With my horse being put into retirement this winter, I have decided to consider buying another youngster. I would be looking for a jumper prospect with the intentions of doing the 1.20-1.30 in the future. This horse would either be not broke or hasn’t had much work yet. I haven’t been on the market for quite some time. What should I expect in terms of trying to find this type of horse and what the average going rates are?
What geographic area are you going to be looking in?
[QUOTE=weixiao;8397045]
What geographic area are you going to be looking in?[/QUOTE]
I live in the midwest but I am completely fine with traveling. Ideally I would hope to find a few breeding farms so I could see a decent amount of them at the same time.
Bannockburn has some really lovely prospects in the Midwest. I am sure there are many others but they come to mind.
A good unbroken prospect is going to be $9-15+ You may find a diamond though 
a 2/3 year old is going to be closer to 20k, I would think, for a nice one. There are some bargains out there but you have to hunt for them.
I ended up buying a weanling because I could buy a much nicer horse in my budget.
you are right fordtaktor… I was thinking weanling/yearling. I had been looking at that age range and it was stuck in my head
[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8397187]
Bannockburn has some really lovely prospects in the Midwest. I am sure there are many others but they come to mind.[/QUOTE]
THANK YOU!That is exactly the kind of breeder I would be looking for. Very good to know the price is in the range that I thought it would be. 15-30ish. based on quality and breeding. I would be worried about buying a yearling as its much harder to judge if they will be more of a jumper or hunter prospect. Any thoughts?
I bought my filly based on her breeding, conformation and movement. I think you can tell all that very young. Jumping ability is highly inheritable and 1.3m is not high for a horse bred to jump. I wouldn’t worry about it too much for a Low AO jumper, which is what I wanted and what it sounds like you want. If the motherline jumps, the fatherline jumps, the canter is great and the foal is built to jump, I’m happy. I’m not going to say it will all work out for me because like anything, a thousand things can go wrong with a horse! That is also why I bought a very well bred filly…she will be qualified as a broodmare if she gets injured in the pasture or something, God forbid. And I love riding mares so what’s not to like. Good luck in your search!
Also, I like a horse with a more jumper-type carriage (upright neckset, uphill movement) so the horse I bought it not at all a hunter type but some horses could do either. It’s not a bad thing to have one that could be sold as a hunter if it doesn’t work out for you, often you can get more for them. I wouldn’t rule out a hunter type if it has the scope you are looking for. Many do.
Another thing that appealed to me is that my filly’s sireline is known for producing amateur-friendly jumpers. I could use that as I get older! There are certain stallions known for producing great jumps but harder to ride and I didn’t necessarily want that any more. While that might have been fine when I was a working student riding 10 a day, at this point the ammy-friendly thing seems like a good idea.
I certainly don’t know anything like as much as the breeders on here but I read and listen because I think as a buyer it is important to try to know bloodlines, especially when you are purchasing youngstock.
I trust bloodlines enough at this point that I would feel pretty confident that you could buy any one of a few of the Bannockburn 2016s in utero and easily end up with a 1.3m horse! They have some pretty exciting foals on the way, IIRC. And I have no connection with them, of course, I’ve never even met them – they just happen to be in my state so I know about them, have seen several horses they bred and was impressed. I didn’t buy my filly there.
If you look at ISH (Flexible - there might even be some of his offspring available) there are some nice ones in the 7-10K range for unstarted.
I think the price ranges for Yearling and 2 YO stated are fair, for a good quality, well bred prospect. Fordtraktor has some excellent suggestions as well, look to the pedigree, the damline and sire line, and do your home work.
Good luck and have fun shopping! There are some really nice quality horses being produced in NA.
First, THANK YOU for shopping in the US! There are many excellent horses being produced in this country and prices are reasonable on many of them.
I would expect to see a free jumping video of a 2 year old up to the height it can comfortably jump. When I was looking for a 2/3 year old prospect I saw MANY videos of horses being chased over 2’6" jumps. I moved right on.
The 2 year old I bought was jumping through a chute, with correct spacing between each jump so he could show off his talent without being trapped into bad distances He ended up jumping about 1.20m, with his hind end flipped over his back.
I paid over $20k for him. He is now for sale for 6 figures (and he will not sell until i get that, because I know he is (or soon will be) worth it.
If a horse is talented he will not begin to make an effort until the jumps are well over 3’. If he is only video’d at 3’ it is hard to judge potential.
And, yes, I think that free jumping correlates to ability over fences when being ridden, as long as the free jumping chute is set up correctly. I have seen so many chutes which compromise a horse’s chance to show off its talent.
