I am an adult amateur with close to 30 years of experience. I owned a horse as a teenager and into my early twenties (with obviously a great deal of help from my parents) and kept him into his retirement years until he passed away in his mid twenties.
Over the past decade I have had lots of great experiences part boarding and leasing and have always been able to ride consistently. Now that I am more settled in my life, I’d like to take the leap back into horse ownership.
Prices these days seem a lot different than what they used to be and I’ll admit I’ve experienced a bit of sticker shock. I think my expectations are fairly reasonable: green is fine but I’d like to find something that’s had a good start (at minimum, a couple of months under saddle). I’m open to all breeds and partial to TBs. My competitive aspirations are minimal, but I’d like a horse that could ultimately dabble in lower level hunter classes at rated shows (not necessarily win, but hold its own). What does said hypothetical horse cost? I had thought 20-30k would be reasonable but I’m not finding much in that price range.
Would love to hear others’ thoughts on this topic.
Vastly depends on your area, as well as what you would be willing to go for as far is what comes up on the vetting. For something with a few months under saddle, that can be an “off” breed or tb type, I would think you would easily be able to find something in the 20k-30k range. Where have you been looking?
If you’re partial to TBs and don’t mind green, check out the FB group OTTB Market.
You can probably find what you want for under 10K. Just be ready to act fast.
I scroll this page every day. I want all of them!
ETA not every horse listed is fresh off the track. There’s a 2009 17 hand mare, bay with chrome in WI called Secret Babe, for example. 
I’m surprised you can’t find something, especially a recently restarted TB, in this price range. If you were looking for a WB with the same criteria, that would be a lot harder, if not impossible. Also, if you aren’t married to the hunters, you could definitely find a quirky, but not green (or green) jumper in this price range (or slightly higher), even a WB. At least that’s my experience, in a very high cost part of the country.
I will say, in this price range, you’ll have to either be able to spot a good one and act quickly, or have good connections who specialize in finding these undervalued horses… and the search may take longer than you’d like.
The only reason I can imagine that you’re not finding this, especially if you’re open to OTTBs, is if “a few months under saddle” has meant, “6 months in a professional program, including multiple rated shows”.
For $10-$15k you should easily find a nice OTTB who has been restarted and exposed to a couple local shows. Nice and ostensibly sound right off the track is $4-$6k unless something very fancy.
Take a look at benchmark sporthorses for an idea of a place that evaluates and puts some good initial rides on OTTBs. If you’re close enough, call Jessica up and go see some!
Also, when searching for this type/budget, I find the word “green” isn’t useful. They will almost all be green for your intended purpose. What you want is “good brain”.
Another option is a mid-late teens veteran stepping down.
If you’re not worried about WINNING in the lower level (2’6 and under) hunters at your rated circuit, 20-30k can get you a nice green hunter with good breeding that maybe doesn’t have the scope for the big stuff, or the mid teens hunter who needs to step down from 3’ or 3’6”. I will say it depends on where you are because my zone (3) the 2’6 adult hunters are quite competitive and the winners are 6 figure horses lol. Crazy!
For an OTTB with some basic miles and experience, it’s likely to get one for around 25-35k.
If you’re looking for a warmblood, up that budget a bit more for 40-50k for the same level.
Things are cooling off for the greener ones, and it’s definitely showing that people are starting to dump their projects since there’s a decent amount of “make me an offer” and “any reasonable offer considered” and “need the stall” ads showing up more and more at the end of the month.
Your best bet is to find out who in your area is specializing in RRP (retired racehorse project) or riding horses in the TB divisions at the bigger shows. They may have a prospect or a connection to a prospect and help assist you in finding one that fits your needs. If you’re in an area that has some bigger shows, check out the prize list and try to pop over when you see the TB classes going. See who is competing and winning. Watch the baby greens and young horses and talk to some of the pros. Go take a lesson or visit their farm. Networking is some of the best ways to find the right young one.
OP re your title “What does a reasonable horse cost?”
A reasonable horse, or a reasonable cost?
A reasonable horse costs money that could buy a car, or be a nice down payment on a house.
A reasonable cost does not buy the horse that it used to buy.
Lots of horse people are running into this wall, these days.
The greenie market is cooling a little - especially if you can spot raw talent on video or don’t mind some pings on a vetting. This goes for OTTBs - the WB and chunky cross market is still holding, at least from my perspective.
$10k-$12k can get you something “green but started” with some rides off the track that’s maybe gone XC schooling or to a little C show. If you want “green but started” aka full training and been to some rated shows in the TB or opportunity classes, you’re certainly looking at $30k++, depending on who has it and where.
Dabbling at low level rated hunters and “holding its own” is $$$$$ these days - a LOT of the 2’6” market starts in the upper 5s and goes well into the 6 figures. Walking into the low hunters is like walking into the Olympics some days 
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This whole ramble just says that I’m surprised you can’t find an OTTB in the $25-$30k range, unless “green” means something different or you’re not moving fast enough. A well connected trainer can work miracles though. Fwiw I’m in the same boat, and resigned myself to leasing and waiting for the right horse to come along.
Seriously, or maybe OP is just in a bad area for horse sales? I bought a well-started but green OTTB earlier this year for under $20k and have been really happy with how he’s turning out. If I’d been willing to go greener I saw plenty of nice options in the sub-$15k range.
OP, have you considered broadening your search to include other disciplines? Most of the green OTTBs are geared towards eventers these days because that’s where the demand is, but many of those horses would be suitable for the hunters too (including the one I bought!). If you can catch a nice prospect before it actually steps foot in the hunter ring you should be able to get a good deal; once the hunter label is applied the prices will go up.
OP, are you looking only locally, or are you willing to travel to try things or buy off video? What you want (especially off-breed or TB) definitely exists, but perhaps not in all markets and may require expanding your search radius.
Location is key here. Without that information, it’s not really possible to make an educated decision about price.
I see quite a few TB, OTTB’s, crosses, hunter type stock horses going for $8k to $25k in Michigan. One TB, schooling 3rd level, is $9500. One OTTB shown at 2’3" is going for $8k!
They are out there, but it seems like you will have to expand your search area and be willing to travel a bit, raise your budget to find what you want within your existing search area, or be willing to find a green horse with potential that you can put through professional training.
Reasonable, well trained horses aren’t just bred. They are made.
Just an aside, if you are going down the OTTB track… save yourself a lot of time, money, and heartache when doing your prepurchase exams and go for back x-rays.
As someone who worked in a large equine vet practice for multiple years, almost all have kissing spines these days. Sometimes it’s just a few small areas of impingement that aren’t a huge concern, but until you have them doing your intended job it’s a lot easier to know what you are dealing with instead of heartache down the road after all the blood, sweat, and tears. Just a thought.
Price wise, 20-30k in pretty much any area I would be ready to buy off video or get a plane ticket fast to go try.
I appreciate these responses!
To clarify, I am located in Ontario, Canada. I wouldn’t say I have the risk tolerance to buy off of video, unfortunately.
Completely agree that there are lovely OTTBs in that price range which is probably where I should be narrowing in my search. There does seem to be a lot of variability in the OTTB market, and I would prefer to deal with someone more experienced (as another commenter mentioned, someone who works with RRP horses) rather than an inexperienced flipper.
I haven’t been looking for too long, and have spent most of my time looking at the conventional sale groups which tend to be predominantly warmbloods and warmblood crosses. It does seem that if you want any kind of young warmblood that has had a reasonable start, you’re looking at 40-50k minimum. Fully appreciate that good horses are made and a lot of work has gone into them to get them to that point, it’s just shocking more than anyone to someone who hasn’t been in the horse purchasing market in close to two decades.
I am accepting of the fact that it may take a while for the ideal horse to come along. Fortunately, I am content to be leasing until then
Yeah that sounds about right. I’ve seen a lot of unbacked WBs without any “big” names in the pedigree or proven siblings going for $20k+. Add $12k/year in basic board, and you’ve easily got $30k in a horse with very little miles. That’s assuming a DIY trainer, not training board or any real showing miles. It hurts my brain doing the math, because I can’t imagine gambling $50k on a prospect personally.
Heed Tenmover21’s advice if you go this route. I have a friend who has dealt with this with two recent ottbs. One horse was sold to a equine vet tech who could afford with her price breaks the ongoing maintenance required. Friend jumped right into another one that also has kissing spines although more minor and she’s trying to make it work.
How do you know they didn’t have kissing spines in the past?
The whole x-ray the spine because they have kissing spines now is like looking for blue cars in accidents now because somebody noticed that there was a blue car in an accident.
Around the world we have millions of human spine x-rays and CTs, we have multiple spine registries (AAOS, ISSG,…) and we STILL CAN’T define a normal human spine. We think there are possibly 10 normal geometries, that is unproven. I very much dislike veterinary claims of knowing a “normal” horse spine when they haven’t even done a quarter of the research needed to even guess if kissing spine radiology is needed.
This has lead to people looking past wonderful animals because of a stupid fear and unrealistic expectations of perfection in a horse.
Personally I’d suggest neck X-rays more than back X-rays if the horse is sound and not sore. Why? Because plenty of horses go around with weird back films, but a C-spine deformation is riskier for ME. Someone else might reject anything with knee findings or stifle changes - usually we avoid what we don’t want to deal with again.
I think that KS is the “hot topic” right now - but I also think it’s rarely the main cause of the horse’s issues. It’s just popular and easy to dx, but I think it’s usually a symptom. That said, I wouldn’t fault anyone for making “clean back X-rays with no signs of KS” a requirement for a purchase until they start complaining that they can’t find anything or are spending all their money on vettings. If you’re going to be picky, you’re going to spend some money.
I say all this as the proud owner of a KS horse that’s retired due to… so many things. I doubt the KS is his actual problem - I suspect I’ll find something in his neck here soon.
I think you’re just looking in the wrong places. Focus on where people are advertising/posting OTTB projects and/or greener horses for eventing rather than made hunters or hunter prospects and your budget should be in the range of what’s necessary to find something.
I wish I could like this twice. I feel like there is mass pandemonium surrounding KS, but KS is wildly misunderstood.
I feel like there’s more people out there blaming KS than there are people who are actually dealing with KS.
