It’s also the wrong time of year for bargain pricing, now. Nice weather, horses are fat, grass is still growing, lots of people with free time to ride and places to go. Late fall and winter are better for cheap unloaders.
If you know what you’re looking at and what to avoid, you might try looking at the auctions.
I do some window shopping on Warmbloods For Sale. I can’t afford another horse, don’t have a stall for another horse, can’t take care of another horse. But I can still look. It does seem like the $20 k horse is now the $30k horse. And the well trained $30k horse is now the $55k horse. And lots of Spanish horses that have been imported for sale- some very nice with matching price tags. I do see some nice horses but no real bargains and some with a price tag that makes me scratch my head.
Not as many $200 Quarter Horse yearlings on Craigs List or other cheap Quarter Horse young stock. There are still plenty of trail horses under $1k. I suspect some of that is due to what Heinz 57 said - most are out on pasture and thriving. The past two years we were in a bad drought situation in the SE but this summer we are having LOTS of rain and pastures are green. So no bargains until frost comes and people have to buy hay.
There is a local reseller of the inexpensive western horse and she seems to have a steady stream of prospects for sale.
We just don’t see people breeding mares like they used to. Even backyard breeders just are not producing foals. Last year husband the Farrier only had 5 foals born among his customers. 2 Standardbreds, 2 Arabs, one Walking horse. No WBs, no TBs, no Andalusians, no Morgans and he doesn’t do many Western horses. This is a fairly large Farrier practice.
Our own youngest horse is 3, no plans to breed more because all the stalls are full. We breed and expect to keep the foal for our own use. If they should fail for our use, it would not be for sale until 4yrs old, having gone thru some training with us. Only one failed by outgrowing the size we could use, too tall at 18,1h. He did all we asked, just too big to match the other horses in the driving we do. He was a winner in Dressage for his buyer! Very popular with the Judges. No failures with the training and willingness to work on the smaller homebreds yet!
We just don’t see people breeding mares like they used to. Even backyard breeders just are not producing foals. Last year husband the Farrier only had 5 foals born among his numerous customers. 2 Standardbreds, 2 Arabs, one Walking horse. No WBs, no TBs, no Andalusians, no Morgans and he doesn’t do many Western horses. This is a fairly large Farrier practice.
Our own youngest horse is 3, no plans to breed more because all the stalls are full. We breed and expect to keep the foal for our own use. If they should fail for our use, it would not be for sale until 4yrs old, having gone thru some training with us. Only one failed by outgrowing the size we could use, too tall at 18,1h. He did all we asked, just too big to match the other horses in the driving we do. He was a winner in Dressage for his buyer! Very popular with the Judges. No failures with the training and willingness to work on the smaller homebreds yet!
Horses are worth what people will pay for them.
If you figure that, conservatively, a horse costs at the minimum, $5k per year just for feed, farrier and basic vet, it’s actually amazing that you can buy any sound horse for less than $5k.
”‹
”‹”‹”‹”‹
If you look for large ponies in their teens, or even, early twenties, you can find some lovely animals for a good price. They could make great lesson ponies, too.
If you look in the 6-12 age range, they are expensive. Horses are in their prime and if they’ve ever gone over a fence, well, they’re Pony Club ready, lol.
Great thoughtful replies everyone, thanks! Nice commentary Scribbler; and Heinz, I WAS going to wait until fall to look seriously, but my casual perusals showed the good ones getting snapped up soooooo quickly - and we’re having a great year for hay this year.
Also, these kids won’t be riding as much in the fall and winter.
So… she’ll be here this afternoon. 
I"ll take photos tomorrow and share them.
Meet Dakota. She’s a Quarter/pony cross, 13 years old, is 14 hh, has a great attitude and some good basic training. And was < 3K![ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10702438}[/ATTACH][ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10702439}[/ATTACH]
That’s why I adopted a horse from NV, with the adoption cost and transportation it was still cheaper then buying and I lucked out and got a great horse that already has training.
We bought 2 months ago and increase our budget since we weren’t finding anything and after losing out on different horse because we wanted a PPE and some one else was willing to buy without one. I feel prices have gone up this year. A friend did find a great deal on a safe young pony under $2k and was lucky to get it- owner realized they should have asked for more $$ with how many people were interested. We have a couple other friends looking and they are having a tough time finding anything affordable.
Prices are up this year. It is supply and demand. There is more demand for horses than supply. There are a couple of reasons. Not so many horses out there as not so many people breeding for the past few years. Due to COVID more people staying home and buying horses, hence fewer horses. Sales have not been this good for a few years; I can’t hardly keep horses in stock here,and have sold more this year than previous years since the late 90’s/early 2000’s. An old dealer once told me he made more money during a recession–people stayed home and bought horses instead. It seems that this is true for this year.
Nice, now on to enjoy time with your new friend.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
