Hey all! So for school I have to write a short story, and I’m making it about an equestrian. Long story short, I have a super fancy big eq horse in it (like, best in the country), and I need a price for it. What would be a realistic price for a top big eq horse? Thanks!!
Mid to high 6 figures although for some horses the sky’s the limit. I believe Clearway sold in the neighborhood of $750K a few years back.
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High six to one million if its a finals winner
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Duplicate
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Only if its a finals winner with a monkey on its back…
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Mid 6 for a top 10. High 6 for a winner
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High six figures, and expect that your teacher will think that’s preposterous.
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Yeah, I have heard $500,000 for a truly competitive mount.
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right LOL. I can see the teacher red marking it right now “unreasonable / highly unlikely”. Gives b+ instead of a- due to not being realistic and OP has to come back and say “actually…”. Teacher turns white and then proceeds to consider changing professions 😂
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Jumping in on thread random question sorry to steal OP, are Eq horses wanted to go like hunters? Or would they be more correct in a “up” dressage like frame?
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Quite a few of the very top Big Eq horses aren’t for sale (well, I suppose everything is for sale) but are leased out by the Big Eq barns. There are quite a few that reliably appear in the finals, ridden by the top students of the top barns, year after year, which is another reason (tangent) why those who don’t ride with a tiny handful of barns in the country struggle to place.
I never rode in the Big Eq, but I write horse books, and to give some advice to the OP–although I admit I’ve occasionally included price tags in my own writing–sometimes it’s more effective to include people’s reactions to the price tag, to show the person’s character and situation in life, than the actual sum. For example, you can say that the seller named a price that made one character think that it was more than her parents had paid for their house, or another character thought no more of the six figure sum than she would buying a new pair of shoes. The price is less important than what the horse and the affordability means in the context of the story.
@Jealoushe I’m not a Big Eq rider, but do have young friends who rode in equitation classes. I would say the answer is neither, really. Equitation is supposed to be judged on the rider’s performance. So a horse with a very flat, comfortable jump that requires the absolute minimum contortions on the part of the rider is best. In fact, a spectacular jump might take away from the rider’s ability to sit well or simply distract the judge. And sometimes in the flat class there is a portion where people drop their irons–again, easier to sit and look good on a comfortable horse.
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Last year’s Maclay winner. Equitation horses are typically kept more packaged.
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Overheard a bnt at Devon saying they sold one for a million a few years ago lol. I know it costs like 20k a year to lease a big eq horse that’s a little hot/hard to ride, 16ish years old, with very very poor PPE from a friend lol. Very beautiful look and jump, super honest at any height and capable of winning if you have a good trip though.
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I know the OP asked for the best in the country, but just an FYI to anyone reading that most equitation horses are nowhere near the prices being quoted here. Sure, there are some 500k++ deals made between two billionaire families but that is absolutely not the average.
You can get something without a known name (maybe from the jumper ring, Europe, or just a little younger) with more potential than the average kid will ever need in the mid to high five figures.
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@chicagojumper @Impractical Horsewoman thank you!
That video was great. That is similar to how the mare I am thinking of goes. She is my dressage horse, but we have been jumping all winter and she is really incredibly rideable, fancy and just fabulous. I picture her as the perfect kids Eq or medal horse because she is only 15.2, rides like a big horse and is just honestly so smart willing and honest. I have never had a horse so rideable.
I guess her draw back would be she has a huge jump. Something I am working on because I don’t think overjumping everything is a good thing!
Sorry to hijack OP!
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uh I’m in the pack that thinks teacher will think it’s preposterous. Maybe the main character horse should be the National Velvet type and not the entitled rich kid who buys or leases a horse for 6-figs to win an equitation class. Maybe change the story up - like how about a youg kid with lung disease that’s beating the odds and is out fox hunting, riding side saddle at hunt races and now doing pony races?
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Reading this makes me think that the asking price is whatever the buyers organs are worth.
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The tough thing is that, due to the nature of high school kids competing in big eq (ours usually start to move up from the 3’0-3’3 medals between around 14 or 15 years old, so they may have 1 newbie season to the 3’6 then 2 more where they’re genuinely competitive), their time is limited so they can’t spend a couple years making up a jumper or a green younger horse to take them to equitation finals.
We import a lot of younger WBs to retrain and sell as big eq horses and they’re usually high 5s the minute they step out of quarantine. The really nice ones immediately get a season put on them and if they get their kid qualified even for state finals and/or Maclay regionals, they’re up to 6 figures. Our turnaround for the nice horses with Europe jumper miles is often one season to be able to get around a 3’6 course, but 2 or 3 to be competitive at state finals and hold their own at Maclay regionals. Having them go to Harrisburg, for example, and be competitive is longer than that. These are tough courses being ridden by teenagers in high pressure environments.
Our average big eq horse that will show locally, qualify their kid for Maclay regionals, and for the Medal, be competitive at state finals and aforementioned regionals, won’t even go to Indoors (kiddo will lease something nicer) are well into 6 figs.
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I mean, we don’t actually know anything about the story, other than it has a big eq horse in it. For all we know the big eq horse was last season’s amazing horse but something tragic happened and he was discarded and now some down on their luck kid who still believes in him has taken it upon themselves to bring him back to his former glory. Maybe the money is just for background information.
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true that - the reverse $80 champion as it were.
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