Dressage Daily - Horse Market over $100,000 -- some people are nuts!

Is it just me, or are some of the horses listed over 100,000 way, way, way! overpriced?

I am not going to post specific examples but I look at some of them and say “I would not pay over 40,000 for this one, the person who owns this horse must be out of their mind!!”

What in the world makes them think that their horse is worth this amount? Some of them are so average its incredible.

obviously, it is a means of status seeking, some sort of tax break, or a misguided hope of getting on the team through finance.

There’s one seller who posted a couple of green broke horses for over $100k. I sure hope people aren’t that stupid!!! :eek:

I sometimes look at the $100k horses on that site just for laughs because alot of them are overpriced. Some listed are totally worth it, but alot arent

Haven’t seen them but are those “Wellington Prices”, which are understood to be pretty inflated? Check back at the end of the season for “Everyone else prices”. However, it means something for someone with $$$ to say " I bought my horse in Wellington from _________ (Insert BNT)". I think sometimes people pay for that “status”.

Its not just there…plenty of overpriced horses in the “cheaper” catagories too, IMHO :slight_smile:
Sometimes they do sell though…makes you scratch your head a bit.

Sometimes I think that people do it just as they would play the lottery

Hey, there’s no law against it. Sometimes I think the mindset is…

" I don’t really need or want to sell my horse, but if I could get x amount of dollars for him, I’d do it." LOL

There are definitely youngsters with not much training, that are worth over 100,000 as is and sell for that these days.

Just because a horse is advertised for over 100,000 doesn’t mean it ever sells for that. It might be a sort of reverse psychology, put on a high price so the buyer feels real clever and like he got a ‘deal’ when he gets him for 50 or 60…the seller says…oh my god, you ride him so well that i HAVE to sell him to you…LOL.

There are also a lot of horses that are overpriced because they are being deliberately misrepresented as much better than they are…I was shown several in the 60-75,000 range that were very clearly not worth it, just because they had very average gaits and conformation, there were others that had a really defective canter or conformation defects or health problems that were really serious. Some problems seem worse to some people than others. For example, the 7 yr old grey with the drop-dead-unbelievable gaits and saintly temperament, my friend wouldn’t buy because ‘he might get melanoma’…some of it is more substantive and clear cut.

I guess you folks have not been following the European auctions in which 3-4 year old horses are going for $100, 000 EUROS and up. Much more “UP” in some instances. :eek:

Just curious how do you know how much a horse is worth or not worth by a picture? Granted I didn’t look at everyone but the 5-12 I did look at didn’t have videos so I 'm not sure how people can make judgements without a video??

I had one seller tell me she put her WB that she planned to jump on up for sale for $100k to “get his name out there.” He wasn’t a stallion, so I have no idea what that meant. I think she wanted him to have the reputation of an expensive horse. I never saw him so no idea if he was worth that, just sayin’.

what’s the saying? you can tell if a horse is worth 10 grand with a picture, you can tell if a horse is worth 25 grand with a video, and the rest of the price range, you need to go see him.

I’ve seen some horses standing in the grooming stall and I thought how much did they pay…LOL Then I saw it move and jump and I said OH yes now I understand. What sport horse is really worth 6 figures or even 50-60 thousand… A horse is worth what someone will pay for it.

I regularly read the Dressage Daily Horse Market and other horse sales sites as well. Some horses look overpriced, but that could be because the photo is not good. I’ll never understand why people don’t put up better photos. Putting up a head shot or a conformation shot on an 100k+ horse doesn’t make sense to me. If I were advertising such a horse, I would have a link to a photo album and video of the horse.

That said, I think that 100k is not a lot of money for a really nice horse. I think, with few exceptions, the horses at the top of competition are expensive.

Quite frankly, I don’t think ANY horse is worth more than $100k, but that’s just because I would never pay that much for a horse, even if I could afford it!

There’s wayyyy too much that can happen, and poof! your money is gone with nothing to show for it. Even insurance only covers you in certain circumstances, so there’s always a chance you’ve sunk a ton of money into a pasture ornament.

I know there are people who are very serious about this sport and to them it’s worth spending that kind of money for a serious prospect or made horse, but I just can’t justify spending the kind of money you could buy a house for on an animal!