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Re: [RC] selling horses take II - rides2farThanks for all of the feedback; for the record, I have zero interest in breeding; what I did years ago and would like to get back into is finding good-quality, quiet-minded horses and using my dressage background to cross-train them and produce supple, pleasant trail/CTR/Endurance horses. Alice, I used to buy and sell some and yes, there is a market for what you want to do. If you keep your overhead low it's a service that people need. I was more of a match maker than anything. I'm not much of a trainer, but I know horses pretty well and can read people OK. What a horse is worth is dependent totally on whether it's a proper match. Secretariet would have been useless to a 40 year old woman who suddenly wants her first horse. A horse with arthritis that is no longer useful to a competitive endurance rider may be perfect for the 40 year old who wants to go on slow trail rides. If you have the connections to fix this woman up with her dream horse you can charge a fee and be doing her a favor. This woman may have plenty of money now, but she gets taken advantage of when she tries to go to some professionals. Some are breeders, who desperately want to sell a 2 year old and convince her she could take lessons and pay a trainer. Some are horse dealers who will drug a hot horse, body clip it and convince her it's worth a mint. If you get a reputation for being honest people will give you good deals on their horses that they want to get a good home, trust you to make a good match and understand you need to make a profit. They have enough money, not that much time and fewer connections. They may not have a place for people to try a horse out and just don't want to bother with selling the horse. My business started very tiny, just helping a few aquaintences, then grew each time one of them gave me a good reference. Many times all I did was buy a horse that someone believed was worthless, because it was worthless *to them*. I'd get its teeth floated, pull the mane, cut the bridle path, trim the feet, comb out the tail, ride him a little while and figure out what bit he preferred and who he matched, change his name from "Bill" to "Tory" and make $500. :-) I was doing the horse and the people a service. The 14 hander I *did* buy and change from Bill to Tory went from being in a trashy yard living on a 20' rope tied to the bumper of a junk car to being owned by a dentist with a beautiful stable who has kept him for his kids and now grandchildren. Just putting the right bit on the horse often raised his value a lot. I think the reason everyone rallied so on this particular ridecamp rescue mare was that she was SOUND and BROKE. It is absolutely stupid of anyone to send a horse like that to auction when anyone at the auction would assume that just by being there something was wrong with the horse. I've never sent any horse to auction and I don't buy at them. I will buy one someone else bought there, but after the drugs have worn off. The only reason to sell a horse at auction is if you are not willing to look a buyer in th eye. The horse has a lameness, or an issue that you don't want to lie (like flipping over backwards when saddled) about so you send him through. Drugs will cover almost anything for a little while. It's a game with those who go there a lot and the same horses often return after they find out what was wrong with that one and want to put it off on someone else. I'm not saying good horses don't go through...CBS Redman was bought at auction, and I believe Whoa Jack and quite a few others were too. I'm just saying it is rediculous that they got sent there when there are markets for sound horses that are broke! I haven't bought or sold lately, I finally got a *real* job but the horsetrading helped me stay home when my kids were little. On average, I tried to get a horse for anywhere from $500 to $700 and if they're well matched I'd sell back then for anywhere from $1200 to $2500. I only dealt in horses that were already broke, not looking for performance horses, the market's better for beginners and they need your help the most. The trouble with buying for endurance resale is that the more inexperienced the buyers are it seems they more thoroughly they want to vet them out. They'll vet your horse all to heck, proclaim him "not sound" (when he's been 100% sound but the vet didn't like the looks of x-rays or something) then you've got "damaged goods" and the only consolation is to sell it, probably for less, to someone who goes out and competes on it successfully for 10 years. >g< By the way, I bought my present horse last year. He had a scraggly mane with witches braids, long toes, and was ribby. His name was "Pepper". They said he had to be ridden with a hackamore, would not wear a bit or he tossed his head non-stop. They assured me he would not leave home alone. He liked to go too fast and too long and was not fun to ride. I did not vet him out. I rode him a little, ended up finding out he tossed his head in a hackamore too but is fine in a snaffle with a running martingale. He now leaves home alone fine. His mane is short and even, his toes are short, his name is Gunner and he did 7 50's last year. He does want to go to far, too fast and too long, so we're a perfect match. He'd still be worthless to a person who wants to walk quietly on a QH and stand still to have a smoke now and then. He's worth a lot to me. :-)) What I paid for him has absolutely nothing to do with what he's worth. Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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