I’m considering selling my steed. He shows 2’6” and training level. Nothing fancy.
Told two trainers I was considering finding something different, and selling him. In less than 12 hours, had three people wanting to come try him.
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I follow what you’re saying with the crazy price hikes. The majority of price jumps I am seeing around here are $2-4k now $8-10k for nice prospects. I’m serious though that people are still unloading horses off the track for super cheap. You just have to have a more direct path to the track, and know the right people. Also my area there are TBs galore especially at the end of the season. I’m just waiting for the inflation bubble to burst.
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Prices are crazy and also inventory is low. People are holding on to what they have and it doesn’t seem like there are enough green horses around to be made up to satisfy the demand in a short period of time. I feel like even OTTB inventory is a bit on the lower side in my area.
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I haven’t noticed any horses overpriced here.
Have a teen pony listed at normal pricing and only have window shoppers interested.
Maybe I should add another 0 to his listing and it’ll get the ball rolling. 
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I know the Amish market and driving habits vary a lot by location. Many (too many!) years ago when I went to an “Amish auction” I was surprised to see some flashy chestnut Saddlebreds in with the mostly Standardbreds and grades (no work horses at this auction). And they got higher bids (but nowhere near 35K!) I asked Bennuel King the local Amish “horse guy” and he said that the young guys liked them for courting. Kind of the Amish version of a sports car!
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Prices have definitely jumped in my area
10yo QH schooling 2nd level with early signs of navicular for 13k
9-10yo Iberians who were pasture ornaments until last year 18k
7-10yo QH pasture ornaments, just started with 60-90 days 8-10k
5-7yo green broke grade draft type crosses 10-15k
5yo green backyard broke Appy 15k
Also seeing lots of ranch type QHs in the 10-15k range now. Those used to be mid/high fours. Used to be five figures was a nice competitive prospect.
TBs straight off the track are mid fours, really nice ones upper fours
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At least in Lancaster area the Amish breed these for themselves too. Saddlebred rescue always has some that the Amish have used to within an inch of their lives and then thrown out.
I find it hard to believe that there is anywhere that the Amish are paying mid-5 figures for any horse. No matter what they’re using them for, horses are just a tool for them and as a general matter the Amish are frugal.
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The market around here (Mid Atlantic) is absolutely crazy. A trainer friend said that even unsound pasture ornaments are going for money, which makes ZERO sense to me.
She and a student looked for several months for something good enough to be a junior’s event horse, maybe eventually going Prelim (1.10m), at least Training (1.0m), and found nothing in her reasonable price range that was even remotely acceptable. Trainer has some racing contacts and a really nice one came through one of those for a steal, but it was right off the track.
My friend has been able to sell three horses for clients in the last couple of weeks ONE DAY after posting ads; all three were nice but extremely green, and all three were at least twice as much now as they would have been pre-COVID. The buyers did PPEs, paid cash, and swept the horses away within 24 hours as if the sellers would suddenly change their minds and put the prices up higher.
Another seller I know had a grass-green and conformationally-challenged crossbred (Morgan plus some sort of mountain breed IIRC), who was 15hh and 4 years old sell for 20k. He is a biter, had very few ground manners, cute color, cute mover, just beginning to jump and was cute there, except conformation is going to be an issue down the road, and I believe had a fairly sketchy vetting (again, see conformational challenges). 20k!!! It’s crazy.
Same here (Arizona). Anything with eye appeal that has 30-60 days on it and sane runs around $10K to $12K. If it doesn’t spook at cows, goes down the trail and could work at local shows it’s more.
The horses sold through the high profile ranch horse auctions, which feature glossy print catalogs and professionally produced online videos, go for crazy prices. Ditto for a handful of local ranches who specialize in “Cadillac Trail Horses.” These aren’t show horses, just pretty recreational riding horses and they’re $20k and up.
That doesn’t mean you can’t find something cheaper on Craigslist. But in general anything decent gets $10K slapped on it as a starting price. Because they can.
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Pony prices are crazy right now. I sold my pony prospect for what I would say is a very fair price – low fives. I put 1.5 years of training and show experience into him, had green lead changes, put money into nice shows and professional photos when my schedule allowed it, could wtc jump bridleless, could take a joke. Not a pony finals pony by any means but cute and safe. It seems any pony with a half ass lead change automatically starts at 10k, regardless on the rest of the training or if the pony moves like a jackhammer. Even searching for the next half decent pony prospect (my requirements were cute and sound, didn’t even need to be broke, I can work with everything else) I had a hard time looking for anything under 7k. I know these are miniscule prices compared to the rest of the horses on this post, but last year you could throw a rock and find a cute pony for 1k or less.
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I was shopping for a green OTTB last year. I got one for $600 in 2012 and couldn’t find anything for under mid 4 figures last year. And even that - it was a struggle and it wasn’t restarted. I’m in an area (Northeast) where fresh off the track TBs are generally a dime a dozen, and even now they’re still moving incredibly fast. I saw a cute horse listed with a sore jog video from a bruised foot and there was a ton of interested within an hour.
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Around here the horses that the Amish sell at auction are dirt cheap (and usually with good reason). I can’t imagine them paying 5 figures for a horse.
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100% this. I’ve lived in Amish country off and on my whole life. No fancy horses and, to be honest, many horses are not kept in good nick. It’s more like a family car, not a beloved pet or fancy show piece. This is such a huge scam. Plus, the Amish aren’t known for paying “a lot” for anything. They make and breed and grow and build most of what they need. His description is basically the exact opposite of the Amish approach.
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And the OTT pacers you see going down the roads pulling a buggy.
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There was a horse listed on a FB classified group for around 15K. The horse was a WB and had recovered from a soft tissue injury, hence the price. Also mentioned in the ad was that they prefer a non-jumping home.
Two months later, the ad is back up. They took the horse to a dressage show and it scored in the mid 60’s at first level, so that makes it worth mid-high fives.
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I’d like to disabuse you of this notion. The Buckeye Morgan Sale this year, mostly an Amish event, had many horses, of over 250 consigned, go for well into 5-figures. IIRC the top seller was a very well-bred mare, in foal, for ~75K. They also started something new this year with their stallion service auction – a futurity for the resulting foals that will have well into 6-figures prize money. There is some serious money floating around that community.
What the Amish call a “boys horse” is their equivalent of a sports car – hot, fast, flashy, and bordering on dangerous to drive. But they go for big money.
At the same time, someone I know online bought one of only a few horses who stood out at that sale as not groomed and showed to within an inch of their lives – a mare in foal who went through the ring with a big Western saddle on her and a little kid riding – the saddle covering up a BCS of 2 to very low 3, and serious rain rot. And still brought 4 figures. The consignor said she’d “come in with a load of ponies” and he basically tossed her in a field and ignored her for months. She had no hay at the sale, just cracked corn. She has had her foal, a healthy filly probably not by a Morgan stallion, and is gaining weight and really turning out to be a gem.
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(Meanwhile, I’m just happy that my 23 YO Morgan mare is staying sound enough for my purposes, because I’d hate to be horse shopping right now. She had dressage and eventing training, and a decent unrecognized show record, and is very flashy, and was a very low 5 figures purchase at age 9 just before the 2008 crash, while the market was still high; I’ve seen the equivalent breed/sex/age/training up for sale now for twice what I paid or more.
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I have seen a few different OTTBs on both fb and bigeq where the asking price is 20k+. Keep in mind these are GREEN 3-5 year olds that require experienced rides and are definitely not proven packers. You would think they would be hack-winning, 12 jumping types, but in reality, they are meh movers with green jumping techniques. But because they have been to one schooling show, automatically they become a "safe and stunning warmblood-type hunter prospect." I also keep seeing unshown, recently imported 5-6 yr old WB hunter prospects with okay jumping techniques and movement sell or at least try to sell for 65k+. Then I scroll down and find a teenaged 3'0"-3'6" experienced, easy, and sound WB hunter with the same meh technique and movement sell for the same price as the prospect. Can someone explain to me why I keep seeing this?
Edited to add: Just ended an 8 mo search and purchased
a 5 yo greener than grass Irish Draught. When 40k becomes
reasonable for a nice, sensible, but slightly off breed
hunter prospect, you know the market has become truly
insane.
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Is that a sale where the Amish are buying from the English or vice versa? It looks like that’s a sale set up for the Amish to sell to the English. Or perhaps a sale mostly targeted at the English that some Amish happen to frequent occasionally. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m responding to a specific scenario someone posted up thread which suggested that there’s a huge market where the Amish are regularly paying mid 5 figures for pinto/freisan horses. Not whether the Amish attend a sale aimed at the English and buy an expensive Morgan horse or two or whether the Amish sell the horses they breed to the English for 5 figures. There is an exception to every general rule, of course. But there I don’t think it’s the case that there are generally auctions where the Amish are flocking to buy 5 figure crossbred horses from the English.
Everything about how that auction you referenced is marketed makes it look like it’s a sale aimed primarily at English buyers?! Just informally googling some past results unscientifically, the top dollar horse purchases from that auction seem to be by English breeders.
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actually… no. The majority of the transactions at the Buckeye are Amish to Amish. Admittedly, wealthier Amish, and Morgans are often not their “daily drivers,” but still. The descriptions in the sale catalog are aimed at Amish sales: phrases like “top buggy broke”, “boys horse” “ready for miles” “women can drive” “traffic safe and sound” are pure Amish-to-Amish marketing.
Frankly, the Amish is what is keeping the Morgan breed going at this point. They used to not register a lot of foals but that has really changed
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