Not just that. Think about what it costs the breeders and trainers to get a sport horse to the point of child or amateur suitability. I read an article that said we’re experiencing a price correction re: horses, not a bubble. When you add up the cost of breeding, raising, training, showing, and keeping a horse over several years, one can justify these prices in a lot of cases.
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Mmmhmm. Before I even move forward with a horse over there, I typically have access to a basic set of X-rays and a PPE with flexions (often on video). I can send my vet here X-rays for $100 pop to review and then, worst case, we pass or shoot/re-shoot additional plates at a fraction of what it costs in the U.S. Yes, there are plenty of unaccounted costs over there—flight cancellations, namely, made my two most recent imports around $1.5k+ more than I had expected—but the quality of horses I am getting is bananas to me now that I’ve found folks over there I can trust.
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I can understand.
I grew up a lot of riding school horses at different levels of riding. For me, it’s a matter of adjustment, and then I’m usually used to them. But yeah, some people really need the ‘feel’ part of the equation.
I have a mustang I’m selling. I’ve had people comment on her videos. Tell me how much they love her and wish they could buy her. Not a single person has come to see her in person with the intention to buy.
She is just about ready to go under saddle. She lunges, long lines, accepts tack and loads perfectly in the trailer. I’ve leaned on her back but haven’t actually climbed on.
It feels like the demand is only for broke horses… Or for untouched mustangs that are $125… Even though it takes hundreds of hours to get a mustang trained.
If I had more time (and land) I would keep her. But I’m going back to work soon and she will be sitting as a pasture pet (which I feel is terrible for a young unbroken horse). I’ve also thought about sending her to a trainer but I don’t know anyone trustworthy other than myself.
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I can understand the lack of buyers’ attention unless you live in a western state, the horse people around are not going to be interested in a mustang. (‘feral’ as they call them…it seems derogatory i know, but there are a lot of horse people loathe to call them mustangs). They have no value. Like a feral cat…a dime a dozen and zero bragging rights. Welll…there are bragging rights if they(buyer) can use the ‘i saved him’ angle. It’s just weird. Also mustangs still have that stigma of being untrustworthy.
They’re the great underestimated horse. They are fit for function, have great bones and joints. Their hooves require very little care (my farrier skips my mustangs most visits…he looks at each one and passes them along til ‘next time’, so the domestics get every 6 weeks, mustangs maybe 3 times a year at most) And as for domesticity, the ones i have are so extremely capable of giving themselves to their person and IME can almost be ridden with the mind they’re so in-tune.
Anyone that can buy that horse from you and train him to saddle is going to have an equine partner of their dreams.
i LOVE mustangs!!! But, I would not be interested in a mustang that came from a TIP trainer, (or someone who did the same thing without the BLM’s designation). For me, one of the main draws of a mustang fresh from a herd is that they have had minimal handling. They are a clean slate and i can bring them up ‘my way’.
I only want the untouched ones not because they are basically free… it’s not the money, i actually want them as unmucked-with as possible. In almost all cases have paid more than 125…i think one of them was 2500 and another was over 3k.
FWIW: i put up a pic of one of my mustang mares (a coming 4 big roan overo curly) on facebook the other day. Two people contacted me asking if i was interested in selling her. One even telling me the fabulous home they would provide for her if i would sell her to them…for 125 LOL. I’m like: No. But thank you for your interest.
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I don’t think it’s necessarily derogatory. As a biologist, I call mustangs feral bc they ARE feral domestic horses, that’s just the correct terminology. We don’t have wild horses or ponies in NA. And while I don’t mind the term “mustang” bc it’s a handy collective term, they aren’t a breed per se - they are a mix of breeds from Iberian, TB, stock horse, draft, etc, whatever was turned loose from Remount stations, ranches, or got loose on their own and interbred.
This doesn’t make them a bad thing. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t consider many of the WB a true breed either- many pedigrees posted on this forum are simply TBx or interbreedings among different groups, so they are more accurately registries that put their labels on things.
A good horse is a good horse. 
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oh gosh…so, you want to call Quarterhorses Thoroughbreds mutts or grade horses then?
Mustang is every bit as much a breed as they are.
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Not really, not yet anyway, unless the government decides to become a duly certified registry, competing with all others out there.
Feral horses are a mixture of domesticated horses and when breeding same to same, you may get who knows what, their gene pool is immense, not limited by any one breed purpose.
That is antagonistic with breed purposes, that are breeding to keep distinct breed characteristics in the breed’s offspring.
Most feral horses are trying to get back to the original wild horse their basic genes are built on by domestication, the typical “brown dog” in the dog world.
If feral horses are left to reproduce at will, after not that many generations most will be scrubby 14 hands, is what being a wild horse works best in wild horse environments, perfect for that kind of species.
Our feral horse, from a herd in Nevada, had enough draft crossed that he was a hefty, big platter feet 15 hands, but would have been an outlier if such kept reproducing freely, with less and less of those making it thru the abundant grass and then famine stretches.
As he himself barely did, he had “rickets” in his knees, from growing up thru a drought as a yearling/coming two, as per our vet.
There is a lot more to feral horses, great as they are as individuals, to determine they are now a breed in themselves. Maybe in some more decades some may be.
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Well, not really, not by the definition of what a breed is. I would call mustangs a type. But again, it’s not a bad thing, it’s just biology & history. I like mustangs & if I found one that suited my needs, I wouldn’t hesitate. I don’t think one horse is better than another just because of a piece paper & I agree with you that mustangs can have a lot of advantages. Probably due in large part to the fact that humans stayed out of the way & let natural selection take its course. I’m on your side that they can be great partners, I swear.
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you’re not going to convince me. sorry. All the mustangs i have, coming from various different herds in different regions and states share some pretty significant commonalities. Thick bones, shortish necks, big joints big hooves and the bay horses have very thick manes and the rest of them have quite the tails. They have smallish ears, thick throatlatches, short pasterns and cannon bones. That’s the nine i have here. And that’s my own anecdotal experience.
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I grew up starting feral horses, 15 every summer as a teenager and assorted others here and there.
There is more to feral horses than a certain look, which really doesn’t exist, they come in all kinds, depending on what genes the domesticated horses that produced them bring to the table.
We need to keep how we feel about horses, any one horse, separate from the facts of nature and species as it applies to feral horses.
Those facts don’t take anything away from each one horse that may have come from feral horse herds, those horses are great horses, each one depending on what all they are as individuals.
You can start a colt bred for cutting, or running and immediately feel the characteristics bred into them. Most will be true and the best of them shine at it.
Our own feral horse was like that, could have been a competitive top cutter, but that is because somewhere in there someone was bred to be a cutter.
The reality is, few feral horses will be as true to any one we are breeding for in any one breed, they are not purposely bred, which is what breeds are meant to produce, unless we want to change the definition of what a horse breed is.
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I think the problem is we don’t have a widely accepted term to use for a group of horses of similar type/origin other than “breed.”
But to me, a “breed” is something that has been developed by humans through selective breeding.
Mustangs don’t fit that definition because the only selective breeding happening is done by Mother Nature.
Kind of like “domestic shorthair cat” isn’t a breed even though they all have similar characteristics. But when the vet asks you the breed of your cat, it’s what we use to fill in the blank.
In the grand scheme of things, what does it matter?
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Breeds get established by the intermixing of different types. What about the dog world with all those “doodle” mutts that people ask ridiculous amounts for? No, they’re not an accepted breed by the AKC as there’s no standard but people still call it a breed.
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Mustangs are as much a breed as Welsh Pony Dartmoor Pony maybe Przewalski’s Horse Chincoteague Pony Brumby Konik Namib Desert Horse Sorraia Nokota etc…all the breeds forged by nature over many generations. It’s been argued that Mustangs are 30 gens of natural selective breeding.
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even the dog breeds that are recognized breeds are mixed, just have been bred ‘to standard’ over more generations.
Mention Mustangs being a breed and this always happens in the horse world…people come out in droves to say mustangs are not a breed. I think it’s a prejudice.
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I love mustangs and would love to have another after owning three. They are so versatile and really do bond well with their human. One of mine had such gorgeous huge feet, I used to pick them up just to admire them.
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We’re going to get in trouble for straying off topic!!
so…back to horse prices.
Mustangs are cheap y’all!!
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It’s literally not prejudice. Maybe in some instances, but not in this conversation AT ALL.
You are the only one in the conversation having an emotional response to the word “breed.”
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With the exception of things like the Welsh pony, which has formed a registry to select and develop very specific types of pony, these “breeds” are in the same camp as mustangs. They aren’t breeds by definition. They are types that have evolved in certain locations.
You are going to be offended I said that. I don’t understand why you are taking offense. Is it because so many people outside this conversation devalue mustangs? Because no one is doing that here. Would using the word “breed” stop that from happening? Because I’d that’s what it will take to promote mustangs, then I think you will find most of us willing to do it.
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Here is an interesting book on feral horses, that anyone interested in more than the mystique they represent, but the real story behind them should check out.
Many libraries carry it or can get it:
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