Purchase Price for AA - How does everyone do it?

[Pennywell_Bay]

So- I am a middle class AA. I did by a low-mid 5 figure horse that was “made”, just working on some minor tweaks. I bred or made up my own for the first 40 years of riding. Now, after a car accident that required almost 100 surgeries, a broken neck, loss of almost my entire jaw, teeth, 2 inches of my radius- I didn’t want to do it again. And I won’t let anyone make me feel like “less than” because I bought him. He was a high 5 figure horse that had vetting issues and couldn’t go GP so I literally got him for half of his original price.

I could have finished my remodel, bought a new car. This was savings I had from the sale of my old house and investments. He’s safe, I just today jumped my first 3 foot jump in decades.

I drive an older car, I have the same trailer I’ve had since 1998, I bought a great used pick up and own my own small farm. I don’t go on fancy vacations (not my thing) and choose to spend my extravagant purchase on him.

There are all kinds of ways to do it. I love hearing the stories. I love it that my kid fell in love with a green one and made him up herself, with the help of me and our trainer. Keep the stories coming.

[S1969]

@Scribbler

True. I couldn’t afford money or time to ride in my 20s and 30s.

Exactly. This is true of a lot of sports, not just riding. As a triathlete, we see a lot of very competitive athletes in their 40s and 50s - because they have the time and money to put into the sport. It’s not uncommon for people to own bicycles that cost $10K+ (or multiple bikes) and pay hundreds/month on coaching and gym fees, and thousands on races each year.

The people that are very competitive in their 20s are typically former collegiate athletes that excel in the sport and can place in a race even on a cheap bike.

In horse terms - the majority AAs in their 20s and 30s are probably either already wealthy, or are using a combination of loans, savings, lease horses, and/or are just really talented and can buy a cheaper horse and put the time into it. I’m sure there are some that just make really good money, too.

I could afford to buy a good horse from my savings now, but not when I was in my 20s, and in my 30s I might have had the money but didn’t have the time with little kids.

[MsM]

I have always been in the mid to lower middle class economically. As a single person, I was more able to save than some people raising a family (OTOH, always one income!) I tend to live frugally, with no fancy vacations and older cars etc. So there were times I could have afforded to spend $20K or so on a horse. But what then? When I looked at the cost of a “show barn”, training, showing and the costs associated, there was no way.

Happily, I never really wanted the high-pressure, top-show horsey life. So I bought four figure horses, boarded at a nice, but not show-oriented barn, did a lot myself (which I usually prefer), and showed sparingly, often at schooling shows. Worked for me!

[mmeqcenter]

The middle class range is, quite frankly, a huge range. The lifestyle of say, a 2-person family in the same city making $45k is probably absurdly different than that of a 2-person family making $135k. If my current income went up by about 2/3, I’d still be in the middle class and my household income would still be in the upper range of middle class. Yet, if I kept my current house and everything else about my lifestyle the same, yeah, I could easily afford a $25k horse after less than a year of saving.

I have no concerns with people financing a horse purchase. It’s their money/debt, they can do as they wish. In another decade or so, I may even consider it. Now, in my 30s, I just had to drop $10k on a complete new AC unit, and both cars are on their last leg so, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Thankfully, I greatly prefer training babies, and have always bought young OTTB off the track. But of course, it is nice sometimes to be able to hop on something finished and reliable. I had a bombproof 1.20m horse on consignment a little while back, he was just incredible. He’s what made me think to myself “hmm, maybe someday I will take out a loan to buy a horse like this.”

[Fellbutbackup]

@Always WIP

I
I’m less interested in the careers that make affording horses possible and more interested in the logistics. Are you setting money aside every month for your next horse? Do you buy something greener so you can put the miles on it? Do you have enough invested/saved that if you needed a new horse in the next few months that wouldn’t be an issue? Did you end up adjusting some of your “wants” in order to get a lower priced horse ( ie <16h, age, etc).

I’m an AA eventer doing BN with Novice and maybe Training ambitions. I have no upper level ambitions but I am looking in the most marketable range - 16h+, 6-12 yrs old, at least Novice experience, Forward but safe, fine with bigger built TBs and draft X.

I’m really curious about what other AAs have done for their first horse. I’m hesitant to do a green horse since I don’t want to get in over my head and I’m not in a program that really has experience bringing up youngsters. But I know it would be one way of approaching it.

I personally went green, with a program who brings up green horses. So, that probably does not help you.

At the level you are looking, a well-connected trainer can really pay off. When we were looking at trained horses, there were quite a few that were available to people they knew but not advertised. Some were upper level horses stepping down needing a home. Some were a free lease.

[poltroon]

@Always WIP

So many good viewpoints! I’m lucky that if I saved, that purchase price is possible. However it comes back to do I really want to spend that on something that could have a career limiting injury within the first month of ownership? There are no guarantees with horses. We all know how much they love to get up to crazy antics.

This is horses.

Just to give you some other thoughts on this… from watching a lot of people over the years, the horses that were most likely to do this were the younger ones. The older ones that come with known limitations sound riskier, but the young ones often have more stupids or more things that simply haven’t become apparent because they haven’t been in work.

The riskiest situation isn’t that your expensive horse dies. Or even the clarity of a career-ending injury. It’s that your horse is Not Quite Right or semi-unusable for years, and that you spend thousands boarding him and maybe doing diagnostics on an elusive situation trying to fix him, all while not being able to spend money on your own riding.

A friend bought a beautiful young warmblood that had gorgeous big gaits and was going to be her ticket to moving up. But his big gaits and his energy destroyed her confidence, and then he had a career ending health condition. She paid for him to live out his life for 20 years.

The older horses that she passed over because they didn’t vet clean would have given her more riding time, and they wouldn’t have had as many years in retirement on her dime.

I would take you back to your goals. What is it you want to accomplish, to learn, to experience? Why are you buying a horse and what is the value you hope to get from it?

If you have any confidence issues, I’d strongly recommend opening your search up to smaller and older horses that might also help you reach your goal. If safe is one of your primary needs, a green 6 year old is not the right first horse for you as a beginning event rider.

If you want to get around the course safely, that’s maybe a different goal than you need a horse to win the dressage. Eventing can be both frustrating and delightful this way - to win at Novice requires a pretty fancy mover and a very good ride for the dressage… but to complete and compete and have fun can be done with a much less fancy horse. My first few seasons eventing were on a 15.2 stock horse at BN; he taught me so much, even though we were always near the bottom after the dressage. But he was safe, and steady, and built my confidence riding outside a ring.

What he didn’t teach me though, is how to correctly ride on the flat. For that I needed my next horse, the one I mentioned I took the loan for, who was a schoolmaster in every way. She was a Thoroughbred, but she taught me how to win the dressage, and she taught me about Training level eventing, she went cross-country in a plain loose ring snaffle, and she taught me how to ride my next horse, who was that 6 year old greenie, so that she too could win the dressage, despite also not being a warmblood.

I learned over the years to think of my horses as tuition rather than investments. That may work for you or not. I think you are right to be thinking of safety, given how expensive an accident can be.

The last thing about the finances here is thinking about the horse you get and what it needs. Some horses need to be in a program, and they need to be ridden 5-6 days a week to stay steady. If you have to pay someone else to ride that horse 2-3 days a week because the horse is green or you are busy, it’s a much more expensive horse than a horse that you can keep happy and safe with just your own riding and regular turnout, or than a horse that you can half-lease to another horseless rider.

It sounds like most folks leverage connections and their own experience to get something slightly greener, and have the patience to wait for the right horse/steal of a deal.

I’m very cautious and detail oriented, so I setup a savings tracker with a bunch of different categories (purchase price, commission, ppe, shipping, travel, vet, boarding, tack, emergency fund). My rule is nothing happens until that emergency fund amount is met. Once it’s met then I can start casually looking, and if a crazy steal drops in my lap I’ll be ready. Otherwise, I’ll keep setting money aside until I find the right horse. Then it just a question of when I “call it” and stop adding to the fund.

Taking out a loan for a horse sounds crazy to me - I don’t even like financing a car and prefer to pay in cash whenever possible.

I think this approach is basically the right one. And until you have that fund, the more you can lease or half-lease to be able to ride, the more you will learn, and the more ready you will be for a horse that is solely yours.

Sometimes the right horse comes along when you don’t expect it, so that’s good to be ready for too.

Since cars are at nearly 0% interest, financing the car may make sense when you need one every 20 years. Save your money for the horse.

[amb]

tl;dr: priorities, budgets, planning.

The way I usually put it is that I never stopped living like a grad student; that’s not entirely true as I do spend a bit on nice things sometimes and overall my life is decently comfortable, but I’m also living in a small house and driving a car (safe, reliable, looks like ass) that’s about to tick over to 400k miles. No kids, which is huge for my financial picture. Horse-wise right now I’m more of a upper-four-figures kind of person, bought from savings. While I would never dream of financing a horse, that’s my financial sense and if it’s important enough to someone to go into debt for a horse, who am I to judge their priorities as long as they have a plan that will keep paying the bills?

A long time ago I worked in a barn with some of the finest hunters around, and the discussions about money and horses among their riders were often pretty similar though with another zero on the end. Same conversations about budgets and priorities, though.

[RooTheDay]

OP, I know you specifically said you weren’t interested in the careers that enable it, but I’m not sure it’s possible to tease that part out in responding to your question. So:

Timely thread, because I am looking for almost exactly what you are. You probably ride better than I do right now, since I’m a re-rider who’s only been back for a year. I’m looking for something with the scope to maybe someday go Prelim (not confirmed at the level) because dreams. And my budget is low to low-mid five figures, instead of low five figures, so a little higher than yours. But overall very similar.

You’re getting a lot of answers that say “buy green and make it up”, and that’s great if you have the skills to do it. But experience is what you get just after you needed it. So here’s how I came to both the decision and ability to purchase something in this price range.

I grew up firmly middle class. We were never hungry or had to worry about how to pay the bills, but we didn’t travel, didn’t really eat out, and drove modest cars into the ground. Owning or even leasing was never an option. I was able to ride at all because I begged until I got a once-weekly lesson (which I was very lucky to have, and which was even by itself a stretch) and then worked for more.

All I ever really wanted was the money to have as many animals as I wanted, including a horse. As a teenager I realized I was good at two things–computers and writing–and furthermore realized that one of these paid well and one, well, didn’t. So I picked the one that paid well and was able to start doing it quite young, which means that now, in my mid-thirties, I have been in senior-level roles with commensurate pay for more than a decade. The time commitment and schedule restraints associated with this, plus some other life events, prevented me from riding during that period. A couple years ago I got a job with more hours, but also more flexibility, and a year ago I started back on school horses.

I was lucky enough to make good connections and found an amazing trainer who, before she had any idea that I would ever be the kind of client to buy a horse at all (let alone one in this price range) still gave 100%. She and others at the farm connected me with opportunities in the interim. I think it was quite a surprise to her when we first started talking about buying and I named the figure I did as an option.

Now, I have more nerve than sense at this point, and in general, and I like a hotter ride. I’m a relatively sticky rider, as former lesson kids go… but I’m not a very good rider. I’m in my mid-thirties and I took more than a decade off and I was never very high-level to begin with. But I have two moderately ambitious goals–be good enough to go Prelim, and be good enough to put miles on greenies–and I’m not getting any younger, and if I’m going to make a run at this, understanding that this is at least a five-year project, now is the time.

Could I buy something cheaper but sane and fumble my way up the levels with it with my trainer’s help? Sure, I think I could. Would I probably teach it bad habits, and also myself, in the interim? Also yep. Would it take me a lot longer to get where I want to go, if at all? For sure. Have I spent the last two decades arranging my life to now be able to buy and ride that animal and do this sport? A thousand yeses.

So we’re shopping for a schoolmaster that can teach me, in that price range I mentioned above. Something that I can put in the work with five or six days a week. Something I can learn on. Something with education on the flat that will pack me to the jumps too while I get my eye back. Something that doesn’t have to be in full or even partial training to do this, and something I can work with and improve on with one or maybe sometimes two lessons a week.

And it’s quite a leap, because I’ve never bought a car for myself with anything but cash and the budget for this is about twice what I’ve ever spent on that. (I buy cheap cars and keep them until they die.) I don’t really travel, I don’t get my hair/nails done, and all of my other hobbies are either cheap or free. I max out my 401(k), have a 15-year mortgage on a small house, save additionally, and have an emergency fund. And I give a certain percentage of my income to charity, because I’m so, so, so damn fortunate.

But I have not a single bit of hesitation. Because this is why I did it all. And what this horse will hopefully teach me will enable me to be good enough, some day, if I put in the work, to buy that greenie and put the miles on it.

As for how? I started out by putting the difference between what I’m currently spending for lessons/leases and what I will be spending on board/vet/farrier into a savings account, which made a nice chunk. The rest of it came from my bonus, which is not guaranteed and therefore which I do not factor into my budget that includes all the boring adult things I mentioned above. If the bonus hadn’t happened when I was ready (a possibility), the money would have come from an investment instead or from continuing to save. (I would not personally have bought with a loan.)

Final note: what I’m shopping for is not going to be fancy enough to win, most likely. Those horses that have all the traits I noted above plus the ability to win are more like upper five figures if advertising is to be believed. I don’t care. My goal is to learn and do the sport safely, not to bring home ribbons. poltroon put it far better than I could when she said “tuition, not investment.” But good tuition doesn’t come cheap.

[Always_WIP]

@poltroon

This is horses.

Just to give you some other thoughts on this… from watching a lot of people over the years, the horses that were most likely to do this were the younger ones. The older ones that come with known limitations sound riskier, but the young ones often have more stupids or more things that simply haven’t become apparent because they haven’t been in work.

The riskiest situation isn’t that your expensive horse dies. Or even the clarity of a career-ending injury. It’s that your horse is Not Quite Right or semi-unusable for years, and that you spend thousands boarding him and maybe doing diagnostics on an elusive situation trying to fix him, all while not being able to spend money on your own riding.

A friend bought a beautiful young warmblood that had gorgeous big gaits and was going to be her ticket to moving up. But his big gaits and his energy destroyed her confidence, and then he had a career ending health condition. She paid for him to live out his life for 20 years.

The older horses that she passed over because they didn’t vet clean would have given her more riding time, and they wouldn’t have had as many years in retirement on her dime.

I would take you back to your goals. What is it you want to accomplish, to learn, to experience? Why are you buying a horse and what is the value you hope to get from it?

If you have any confidence issues, I’d strongly recommend opening your search up to smaller and older horses that might also help you reach your goal. If safe is one of your primary needs, a green 6 year old is not the right first horse for you as a beginning event rider.

If you want to get around the course safely, that’s maybe a different goal than you need a horse to win the dressage. Eventing can be both frustrating and delightful this way - to win at Novice requires a pretty fancy mover and a very good ride for the dressage… but to complete and compete and have fun can be done with a much less fancy horse. My first few seasons eventing were on a 15.2 stock horse at BN; he taught me so much, even though we were always near the bottom after the dressage. But he was safe, and steady, and built my confidence riding outside a ring.

What he didn’t teach me though, is how to correctly ride on the flat. For that I needed my next horse, the one I mentioned I took the loan for, who was a schoolmaster in every way. She was a Thoroughbred, but she taught me how to win the dressage, and she taught me about Training level eventing, she went cross-country in a plain loose ring snaffle, and she taught me how to ride my next horse, who was that 6 year old greenie, so that she too could win the dressage, despite also not being a warmblood.

I learned over the years to think of my horses as tuition rather than investments. That may work for you or not. I think you are right to be thinking of safety, given how expensive an accident can be.

The last thing about the finances here is thinking about the horse you get and what it needs. Some horses need to be in a program, and they need to be ridden 5-6 days a week to stay steady. If you have to pay someone else to ride that horse 2-3 days a week because the horse is green or you are busy, it’s a much more expensive horse than a horse that you can keep happy and safe with just your own riding and regular turnout, or than a horse that you can half-lease to another horseless rider.

I think this approach is basically the right one. And until you have that fund, the more you can lease or half-lease to be able to ride, the more you will learn, and the more ready you will be for a horse that is solely yours.

Sometimes the right horse comes along when you don’t expect it, so that’s good to be ready for too.

Since cars are at nearly 0% interest, financing the car may make sense when you need one every 20 years. Save your money for the horse.

You’ve made a lot of really good points and given me some things to think about, thanks! I’ve been half leasing for the last two years and love it. However I want more riding time and more control over the horse’s time and management. My area is pretty active with clinics and I’d like to be able to attend them, which I can’t do right now with my leased mare as her schedule doesn’t permit it. I’m a big proponent of learning from whomever you can, and believe that there’s something to learn from other disciplines as well (H/J etc).

Something that really complicates this all is that I am starting to feel like I’m outgrowing my current program, and unfortunately in my area there are very few feasible options with lesson horses. Most of the riders at my barn only want to do 2’, and so that’s what the program (and horses) are geared to. I can do BN on my lease mare, but that’s it. And most likely In the next few years she’ll need to no longer do full events at that level.

All of this means it’s time to start looking at buying. When I started riding again a few years ago I had quite a bit of jumping anxiety. However, now I’m more confident than I’ve ever been, very much of a “let’s do it!”. I love being this confident in my riding and it’s something I want to preserve, so I am thinking very carefully about what kind of horse I want.

More than anything, I want to get a horse that keeps that confidence. Something that makes me smile and laugh on XC and wants to jump all the things. Something that lets me progress up the (lower) levels and teach me to be a better rider. I don’t like a kick ride, but it also needs to not kamikaze over the jumps. Minor spooks are fine and I just laugh them off. But I rode dirty stoppers growing up and it led me to being an anxious mess jumping. I never want to do that again.

[Always_WIP]

@RooTheDay

OP, I know you specifically said you weren’t interested in the careers that enable it, but I’m not sure it’s possible to tease that part out in responding to your question. So:

Timely thread, because I am looking for almost exactly what you are. You probably ride better than I do right now, since I’m a re-rider who’s only been back for a year. I’m looking for something with the scope to maybe someday go Prelim (not confirmed at the level) because dreams. And my budget is low to low-mid five figures, instead of low five figures, so a little higher than yours. But overall very similar.

You’re getting a lot of answers that say “buy green and make it up”, and that’s great if you have the skills to do it. But experience is what you get just after you needed it. So here’s how I came to both the decision and ability to purchase something in this price range.

I grew up firmly middle class. We were never hungry or had to worry about how to pay the bills, but we didn’t travel, didn’t really eat out, and drove modest cars into the ground. Owning or even leasing was never an option. I was able to ride at all because I begged until I got a once-weekly lesson (which I was very lucky to have, and which was even by itself a stretch) and then worked for more.

All I ever really wanted was the money to have as many animals as I wanted, including a horse. As a teenager I realized I was good at two things–computers and writing–and furthermore realized that one of these paid well and one, well, didn’t. So I picked the one that paid well and was able to start doing it quite young, which means that now, in my mid-thirties, I have been in senior-level roles with commensurate pay for more than a decade. The time commitment and schedule restraints associated with this, plus some other life events, prevented me from riding during that period. A couple years ago I got a job with more hours, but also more flexibility, and a year ago I started back on school horses.

I was lucky enough to make good connections and found an amazing trainer who, before she had any idea that I would ever be the kind of client to buy a horse at all (let alone one in this price range) still gave 100%. She and others at the farm connected me with opportunities in the interim. I think it was quite a surprise to her when we first started talking about buying and I named the figure I did as an option.

Now, I have more nerve than sense at this point, and in general, and I like a hotter ride. I’m a relatively sticky rider, as former lesson kids go… but I’m not a very good rider. I’m in my mid-thirties and I took more than a decade off and I was never very high-level to begin with. But I have two moderately ambitious goals–be good enough to go Prelim, and be good enough to put miles on greenies–and I’m not getting any younger, and if I’m going to make a run at this, understanding that this is at least a five-year project, now is the time.

Could I buy something cheaper but sane and fumble my way up the levels with it with my trainer’s help? Sure, I think I could. Would I probably teach it bad habits, and also myself, in the interim? Also yep. Would it take me a lot longer to get where I want to go, if at all? For sure. Have I spent the last two decades arranging my life to now be able to buy and ride that animal and do this sport? A thousand yeses.

So we’re shopping for a schoolmaster that can teach me, in that price range I mentioned above. Something that I can put in the work with five or six days a week. Something I can learn on. Something with education on the flat that will pack me to the jumps too while I get my eye back. Something that doesn’t have to be in full or even partial training to do this, and something I can work with and improve on with one or maybe sometimes two lessons a week.

And it’s quite a leap, because I’ve never bought a car for myself with anything but cash and the budget for this is about twice what I’ve ever spent on that. (I buy cheap cars and keep them until they die.) I don’t really travel, I don’t get my hair/nails done, and all of my other hobbies are either cheap or free. I max out my 401(k), have a 15-year mortgage on a small house, save additionally, and have an emergency fund. And I give a certain percentage of my income to charity, because I’m so, so, so damn fortunate.

But I have not a single bit of hesitation. Because this is why I did it all. And what this horse will hopefully teach me will enable me to be good enough, some day, if I put in the work, to buy that greenie and put the miles on it.

As for how? I started out by putting the difference between what I’m currently spending for lessons/leases and what I will be spending on board/vet/farrier into a savings account, which made a nice chunk. The rest of it came from my bonus, which is not guaranteed and therefore which I do not factor into my budget that includes all the boring adult things I mentioned above. If the bonus hadn’t happened when I was ready (a possibility), the money would have come from an investment instead or from continuing to save. (I would not personally have bought with a loan.)

Final note: what I’m shopping for is not going to be fancy enough to win, most likely. Those horses that have all the traits I noted above plus the ability to win are more like upper five figures if advertising is to be believed. I don’t care. My goal is to learn and do the sport safely, not to bring home ribbons. poltroon put it far better than I could when she said “tuition, not investment.” But good tuition doesn’t come cheap.

Thanks for this insight! Your reasoning makes a lot of sense and I think is what I’m leaning towards. I simply don’t have the knowledge to bring something up the levels, nor is that what my trainer is known for. Could I do it with support? Probably. But do I want to?

I’d rather progress as a rider using competition as goals/framework. I’ve only been back in the saddle for a few years, and I just need more time and experience before I would feel confident bringing something up. Maybe I’ll save that for the second horse. My riding has dramatically improved in the last few years, so who knows where I’ll be at in another few.

If pricing were similar between the two it’d be an easy decision. But with such a large discrepancy it adds that bit of “what if”.

There’s also a variety in green horses. Fresh OTTB off the track? No way. But a horse that’s been in a training program for a year and has a great brain but lacks the experience? Maybe - that’s a lot tougher.

[fordtraktor]

FWIW, I have seen quite a few TBs under 15k I would consider Training Level packers for sale recently. That kind of horse would be perfect for you.

[streamline]

If I sold the 5 random horses in our pasture I could afford one decent English horse. Green doesn’t scare me, a buck doesn’t scare me. Horses that go up scare me.

At one point I had a 30k horse, ended horribly and I lost a ton of money. If I was in that position again I’d want to lease a horse.

Fingers crossed by the time I’m 40 I’ll have one safe nice 1.10-1.20 horse. (Pipe dreams!)

Right now, if I had to pay board, lessons. I wouldn’t have horses. I’m comfortable enough to school my own horses. When I was a working student that was a big thing. I also lucked out having a SO who is also a horse person.

[punchy]

In addition to what I would call short term finances (board bills, trainer/show fees, shipping costs, vet/farrier, emergency fund), you also want to have in mind what your long term approach is. Will you plan to resell in a few years and buy another? Or will you plan to keep it, paying board even when you can only pleasure ride, until the horse dies, potentially in its 30’s? Your answer to this will inform your decisions about which horse to buy, who you train with, and how you manage the horse.

[SBrentnall]

I’ve always ridden horses with problems, because that was what I could afford. I figured that one day I’d have saved enough to get a fancy horse with no issues.

Then in 2015 I had a spinal injury. The back of my right leg was paralyzed for a while, and it made me realize that by the time I’ve saved up enough money, I might not physically be able to ride.

Fast forward to 2018. I took out a loan and bought the horse of my dreams. I’ll be paying him off for another 5 years, but he’s worth it.

To make the payments, I work 50 hours per week, drive a 13-yr old car with 175k miles, and buy used everything. Every ride on him confirms that I made the right decision.

[Dressagehopeful]

With respect to the concern about an expensive horse acting up and injuring him/herself. . . I own a drama queen, athletic warmblood whom I keep on my farm from spring through fall and board during the winter because there is too much ice to ride year round. When she is at home, she is out 24/7 with my other horses. At the boarding facility, she is in at night and out during the day. The only times she has injured herself from antics in the field have occurred when she has been boarded. When she is home on my farm and out 24/7, she is very mellow. During the winter, as she spends more days partially in a stall, the more high strung she becomes. One way to counter potential injury-causing antics may be to find a barn that maximizes turnout. I know that, depending on where you live, it can be hard to find a facility where horses can have maximum turnout.

[RooTheDay]

@Always WIP

Something that really complicates this all is that I am starting to feel like I’m outgrowing my current program, and unfortunately in my area there are very few feasible options with lesson horses. Most of the riders at my barn only want to do 2’, and so that’s what the program (and horses) are geared to. I can do BN on my lease mare, but that’s it. And most likely In the next few years she’ll need to no longer do full events at that level.

@Always WIP

Thanks for this insight! Your reasoning makes a lot of sense and I think is what I’m leaning towards. I simply don’t have the knowledge to bring something up the levels, nor is that what my trainer is known for. Could I do it with support? Probably. But do I want to?

To be clear, I may be totally wrong in this, but a little bit more food for thought:

You mention that most of the riders at the barn you’re at only want to do 2’, that you feel like you’re outgrowing your current program, and that your current trainer is not known for bringing young horses up the levels.

You may have the world’s best trainer who is absolutely perfect for you–you know him/her much better than I do, since I’m some random person on the Intarwebs–and who teaches these other riders because he/she enjoys beginners but also has the scope to work with someone who wants to go up the levels a bit. The packer of trainers, in other words! If so, disregard this.

With that said, if you already feel like you’re outgrowing your program, perhaps it might be worth considering checking the ICP list and reaching out to some other trainers who have a slightly more ambitious client base. It also doesn’t seem from your posts that you’re getting any help from your trainer in the shopping, and a well-connected trainer who knows you and can fairly represent your level of riding to other trainers is a huge asset in trying to find the kind of horse you’re looking for. Sure, it adds 10%-15%, but if you pay 15% on the perfect 15K horse who wasn’t advertised because the owner is mildly willing to sell but selectively shopping homes, that’s still a better deal than buying the well-advertised $20K animal (that probably isn’t quite so perfect anyway.)

[Punkie]

I’m heavily invested in real estate. If I want a new horse in a hefty price range, I flip a piece of property. If I want a new horse in the low-mid fives, I keep that in accessible investments/liquid savings. That said, in the last 10 years, my best horses have cost $5000 (TB) and $500 (WB) respectively. Both highly competitive on the AA H/J circuit. My top horse was free and his breeder still pays the majority of his bills (long story, very wealthy owner/breeder, horse with lots and lots of medical issues, and for whatever reasons thrives at my farm. Owner decided he was better with me than with her and I told her I’d take him if she continued to provide for his basic needs and all medical care. She agreed. Free 1.20+ horse with the ability to enter all 3 rings competitively. Score!). So while I can afford the very nice horses, I tend to look for the deals. They’re not all necessarily green, often you’ll find owners that need to get out from under a horse for one reason or another or they have a vetting issue that some people don’t want to deal with but you find highly manageable. There will definitely come a point in the future where I will purchase a few horses towards the top of my budget; likely when my current string retires, but I’m always on the lookout for a deal!

[HJdaydream]

I’m a middle class AA that shows in the hunters. I have heard of people buying horses with huge price tags in various ways. Some take out from their retirement. Some get loans. Some sell real estate, or have rental income they use to fund horses.

I’ve been gearing up to buy something in the range you mentioned, and I’ve done it by saving what I was spending at an A show barn and at horse shows. My own horse is out of commission due to an injury, and I was lucky to move him somwhere where his bills are negligible, and I can save all the money I was spending. We also refinanced our house recently for a home reno and to get a better rate, and I might use some of that money for a new horse.

Best of luck, the horse game is a crazy world. If you do buy something with a significant price tag make sure to get equine insurance right away!

[Always_WIP]

@RooTheDay

With that said, if you already feel like you’re outgrowing your program, perhaps it might be worth considering checking the ICP list and reaching out to some other trainers who have a slightly more ambitious client base. It also doesn’t seem from your posts that you’re getting any help from your trainer in the shopping, and a well-connected trainer who knows you and can fairly represent your level of riding to other trainers is a huge asset in trying to find the kind of horse you’re looking for. Sure, it adds 10%-15%, but if you pay 15% on the perfect 15K horse who wasn’t advertised because the owner is mildly willing to sell but selectively shopping homes, that’s still a better deal than buying the well-advertised $20K animal (that probably isn’t quite so perfect anyway.)

No this is really good food for thought, thanks. Unfortunately there is only 1 trainer that is ICP certified within 90
minutes of me. I called her late last year and unfortunately her program at that time was full unless you have your own horse. COVID has prevented me from calling her again this year, but it’s on my radar to check in later this summer. Everyone does h/j here. Is it bad that I’m starting to think of moving to a different state just to have more eventing opportunities??

My riding is still improving with my trainer and I love the folks at my barn. However, more and more I see clinics and events locally (2-5 hours drive) that I’d like to do but no one would be interested in going cause they start at BN. Also, I think it’s a mismatch in priorities. I want to improve and move up. I don’t want to rush it, but I am goal oriented and I try to improve every way I can. If there’s a h/j BNT doing a clinic I audit. I take videos every couple of weeks and really visually evaluate where I can improve (or to hammer in what my trainer tells me I’m doing). I’m a visual learner so this really helps me fix what my trainer is telling me to do.

My barn is a bit more casual, and folks there just want to enjoy their horse time. That’s fine, I do too. But I also need a framework to drive improvement - right now that is the competition levels. By no means am I rushing the levels, I would like to have a chance of actually placing (at least at schooling shows) before I move up. And there’s tons of work I need to do to become a better BN rider. I have no upper level ambitions so I’ll be at BN/N for a while. But I need that framework to help set my goals and keep me focused.

It would be great to be surrounded by folks that are also interested in these things. It would also be nice to watch lessons at higher level - even as an adult I am very much a barn rat and love to watch lessons.

I’m still getting comfortable at BN so it’ll be a while to move up but I think N is going to be the deal breaker. My barn is very safety conscious and teaches great fundamentals. However, eventing is dangerous and once I start looking to go Novice I think I will have to switch programs. I need a trainer that has had lots of students make that step to help me with the transition, conditioning, and also have the experience to tell me no if I’m not ready for it.

I love this thread, it’s made me articulate my thoughts and really define my feelings. You all are great.

[Always_WIP]

@HJdaydream

I’ve been gearing up to buy something in the range you mentioned, and I’ve done it by saving what I was spending at an A show barn and at horse shows. My own horse is out of commission due to an injury, and I was lucky to move him somwhere where his bills are negligible, and I can save all the money I was spending. We also refinanced our house recently for a home reno and to get a better rate, and I might use some of that money for a new horse.

Good luck! I can’t imagine trying to shop for h/j horses. It’s hard to find a workaround for that price tag when you’re judged on the horses movement. I will definitely be getting horse insurance!