@fordtraktor yep definitely looking at eventers. I have a lot of eventing friends so that helps.
I guess I can come to the conclusion that my budget isn’t healthy :lol::lol:
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I’m in a similar position, OP, and I have an even smaller budget than you do. I have found (in your budget) Andalusian, Freisian crosses, Fjords and Haflingers, many many Tbs and lovely QH’s. Not to mention Morgans and Morgan crosses, Connemaras and a few gorgeous arab/WB crosses. I mean, if I had a $15k budget, the world would be the mollusk of my choice!
I don’t know where you’re looking, but I"m shopping online, primarily in the west, as that is where I am.
Good luck to you!
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I just looked in dreamhorse.com with the following filters:
Age: 3-8 years
Price: $9,000Max
Must be for sale, not sold, and not in foal.
With no other filters, there were 1,795 horses that came up.
Let’s say that after applying various other criteria, only 10% are worth further investigation…that’s still ~18 horses to potentially choose from.
As they say, “One man’s weed, is another’s prized cultivar.” So my suggestion is to look for a “reject” that someone didn’t get along with.
In my book, any horse that has a clear W-T-C can do dressage. I used to train with an old-school cavalry colonel who said “dressage” did not start til PSG. If you ever watched any of the GM “Horsemastership” clinics (gasp, yes I did) a lot of his flat work included exercises up to 4rd-4th level.
As far as weed/cultivar I kid you not…I looked at a fancy English Gardens gardening book and they suggested “skunk cabbage” as recommended for gardens with wet soil. Around here skunk cabbage is a weed that grows wild in flood plains…little did I know. Just thought I would share that trivia.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“skunk-e1400823472655.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:10754841}[/ATTACH]
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I’ve seen under 10k horses make it up to FEI. Now, I’m not saying they are winning or that the owners haven’t paid 10s of thousands extra in training to get them there than a more “suited” horse, but anything within reason can probably do some of the second/third level tricks.
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i’m just thrilled at the prospect of taking my 15.3h grade, dapple palomino, with a curly mane and coat mare into a show. She’s fancy, (in-that she has a very high opinion of herself and is always proud) and a huge mover. We mesh well and she finds me relevant to her life. Will solicit eye contact whenever i go out to the field to grab a horse to ride…she’s like: “PICK ME!” She actually is my unicorn.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10754865}[/ATTACH] My up’n comings are mustangs. Brenna was a rescue and mustangs are straight out of BLM. It’s kinda fun to pay almost nothing and turning them into something. It is the greatest feeling of accomplishment.
I second what others have said. You should be able to find something for $15,000 that has washed out of an eventing or Hunter program because it is limited in terms of jumping desire/talent. If it’s a decent mover, with decent conformation, you can definitely enjoy the process of working with a great coach/trainer, and spend your budget over time on lots of lessons, snd perhaps some training rides for the horse as well. I would also consider something green, but broke in your position. Sometimes 9 - 12 year old horses that are nice, end up still green at that age, through no fault of their own. And they can be had at an attractive price point, for an amateur owner. Part of the issue is that they will be into their mid to late teens in a few years… so upper level competition potential (and years in which to do it) will be more limited. It makes the horse a less attractive prospect for pros who are shopping, or competitive amateurs.
Whatever you do look at… I’d be somewhat cautious about soundness issues, and conformation. When it comes to even nice QH, and some OTTBs, often their conformation can be limiting when it comes to progressing past 2nd level with dressage. A horse doesn’t have to have brilliant gaits… or be a warmblood… but if it is built downhill, and has a low set neck, it makes pursuing dressage beyond a certain level really hard, and less enjoyable.
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With your budget and criteria, I’d be looking at an OTTB and paying a pro to get the horse restarted.
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I’m going to sound totally crazy here, but try looking at Solid-Paint breds (Paint breeding stock) or ranch-bred QH’s. I have an SPB that I picked up as a yearling for crazy cheap and have brought him along to be a solid 1m Jumper and schooling 1st/2nd. Every professional who sees him says there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to get my Bronze on him. I also mentioned ranch-bred QH’s because they still have sound working conformation - solid feet, a real wither and good hocks. They also tend to be athletic free movers with a willingness to do a job, any job. A friend of mine has a big blue roan gelding that she got in Canada several years ago. They evented for a long time, then “retired” to dressage. She got her Silver on him last year and he’s plenty sound even in his 20’s. The prices on ranch horses have been going up because there is so much prize money available to ropers these days, but I think a started youngster should still be in your budget. Good luck!
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I bought a busted-up Hanoverian jumper for $4000. After a year of rehab, he and I went to 4th level together. I bought an Arabian for for $800 and had a blast with him, working cattle, doing a small three-phase event and dressage through 2nd level before his untimely death. It can be done…
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Just remember…Carl Hester, purchased Valegro for £4,000…or about $5,200 USD
https://inews.co.uk/news/champion-dressage-horse-valegro-gallops-retirement-36661
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I’m determined and not letting it get me down!
First step: buy something SOUND with a good mind. Good neck, good hindend. Pure gaits.
Step two:find a good trainer.
Step 3: continue to work hard. Ride, work out, study. Take more lunge lessons.
Step 4: have fun!!
I totally forgot about a QH I had, originally doing HUS (you know, head low, slow) and switched to Dressage to help his body. The trainer I started Dressage with had gotten all her medals on a self trained QH. Now she was NUTS for my horse. She was always saying that we would absolutely make championships at the low levels and that he would definitely make it to at least PSG and find the collection easy.
Unfortunately, he shattered his coffin bone in a pasture accident so I’m not sure if that was true. But she was extremely enthusiastic about his potential. Everyone thought he was a WB though.
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My joy in horses comes with getting to know them, to unlock them. To find unity in movement with them. I’ve yet to prove it, (but i do think i can), but someone can take a $400 rescue or a $25 horse straight out of BLM herd and turn her/him into an excellent dressage horse. It doesn’t take thousands of dollars, it just takes a good horse and a good rider. I suppose it depends on what you want, to me, accolades from outside myself have never held much umpf. I get off on a sense of accomplishment, and the harder it’s been, the better i feel.
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op - some years back I bought an old TB who had been well trained, confimed @ PSG who was not much more than your budget. He was athletic and forward thinking but had a solid brain. I did very well with him through 4th but at PSG, at 20 yrs old, he could not carry enough collection to get the 60 score (though we were very close and same comments every time) SO a TB is not a bad idea, with the brain very important. And if you can find one that wasn’t on the track, even better. good luck.
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This is me. I have always bought youngsters. Mostly “off” breeds. I have had Arabs (2), an Arab/Hanoverian cross, and an Oldenburg. I took one of the Arabs to the Arabian Nationals (dressage). The most un-athletic horse I got was the Oldenburg. She had a good mind but just was not built to be a dressage horse. I got her trustworthy and sold her as an all rounder. I have never spent more than $6500 (for the WB). Current horse is an very handy Andalusian/appendix QH cross. She can do it all and would have by now if my body hadn’t fallen apart:disgust:. She has remained wonderfully sound (18 this year). I paid $3900 for her as a coming 2yo.
I so enjoy really knowing the horse I am throwing a leg over. I enjoy instilling the ground manners. I have started all my youngsters (4 of them). Even trained by an amateur, all turned into solid citizens (I didn’t have to disclose and sell on any big problems).
My instructor’s crash test dummy student did put the first ride on Kyra (the Andy/QH). She is so quick, at 50 plus, I didn’t want to eat dirt. She did nothing and I quickly took over the reins. She has definitely been a keeper. She has had a little local showing (before my body gave out) and except for the one elimination where her agility came to the fore front (managed to leg-yield out the gate at A at a forward canter—never touched a rail:lol:), she was scoring in the high 60’s at first level. With very amateur me as pilot …doing all the training and taking one lesson every 2 weeks.
I think you can can find what you are looking for for much less than 15K, especially for a green bean. It will just take some work. For me and what I do with my horses, I couldn’t justify that much budget…I have to sleep at night. It is nice to know the $$ are there if you find THE one, but I would be looking for something that was less $$.
Edited to add…my current girl (in my profile pic) came from Colorado!
Susan
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Don’t expect to find a horse who can just “casually” play with 4th level for $5k. That’s the advice. The collection doesn’t come casually, and it comes very hard for a horse who is conformationally challenged - which a lot of TBs, QHs, Arabs, etc that are bred for a different type of show ring just are. Sure, you might find a ranch bred horse who is conformationally correct - and might loathe being crammed into a 20x60 every single day for training, because it’s not what that horse was bred to do. It might take you 10 years and you might find out the horse hates it. Often the horses that can do the upper level work become much less suited to putzing around on the trails once they are that fit and trained.
A lot of people who have horses like this or off breeds actually bought them for something else and discovered the aptitude afterward. They kept going until the horse said no more. Buying something deliberately to become a dressage horse is much trickier especially when they’re new to work. The dressage training is very difficult and it requires a great deal of physical fitness on the part of the horse. Any horse can do the basics of dressage. The second level hump exists because a lot of horses cannot collect correctly/well.
As for the people who toss out the “Carl Hester bought Valegro for $5k” yes, a lifelong horseman who had trained many, many horses to GP and worked in barns that had huge piles of young horses to sort through and very good breeding connections, chose that horse towards the tail end of his career after 25+ years of experience in elite level dressage. It is not reasonable to expect an average amateur rider to pull that sort of trick out of a hat.
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and i i say poo-poo to the nay sayers. ( ^ ) Passion and enthusiasm can carry a team very, very far.
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Ive seen some nice arab and arab crosses in your budget that would meet your expectations as well. Depending on how off breed you are willing to go!
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Respectfully, I just climbed off my horse who I brought along from green broke to just starting the 4th level. You believe you can and that’s great, but you have not done by your own admission.
The “naysayers” in this thread appear to be those who have already bought the dressage t shirt.
Nobody is saying it’s impossible; they are saying low budgets and off breeds come with caveats. That is true of any equestrian pursuit
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OP, I believe any horse with a decent uphill build, three pure gaits and a good attitude can fulfill your goals. You can find something in your budget that is trainable and, as someone said, a horse as I described can do at least third level. I’ve seen it numerous times, in numerous breeds. You need a good eye to find that horse in a non-traditional breed and a good trainer to help you achieve your goals. It can be done.
Of course, if you want to go out to compete and win, you will need to spend much more unless you can find an older horse. A budget of 15k would be enough for a green bean. i know lots of people who have found super nice horses in that price range and for even less. I saw a OTTB on Friday that has gaits to rival most warmbloods. He has the biggest, most amazing, uphill canter. He would be priced way under your budget. He is green, but has a good attitude.
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