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> You have indeed extracted the "kernel". We have all been lucky with
> purchases on occasion, but if you consistently plan to acquire horses for
> less than a couple of thousand dollars, as you said, someone is either
> taking the sale price in the shorts, or short-cuts have been taken with the
> horse. If it has never had vet care, will it die of an aneurysm from
> strongyles at your first vet check?
This presupposes that all people are in the horsekeeping business for
money, and would never sell a horse for less than the $ that they have
into it; whereas, in actuality, very few people sell their horses for as
much as they have into them, because horses are their hobby and therefore
they are willing to SPEND money on their hobby (presumably, because they
get some enjoyment out of having, training, caring for, working with...
etc. their horse).
I bought my stallion for $900 as a 4 year old. I bought him from the
people who bred him. He was regularly fed, regularly wormed, regularly
trimmed (he had never had shoes), handled as a baby, ponied behind his
mother, regularly exercised with turnouts, hand walking, and following mom.
I got him from an 18 year old girl, who was getting ready to go off to
college, and her parents said, "Look, you have a colt in the back yard
that is turning into a stallion, and you have GOT to get rid of him!"
He was advertised for sale for $900 for 4 months. Only 2 people even
came to look at him (and the other person only stayed for 5 minutes).
Oh...did I mention...he had a bit of a biting problem (which we worked
out within the first few weeks), and he was VERY green.
He was a wonderful project, I enjoyed working with him, training him,
schooling him, conditioning him (and I am into him for thousands of
dollars all of which I consider very well spent, but at the same time, if
I were to sell him, his purchase price wouldn't begin to cover all the
costs associated with owning him, caring for him, feeding him, vetting
him, competing him,....the list goes on. Does that mean that a "fair"
price for him is the $20,000 (I'm guessing) that I have spent on him, or
is the "fair" price what it would cost to go out and get another one like
him (yeah, right).
I have a stakes bred mare (TB, whose sister has won over $300,000 in
stakes races in the last 2 years) that I bought for $750. I know
everything about this horse. WHere she was bred (Old MacBreyer Farm),
where she was raised: where she was sold at auction in a bankruptcy sale
(as a long yearling for $600), who bought her, what he did with her, how he
cared for her.
This horse was not abused, not ill fed, not neglected, completely sound
(did a prepurchase exam), never raced (since the guy who bought her as a
yearling didn't continue bringing her up for the track). This mare was
impecably cared for from the day she was born until the day I bought her.
Why was she so cheap? The guy that I bought her from was flat broke (and
couldn't afford to keep her any more), he knew that I liked her, he knew
that she liked me, he knew that he would still get to see her, visit her
(feed her sugar lumps), he knew that I would care for her, and she was in
love with my stallion. If I had offered him $100, he would have sold her
to me.
There are MANY horses out there, which, for one reason or another, are
not right for the home they are currently in.
If anybody wants a FREE Thoroughbred, I can get you one. I have people
trying to give me horses all the time. These are not all crazy horses,
or unsound horses (although some of them are). SOme of them are just
people's beloved pets, that they have spent, yes, thousands of dollars
on, and all they care about is that it goes to a good home.
Just 'cuz they are cheap doesn't mean that there is something wrong with
them. There is no rhyme or reason to prices in the horse market (at
least not here in California, the home of the largest horse population in
the States). There are many people out there who are willing to give
them away.
So if you offer somebody less for their horse than "what they have into
it" this is not necessarily "cheating" the person who is selling the
horse. Hopefully, they got years of enjoyment out of owning the
horse...and that's why they spent the money. Not because they thought
they would make a buck on the transaction.
The value I have gotten from the joy of working with my horses is worth
every penny of it. And even if I had to pay somebody to take my horses
from me, all that money will have well spent, and in no way will I have
"taken it in the shorts."
kat
Orange County, Calif.
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