Pricing of horses

[BrassStar999]

I come from the expensive Arabian world so I don’t really have a sense of what a good priced horse is so I thought I would write up a few scenarios and see what people would pay for them to try to help me get an idea of how people decide how to price their horse reasonably, not for a quick sale but so they will sell at some point. Assuming all have average conformation and have scope for more

1. Three year old American warmblood mare just started under saddle
2. Three year old American warmblood gelding just started under saddle
3. Three year old TB mare just started under saddle
4. Three year old TB gelding just started under saddle
5. Three year old Dutch warmblood mare just started under saddle
6. Three year old Dutch warmblood gelding just started under saddle
7. Four year old American Warmblood mare competed level 1 schooling 2
8. Four year old American warmblood gelding competed level 1 schooling 2
9. Four year old TB mare competed level 1 schooling 2
10. Four year old TB gelding competed level 1 schooling 2
11. Four year old Dutch warmblood mare competed level 1 schooling 2
12. Four year old Dutch warmblood gelding competed level 1 schooling 2
13. Five year old American warmblood mare competed level 2 schooling 3
14. Above but gelding
15. Above but TB mare
16. TB gelding
17. Dutch warmblood mare
18. Dutch warmblood gelding
19. Five year old American warmblood mare competed level 3 schooling 4
20. American warmblood gelding
21. TB mare
22. TB gelding
23. Dutch warmblood mare
24. Dutch warmblood gelding
25. Six year old American warmblood mare competed level 4 schooling 5
26. American warmblood gelding
27. TB mare
28. TB gelding
29. Dutch warmblood mare
30. Dutch warmblood gelding
31. Seven year old American warmblood mare competed level 4 schooling 5
32. American warmblood gelding
33. TB mare
34. TB gelding
35. Dutch warmblood mare
36. Dutch warmblood gelding
37. Above but Eight year old American warmblood mare
38. American warmblood gelding
39. TB mare
40. TB gelding
41. Dutch warmblood mare
42. Dutch warmblood gelding
43. Above but nine year old American warmblood mare
44. American warmblood gelding
45. TB mare
46. TB gelding
47. Dutch warmblood mare
48. Dutch warmblood gelding

[Allusion]

That is a really broad question, an in my opinion there are way too many variables to even begin to take a stab at pricing 57 horses with such limited information. There is so much more that makes up the price of a horse than just the breed and gender, and basic information about what the horse is schooling. For instance, how does the horse move? Does it have the movement and elasticity to go up the levels? What kind of a ride is it? What kind of a mind does it have? Is it a pro-only ride, or ammy-friendly? What about its breeding/lines? Even on the superficial side, is it pretty, or is it average or dull looking? Where is the horse located? (even Big Ben himself wouldn’t be worth much to an Amish farmer, for instance.)
There’s simply too many variables to answer your question, I’m sorry to say. Some unstarted three year olds sell for $$$$$$ because their breeding, mind, and movement indicate that they’re going to be something special, and I’ve seen unstarted three year olds given away. Same on the other end of the spectrum, well-schooled horses could be many hundreds of thousands, or some that couldn’t even be given away. There’s the old adage that “you can’t ride papers” but some people value a registered horse, whereas others couldn’t care less.
Again, just too many variables to even begin to answer your question. Now, if you had photos, video, and a write up about a horse we could likely give you a better ballpark guesstimate - but again, it also depends on the area - my answer (being in Canada) is going to be different than someone in California, or the East Coast. Anyways, you get the gist.
I suggest you start looking at a whole lot of sales sites to see for yourself what horse prices are like in your area. Dreamhorse.com, horsetopia.com, warmblood-sales.com are all great places to start poking around.

[ladyj79]

Lots are repeats. This reminds me of the time I had someone email me about a sales horse with a list of 100 questions. This was clearly something they had come up with without reference to any particular horse since it asked questions like gender age and breed.

Needless to say didn’t respond.

[Limerick]

It is impossible to give a price range for a TB mare/gelding or a Dutch Warmblook mare/gelding without knowing their age, size, experience, temperament, and seeing a video.

[drifterlee]

I used to never pay over $1,000 for a horse (40-years-ago, LOL) but they were 3 and 4 year-olds, often very green, just started or OTTB. Depending on what level you are riding at, the barn, the trainer and your locations, nice horses can go for $10,000 to up-wards of $350,000 to millions. Especially if you import from Europe. Buying a horse, usually a warm blood, is supposed to be cheaper, but by the time you factor in horse shipping costs, quarantines, and going over there yourself, I think it is cheaper to buy a proven horse right here in the States. I used to have an Arab mare and yes showing Arabs is expensive but so is everything else. “You get what you pay for” is no longer true, though. At the H/J barn I used to be at, parents were buying their kids horses from Europe for big bucks, and then not winning anything at the national level. Depending on what discipline you plan to show in, I would buy a horse with a proven show record and a sound one. I have had bad experiences with horse/trainer dealers in the past. Not the most honest folk. The hunter I have now is a younger OTTB, but be constantly wins at double-A shows. I paid $10,000 for him which is really cheap in the hunter world. I also picked up a large hunter pony who won everything as a three-year-old, for only $3,500. Her owner did not know what she had. So I try to stay on the cheaper end of horse purchases. As long as they are sound and basically quiet, if you have experience with buying horses you do not need to go through a trainer, but I have 40 years of experience. If you have never trained a horse yourself, I would find a trainer with VERY good references and go through them. Just MHO.

[drifterlee]

Absolutely not, unless Jesus is selling the horse.

[SnicklefritzG]

I didn’t know that He was in the sales business

[foursocks]

Not to be rude, but if you couldn’t even be bothered to fill in the ages for your last few years of TB geldings and WBs and what, how can you expect some random person to want to laboriously go through your list and give you prices?

More importantly there are too many other factors involved to get anything even remotely accurate. Show record, height, rideability, etc. etc. etc.

[yaya]

The ages and levels are the same as the American warmblood listed above it.
(for example, 32-36 are all also 7yo, showing level 4, schooling level 5)
I guess it took too long to retype it all.
Took a minute to interpret the list!

[Blinky]

$5,000-$500,000
is my answer for each horse on your list.

[Katona]

I would recomend going through these forums, looking for names of breeders/sales barns, and finding your answers through there websites. Learn some bloodlines and performance bonuses. A well bred AHHA horse from proven parents is going to set you back at any age; a backyard bred AHHA can go for free or thousands. Too many variables.

And for someone that knows Arabs, you should know that, too. Not all are quality. Arabians go for free as well. Oftentimes nice ones.

[PNWjumper]

I’m totally confused by the list. Are you asking for price ranges for each age group and then random breeds/training levels below each age group? Because when I saw “Dutch Warmblood mare” and “Dutch Warmblood gelding” repeated multiple times it threw me.

But regardless, no one can answer any of these with that limited amount of information. If you want responses, I would ask for ONE specific set of traits and ONE specific type of horse. I can’t imagine anyone taking the time to answer such a broad question for 57 different horses. Especially when the answer on each and every horse listed above is, “it depends.” You could have a 5 year old Dutch mare trained to level 3 and schooling 4 (assuming here that you’re referring to old USEF Levels) that is listed at $5,000 with a backyard trainer, $25,000 with a middle of the road trainer, or $75,000 with a big trainer. The horse could have scope to only go up one more level and be listed at $10k for that reason, or could be showing promise to do the 1.60m jumpers and be listed in the 6 figures. A horse who is perfect on paper with loads of scope could be a consistent 4-faulter and be worth next to nothing or could be an old-soul-packer and be worth a lot for that reason. Way too many variables.

[BrassStar999]

This is the kind of answer I was looking for, I’ve seen so many non-horsey people ask this so I wanted this to be something they could look at to see the gigantic range. I honestly didn’t expect anyone to even read the whole post and expected more trashing lol Sorry the way I posted it was confusing, I honestly didn’t mean for it to be. I wasn’t quite sure how to ask this to get an answer I was looking for. The things above are a summery of things I’ve seen, thank you so much for taking the time to post this!

[Andrew]

Way to broad spectrum… and prices vary regionally and by seller…#1 in Wellington $35K same horse in Denver $25K

[RomeosGirl]

I always tell people it is pretty much like a car…
You can get a “needs work” used car for a couple hundred bucks…
Or you can get a Ferrari for a million

[SweetMutt]

“A few scenarios.” :lol:

[SnicklefritzG]

OP, it is a lot to ask, and IMHO unreasonable, to post such a long list and expect people to come up with price ranges for nearly 60 categories.

If you need detailed help for whatever reason, pick your top 2-3 and then ask.