[QUOTE=PonyPenny;8706384]
This barn is in Great Britain so prices are in GBP, but there are some deals at the current exchange rate. Looks like the closest airport is London-Gatwick. http://harringtonhorses.co.uk[/QUOTE]
Too Funny, actually just learned of a horse that came over form here, and from what I have seen so far he is super green, but Super Cool and looks totally solid!
Sent you a msg TSWJB
Hi OP! You say you are looking for a hunter or eq horse. Here is the problem I ran into while looking at horses in Europe. There are lots of horses all over Europe that can jump 1.2 meters very competitively. There are a bunch that can jump 1.3 and 1.35 meters very competitively. The problem is they don’t jump pretty by our standards. There are a lot of ugly horses who are lousy movers, and even more who jump with their knees pointing down at the ground. And the crazy thing is that a lot of the Europeans I spoke to, off the beaten path, PREFER that knees down style to our round hunter style.
The most “huntery” type horses I saw in Europe were KWPN horses in the Netherlands and some random thoroughbred looking Selle Francais horses in the South of France. The Dutch horses are very expensive over there, too. The sophisticated breeders know what they have (see: Stal something who had Tori Colvin riding their horses on videos). The French horses were hunterish, but why would I buy a thoroughbred over there when I can buy a thoroughbred over here?
My company has an office in Budapest, and the Hungarian horses were dirt cheap, but not as many Hungarians speak English well, and learning anything at all in their language is impossible. It’s a weird language that has nothing in common with any other language I have ever tried to learn.
I was not super impressed with anything I saw in Czech republic, but the people we visited have just heard about what a hunter is, and they were convinced that everything they had that was pretty and slow was a world class hunter. Not.
Seriously, if I was looking for a safe, 8 year old 1.2 meter jumper, I could have brought home 100 priced at 15,000 Euros or less. But like I said up there, they weren’t all pretty, they generally were not good hunter movers, and they jumped weird. But anybody and their brother could have walked in the ring tomorrow on any one of them and put in a good jumper round.
I did not go to Sweden. I have been told that there are lovely horses in Sweden and the people are very honest and speak great English. It was suggested to me by a German agent that the best horse for the money all over Europe are horses that are aging out of the young jumper classes and aren’t going to have the scope to go any higher. A lot of owners are cutting those basically finished horses loose and starting over with a new young horse. A German agent also told me that the farther you get from Germany, there are a lot of forgiving horses, because they don’t have the caliber of “German man” rider giving them a perfect trip every time. I did watch some videos of horses in Poland and Czech Republic, and there were frankly frightening distances the horses were put into, and they jumped right out of it without batting an eye, or holding a grudge. If you are not a perfect seer of distances, it might be nice to have a horse that has proven he will keep going even if you put him in an impossible situation.
I personally didn’t go look at any horses being ridden in the video by a really good male rider for a similar reason. I’m not really good and I’m not a man. I’m not strong enough to hold onto one that wants to run off, and don’t have the length of leg and quality of seat to stay with one that would jump me out of the saddle. I only looked at horses being ridden by women about my size.
I just imported a dressage prospect from the Netherlands a few months ago, and couldn’t be happier with him! I know it’s different in terms of what you need for a dressage prospect vs. hunter prospect, but I agree with what others have said–I couldn’t find anything over here in my price range. Everything that was the quality that my trainer and I were looking for were 2x my budget, but there were several in Europe (we looked in Germany and the Netherlands) that were within my budget (including import). He was unbacked when I bought him, but I paid about 11k (euros) for him (so I think your budget would be doable!)
[QUOTE=TSWJB;8709119]
And the Canadian horses are pretty expensive too. Even with the 20% off, they are pricey. Yes there are some deals in Western Canada but I live in NJ and I think it would probably cost at least 3k to ship over. If anyone has any price ideas on shipping costs, can you let me know? I emailed a shipper but he never got back to me. Probably because I don’t have an exact need for shipping. But it would be nice to get a rough estimate of cost, because without this, how do I know what I have to spend on the horse.[/QUOTE]
I would give them a call! I emailed a few different shippers when I was trying to get my horse from FL to my barn, and NONE of them emailed me back. I called them, and w/in an hour, had 4 different quotes from 4 different companies. (And I explained to them in the email exactly what I needed–from and to locations, approximate date, etc). I doubt it would be too big of a deal for a company to give you a quote. I don’t know if it helps at all, but I paid around $1000 to get my gelding from Wellington to Lexington with Brookledge, but I got quotes that were 2 and 3x that price from other companies–it was really all over the board.
[QUOTE=Covergirl15;8709824]
I would give them a call! I emailed a few different shippers when I was trying to get my horse from FL to my barn, and NONE of them emailed me back. I called them, and w/in an hour, had 4 different quotes from 4 different companies. (And I explained to them in the email exactly what I needed–from and to locations, approximate date, etc). I doubt it would be too big of a deal for a company to give you a quote. I don’t know if it helps at all, but I paid around $1000 to get my gelding from Wellington to Lexington with Brookledge, but I got quotes that were 2 and 3x that price from other companies–it was really all over the board.[/QUOTE]
Same - email got me nowhere, but when I picked up the phone and hounded some people, got a bunch of quotes (side note - don’t these shippers want to make money?). I also had quotes all over the board, but was able to get my horse from Ontario to Houston for around $1750. The highest quote I had was around $2200, for reference.
Also, re the whole horse search thing, I think, unfortunately, that the Europeans with the fancy Hunter type horses have wised up and are charging corresponding prices. Add in import, and ok, you still aren’t paying what you’d maybe pay if buying from a BNT or a US breeder with an overinflated sense of their horse, but it’s not the cheap bargain basement free for all that people make it out to be. The deals are out there, but take leg work and digging through piles of crappy videos to find the one. I just did a horse search in the US and Canada, with about 10k less of a budget, and same thing - dug through piles of ridiculous ads, overpriced horses, etc etc. But at least here the legwork was a bit easier, due to lack of language barrier, and no need to factor in the import costs to my budget. It sucks, but if you want it to be easy, you’re gonna pay for easy. I found some really cool horses in my price range, all over the country, and was pleasantly surprised by my options at the end of it all. Was I stalking Facebook groups 2-3x per day? You bet. Was it worth it? Definitely.
Some of the European horse dealers advertise in those Facebook groups and post some pretty interesting looking horses. See a lot in the Czech Republic that might be worth checking out - the broker Top Horses also seems to have some reasonably priced horses for import.
OP,
One last thing I meant to add and didn’t. You know what I ended up buying? An appendix quarter horse that hadn’t ever jumped, but was broke to death on the flat, including dressage work, from 200 miles up the road (I went and got her myself). She (SHE!) had been trained by one of the best, and was being sold to make way for a western horse by her over-50 amateur rider. She is not an AQHA world beater, but jumps adorably and is exactly what I wanted for a 50 and older adult amateur hunter - pretty, safe, lovable and forgiving with zero attitude. She gets ridden twice a week and is like “whatever” about pretty much everything. I paid roughly what it would cost to import one from Europe (i.e. the plane and the quarantine) for her. I love American horses :winkgrin:
Go to Czech. And I agree with OP, US breeders want insane amounts on money for their horses. Much more realistic to buy from Europe. I hate to see the demise of the US breeding program but what breeders don’t realize is that they are contributing to it.
[QUOTE=APirateLooksAtForty;8713334]
Go to Czech. And I agree with OP, US breeders want insane amounts on money for their horses. Much more realistic to buy from Europe. I hate to see the demise of the US breeding program but what breeders don’t realize is that they are contributing to it.[/QUOTE]
I agree! Too costly and no training. The European horses have some nice training like first level dressage add ND jumping 3ft and the American horses are just broke for more money!
Hi there, if you are coming to Europe, then I would recommend getting in touch with Mark Bosanko http://www.bosankosportshorses.com/ He is located in England, but definitely worth a visit.
He deals mostly with Dutch horses and has a lot of contacts there; he has shipments coming in every few weeks. Mostly young 3-4 year olds. He either sells them unbroken or they are put into work for a few weeks and then sold. You will definitely get a nice one for your sort of budget.
I bought a four-year old from him earlier this year and am absolutely thrilled with the horse. Fantastic athlete with the most amazing temperment.
The operation itself is very professional, but isn’t the sort of yard where you will arrive to find everything braided and wrapped in immaculate white polos, waiting on cross ties for a large American wallet!
Having been in this situation, I too have found better value in Germany than Holland.
If you are willing to turn over some stones and really take the time to look off the beaten track, you will find some very good deals however, it is VERY time consuming and can be quite exhausting…. especially if you are trying to fit everything into a one week trip! This is when having a good agent comes in handy as they have done the research already. Otherwise, make sure you do all of the legwork before your trip. Most of the horses are never advertised on the internet so you will have to contact people with the type of horses or bloodlines you like and network from there. Be cautious of some “dealers” and make sure you organize your own vetting with a reputable vet and have the x-rays and report sent to your vet here for review.
I found that some of the horses (healthy, well conformed, good mind, well started, jumping courses etc. etc.) started at ~ 20,000 (especially in Germany) but in most cases they where a bit higher. Finding a decent horse for under 12,000 that is already going w-t-c and jumping a course with the look and mind suitable for the hunter ring will still be somewhat of a challenge although not impossible if you are willing to live with some fault(s). Then you have to ask yourself is it worth buying the horse… there are some nice horses for good prices but not quite nice enough to justify the added cost of importation.
There is another thing… be prepared that the average American rider will find the horses overall “ride” quite different than what is usually found here for the hunter market. Expect an adjustment period for the horse (and often the rider) to adapt to the different riding style which can take anywhere from a month to up to a year.
In the end, your best bet will probably be the smaller breeder that is not near one of the major breeding/sales areas. I found that the big sale barns, especially the ones with show ring ready horses were quite pricey. Good luck!
I agree with the OP. I have a family member who rides professionally and has a contact in Europe. She bought a 5 year old gelding from him for $25,000, had it here in the states for about 3 months and did some showing in the 1.20, and turned around and sold him for $130,000.
Clearly the situation isn’t perfectly analogous, but it’s a stark illustration of the cost of horses already in the US.
[QUOTE=MtnDrmz;8709129]
Too Funny, actually just learned of a horse that came over form here, and from what I have seen so far he is super green, but Super Cool and looks totally solid![/QUOTE]
I’m super curious about this site as well. Their horses look like they have a ton of potential.
I am another who is recommending Mark Bosanko, my Mum bought a horse from him last year and he is a lovely stamp of a horse with a great attitude and mind. He wasn’t overpriced either.
You can also look in the Horse and Hound classifieds, and the BSJA group on FB always has horses coming up for sale, something someone is selling private that you like the look of might pop up. Good Luck with your search and I hope you find something you like.
[QUOTE=Lexie55;8709693]
Hi OP! You say you are looking for a hunter or eq horse. Here is the problem I ran into while looking at horses in Europe. There are lots of horses all over Europe that can jump 1.2 meters very competitively. There are a bunch that can jump 1.3 and 1.35 meters very competitively. The problem is they don’t jump pretty by our standards. There are a lot of ugly horses who are lousy movers, and even more who jump with their knees pointing down at the ground. And the crazy thing is that a lot of the Europeans I spoke to, off the beaten path, PREFER that knees down style to our round hunter style.
The most “huntery” type horses I saw in Europe were KWPN horses in the Netherlands and some random thoroughbred looking Selle Francais horses in the South of France. The Dutch horses are very expensive over there, too. The sophisticated breeders know what they have (see: Stal something who had Tori Colvin riding their horses on videos). The French horses were hunterish, but why would I buy a thoroughbred over there when I can buy a thoroughbred over here?
My company has an office in Budapest, and the Hungarian horses were dirt cheap, but not as many Hungarians speak English well, and learning anything at all in their language is impossible. It’s a weird language that has nothing in common with any other language I have ever tried to learn.
I was not super impressed with anything I saw in Czech republic, but the people we visited have just heard about what a hunter is, and they were convinced that everything they had that was pretty and slow was a world class hunter. Not.
Seriously, if I was looking for a safe, 8 year old 1.2 meter jumper, I could have brought home 100 priced at 15,000 Euros or less. But like I said up there, they weren’t all pretty, they generally were not good hunter movers, and they jumped weird. But anybody and their brother could have walked in the ring tomorrow on any one of them and put in a good jumper round.
I did not go to Sweden. I have been told that there are lovely horses in Sweden and the people are very honest and speak great English. It was suggested to me by a German agent that the best horse for the money all over Europe are horses that are aging out of the young jumper classes and aren’t going to have the scope to go any higher. A lot of owners are cutting those basically finished horses loose and starting over with a new young horse. A German agent also told me that the farther you get from Germany, there are a lot of forgiving horses, because they don’t have the caliber of “German man” rider giving them a perfect trip every time. I did watch some videos of horses in Poland and Czech Republic, and there were frankly frightening distances the horses were put into, and they jumped right out of it without batting an eye, or holding a grudge. If you are not a perfect seer of distances, it might be nice to have a horse that has proven he will keep going even if you put him in an impossible situation.
I personally didn’t go look at any horses being ridden in the video by a really good male rider for a similar reason. I’m not really good and I’m not a man. I’m not strong enough to hold onto one that wants to run off, and don’t have the length of leg and quality of seat to stay with one that would jump me out of the saddle. I only looked at horses being ridden by women about my size.[/QUOTE]
I have to ask, did you have an agent or an experienced trainer helping you??
[QUOTE=snowrider;8706581]
Go to the UK or Ireland. You can get a very nice horse going well under saddle for that kind of money. And I believe you can import directly now.[/QUOTE]
Definitely. We bought a nice hunter for 8000 pounds that we sold to a client of Liza Boyd’s and a pony for under 10000 that was sold for huge money over here. UK is the best value for sure. The ponies we bought from trainers, but the horse we bought from the Brightwells showjumping auction. He was a Hanoverian over from Germany just for the sale and probably half the price he would have been if we had showed up at a German sales barn!
[QUOTE=Lexie55;8709693]
I did not go to Sweden. I have been told that there are lovely horses in Sweden and the people are very honest and speak great English.
It was suggested to me by a German agent that the best horse for the money all over Europe are horses that are aging out of the young jumper classes and aren’t going to have the scope to go any higher. A lot of owners are cutting those basically finished horses loose and starting over with a new young horse. A German agent also told me that the farther you get from Germany, there are a lot of forgiving horses, because they don’t have the caliber of “German man” rider giving them a perfect trip every time.
I personally didn’t go look at any horses being ridden in the video by a really good male rider for a similar reason. I’m not really good and I’m not a man. I’m not strong enough to hold onto one that wants to run off, and don’t have the length of leg and quality of seat to stay with one that would jump me out of the saddle. I only looked at horses being ridden by women about my size.[/QUOTE]
Thanks :), yes, I believe that we´re in general a pretty honest people and there are a lot of nicely priced 120-130m horses ridden by amateur girls/women. Many do 130 YHC as 6 yo but then the next step is 140 as 7 yo and there is the dropout.
Our big YHC is in Falsterbo (2016: 2-10th of july). Normally there are about 200 qualified starting 5 yo (1.20m 2 rounds and final 1.25m), around 160 doing 6 yo (1.30m 2 rounds and final 1.35m). 7 yo (1.35 2 rounds and 1.40 final) only about 20.
The 12000EUR limit though is a tad low…15-16 more likely. And for the ones doing Falsterbo quite a bit more depending on HOW good they are. Most of them for sale though 
[QUOTE=APirateLooksAtForty;8714933]
I have to ask, did you have an agent or an experienced trainer helping you??[/QUOTE]
No. I horse shopped during weekend vaca trips while working over there. Through an odd series of coincidences, I got hooked up with a jumper rider who introduced me to other people. Like would give me names of friends and tell them to find me something to look at. I kind of dropped in on people, then they would send me to a friend of theirs, who would then have all their friends send me a million videos, then some random agent would contact hearing I was looking. At one point it felt like my new “friend” had half of Europe trying to sell me horses.
Also I know what I’m looking for so didn’t see the point in hiring anybody [I was hunter shopping not jumper shopping]. Anyway, anyone who did have an actual clue what a quality hunter is (who were NOT the Czechs I ran into, who were convinced that anything that went slow was a sure enough Derby horse) were already hooked up with US BNT/dealer, who have clients willing to spend way more money than I am. I was more like meandering around seeing the sights and checking out the haystacks for a needle.
Again, if I was looking for a safe 1.2 meter jumper, they’re all over Europe, and they’re affordable, but they aren’t winning US hunters and never will be. They will get you around the ring and over some decent sized jumps even if you put them in scary places, but they aren’t going to smile for the camera and crack their backs, no matter how much re-tooling you do on them here. The Rox Denes are few and far between whether you’re looking in the US or Europe (or the UK - is the vote tomorrow?). That’s why they are expensive here and expensive there too!
[QUOTE=LucyShow;8715484]
Thanks :), yes, I believe that we´re in general a pretty honest people and there are a lot of nicely priced 120-130m horses ridden by amateur girls/women. Many do 130 YHC as 6 yo but then the next step is 140 as 7 yo and there is the dropout.
Our big YHC is in Falsterbo (2016: 2-10th of july). Normally there are about 200 qualified starting 5 yo (1.20m 2 rounds and final 1.25m), around 160 doing 6 yo (1.30m 2 rounds and final 1.35m). 7 yo (1.35 2 rounds and 1.40 final) only about 20.
The 12000EUR limit though is a tad low…15-16 more likely. And for the ones doing Falsterbo quite a bit more depending on HOW good they are. Most of them for sale though :)[/QUOTE]
I have Falsterbo on my bucket list!!! Nice people, beautiful horses, awesome weather [compared to where I live]. What’s not to love???!!!
[QUOTE=MtnDrmz;8709129]
Too Funny, actually just learned of a horse that came over form here, and from what I have seen so far he is super green, but Super Cool and looks totally solid![/QUOTE]
Yes I have actually noticed that our horses (in the UK) tend to be greener at 3/4/5 than the continental equivalents. This may be a good thing - they won’t have been rushed, but I guess it depends on what you’re willing to deal with!
I also would be careful about the rider - some of these Europeans are super-human! They can make anything look good. You get the same in Ireland a bit. I am actually encouraged when I see a horse go nicely for a more normal rider, even if it’s not as polished, because I know I would eventually be able to get a tune out of it.
If you do decide to come to the UK, I recommend you get in touch with an instructor (I can point you in the direction of some who are highly recommended, though I don’t jump myself) and ask if they can help you out. You will have to subsidise their time/offer them a commission probably. I could also help you with small hobby breeders (with v. nice horses) if you PM me. There are a lot of horses here within your budget, again you will probably get more bang for your buck on the continent, but there are bargains to be had.
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