I have a friend who is looking to buy a dressage horse. She has been doing dressage for some years and she’s looking for something that’s going 4th or psg
I don’t want to get more specific so I don’t break the rules. Do you know anyone in Florida you can suggest, or anywhere else?
Probably a warmblood. Thanks for any help
start with networking with other local barns/trainers
regional dressage chapter FB page or newsgroup
She should talk to her trainer. The kind of horse she wants will be expensive and fairly rare. She could also reach out with her trainer’s blessing to the higher level dressage barns regionally.
Is friend capable of riding at that level? Has she competed at that level? Or is she a lower level rider hoping to move up with a horse that’s better trained than she is? That doesn’t always work so well.
If she is indeed training at 3rd or 4th or higher with a competent coach who has connections in the discipline then the coach can take the lead shopping for a horse for a commission. At 10 per cent, the commission on a horse of this caliber will be worth the trainers while!!
If your friend is dabbling at first level and just wants to buy a made horse on the open market without being in a program there are not really dressage supermarkets where you just walk in and buy your dream horse. For one, the trial ride will likely be a disaster.
Where to buy…
…with her trainer.
Everything is advertised on Facebook now. Because technically you can’t sell animals the group names won’t directly say “dressage horses for sale” but the groups aren’t hard to find and once you find one then FB will suggest many more.
But generally I agree with the others that at those levels she should be working with a trainer.
aren’t this levels on opposite ends of the spectrum? Which are they looking for? a horse just entering Dressage or a finished one competing at the highest level
They are right next to each other, not opposite ends of the spectrum. The levels in the USA:
the first 5 are national US levels
Training
First
Second
Third
Fourth
these four are FEI (international) levels
PSG (prix st george)
I-1 (intermediare 1)
I-2 (intermediare 2)
GP (grand prix)
So the OP is looking for a horse either at the top of the national levels (fourth) or the beginning of the international levels (PSG).
In fact there are SIX FEI level tests - these are in order (I-1 and I-2 are not sequential…)
PSG
I-1
I-A
I-B
I-2
GP
And, of course, at the beginning of the National levels is Intro.
Eline Eckroth in Ocala brings in nice Dutch horses (mostly Dutch). Of course there are others as well.
Wellington is another level… but there are horses there as well, of course.
FOr facebook pages, there is an Ocala FLorida Dressage page and a few others. DO a search for pages using key words. The local GMO page does not accept ads, neither does the Region 3 page.
Thank you. I will pass this on. She’s probably going to check out Wellington. I’m suddenly horseless and technically homeless so I’m staying with my brother and his wife in Jupiter. My nephew lives in Wellington and I might head over there but not really wanting to see too much horsey right now
No
I would also search through the archives here for threads about buying high level dressage horses. I assume she’s looking for a schoolmaster and not something young that’s rocketing up. In which case, that’s a $200k+ horse that shouldn’t be purchased without an agent and trainer’s input. A schoolmaster letting down is almost never sold to a stranger.
Also, if she’s not used to the current fad of huge strided 17h warmbloods, she shouldn’t turn up her nose at “off” breeds, although my friend who kill me for calling PRE and Lippizaners “off” breeds for dressage 
I did a search but guess I didn’t word it right as I got nothing
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