Non-Profit selling OTTB, what price?

[Alice]

Hi there, a non-profit I’m involved with is going to be listing a horse we actually own. Could I get some suggestions on pricing? He’s passed a soundness exam, been treated for ulcers. We’ve ridden him 4 times, with about a month in between. The last 2 times we didn’t lunge before getting on. Seems to have the temperament to become a kids horse, definitely an ammy horse. Truly does have 3 good gaits. 17 hands barefoot, which he currently is. Doesn’t seem to care about having other horses in the arena with him or not. Been off track since last September. Fairly good looking horse. The not so good: has been pin fired, had chips removed as a 4 yr old, went on to race until 7. He is now 8. We have not x-rayed him as he passed his soundness exam and that was before we found out about the chip removal. Very very mouthy, and head shy. Not trying to remove your hand but will nip if you aren’t careful. So not a kids horse in that respect yet haha!

We are on the Canadian prairies, but this hasn’t hurt our sales at all the last 2 years.

Obviously the right type of home will be paramount, and we aren’t trying to make a profit on him, but we also could use the money to help fund the next horse so want to ask a fair price.

He has to be the only horse I’ve ridden to not react to the avalanche sound of ice sliding off the arena roof. Also didn’t care about snow falling off the roof onto him. A neat horse who really needs his own person to give him regular attention.

We are thinking 3 to 5k CDN, I’m just not sure how much the bone chip removal should affect his price.

Will try to link his canter video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CavljJ_Jm1m/?utm_medium=copy_link

Thanks for any suggestions!

[RHdobes563]

Found the music VERY distracting…

[Alice]

Good to know! Thank you. It was a reel for IG, won’t be included in the listing.

[No1]

You need to X-ray him to know how much the chip removal effects price. Sometimes, you can barely tell and there is no noticeable damage to the joint. Sometimes, X-rays are still pretty scary.

The horse is not in any amount of work to know if he will stay sound with a job and sound enough to race is not always same thing as sound for a sport horse prospect.

[Scribbler]

Most OTTB are wonderful athletes with good sport horse gaits, more jumper than dressage. The big variation is in personality. He sounds like a typical lightly restarted OTTB that would be suitable for an adult ammie with the exception of the old injury. I myself would likely not want to buy a horse with an old injury and surgery. I myself wouldn’t be too worried about headshy and a bit nippy as I know I can fix ground manners.

The big question is what the xrays look like. The horse did race after surgery, correct? So it wasn’t career ending. I think if you are a responsible nonprofit you need to get the xrays and a vet consultation. If you were just a budget private horse flipper you’d need to tell the buyer about the issue but let them pay for a PPE.

I don’t know what green OTTB go for today . Ten years ago you could expect a nice sound horse already well schooled for $5 k.

[Alice]

Thank you for the responses! I guess it is difficult to give price estimates without full knowledge of the chip situation. We are actually going to x-ray him, and had our wonderful vet (who donates her time and services) out to xray him a couple of weeks ago, but it was in the -20s celsius and they said the films would literally freeze even though we were indoors (not heated obviously). https://www.facebook.com/FinalFurlongCanada/posts/4930845680291626

We’ll send a reminder to our vet to fit this horse into her next trip out to our area.

As he raced for 3 years after the chip removal, is currently sound, and we were thinking low to mid 4s ($3500 CDN), unless something catastrophic is found on x-ray his price would stay pretty close the same.

We try not to own any horses, we are mainly a free listing service so aren’t experienced in actually selling our own.

[Turntable]

Was it a chip in the knee or fetlock? That would affect my decision. But overall I think this horse is low to mid 4s. Low 4s today, mid 4s would be if he was ridden more regularly and still sound and also was shown to ride outside quietly and on a trail ride. People pay a lot for a quiet temperment and many people just want a horse to ride and maybe jump a little bit and won’t stress the joint.

There are many many similar horses on facebook OTTB groups, you can looks there for a comparison.

[Fat_Dinah]

If his Xrays are OK, this is a horse that will appeal to lots of people. Rather than just taking the first offer, state that you will accept offers above $xxxx with veterinarian and trainer references until a certain date. Then weigh the financial along with who seems to offer the most suitable home.

[Alice]

Great idea! Thank you for this.

[Alice]

Thank you for this!

[hoopoe]

The canter looks nice. For better prospect reach, you need to feature trot and walk is important in a dressage prospect. A nice TB can do well in dressage. It is not all big gaits.
This video does not show any reasonable level of training beyond broke; no true contact reach or acceptance. It is an unknown factor

Agree that a chip surgery can be an incidental rather than game changer. Need current films to prove.

I would not go higher than $4000 as shown.

[Alice]

Thank you! That canter video is just from an Instagram reel, that isn’t the horse’s sales video haha!
We have all 3 gaits under saddle on video. Not as much as we would like but we’re just a bunch of boomers doing our best.

[hoopoe]

I have huge soft spot for TBs

[2bayboys]

He’s big, he’s bay, he’s a gelding, and he’s still within the golden years of green prospect but just barely. I really like his canter and if his trot is just as nice, I would be pricing him around $5000 with the known vet history.

[Alice]

Thank you for taking the time to respond! He will be going to a perfect new home. He is one I would’ve liked to keep myself.

[hoopoe]

Good luck on his journey. It would be nice if the new owners gave you a progress report. I think it is good to know how a horse turns out. You learn from it. I hope he turns out nicely. I feel like he might

[Alice]

I’ve actually known these folks for years, I’m thrilled he has gone to them! They’ve promised updates and I will be seeing him at shows.