Pony selling advice

[llamrei]

A close friend of mine has a pony she is trying to sell and so far has been having no luck. And I’m left wondering if the market is really that bad right now.

I don’t want to make this an ad but to give a rough idea: 10 year med welsh, papered. Has jumped up to 3’ but only shown local non rated hunters up to 2’6" due to having no age appropriate rider. Great flat but flyings are a little rusty (not quite automatic).

My barn instructor (and her’s) told her to price the pony at what I thought was a little pricy. Yet there was a young rider up here this past summer from the south who rode the pony and told a potential client that the pony was a steal at the price named.

The young rider said the pony should be going for 30k yet the pony is advertised for 15k.

I don’t know ponies (too tall to ride them) and figured there are bound to be a whole lot of people who know more than my friend and I.

[findeight]

Market is not that bad but a 10 year old Med with no rated experience and no confirmed changes is not that much in demand.

Have to be careful what ‘young riders’ say, they Dont write checks or sit in on actual negotiations depending on barn gossip and advertised prices instead of actual sales price.

Pony is overpriced.

[HomelessPony]

I agree with findeight that pony is overpriced. Unless it is fancy and autopilot, 10 y.o. without a usef show record is a hard sell. Other factors will be the pony’s actual size. 13.2h is easier to move than 13.0h. You should browse some of the Facebook pony sale pages to get a more realistic idea on the current market. Sounds to me like this one would belong more in the 5-10k range depending on height, easiness, location, etc.

[Mayaty02]

A green medium prospect with potentially a tough change and no rated show experience at age 10 is not likely to bring over 10K, unless it’s being sold out of a big barn with alot of visibiity and/or its extremely well bred and/or able to step into the greens in Dec and clean up.

Just my opinion and I am in pony land, Virginia, so that may color my expectations of cost. The same pony you’re talking about on the west coast may be dead on $15K or more, I don’t know. I see you’re in the midwest, not sure the pony market there though I assume it is not as plentiful as Virginia, but it’s also an area that doesn’t have alot of $$ to spend, like Ca does. So not sure how that affects the price.

ETA you also aren’t giving the exact size, is it 13.2 but an easy measure, or is it 13.0 or 12.3…or just over 13.2 and a tough measure? That will dramatically affect the price.

[McGurk]

Agree with the previous posters. I can’t imagine paying 15k for something with no USEF record and less than a rock solid change.

8 - 10 is more realistic, and even then, your market is small. This pony needs to go to someone who can finish putting the change on and polish it to do the rated divisions. Compared to the market for a finished pony with auto changes or a bomb proof packer, the market for this pony is tiny. Small market equals a buyer’s market, not a seller’s market.

And all that’s not even factoring in the measurement issue.

[MuskokaLakesConnemaras]

That would be 4-5k here max.

[wood_snake]

I agree as well. Also, if you are trying to sell from home versus at A rated horse shows you should expect to have a difficult time getting it sold unless the price is below what the pony is actually worth. Even then they can be hard to move.

When we need to sell fast for good money (assuming the animal is quality.) We go to the California shows. Do you have an A rated series near you coming up? Getting rated results on the pony would make it more attractive at the very least.

We tell clients all the time, “you can’t sell them at home.”

Good luck. Horse selling can be frustrating.

[llamrei]

Thank you for confirming what I was thinking

The pony’s height is 13.2h, if that makes any difference whatsoever.

My feeling is that the instructor is putting too much emphasis on what ‘young rider’ said. I honestly don’t care if she’s the daughter of an nhl player (I don’t follow hockey) but that makes what she said gold in our instructors ears.

Quick question, does it make a difference if she lands the proper leads on course? I’ve watch the young adult show the pony a bunch of times (I trailer them) and not once have I seen them land the wrong lead.

[Mayaty02]

[QUOTE=llamrei;7771357]
Thank you for confirming what I was thinking

The pony’s height is 13.2h, if that makes any difference whatsoever.

My feeling is that the instructor is putting too much emphasis on what ‘young rider’ said. I honestly don’t care if she’s the daughter of an nhl player (I don’t follow hockey) but that makes what she said gold in our instructors ears.

Quick question, does it make a difference if she lands the proper leads on course? I’ve watch the young adult show the pony a bunch of times (I trailer them) and not once have I seen them land the wrong lead.[/QUOTE]
I don’t think I have ever seen a pony guaranteed to land the correct lead, usually that is because the rider is telling them which to land on. Sometimes the horses figure it out after the first course, but that isn’t going to help you sell it.

Is it possible that this “young rider” is trying to angle in a commission or something? assuming it is a young adult, not a kid.

The net net is this. A horse is only worth what someone will pay for it. So unless that young rider is going to buy it or can bring someone who will, I’m not sure why her opinion matters a lick.

[PonyPenny]

Get pony to a rated show. Get it measured. Get a good pony jock to pilot. Start with Children’s ponies to see what you have. Pony needs to have changes. See if a competent pony jock can get them easily.

[wood_snake]

It doesn’t matter if it lands correct 95% of the time. It’s going to need to do a lead change at some point. If you want decent money it must have a change.

No way around it, sorry. No/sticky lead change is one of those things that keep the price low and makes them hard to sell.

[findeight]

OP is not far from me, that is considerably overpriced for the area.

Problem with the lead is Regular Med is age restricted and it takes a very experienced rider to land the lead 100% of the time. Most older riders who would be able to do Greens on it are too big or moved on to horses…and that’s still not going to help sell it to an average young kid.

Dont see more then about 7500 around here compared to the many, many much more experienced Med Ponies that linger on the market even in big barns where buyers can see and try several at the same time. Or at shows where they can try 20 or more if they want. Unless they have the USEF record, PF qualified, they really are hard to sell-even with one, they tend to lease as buyers know the kid will grow out of it sooner then later.

[McGurk]

Expanding on my earlier post, here’s how the process and math works most of the time.

This is not a child’s first pony, or a pony for a kid coming off a leased schoolie or known packer or a pony that will qualify a kid for Finals. The likely market is a pro pony trainer who will buy this nice pony and fix the change issue. Might take a month, might take 3. Then brings it out at Children’s Pony or, if they’re in a hurry, Green Pony. Gets rated miles and good ribbons on it. Then, if it’s easy enough to ride, it might be a $30K pony, but only because pro pony person put the change and the mileage on. Pro pony person probably has 12 - 18 months and 10 -15K in the pony to do this. Pro pony person needs to make money and a return on their investment, so they need to pay 8 - 10 for the pony in order for there to be room for them to make a little money. They’re taking all the risk once they purchase the pony, and they’re using skills not available to the seller (putting the changes on, putting the mileage on.)

What you have here is a pony that has the potential to be a 30K pony, not an actual 30K pony or even a 15K pony. What you have here is a nice prospect.

[llamrei]

I cannot thank you all enough for taking the time to respond. Even though it may not be what the owner wants to hear, she has to know.

[Daventry]

[QUOTE=findeight;7771131]
Market is not that bad but a 10 year old Med with no rated experience and no confirmed changes is not that much in demand.

Have to be careful what ‘young riders’ say, they Dont write checks or sit in on actual negotiations depending on barn gossip and advertised prices instead of actual sales price.

Pony is overpriced.[/QUOTE]

Agreed! Also agree on everything else that has been said. Pony is overpriced based on all of the points listed above. Also, price may also depend on whether the pony can actually get a permanent measurement card as a medium. For example, if the pony is a hard measure, it may be tough to get a permanent medium card for the pony, which would drop the price down even more.

As an FYI, I would never take the word of a young rider regarding market prices. Most kids just don’t understand the value of a dollar! :yes:

[Ridergirl99]

Why doesn’t the pony have its lead yet when it is 10 years old?

[llamrei]

Pony was originally a backyard type pet. Before my friend bought the pony it sat in a field for three years and has been having a crash course in hunter training.

The pony was never trained for them but is catching on, I would say needs a month or two and will have them (current rider gets them when asked, but they are not auto yet).

[Ridergirl99]

Putting the changes on is more important than marketing him. That will increase his value. How long has he been in a full consistent program? Does he skip behind, get the front before the back or does he get them clean?

[llamrei]

Been in a full program a month or two. Took a while to get the pony fit enough to jump a course (was a tad bit overweight when they bought pony). Friend has owned the pony for little less than a year. She bought with the intention to use as a lesson pony (w/t) but pony’s talent seemed to be going to waste. My friend pulled all of the lesson kids off of the pony just recently and put a small, young adult on to help train pony up to sell.

The pony does clean changes but does have the odd one where pony seems off balanced and sneaks in a trot step to change. I personally think it’s an easy fix but am just way too tall to ride the pony myself.

[findeight]

Pony would have to have the clean change with the lesson kids, not the small Adult, a verifiable show record placing well in Children’s Ponies and/or Reg Greens with an average kid! not a Pony jock, and, most important, a permanent measurement card between 13.1 and 13.1 7/8th to attract any kind of buyer much above 10k.

Regulars and Greens have to Model too so conformation also affects price range, so does getting a piece of the hack.

Owner should get a second opinion on Pony and get a regulation stick on it before sinking a lot of money into training with 30k+ stars in her eyes.