I cant agree more with all of the advice here that is encouraging leasing vs. buying. You mentioned that “all” of the leases in your area are too expensive. This isn’t meant to sound harsh by any means, but have you perhaps considered lowering your expectations of exactly what kind of horse you would lease? I’m not sure exactly what type lease you were looking for, but of course there is always going to be a huge difference between leasing a “made” big-eq horse vs. an OTTB who needs some finishing. Not sure about your skill of riding either, but I’m sure that with a little bit of patience and perseverance, you could surely find a horse in budget to lease. It may not be exactly what you’re “looking” for, but sometimes the most challenging horses to ride - the ones who maybe are cheaper because they aren’t as polished, etc., are the ones who teach us the most in the end about riding and horsemanship. Best of luck to you.
Ditto to what everyone has said, a lease or part lease is the best bet. You would be surprised at how many people might be willing to do a part lease just to get miles on their horse. I don’t know what your skill level is but if you are up to it finding a nice younger horse that is greener (and cheaper) or an OTTB that you can bring along and increase its value so when you are ready to go to school it would be easier to sell it and maybe make a bit of money too might be a consideration. If you can find an OTTB that has already been let down and started under saddle from a second chance organization that sells them vs. adopting them you might find a diamond in the rough. Definitely a PPE and insurance on any purchase and second the euthanization of any unsound horse. The Fallon Blackwood saga should serve as a warning to anyone trying to give away a “pasture pet”.
GatesRiverFarm makes some very good points. You also have to look at the cost of the lease, vs the cost of maintaining your own horse. If you can’t afford a lease, or a partial lease, how are you supposed to afford a second horse? I am not sure of where you are located, but maybe speak with your trainer and see if they have some out of the box ideas for you, or have heard of horses that while might not be exactly what you are looking for, could definitely serve the purpose and probably make you a better rider through it all.
If you are going off to college in 2 years I agree, lease or lessons are best. Just ask me, I purchased a beautiful Dutch Warmblood 3 years before I went off to college. I knew I was going to commute, so I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal to balance either financially or time wise. About 2 months into my first semester, I was so swamped I had no time to ride or bring him along, and ended up selling at a very big loss (but to a very good owner, who owned him until he had to be euthanized at 19…but there hasn’t been a day that passed that I wish I had happened upon this horse at a different point in my life).
There are going to be so many moving pieces once college starts, that if you can, just take lessons or lease, so you have one less thing on your plate to worry about financially and logistically when you get to college.
Another thing to consider is what college do you plan to attend? A bigger “away” school or a local one where you can commute (and save money and still do horses). What are you planning to study? If you are planning on studying something really intense like engineering, chemistry, computer programming, etc. then you probably won’t have time to spend with horses unless you are already a whiz at such. If you are studying things like liberal arts and you are already handling that in high school with ease you will probably be able to do the same in college. What generally catches people in college is the urge to party and not study or work their horse! I went to community college and got almost all of my non major classes done there and it was pretty much like high school grade 13 and 14 and I kept my horse all through school and beyond but I was only doing small local shows. The point to that is if you wanted to keep riding in school then you might be able to justify buying a greener horse you could bring along yourself.
What horses are you looking at for lease vs. buying? What are the price differences? Is there a difference? While it may seem absurdly expensive to lease a pretty good horse for a couple of years for the same amount that you could buy one, the cost is much higher at the end of the day if you can’t sell the one you bought. Lease prices in h/j land are typically 1/3 or so of the sale value of the horse, so if you are looking at the same caliber horse for a 2 year lease vs. buying, you should be looking at less $ out of pocket. Yes, that means you don’t recoup the money in reselling, but what if you can’t resell or the horse is hurt and not only do you not recoup that money but like with your current course, your parents pay for his retirement for X more years of his life?
Or, are you looking at more of a prospect type to buy… While that might seem like a better monetary “deal” it’s usually not. For one, a fairly good indicator of future soundness and value doing job A is getting a horse that has been sound already doing job A for a period of time. Green prospect doesn’t have mileage on his legs but also doesn’t have proof of being able to hold up to the job either. Value of green prospect even if they are sellable could even go down because now the horse is older and what if he needs to change disciplines or you got busy with school and didn’t get much of a record on the horse. Now he’s an older still somewhat green prospect.
I also would be hesitant to look for deals and prospects using the same network that led your parents to buy a horse with significant preexisting issues already, at least some of which should have shown up on a good pre-purchase exam.
Assuming you are looking at the same quality horse, leasing for one year should be approximately 1/3 the cost of buying.
If you lease for 2 years, you are only out 2/3 the total amount, and have no risk of paying for the horse in years 3 to infinity.
Leases really seem to be much closer to 1/2 purchase price these days.
Please excuse me as I have not read the entire thread. Since you only have 2 years I would suggest leasing and then once the lease is over or if the horse was lame you would not be stuck with another horse. I am now going to have 2 pasture ornaments but they are older 22 and 25 …
Lawdy lawd lawd. If you have two years before college, and you’re worried about liability, you should LEASE the next horse. Horses are horrible investments. If your parents are trying to look at it that way, they are sorely mistaken.
Leasing a horse generally costs 1/3 of the horse’s value. If you can’t afford to lease for two years, that’s only 2/3 of the horse’s value (and you don’t have to pay it all at once). If you can’t afford that, then how can you afford to buy?
Tell your folks to pm me. I’m a ripe ammy with kids of my own. 
Unfortunately you can NEVER count on horses being an investment, or even recouping what you put into them. There is nothing you can tell your parents because that is just the fact. Either lease or buy something but have to be comfortable that you may not see a dime out of it. My daughter has a horse who will be for lease or sale this fall after she ages out and he is meant to pay for her college LOL… I thought I had planned for anything that could happen but I certainly didn’t envision a pandemic where people would not be showing! So while I planned for him to have to be retired as my worst case, I did not plan for him to still be on my boarding/training/showing barn bill waiting for a lessor for an extended period of time before people could get back showing. ugh, best laid plans.
You don’t indicate whether this horse you already have is walk unsound, trot unsound. There are programs that can use a horse that simply walks.
You don’t give size or age.
As far as guarantees of soundness in future horses, it ain’t gonna happen.
Remember it’s easier to acquire than dispose of a horse.
Your parents are right to ask the question. I have retired the last TWO horses I bought one at age 9 one at 12 for unforeseen catastrophic issues. The horse I own now tried to kill himself 6 weeks after I bought him but luckily he is tough and he’s fine. It is always a gamble.
I have a teen daughter we are in the process of buying her a horse. She has half leased up until now.
Its a huge risk. There is no sugar coating that and when my husband brought it up I said yes, it’s stupid to buy a horse. But we’re doing it anyways. Hopefully she can take it to college. We are spending more to get a horse that we could easily lease out or I can ride so if she cant take it to college we have other options.
If the horse has to be retired at an early age we will deal with that when it happens.
What level horse are you trying to lease? Where are you located? Do you have a trainer? Those are all relevant questions.
If you only have 2 years, leasing is almost always the better choice.
As somebody who works with horses at an animal shelter, don’t count on finding a home for an unsound pasture pet easy. If that was the case, we wouldn’t have horses sitting around for years waiting for homes, or numerous calls from people looking to surrender their unrideable horse.
Thank you for retiring your horse
If leases are too expensive in your are, I suggest looking for a working student position. I was able to ride many quality horses for a very successful BNT and go to horse shows I otherwise would’ve never had to opportunity to go to.
It’s also an excellent reference for colleges, especially if you are planning to ride on a team.
This is an excellent suggestion!
I agree with most here. A lease is definitely an option. Or you could also just forego a 2nd horse for now and concentrate on college. That way, your parents could also concentrate on helping you out on your fees. There is always no guarantees that the next horse you buy won’t have any setbacks. Unless it’s really that necessary to buy another one, I suggest you forego it for now.
I agree with most here. A lease is definitely an option. Or you could also just forego a 2nd horse for now and concentrate on college. That way, your parents could also concentrate on helping you out on your fees. There is always no guarantees that the next horse you buy won’t have any setbacks. Unless it’s really that necessary to buy another one, I suggest you forego it for now.
Don’t worry about your grammar too much on here. While it is always preferable to communicate clearly and correctly, I can guarantee you that no university is going to internet stalk you hard enough to find this one post on an equestrian forum and then base their decision to admit you on it. Social media, sure. It’s not hard to search someone’s name and see what comes up. But on here? Please don’t stress, grammar nazi’s are your biggest fear out here, not admittance boards lol
