How do you deal with stupid people who have no idea what they’re talking about?
There’s this one lady at my barn and she keeps telling people how much I payed for my horse and that she’s not worth that much and that she’s only worth like 2k max (even tho the horse is a very experienced showjumper) and kept saying that I should get rid of her and get a proper horse? And that my horse is so old and I’ll have to retire her next year (even tho she’s 14). Like seriously?! Since when is that her business?
It just annoys me so much. Rant over
You just got me started, so sorry, but here comes my TLDR rant ...
The horse industry is currently insane, so nobody, even the most knowledgeable professionals, have the ability to assess what any horse will be worth to any rider/potential owner in any part of the country (assuming you are in the USA).
Last year's drought means hay prices are all over the place, from hay growers depending for their livelihood on how much hay they can export this year and contracts in the future to other countries, which is uncertain, and which causes a hay shortage here and raises hay prices and therefore boarding prices.
At the same time, the uncertainty of how much it costs to feed a horse drives up the price for a trained horse, top prices for one that's well-bred, super expensive if it's well-bred and trained. A horse of even mediocre breeding, as long as it is healthy and trained to ride for some discipline, can be sold for $$$.
Because there are still too many backyard breeders, certain areas auction decent horses for next to nothing, to get rid of untrained sloppily-bred youngsters,