Don’t think I could spend that much on the price of a horse. But I could easily spend it on lessons/training then hopefully showing.
Yep, that’s the road I would take. As long as my daughters future were guaranteed.
Yeah, Louise!
I would do that AND if I had money left over, I would buy some horses for the people that would love to take lessons or go to shows, but don’t have the money to.
Money is no object?
As Jesus said: there will be poor always…
I lack the imagination necessary to answer this one for myself. Since I’m already married (to a pauper) I’m not going to marry into money. None of my relatives are going to die and leave me anything but memories. And I always forget to buy lottery tickets.
But I do know a very good lady who married into a very rich family. She’s an FEI quality rider too, but doesn’t show. In the 10 years I have known her, she has gone to Europe and purchased at least 4 competition proven FEI horses. Now I don’t know what she paid, but in my dreams, I have cruised the top=scale want ads, and a made GP horse is not available under $100,000. She brings in top name trainers to do private clinics with her and a couple of friends and her barn/indoor is way nicer than most houses, etc. It is her bad luck that these horses have almost all developed serious temperment or soundness issues within a short time. What I do know is that this lady has a nice smile, but I think it may be a case of money don’t buy happiness.
There, now my imagination is working. Of course I would buy a million dollar horse- or maybe 10 - $100K ones! And I would be pretty happy- but then, I’m happy now with my hell-frozen-over WB and my rescued appy.
Okay, at the risk of no one believing me, I’m happy with the two horses I ride. No, they’re not perfect, and I’m not sure either one will ever be worth $50,000, let alone ten times that much. But we bred them, I saw them born, I broke them, etc. Not that I can’t identify their faults, and not that I don’t complain about them, but I accept them.
If they vanished and I had unlimited cash to spend, I think I’d top out at $25,000. I’m 46 years old. I still do some A shows, but competing in the medal finals and being/owning an AHSA/Federation champion? That ship has sailed. Let someone else spend their 1/2 million dollars on a horse. For some equestrian pursuits, that’s what’s needed to succeed. For me, I’ll take what’s left over and be perfectly happy.
“Charter Member of the Baby Greenie Support Group of North America”
I felt I should qualify/expand upon my previous post. If one has the means to spend such sums on a horse, or most likely horses, and one can do so comfortably- i.e. can justify the expense to oneself- by all means, one should! As someone else said, when you fall in love with a horse and the two of you ‘click’, you should have the horse if you can afford it and are comfortable with the monetary expense. To each his own, I suppose. I certainly don’t hold the price paid for a mount against other riders. Nor do I esteem them more for those pricetags. We all do what we can with what we have, and are all striving for the same underlying goals. We all want to enjoy our mounts, continue our educations, improve our skills, and be sucessful. Many of us want to develop relationships with our ‘pets’. May we all meet some (if not all!) of these goals, in our lifetimes regardless of what we choose to spend on doing so. 
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by heidi-ugh:
Against this fantastical context, would you spend $500,000 or $1 million to purchase a competitive horse – or would you balk and find the sums obscene?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The day I spend $10,000 on a horse, hell will freeze over 
Well as we used to say,
Now that’s where two fools met!! 
One for offering the obscene sum and one for turning it down. 
Psst…don’t tell my husband, but I’m not sure I could sell Bud for any obscene amount of money. What a dope. 
“The older I get, the better I used to be.”
There is too much poverty and suffering in the world. I’d rather start a shelter for gay runaway teenagers.
I have to say that, in your scenario, the most money I would ever spend on a riding horse would be $50K.
Robby
I would buy a prelim or intermediate level event horse a made one maybe a little too old to compete internationally to pack me up thru the ranks u know a good schoolmaster. Then i would go to tons of clinics and train with the best, get regular lessons and id also have a coupla greenies to fool around with.
Well said, slugger. I may say “OMG” to some of the price tags I’ve heard, but I’m sure there are plenty of people who would (and have) said the same about what I spend on my horseys - and as we well know - Most of the time, it’s the CARE that ends up costing the big bucks, not the initial “down payment”!
I would NEVER pay that much for a horse!!! Think of my embarassment at STILL being unable to find the winner’s circle!
I have a hankering for a nice, competitive driving team of ponies, the appropriate marathon carriage, Freedman’s harness set for show Freedmanalong with a Zilco set for schooling Zilco a new tow vehicle and trailer for transporting all of it and an acolyte to keep it all sparkling clean!
I think spending 6 and 7 figures on a horse is obscene. How many of us are really talented enough (be honest) to ride and compete a horse like that? No, not me. Just think how many sad, unfortunate horses that amount would save from slaughter. Chances are good to great you’ll find some natural talent in the bunch, work with it, nurture it, and not only do you have a pretty good show horse, you have a loyal friend for life. I know because I rescued my mare, and as nasty as she was initially (a real diamond in the rough), she has shown so much talent, heart (you need that to survive), willingness; all the qualities I’d look for in a show horse, and the same qualities I appreciate in my best friend. So there you have it…you find a talented horse (with a little bit of effort) and you save so many kind souls from the killer, and you know in your heart that you’re doing something really good with all that money. Sorry to preach, but I’ve been offered some of the best, turned them down, my mare found me 5 years ago, and I thank my lucky stars for her every day.
It’s just too big a risk and too much money to put into one single animal…just thinking about that is scary! I wouldn’t buy a horse that I couldn’t ride either…unless I was sponsoring a young rider that had a lot of potential but not a lot of money.
If I had a million dollars…
I would definitely build and run a TB rescue and retrain them for new jobs. Not a HUGE place but something where I could maybe have a partner or trainer to help me with. I would buy horses coming off the track and retrain them and resell them to good homes. I also like to work with troubled and green horses and make them into great athletes or even just nice pleasure horses. It’s really fullfilling to take a horse that might be a difficult ride and work with them. I’ve known so many ex-racers to go on to do incredible things including barrel racing, eventing, hunters, hunting, trails, ect.
I love to compete, but for me the thrill is when you train and ride something you made yourself. sigh…maybe someday I will win my million dollars.
I love getting what I want.If money really was NO object what difference would it make what I wanted costs?
The thing IS money is NEVER no object.
All money has come with a price tag and value therefore is money EVER no object?
What I CAN’T do is build a houseboat, or rent a castle in Ireland. So, I’d take (max!) $10,000; buy the best 2 yo unbroke pony and start training. I would spend the rest of the $$$ doing things I have either no talent/skill/ability to do or buying things I currently can’t afford to buy. Very few horsemen/women around who make 'em up the way I like, so for me, making my own is the only option.
~Kryswyn~
“Always look on the bright side of life, de doo, de doo de doo de doo”
Ditto that sentiment, Flash!
Chef and havaklu, I’m with you. It would be great fun to get out there and show and show and show with multiple horses so they could take turns staying home and running and playing in the fields. I would see it as my chance to see how the “other half” lives. This would only be fun if my friends could be with me, so I too think I would share.
Of course no horse, no matter how talented, fancy, expensive, etc. could ever take the place of my current mare, so she would always have a home with me, and she’d always come first.
I’d do a combination of things.
I’d buy a huge farm where I could retire school horses who have given their lives and hearts to teach and take care of others.
I’d sponsor a gifted and talented young rider who has spent her days loving horses and doing everything imaginable just to be with them (mucking, grooming, turning out, scrubbing buckets, sweeping, organizing, cleaning tack, etc). Her hard work and dedication would be rewarded with the chance to ride and show at my expense.
I’d buy a greenie to bring along (of course I’d have the fabulous trainer too), I’d have a trail horse who is totally trustworthy and dependent (and round enough in the barrel that I could ride comfortably bareback!), and I’d have a show horse or two so that they don’t get burned out.
No - I think a huge sum is too much to spend on one horse - I’d have fun with lots of them!
“Oh Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey! Hey Mickey!”
