There are lots and lots of people who only want to event at the lower levels. Why not target those people specifically? Many re-riders want smaller horses, quiet horses, horses that can go out and do that lower level job without a huge fuss. Horses that you can toss in the trailer and go out for a trail ride. Horses that can sit around when the weather isn’t perfect and then go around like it’s no big deal when the owner finally gets on. You’re in New Mexico, which seems to be quarter horse country. Isn’t Riudoso Downs in New Mexico? Lots of QH racing there? Find yourself a decent sized Appendix QH or one of the large QHs available, train it up, and then send it along to a grateful new owner. If you can find a sweet and kind TB or draft X that’s fine, but don’t forget your potential market and the fact that a really nice grade horse can perform the job just as well or better for the ammies. Good luck. Have fun.
I’ve noticed in the NM market you can get TB and racing QH dirt cheap. Draft cross of any kind seems to fetch at least 4k or more. People here go nuts for drafts. If you can find one on the cheaper side from out of state and ship in, that’d work.
@Interstellar Right? I’d noticed the high draft cross prices as well, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to find out about the more national market. I’m sure I could snap up a DC (can we call them that?) at auction, at least back in IA, and sell them here at a profit, but I don’t want to HAVE to limit my market to NM, just in case it it isn’t a good match for anyone local. Not likely, I know, but when I’m ready to put a horse on the market I want it to go quickly, and for what I’m asking. So the broader market I can appeal to the better.
There are a ton of TB’s and QH’s here, and cheap! But I’m having a hard time finding many nice looking ones. Lots of over at the knee, tied in tendons, and post legged conformation. While a TB or high percentage QH might have more potental to really move up the levels, the TB’s I’m seeing around here don’t look to be set up for success. So it looks like I’ll be looking at horses further away in any case.
Gaited horses seem to also fetch a premium here, but that would really change the focus away from eventing. The primary reason I would like to bring along an eventing prospect is that my 2017 colt is an Irish Draught. Eventing will be a great way to display his versatility, or see where his best talents lie. I thought it would be a good idea to brush up on my LOOOONG unused skill set before he starts coming along. Who knows? Maybe I’ll find my brave again. It’s been a long time since my ASB gelding flipped over that telephone pile oxer and broke my face! :winkgrin:
I love thoroughbreds but darn, a good draft cross is so easy to train and sell, and the upkeep is minimal. My thoroughbreds cost me 2x at least beyond what my cooler blooded horses cost in feed, shoeing, supplements, and more. Love them to the moon and back though.
And the market is now full of good thoroughbreds with training. That is a good thing for the breed but it is not so good for those selling.
Think of this: a 15.2 hand chestnut mare. Draft Cross? OTTB? The Draft cross would be soooo much easier to sell.
I have seen some very nice Georgian Grandes in Tennessee. It takes some time to find them though. PM me if you want contacts.
God help me if I buy a 15.2 chestnut mare for a resale project! @DrHB Thanks, I’ll take you up on that when I get a little closer to start shopping.
hahaha! yep only dunderheads like me buy the little chesnut mares as investment projects!
A good draft cross in Northern Illinois usually gets brought pretty quickly. Lots of amateur riders looking for something that can do some jumping, some showing and be overall a safe partner. Some trainers have gotten smart and are pulling draft crosses from auctions in Iowa and neighboring states.
Way back in olden-times, my father used to purchase young horses from a local breeder who had draft/tb mares bred to his tb stallion. My father swore that the best fox hunters were 3/4 tbs (1/4 draft or whatever) and our family had a string of them for the hunt field. Now, people who want less tb go with warmbloods. But as we know, the “warmblood” brain is not the same as the draft cross brain, although admittedly, there is much variation within the two groups.
If I were looking for an inexpensive investment project, I would totally ignore breed and shop for the best deal on a quality horse. Heck, it could be a Morgan or a Saddlebred/QH or whatever. If you take off the “breed” binders, you have a much better shot at finding the “right” one.
In 2016, I found a super little horse in a back yard outside of a local city. Most people think he is a Welsh Cob or a Connemara with size. Who knows what he is … although I am pretty sure he is NOT a Welsh or a Connemara, based on where I found him.
Remember for the resale market you really need a horse that is rideable, sound, and capable to prelim. Not a horse that can do a two star.
I have no idea how you find a cheap draft cross prospect but I’ve bought two now who someone else started, and there is a lot to like. One was a Belgian cross and current one is a Perch cross. They are not all deadheads - the Belgian had a heck of a spook and the Perch is kind of a livewire in general…but they both have great feet, are easy keepers, very good jumpers, nice movers, and very sound. Something to be said for a horse that you can show 2nd level on on Saturday, and hunt first flight on Sunday. Neither one is hard to keep fit and both have been inexpensive to maintain (as in, shoes, a ration balancer, and half the blankets a tb needs…vet only for the random laceration or hard to find abscess…).
I’m on my 3rd Perch cross and have found that true of all 3. My current TB/Perch mare is a keeper. She’s my big dork of a mare with a mischevious spook and lots of opinions but a saint over fences
In hindsight I think that back when we had a lot of draft crosses going through that barn in IA there were a ton of PMU horses coming down from Canada. I’m sure that shutting that industry down has changed the market. I think that might have been around the time that horse slaughter was banned within the US. So many factors come into play that I think my best bet is to just go to the auction with a few grand and a backup plan. I’ll probably go this spring and just watch. It’ll be later in the year before I’m set up to really quarantine a horse like I’d want to from the auction. Though one of my coworkers gave her whole heard (5 horses) strangles when she bought a new mare and the mare never had a temp or symptoms, so I don’t know how you beat that. 
And I did just get a heads up on a LOVELY gelding with CANTER who I’m absolutely DROOLING over, so maybe I’ll be stupid and jump the gun anyway.
For the first time in my life I am riding a draft cross and I love her. I don’t own her but if I was looking for a resale I would go draft cross, she gets lots of compliments wherever we go. She is a very easy keeper and goes barefoot, while I get that there are some TB’s out there that are easy keepers, I have personally never owned one.
While I love a good QH, I would be wary of getting one off the track. In my (limited) experience, OTQH are mentally worse than OTTB and not super ammy friendly. The type of racing they do is very different, even from 6f “sprinter” TBs.
If I were in the southwest, I’d look for a good ranch-broke QH or pinto and teach it to jump. It may not be the prettiest mover, but they are plenty athletic enough for novice and VERY safe. They are patient, sensible, easy keepers, and can be ridden by just about anyone; while they won’t sell for big money, it will be an easy horse to market when the time comes.
I think there is a huge market for the above but not necessarily for capable to prelim. I would say capable to training level. And there’s a good market for those who want a Novice Packer. Safe, rideable, sound and cute make up to be the most popular package!
If I remember correctly, when I was competing in CO, a bunch of the top UL horses were straight up quarter horses, and not even appendix looking. They were small and compact and really athletic!
I budget 18 months for a resale project. Unfortunately more often than not, that’s what it takes. I’ve always had to give time off in the winter due to facilities/weather, so your mileage may vary. Quickest resale was 3 weeks, an unreg. QH from a dude string who was “too nice” for that life according to the dude boss. Sold as a solid Pony Club horse, jumping courses and xc in those 3 weeks. He had a great temperament.
I’d be good with 18 months. Maybe I should specify, I’m not trying to MAKE money on this venture, but I would like to try to get some of my investment back out upon selling. If I get lucky and find a real gem, great! But mostly I just need a distraction to keep me from bothering my baby too much.
I like the QH mind. I flipped a couple into large pony hunters back in my youth. Those were great fast projects. Drill some courses, put on a lead change and slap a video together, whambamthankyou! They were already super broke, and that makes adding a little training so easy. But alas, I’m too fat for ponies, and not a junior, and the hunter ponies have gotten so FANCY in the last decade that those sweet little quarter ponies just wouldn’t be able to hang anymore.
So you guys are telling me that eventers really don’t care about breed and that it’s really about what the horse can do? I want to believe it, but that would make them a much more elevated bunch than the buyers I’ve seen in other disciplines. In the dressage world if it’s not a warmblood, then no one wants to even look at it even if the horse is talented and trained. There are so many arabians that are beautiful movers, and smart, and sound, and they go do dressage at the arab shows but in the open shows there’s such a prejudice against them (some even say a scoring bias, but I won’t go there). For a smaller lady it seems like a fancy little arab would be a lot more fun to ride than the 17hh swedish monster with gaits she can’t sit, but I hardly ever see the former and the warm up ring is full of the later.
The only reason I would have preferred a DC or a TB over a QH (or an ASB for that matter) is that I’ve seen lots of them used as event horses. But if an athletic, solid citizen QH going at the same level can fetch a similar price then that opens up tons of options. I LOVE a loud colored appaloosa. If it’s really just about doing the job well, maybe I can find one of those.
Thank you all for the great intel. This is really opening my mind to new possibilities!
I think eventing still has a decent amount of prejudice about what a horse might be able to do based on breed, particularly in the dressage ring, but most people aren’t too hung up about it and will judge the horse in front of them. For resale I’d worry less about breed and more about whether the gaits of the individual horse are nice enough for at least decent dressage scores.
There are pretty regular “can I event on a <breed>” threads around here, and the answer always seems to be “sure, people have success with those, you might want to look out for these breed-specific possible problems”.
As for the original question, btw, a warmblood is a draft cross with a marketing department. (OK, ok, and breed standards and some history and refinement.) Draft cross or OTTB would both be an easy sell around here.
PS: maybe the dressage world is even opening up a little:
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I also second the go for the horse, not the breed. I would also check out some ranch horse rejects since you are out west.
I have two OTTBS-one is a hard keeper and one is an air fern and one goes in four steel shoes with pads, the other barefoot. One is super ammie friendly, one is super reactive. Just depends on the horse.
One thing to caution about a draft X, when I am looking for horses I would pass on a draftX mainly because it typically takes so much more time and work to keep them fit. My TBs essentially keep themselves fit, and my 19 yo comes off Novice XC not even breathing fast and he only gets 4 days a week of 20-30 minutes of work. As a working ammie, I do not have the time I would need to dedicate to get a draft X fit for eventing. Again just my opinion but something to consider versus a bit of hotter blood.
