoid shopping in Europe with a budget under $30k USD, and I won’t take clients there with a budget less than $50k USD. The ‘extra’ costs add up really quickly and by the time you’ve paid flights, hotels, car rental, multiple commissions, PPE, transport, quarantine, insurance, AND factored in the exchange rate, there’s just not much left to put towards the actual purchase price. When we buy in Europe ideally I like to have at least a top 3, often we will vet more than one, and we always get our vet here to review the exam as well (yet another cost).
Keep in mind there’s also a massive price difference between a horse that can do 1.20m and one that is suitable for 1.40m - particularly in Europe where most of them will be jumping in the young horse divisions. Try and be realistic with your goals and don’t buy more horse than you need.
There are very cool horses to be found domestically if you are willing to be a bit creative and look at younger or greener ones, you just need to do a bit of looking around and have some patience. We bought one a few years back for less than your budget. He was 5yrs old and pretty well bred, but very green, a bit of a hooligan to flat and had some wonky xrays. We took a bit of a chance on him, and we got lucky - never had any soundness issues, sold 5 years later for just shy of 6 figures and he’s still jumping very reliably around the 1.30m with an amateur. So it can be done.
So, not to be a downer, but if you are really not interested in doing other than local shows, maybe you don’t need an imported horse? I have had some bad luck in terms of injuries (myself and horse) so we’re not as far along as I’d like, but if I hadn’t been interested in eventually doing the High A/Os I would never have thought to look overseas.
Certainly there are some local shows that go up to 1.2m, at least around here, but there aren’t many, and they don’t go above that. Mostly it’s 1m and lower. Usually lower. So, perhaps spend some time thinking about what you really want out of your new horse- that may open up a lot of possibilities that will be less expensive and easier to find.
Speaking as someone who knew that I wanted a horse to do 1.20 and I looked in the US first, it’s incredibly expensive to find one here. I mean in all seriousness, a 6 month lease of $15k for a 15 yr old jumper that the connections expected you to do injections “once or twice” in a 6 month period.
I got my superstar from England for a very reasonable price comparatively and he’s more talented than MANY horses I have seen from many countries.
It’s all well and good to say that we should be able to find these horse types here already but who can afford it on a budget?
I know I am different and probably really lucky but there are ways to save $$$$$ on all horse searches. And yet most folks ignore those methods just so they can say they bought a horse with the help of X trainer and Y agent from Z country.
If you find a real person selling and can find another real person to ride it for you…MUCH more bang for the buck.
Em
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