I honestly don’t know what I’d do - or how much I’d spend. I’d love to be as noble as Louise. I’d love to be as practical as DMK.
But I really don’t know. Having bought expensive horses in the past (something I avoid now) I have learned that the more you spend, the more you have to lose. Guess that means I’ll still look for a four legged bargain… 
I’m split down the middle on this question. There is a part of me that would want to find that perfect project horse for, say 2k, and built them up as a winner.
However the other part of me would say “sure spend the dough” and get that proven GP prospect that would take me up the ranks.
O.k, so my answer is: spend a whack of cash and buy an experienced GP jumper and also search the world for a great bargin prospect 
~Did you know that you consume atleast 7 spiders in a year?~
I’d probably sooner buy a $500K horse for our trainer to compete with internationally than for our daughter, who will never (I hope!) want to be a pro and will always remain a contented ammie.
Irregardless of wealth, I don’t know, in my mind, there’s something rather obscene about spending anything over 100K on a horse/pony for a child. How does one, against that context, then try to instill in the child a work ethic, dedication, the drive to excel against obstacles?
My general theory has been that we would never spend more than the cost of an average house for a horse - and we would prefer to buy a string of talented greenies than horses made by other trainers.
Problem is, the cost of talented greenies is also going through the roof. Which begs the question, how does one justify spending $125,000 for a 6 year old that’s never done anything - a situation we encountered in Ireland. I’d like to think that regardless of wealth, we’d still exercise caution and common sense - a difficult task in this sport, at times.
“Mommy, does it really matter?” - Sumo toddler, age 3
Hmmm, well since ErinB has rejected Uncle Bill, he has offered to buy me Strapless…so let me work with her for a while, and I will let everyone know how it goes to have to deal with a 7-figure beastie everyday
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by VTrider:
The day I spend $10,000 on a horse, hell will freeze over 
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I remember the days I said if I spend $X hell will freeze over…
Your next “perfect” horse, the one you MUST have is now destined to be at least $10K
It’s one of Murphy’s “horsey” laws.
I would spend whatever it took to get a horse I wanted.
on the same note would not sell mine for anything since he is priceless.
No. I couldn’t ever justify spending such a sum on a horse for myself. In the context of philanthropism, if I were of such means, I may be able to justify spending $500,000 on an Olympic mount for my country. The ride being handled by a professional of Olympic quality but without a mount, of course.
I would never spend that money on a horse…I would spend every cent of it to hit the circuit and get to eat, breath, and sleep horses (for 1 year until I got completely burned out.) If I had all the money in the world I think I’d top out at $75,000 (for a fabulous and safe A/O jumper.) With the money I have right now (and in the forseable future) I couldn’t imagine spending more than $5,000.
Well since I have said - for years, mind you - that if I won the lotto, the very first command issued from my mouth would be “Find me NEXT year’s Devon winner in the 1st years” I suppose it would be childish of me to quibble over price, right?
But then I would want to go right back to finding the bargain greenie and developing them on my own. But I bet my definition of a “bargain” might suffer a sea change as it were
Well I guess we’re set - You’ll have the nice layup/retirement farm and I have the show barn.
We’ll gather up some fun folks and our favorite professionals and hit the circuit.
And we will pay our barn managers, help so handsomely they would never think of leaving…
How about a trade, Moesha? I will take Max for the next Culpeper and you can have Phyllis.
Which of course reminds us of those Equine Words of Wisdom…
How do you make a small fortune in horses?
Start with a large one!
I’d buy 2 (or more). An expensive one to go win at the shows with and a green one to bring along.
But I really can’t see spending more than the lower end of five digits, though I’d like to sell them for more than that!!!
Duffy, all you have to do is be prepared to look. But if you put the word out, something like “need a nice AO hunter, can’t pay anything,” you’d be amazed at how many come crawling out of the woodwork.
Okay, I know you’re all peeing yourselves with laughter right now, but I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
