How much are horses worth in this economy?

[Wildsky]

I also have a Pasture ornament horse. A lovely 14 year old peruvian paso.

 

[shelleyd2008]

My honest opinion is nothing, can't even seem to give a horse away anymore. They just aren't 'useful' unless we revert to the cart-and-buggy, seriously considering this one with gas prices being what they are. It also helps that the horses don't have to be 'fixed' every other week

 

[19hhbelgian]

Well, with the bucking issue, I'd advertise her as needing to be adopted, and put a low adoption fee on her. I don't like to give horses away... Unfortunately, People tend to take better care of things they've paid for. Sounds like she needs an attitude adjustment, although, has she ever had her teeth done? Could the saddle be fitting her differently? Being young, her mouth will be changing, and she is at an age where she'll be getting the rest of her adult teeth in. Maybe it could be something like that bothering her. I know that can make a huge difference in their riding attitude.

Just throwing some ideas out there for you! Good luck!!

 

[Equest94]

Yes, the economy is down and the hay shortage is still a huge problem especially in the midwest; however, there isn't a 'gray area' [anymore] so to speak in the horse selling trade; it's now black and white. Horses that are selling for little to nothing are either A. your youngsters/untrained greenies and B. your well trained, close to bomb proof, end of the career, getting up there in age horses... The horses that are in demand are your business-performance/show/competition horses.

It's true - the economy is on a downslide so people that ride for fun and recreation can no longer afford to keep up their hobby... the people who are really in [deep] in the horse business normally count on their horses as a source of income - your racers, cutters, jumpers, etc... Therefore, they look for the best of the best in their discipline, they show in the big competitions, breed the best mares to the best studs - get foals with huge potential to go on and be the next generation of performance mounts, and thus the cycle continues.... Horses that bring in money - IN, horses that don't - OUT.


Location is a huge factor that plays into selling a horse - by the sound of it, it seems like your area is a little down in the horse business and if so chances are you probably will no make much of a profit on your mare; however, you said her bloodlines are good - what's her lineage? If she comes from a pretty nice background, chances are she could be sold as a nice broodmare. You also said that you could see her going into Dressage or Cutting. Those disciplines are quite different from each other. How tall is this mare? How is she built? Unless she is taller with a fluid movement and thus can potential make it to upper-level dressage, I can't see that as her selling-profit point. Cutting is always a wonderful discipline and the horse market is always high(er) in demand for the reining, reined cow, and cutting horses.... if your mare is small(er) and quick, then that might be a better direction to go in... just make sure she has her stops down and has worked some cattle (established a good cow sense) before trying to sell her as so...

It all depends how on serious you are in selling her and how serious you are in making a profit, If you just want her gone for the sake of your health sell her as a trail horse for cheap (no profit)... if you want to try to make a little, then I recommend spending a little more time working with her (get a trainer?) and see if she really has the potential to be a cutter...

[Again, that's just my opinion/idea based on what you said... It's hard to say for sure without seeing the mare...]

Good luck (with her and get well

)

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I really hate to say this, but quite honestly, even a few years ago you would have had a lot of trouble getting more than meat price for her (bucky runny arabs with just a year or two of training on them never *did* go for much, in the parts of the country where I've lived)... right now, you are going to have trouble finding her a home of ANY description at all.

But you know what.

If she is not safe for you to ride, then unless you want to be putting all that ongoing money into her as a pasture ornament (an increasingly-hard-to-find-a-home-for pasture ornament, since the longer it's been since they've been in regular work, the harder to find a taker for) you may be better off finding her whatever decent home you can *now* rather than waiting in hopes the market will change.

Because, it WON'T change (not to the point where your horse is worth as much or more as you paid), not in the next five or ten or prolly fifteen yeras, I will stake everything I own on it

And as it may be difficult to find a good new situation for her, and food and farrier and such keep costin' away all the time, you might want to start now.

Hopefully the right person will come along soon, it does happen

Good luck, sorry to be a downer but I'm just sayin' what I see,

Pat

 

[KinderKorner]

She is 15.1 or 15.2 hands. She really is too tall and lean to be a good cow horse. But I think she would do well in another disicpline.

But she wouldn't be able to compete well with upper level dressage horses, like warmbloods and such. I know. But she might be good for someone to learn the basics on like I was going to.

I bought her to try dressage with, and also I wanted a foal and she was supposed to be bred. But miscarried from poor health at the beginning.

She is super super smart. She learned a professional training course in a little bit of time. She learned how to ride in a little bit of time. It's just in the past year she began with the bucking problem.

She is fine health wise we had the vet check her out. But we had a grouchy mare in with her. And she taught all my horses to have little additudes. She is now in with a Mini Donkey. And they push each other around alot. So I think she has just changed her personality a little bit from sweet and laid back to more defensive and aggressive.

I plan on reworking her ground work well. She used to be able to do all the fancy stuff like sidestep, and pivoting. She would lunge at liberty around the arena, and came back when you wiggled your finger.

I am going to have a friend ride her for me, just to see if we can't fix the bucking. She is really more than greenbroke. She is just being snotty lately.

She turns a deep dapple gold in the summer. Then gradually turns lighter until she is cream. Here is a picture in Sept. when she is starting to turn cream. I don't have any pictures with me of when she is gold.

 

[KinderKorner]

She's not an Arab. lol Shes a Quarter Horse.

But actually. We have a pretty good horse market around here. We were able to rehome the cranky 5 year old greenbroke mare we had and she kicked.

But that was last year. And it's gone down since then.

Luckily I have a lot of horse friends. So we can usually find someone to take them.

I'm debating if I should fork out $500 and get her professionally trained. I did with my other horse and it worked great. I planned on getting her trained anyway jsut to make sure she was safe for me. But I'm not sure if I should. I don't think getting her trained completely will raise her price $500. But I suppose I could always just keep her. I just hate putting anymore money into her.

ETA: I'm not really wanting to make a profit. It would be nice. But I would be really happy just getting back my $1,000. And thats not counting all my time and care costs. Oh well.

 

[toletiquesbysam]

Put a listing on Craigslist in the Farm & Garden section. You can also scan it to see the other horses for sale and their prices to kinda give you an idea what you might be able to get for her. She's a beauty and hopefully you can get her sold!!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Whoopsie, sorry, where did I get that from? Doh. I need to learn to read

A QH you might have more luck getting some cash for. I still sincerely doubt you will be able to get your purchase price back, though.

IME "not yet started" usually sells better than "sort of broke, but bucks"

I'm debating if I should fork out $500 and get her professionally trained. I did with my other horse and it worked great. I planned on getting her trained anyway jsut to make sure she was safe for me. But I'm not sure if I should. I don't think getting her trained completely will raise her price $500. But I suppose I could always just keep her. I just hate putting anymore money into her.

If you have a trainer that you really trust (like *really*, like are positive they would be more interested in your benefit than in making a couple months' training income) could you ask them to take a look at her and give you their opinion whether a month or two of work would likely fix her wagon enough to make her a lot more saleable?

If you hate putting any more money into her, I still think you are best off advertising her now, and taking whatever you can get for her. Even if you are keeping them at home and doing their feet yourself and so forth and so on, any feed or hay you're putting into her will add up pretty quick, and you can end up spending thousands of dollars just to "avoid" taking a five hundred dollar or thousand dollar loss...

Good luck,

Pat​

 

[mandelyn]

You're in decent QH country, but I've noticed that "prospect" anything isn't selling. That says to the buyers, "You have to train me, and feed me while you do it". But finished horses are selling.

The ones that are not selling, are the mediocre horses that are green, and who don't have a set discipline. I won't even look at horses priced under $2500, because there's always an issue. Too old, too young, not broke, green broke, broke with issues, too short, been to pasture too long and needs refreshing... not much in that bottom price range you can take home and ride comfortably.

It's also the worse time of year to sell, everyone is cutting horses to avoid winter feeding.

But the people buying... they're looking for next seasons show horse, with shows starting as early as Feb/March. I would work on her ground stuff as you planned. I would also put 60 days professional training on her, and get someone to ride her atleast once a week to keep her fresh. That may actually work the kinks out of her with the buck.

Then I would market her as an open show horse, she's a great color, good shoulder, nice hip, back isn't too long/short, strong neck (though I can't see how it ties into her head, since her head is turned towards the camera)

Working her will also put her into good condition, since people looking to show don't want to see a "hay belly". With her strong neck though, her belly really isn't all that bad.

I would send her English, and see if she can get to Training Level Dressage, or atleast have a strong W/T/C/Stop. She's a good height, a little short, but great for a 15 year old experienced rider who's outgrown the pony.

But she's not trained for barrels or poles, or cows, or anything western, so I wouldn't even list that as a prospect, or even try to market to those buyers. But if you feel she's a good Dressage propect, get her going in that direction, market her at Training Level, and set her price at a "bargain" for $3500.

Strong ground work and good ground manners are REALLY important, everyone wants to RIDE, no one wants to return to basics, start from scratch in a refreshing, they want to hop on and advance from there. Focus on that for now, so that when you work with her to show her off, people are impressed immediately. You need that great first impression, so that if she goofs up under saddle, it's not that big of a deal.

She's a great age, she's not bred, she's better than green and with some work could be in a ring this Spring. Market for that, resolve any issues you can, and she should get a great home and fetch a decent price too.

You just want to avoid being in the very large group of next-to-free horses, the shoppers in that area are REALLY picky, and there's entirely too much to choose from.