A very good friend/boarder of mine is in the market for a new horse and has asked me to help her (as a friend).
Of course her budget doesn’t align with her dreams 
she wants a prospect for 4 ft jumpers for under 8k. I know it can be done, because pre Facebook era I bought a similar horse to what she wants for 4K, but you have to look hard and sometimes it’s in a different package then you expected.
I know people on COTH have some tips for this. Can you share?
I already suggested OTTBS but she is a hard no on them.
pretty unrealistic to rule out OTTBs on that budget…
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Under $8k, she’s looking at weanlings or yearlings if she wants a warmblood. If she’s a good rider and a good trainer - she may find some combination of green broke, poorly trained, in the wrong discipline, older, quirky, off-breed that will do the job with time and miles. She will have to spend time on all the sales sites and kiss a lot of frogs.
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Is she open to unbroke?
Unless your friend is open to unbroke or very very very green broke, yeah that’s a hard find without considering OTTBs. Also I PMd you.
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Older with maintenance? Maybe a horse who is stepping down from the 1.40s and is on the older end, and was maybe not especially fancy to begin with, and can’t vet clean? Lots of horses don’t look perfect on a PPE but are very nice otherwise.
Also, and big caveat here for “it matters why this is the issue,” but a horse with a gap in his lead changes can be a bargain. A friend bought a horse whose previous owner took him all the way through the 1.30s with a…sporadically available…lead change, and the horse does totally fine. Is it hunter-perfect? Of course not. But there is that passage in the Bill Steinkraus book where he talks about how jumping off the correct lead is, you know, a nice bonus but not an essential
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Is your friend already riding at that level or does she wants something that could eventually bring her there?
It doesn’t just depends if she can find a horse… will she be able to ride and train it to that level?
My trainer told me once : it’s better to have fluid ride on the wrong lead than losing time and precision from any bad change.
What you want is a good canter, be it on the right or wrong lead!
I’m pretty sure he quoted Steinkraus…
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The lead changes idea is a good one. I also told her ‘short’ horses and TB crosses.
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Totally agree. A horse that doesn’t have a lead change cannot cross over into the hunter ring or the equitation ring so their prospective audience and the price they can command is smaller. Even so, eliminating TB’s will make it really tough to find a horse on that budget.
And I agree with @alibi_18 if the friend is currently training and showing at 4’, that is fine, but if 4’ is a longer term goal, with her very modest budget, she’s better of buying something that is or has the potential to jump at the level she is currently schooling.
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Exactly. And I should have said this earlier, but if she goes this route, make sure the sticky change isn’t a soundness problem. Sometimes hock arthritis or other hind limb soreness is the explanatory factor, and those cases are more complicated (although, again, maybe part of the “older horse with some maintenance” umbrella).
the only problem, if she’s currently doing a lower level, with buying there is that then she has to repeat this process once she’s ready to move up, with perhaps diminished resources from the cash outlay to buy and maintain this one, right?
I re-read the OP and friend is looking for a prospect.
So maybe the OP’s friend could train the horse herself up the levels.
OP, If that is so, and that your friend can train horses, then her best bet would be « win or flip » trials.
Find younger stock, train them for 1-2 months and if nothing of what you want stands out, put a sign for sale.
Flip it for a « better » one and keep on until you find « the one ».
You people clearly don’t watch enough bad horse movies. If this friend has the “magic touch” she can find a rogue horse no one else wants and turn it into a champion.
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10 points to Gryffindor for that answer, friend!
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For a different perspective, ask your friend whether, if she already owned this dream horse (a presumably sound young horse with obvious ability) would SHE sell it for under 8k?
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I’m just curious, but may I ask why your friend is so set against OTTBs? There are so many nice ones out there, looking for a new job. Or even started ones that just need some more polishing?
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Yeah curious about why she doesn’t want an ottb. If she’s afraid or something then maybe 1.20 is too high of a goal. There are lots of ottbs that do 1.20. Ones I had that schooled that height were only ever in that price range because they were hard to ride or didn’t vet 100%. I’ve known green warm bloods that did that height but they were rare finds usually in the backyard of someone without a trainer who didn’t know what they had. One was even a boarder about to be kicked out lol.
people who don’t know better love to have “hard nos” but usually come around. I knew someone who wanted a 3’6"+ hunter/eq horse who’d only been riding for 3 years who had a “hard no” to ottbs and she wound up buying one and he’s the best horse ever for someone who’s a little nervous but wants to jump big. She worships him now lol but also he was more than 8k
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If I had that budget, a tbred would be the first place I would go. Off the track or not. Not smart to rule these out.
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I live in the world of looking for square pegs in round boxes. It could be a racehorse who you can just see can jump, or watching a hunter, canter bored out of it’s mind and throw a buck in after a particularly fun long spot. A dressage horse that spooks at the ring or the like. There are TONS of bargains out there. Even with imports… I know, I own one.
The trick isn’t even a trick, it’s about watching and listening TO THE HORSE more than the piece of paper that describes it. Just because a horse is by Chacco Blue or Big Star doesn’t mean they can’t possibly become something other than a jumper. Likewise as others have mentioned the lack of perfect lead changes is a huge opportunity.
Another opportunity is that event horses can often become fabulous eq or jumper horses.
Look long and hard and be patient. If you have the right mindset going in, you will likely see the glint of a flicker of a sparkle enough to keep watching.
Emily
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She’s looking for a needle in a haystack, as we know… but as she looks for this unicorn, hopefully she can continue to bank every spare penny to grow her budget even as she searches.
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Different discipline but I was searching for a really high quality animal in a low low budget. To make a very long story short, I spent about three times my budget over 18 months between travel, a failed trial, and vet bills on a horse who had extensive and progressive health issues. I was swindled by someone who was well-regarded in that community and had an extensive show record.
If she comes across a seemingly unicorn find and a “fire sale” or “owners don’t know what they have and I’m just helping them out” look a gift horse in the mouth, twice, and then do an exhaustive PPE. It is pretty rare that people really don’t know they are sitting on a potential star.
If I were genuinely in her position I would pick up exercise riding for 6 months to build more relationships in the community and set aside money as if I were paying board, vet, training, etc. for those 6 months + exercise riding $ and then start looking again in late winter when people are motivated to move horses. At that point she would have several new connections and should have at least a $12k budget to work with, which goes a lot further. I’d then pick up a nice OTTB who was restarted correctly and is being advertised as an eventing prospect. A $12k budget for a restarted OTTB who has only made it to a show once or twice can get you a really really nice horse.
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