I am considering a trip to Ireland to search for my next horse. I would like to get a sense of what the market is like over there. Does anyone know if there are any websites where event horses and frequently advertised?
Ireland is a great place to go for a horse, breeding horses is in their blood. They have a natural sales culture too, so generally everything is for sale at the right price.
That said you have to choose carefully and go with your eyes wide open and donāt get drawn in too much by their sales charm, they in general will tell you every horse is the next best thing, even if it looks and moves like a camel and canāt jump a stick (of which there are plenty).
Depending on what you want, the main ways to buy a horse would be to go direct to the big name producers (Monbeg, Fernhill, Cooley etc with Ā£Ā£Ā£Ā£Ā£ in your pocket), use an agent (very common), go to the sales (goresbridge, Cavan etc - avoid the big showcase ones like go for gold). The main lower end trading website seems to be DoneDeal.
My advice would be to go into buying in Ireland a bit āunderstatedā, they really do rub their hands together and add extra to the price tag when they have an American buyer, so know what you want and be prepared to haggle and not get drawn into their, really very convincing, games.
I love going to Ireland and I love the Irish charm so donāt be put off. Also some horses you may see might be presented pretty horrifically, donāt be immediately put off - you might find a much cheaper diamond in the rough this way.
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Thanks headbrickwall! That is really helpful info. Do you happen to know if there is a better time of year to go and look?
I donāt have first hand experience, so Iāll share some anecdotes that you can consider to whatever extent youāre comfortable with. 
A good friend of mine works for one of the big US importers of eventing prospects from Europe and once told me that the Irish producers set aside horses for unsavvy American buyers that wouldnāt stand up to the scrutiny of a British/European buyer or a seasoned American importer. Less seasoned Americans may see a familiar farm name and assume that they got a quality horse at reasonable price, but it may end up being smoke and mirrors. I havenāt imported any horses, myself, but if I were planning on it, I would proceed with caution and try to get an educated/seasoned importer to be involved somehow. I definitely know of a handful of lemons imported from big name Irish farms to first-time importer buyersā¦but obviously some of our best equine athletes hail from Ireland as wellā¦so I hope you get some good feedback on this thread to help you know what to look out for. Good luck!
What do you want and in what sort of price bracket?
If you are thinking 3/4yo Iād go to the Gorsbridge September sales. Just watch that the sellers mates arenāt bidding the horses up.
If you are looking for something a little more established then it might be worthwhile using an agent
The Irish when they hear about your shopping trip:
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I would check out this gentleman: Richie OāHara at Kilbunny Sporthorses. You can see some of his youngsters on his Facebook page and they are very impressive. He starts them very young hopping over little ditches and banks and streams on a lead rope, so I imagine they end up pretty bold.
https://www.thatsfarming.com/news/horse-breeder-kilbunny-sporthorses
Seriously please please please work with an agent on the US side. Someone that will be somewhat accountable after the purchase. Ideally your trainer, but if you need to work with your trainer to find someone else that can help, it will be worth the extra commission money. Not only will you probably save on the purchase price, vetting, and maybe shipping of the horse, but youāll end up with a better selection to look at too. I was somewhat joking in my post above, but Iām assuming this will be a big (maybe once in a lifetime) purchase for you. Take the time to do it right. If you just start shooting off messages to people based on facebook videos you are running a big risk of being taken advantage of.
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That may be good advice to work with a trainer or an agentā¦ I donāt think we know much about the OPās experience level but it certainly is a good suggestion for anyone who is not truly experienced at buying horses.
My only point is that Richie OāHara seems to have nice horses, breeds thoughtfully, and puts in the effort to start them rightā¦ and they seem to be getting some good results. He would perhaps be someone to look into further if the OP is serious about looking in Ireland.
