Where are we buying out OTTBs these days? I am shopping again after not having purchased a horse for about eight years probably. Leaning toward an off the track thoroughbred. I have plenty of experience with them although I am not an advanced rider, I am a confident novice/intermediate rider. Ohio/Kentucky area. Not even sure where to begin
You might want to get in touch with Samantha Fogg in Lexington. She has various OTTBs that are coming down off the track, or are in full work read to, or have show records.
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Check out various FB pages for USEA Area 8, Second Stride (rehomes OTTBs), Paulus Racing & Performance Thoroughbreds, Midsouth Equine Sales. There are quite a few people local to Lexington that regularly have OTTBs for sale that are at least jumping small fences for fairly reasonable prices.
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Thank you all! I found a FB page called Changing Saddles. Anyone familiar with this organization/person?
I hadn’t heard of Changing Saddles, but appears to be Amy Paulus who runs it. I’m guessing formerly Paulus Racing & Performance Horses. I’ve only heard good things.
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Also, New Vocations might be worth looking at.
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I’ve seen some horses I’ve known to be downright mean/nasty posted on Canter (and misrepresented), so take those with a grain of salt. I had trouble getting ahold of New Vocations consistently but maybe you’ll have more luck. I strongly recommend Makers Mark Secretariat Center. So so honest and fair pricing after discussion, great communication too. If you want a freshie fresh OTTB let me know and I’ll send you some contacts of private sellers, all great/honest people.
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Do you want something that has at least been evaluated and started or something right on the track? There are a lot of “listing” services in KY/OHIO that are essentially listing horses via pictures and jog videos for trainers. This can be tough as the people listing the horses really know nothing about the horses and are just listing them for trainers. You have canter/stoney hollow stables/amy paulus and some other groups.
You have some rescue groups that are restarting them and evaluating them. Second Stride, Secretariat Center and New Vocations.
You also have some private sellers that own the horses and are restarting them. Megan Moore has some lovely tb’s in KY and there are a lot of other private resellers I would trust.
Buying from listing services is pretty risky. I do it as I buy 140+ horses a year here but I much rather deal with the actual trainers who know the horses personally if I can because my experiences with the listing services when things go wrong has been very bad.
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I agree with what Jessica said above about being careful of listing services vs. rescues vs. private sellers. You might pay a small premium going the rescue/private seller route but IMO it is worth it as you are paying for the experience of them picking out the horses and bringing them in to evaluate, clean up, etc. As for rescues in the area, add Friends of Ferdinand to the group. They are an Indiana organization, but the main trainer/barn is in Ohio near Dayton. For private sellers, my top two are Jessica Redman/Benchmark Sport Horses (Jleegriffith) and Jen Ruberto in Ohio. Jessica is in Deleware but I’d buy site unseen from her without a doubt.
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Thank you all for this info. I would definitely lean toward a horse that has been evaluated and I will for sure be doing a PPE. I will take a look for the places/people mentioned. I have heard of the Secretariat Center, so I will check that out!
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Love love love this!! Hope you enjoy secretariat center and their selection :)
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The SC basically asks for your first born child before they will even talk to you-for instance we were building our barn at the time and they wanted photos of the place I would board for a month or two AND of my barn even when I explained my barn was still being built and the stalls weren’t finished. They get some quality horses but have had some very questionable/unethical trainers in the past. I did not have a good experience with them-they basically refused to show me anything because my budget was too low (mid 4s) other than a half lame gelding. Leadership has recently changed and they person they are bringing in as ED is fantastic so I hope this will mean changes for the better. Keep in mind unlike NV who releases you after a year, if you ever want to resell a SC horse you have to go through them and the buyer has to have an approved adoption application.
I like NV and had good experiences myself looking at horses there, but I have known two instances in the last year where they have grossly misrepresented a horse and that makes me a bit concerned. One is currently listed and they have left out his behavioral issues. However, when I looked at horses under the previous trainer she was honest and it was very easy. I submitted an adopter application and it was night and day from SC-they approved me in the matter of hours (and when I commented about how fast it was they said “It makes it easy when you have an experienced horse person with good income and great references”).
Here in KY there are tons of trainers who do a good job putting 30-60 days on quality OTTBS and reselling them. I would contact Megan Moore (Team CEO Eventing), Jenn Oneill (Lucky Dog Eventing) and Lindsay Gilbert (Transitions Sport Horses).
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