price (and value) of horses

[flemmerl@rcbhsc.wvu.edu (Flemmer, Linda)]

Good discussions regarding endurance horse prices.  I'm not a breeder
(professional or backyard), but I'm one of the consumers!  Here's my
take on this.  (For what it is worth, we're in Northern WV, away from
the cheap S Calif arab source.)

I'm looking to get a "replacement horse" next spring/summer as our guys
are not getting any younger (13 & 17).  We've decided to get a yearling
since he will be ready to start LD when we want to retire the older
gelding.

We are planning on spending $1000-$1500 for this yearling, and we hope
that we can find a nice horse with a good pedigree and great
conformation for the price.  At that price, I expect a registered arab
yearling who has been handled, had good medical care, decent pedigree
and conformation and sound nutrition.  Period!  That may already be
asking a lot!

I will let this yearling "be a horse" for a while in a 10 acre pasture.
I'll spend time working with him to train him for the future (my form of
relaxation).  I'll spend money to care for him (not a phenomenal amount,
but it ads up) for the next 3+ years before I can even begin to think of
riding him.  By the time I get to that point, I'll have spent around
$5,000 for him, and he's still unproven in our sport.  (If not more $
than that.)

Why don't I go get the $900 special down the road who is broke and a
"good endurance prospect"?  What was his nutrition & early care like?
What has his training been like? (or was it mishandling?  I HATE trying
to fix other people's mistakes, especially when I don't know exactly
what happened & the horse can't tell me in so many words.)

Why don't I wait & spend $5000 later?  I still get somebody else's
training on the horse, and their philosophy may not have been mine.  I
don't have the joy of saying, "He's mine, & I trained him."  I have the
luxury of enough space & $ to keep him for several years just to let him
grow.  What do I get in that time?  - the beauty of a youngster playing
in the pasture, teasing the "old men" (aka our geldings), bonding with
me, the joy of discovery.  (Remember that first scary stump, the first
drink from a fast stream, the first deer on the trail or first car
zooming past?!)

I see a good reason to buy a quality animal, but I enjoy the work that
goes into the young ones as well.  It is as cheap to care for a good
horse as a bad one, so why should I spend the same amount of money on a
older "prospect" when a younger "prospect" that will have more going for
him.  RIDING the horse is not the only enjoyment I get from them.

Linda Flemmer
Rambling, as usual.....