You know the horse market is crazy when

[lenapesadie]

@touchstone

I just wanted to come back and explain my comment more, because I think I have unintentionally offended a lot of my people.

I dunno if I qualify as your people, but I wasn’t offended. I read your original comment and agreed in my head because good horses for cheap prices where a good home is a must are moved word of mouth imo. Nobody with a generally good horse that’s got a low price tag bc of reasons is trusting some stranger on the interwebz claim they provide the best home when their ad reads like “ISO Rainbow Dash deluxe hunter version for nervous beginner. Must pack toddlers on trails safely. Chrome. 6 yrs old. 16.3. No limitations or vices. Budget low mid 4s to the best of homes.”

Then again. I don’t really care if anyone chooses to spend 15k on a vet emergency or not. I do care if people have the gumption to humanely euthanize and / or pension a horse when needed. IMO it is totally appropriate to say I’m not dropping five figures in vet care in a horse with zero/low market value and opt for euthanasia or retirement as needed.

[IPEsq]

Now I have known someone who took out a personal loan to get a 4 figure horse. Seeing how my vet bills can routinely get into the 4 figures, that would certainly make me uneasy.

My last horse, I set a relatively smaller budget on because while I could have gotten something more expensive and opened up my shopping options, I did not want to put a huge strain on my available cash for the purchase price because 1) it would be nice to have a showing budget if horse can refrain from trying to kill itself for 5 minutes, and showing is now stupid expensive, 2) I buy the custom saddles and all the bodywork and supply my own feed, and then 3) horses are always hurtling themselves towards death and diverting all of my cash to the vets anyway. The purchase price is always a small drop in the bucket in the long run!

[Spudsmyguy]

I’ve seen it all now. I was just cruising around on DreamHorse and came upon an ad for a 22 year old TB that has a few years left before retiring (their words). They can’t afford retirement and are in no rush to sell her. Horse can jump up to maybe 2’6" and sounds like a sweet horse but nothing special. What, you ask, do they have her priced at? $75,000! Yes, you heard that right $75,000. I’m hoping they put one too many zeros by mistake.

[Pokerface]

@Spudsmyguy

I’ve seen it all now. I was just cruising around on DreamHorse and came upon an ad for a 22 year old TB that has a few years left before retiring (their words). They can’t afford retirement and are in no rush to sell her. Horse can jump up to maybe 2’6" and sounds like a sweet horse but nothing special. What, you ask, do they have her priced at? $75,000! Yes, you heard that right $75,000. I’m hoping they put two too many zeros by mistake.

Yowza! I can’t think of many 22 year old horses who are really worth $75,000 to sell! I do know of a few who are still leased for around $25,000 (1/3 that price), but they are special horses going to carefully chosen homes.

That said, I’m kind of hoping YOU misspoke when you said that the price tag had (2) extra zeros. $750? Really? That’s less than the kill buyers pay. I don’t see any reason that a horse who knows it’s job and is safe and reliable can’t be sold for $5,000-$7,000.

[Spudsmyguy]

Yes, I misspoke, I meant one too many. I’ll amend it.

[vxf111]

Might someone with very little to spend on the purchase of a horse have a deep pockets and a willingness to spend many multiples of the purchase price on vet care? Sure. Is that a reasonable inference to draw for someone who wants to spend very little with highly unrealistic expectations to match that purchase price who is essentially asking for a discount on the purchase price as a result of this implication? No. That’s not a reasonable inference. The reasonable inference is that this person does not have significant financial resources period, otherwise they would do one of the following:

1. Expect to pay closer to the going price for the thing they want
2. Lower their expectations so that they’re reasonable for the lower purchase price they want to pay

I have limits as to how much I will pay for a horse even though I could afford to pay more. And anyone who knows me knows I will pay UNREASONABLE sums for the very best vet care for even my worthless retirees. But I also don’t go around expecting to get more than I can pay for or expecting to get a discount because I offer a good home. I expect to get what my price can buy me. That might be less than someone who can pay more can buy, but that’s how it goes. My expectation matches my demand.

It’s the COMBINATION of the low purchase price, the unreasonable expectations, and the desire for a discount due to the “great home” that doesn’t add up. Someone who is looking for a cheaper horse with reasonable expectations is totally different. Their expectation is not misaligned with their demand. That’s the difference.

[vxf111]

This might be an effort to put a random number on Dreamhorse to weed out kill buyers and rando inquires from kids. It might be that they just don’t really want to list a number, they want to screen people and then decide what is best for the horse but the platform they’re listing the horse on doesn’t give an obvious way to set the ad up that way?

[ladybugsbw]

I agree with those that say a limited purchase budget doesn’t necessarily mean poor care or limited vet care. I have never paid more than $3000 for a horse, but every one of my horses receives whatever maintenance, vet care, and extra care required to keep them happy, healthy, and comfortable. I have a savings account for large bills, which I have obviously dipped into over the years. Most recently, I took on a free horse who ended up having $10,000 in vet care in her first year with me (then sadly had to be put down due to that issue).

I know insurance is there for that reason, but with my teacher salary, I would rather spend less on the purchase price, so I can have a large vet fund, a custom fitted saddle, and whatever else the horse needs to do the job I want (or just be a pasture puff). That being said, with a low purchase price, I know I am looking at projects, rehabs, and other ‘issues’ that I may or may not be willing to deal with, and that not everyone is capable of dealing with.

Now, I see people on facebook with ISO adds looking for horses for free and cheap, acting like they are owed a nice horse. No one owes anyone a horse and with some good facebook stalking, you can usually tell what kind of home it will be (not always).

I just think it really is a case by case basis.

[Arlomine]

I have found at least three horses for clients by posting an ISO ad…they work. These were horses ranging from 5-30k

[Rel6]

This was exactly my thought.

An ISO looking to spend low 4 figures on an OTTB straight off the track with no retraining who is willing to look at something with quirks or that needs to rehab something minor rings as someone shopping responsibly with a budget.

An ISO looking to spend low 4 figures for their daughter’s first pony and need it to be a saintly schoolmaster who can win in the 2ft and who argues with people in the comments about not being able to afford more strikes me as someone I would worry about not being able to provide adequate vet care.

I say that as someone who has never spent more than low 4 figures. It is the way the ad is written, and not the budget, that makes me question the possible situation.

[soloudinhere]

I think a lot of people are shopping without their trainers because good horses that are well priced right now sell so quickly that people don’t have time to wait around a week for their trainer to have time to see a sale video and free up a day to go look at a horse.

Good horses get multiple appointments the day they’re listed for sale right now, and some are bought sight unseen before anyone can even look at the horse.

I know I love my trainer, but getting her to free up a day to look at horses between her other clients, her own horses to ride, and her two kids is impossible, so I just do it myself and send her videos but I’ve bought the last three horses without her seeing any of them in person.

[AltersAreUs]

Then there’s the one that just came across my FB feed where the seller clearly is frustrated but not thinking how to best market her horse. It included lines like :
“No one can see this diamond in the rough. They keep telling me “His gaits aren’t fancy enough” from 1st level AAs who have never ridden any higher”. (yes, I am changing the wording to keep it from being easy to find but I am doing my best to keep the true spirit of what was in the ad)

Way to insult your market there. Out of curiosity, I went and looked at said diamond in the rough. Completely mediocre young horse, not bad bad but nothing to catch the eye in either gaits or looks. Canter is flat, walk is a little lateral. Maybe fixable, maybe not. Gelding, so breeding isn’t a huge draw but again, mediocre bloodlines with the big names being multiple generations back. Just started under saddle - I figured maybe as much as $20,000.

Nope, $55,000. For a green broke, flat moving gelding with “eh” bloodlines and a lateral walk. It’s not that his gaits aren’t fancy enough - it’s that they aren’t fancy enough for THAT price point, even in this market.

[M_al]

@AltersAreUs

Nope, $55,000. For a green broke, flat moving gelding with “eh” bloodlines and a lateral walk. It’s not that his gaits aren’t fancy enough - it’s that they aren’t fancy enough for THAT price point, even in this market.

Agreed! But also it seems like some sellers are maybe determined to not accept a reasonable amount based on seeing inflated pricing maybe? Or maybe they’re getting these prices, like the housing market?

May I add a peeve?

FB doesn’t allow pricing and most sellers in the million-and-one groups I follow aren’t even putting in carrots or hints like “mid-fives.” It’s all DM for price. I am guessing these horses are way over my price point. But, I don’t know.

I don’t want to waste the time of the seller if I’m right about being priced out. BUT … I could be completely wrong since there are no carrots or hint-amounts. I would really like to know if this horse is a low-five carrots or mid-five carrots! Or some other amount of carrots entirely!

So I feel like the hidden pricing is making sure that some of us never find a “unicorn” because we’re not inquiring!

[Minxitbabe]

This market is insane. I have been shopping for months. I currently want/need to buy 2. The total crap quaility of what little video I get is obnoxious. Conformation photos apparently don’t exist either. And I am talking pricing from project horses starting at 1k to nicer prospects in the 10 to 15k range. No one can be bothered to get these items before making a sale ad. I am ready to just start banging my head against a wall and hope that fixes my horse bug that I haven’t grown out of yet. My ISO in many many places have resulted in few good leads. No your barely handled in the past couple years but nice moving young horse does not really make me want to hand you 10k…

[Bebe_Falcon1]

I know someone who took out a $40,000 loan to purchase a horse. And I do believe that horse was purchased with the intention of campaigning it, putting miles on, etc. and eventually re-selling. But a $40,000 project horse

[Horselove5]

@M_al

So I feel like the hidden pricing is making sure that some of us never find a “unicorn” because we’re not inquiring!

It’s not only FB though, sometimes it’s also just strategy, depending on who’s inquiring/looked at the horse. Google the horse’s name + the one of the seller/agent/barn and most likely you’ll find its pricing on another site. It’s pretty annoying though, I agree.

[M_al]

I agree, but for every time I think ‘thats a nice horse’ or, wow, I wonder what they’re asking for that possible project … if I went down the rabbit hole to locate and investigate… well, I wouldn’t have time to surf COTH!

I do look up a few but it’s a clunky process. (And mostly find it a good way to sleuth one’s acquaintances’ new partners ) Really, for every 10 that I scroll by, I put the effort into pursuing a dreamhorse-or-similar google lookup on one.

Good advice, though, it works to get around the FB restrictions! I am just lazy enough to want hints and carrot anyway, lol!

[Mersidoats]

@Bebe_Falcon1

I know someone who took out a $40,000 loan to purchase a horse. And I do believe that horse was purchased with the intention of campaigning it, putting miles on, etc. and eventually re-selling. But a $40,000 project horse

FWIW, debt has been relatively cheap. Someone with good credit or with a lot of equity in their home could get a loan with a sub 4% rate. And if they have the cash flow to make large payments, but no capital to buy outright, and we’re for sure going to sell the horse in a year or two, I can see how they would make this decision. I sure hope they insured the horse, because it sucks to make payments on something that’s worth nothing.

[blondewithchrome]

That’s not shocking to me at all, given this market. $40k is pretty normal for a young, good looking/jumping/moving hunter prospect (we’re talking under 6 yo) if it has the pieces to be a six figure hunter once it has been campaigned a year or two, in my neck of the woods. I have heard of unproven young imports with zero shows under their proverbial belts selling for much more than that.

[StB.YM]

I saw a lease ad today for a 10 year old OTTB. Owner is looking to lease the horse to an experienced rider for $100 /day! No mention of any show record and lessons with a trainer are available for an additional fee. I think at that rate, you’re better off buying your own horse.