just NO!

[mcw]

why are people still asking stupid money for ponies

i saw a pony for sale a while ago, it wasn't in show condition, it was un- shown to date and didn't look like it had the best conformation but OMG they wanted £5000! and another 7 year old that was still eligable for novice classes £10,000 NO OFFERS! also this one was about a year ago they wanted £15,000 for a NOVICE 14.2 SP it had only been out about 5 times!

can't remember which website this was on

i'm sure that there is only a small proportion of the UK that can afford ponies as expensive as this, but seriously guys, you can but pony that could do the same job for £2000. why can't people just be realistic when it comes to pricing ponies i'm not tarring every one with the same brush, just the percentage that still don't understand that not everyone can afford pay that much for a pony

[teamwebster]

yeah totally get what your saying but there are more people out there than you think that can afford to pay ridiculous prices for horses and ponies...
our friend who is a race horse trainier bought a 6 yr old irish sport horse from ireland for £6000.00 it will jump anything and beats everything- the whittakers are no match it is un stoppable and they have done this olympic funding with it and the trainiers there say it is worth 1/4 of a million pounds and some one is willing to pay that for it and has made them an offer! insane of what!!
another friend saw a pony in a field and it kept jumping out so the people put him up for sale, she paid £500.00 did loads of work with him and sold him for £3000.00 the people that bought him then sold him for £50,000.00 and he now onky comes out on special occasions and is unbeaten he is an extremely well known show jumping pony now!

[sarahp]

Exceptional will always get top prices! Not many around.

On the other side though, I check wanted ads as I have a few youngstock who are on the "for sale at some point or if someone came along" list although I do not have to sell them, and some people do seem to want to pay virtually nothing for show quality stock.

[pencaedu]

The trouble is, if you price ponies at a 'realistic' price - no one wants them because they think there's something wrong with them.

[teamwebster]

yeah at the end of the day you get what you pay for.

[kayjayem]

It intrigues me on wanted ads when it says "no silly prices!" Who's to say what's a silly price, granted sometimes its obvious that something is way overpriced but then if someone is wanting a top class 4 yr old with a show record and ready to back for under £500 that to me is a silly price too. Far better just put a budget

[sarahp]

Agreed! If I found a budget way below what I would be looking for - not ott anyway for this climate - I just wouldn't answer the ad.

[hs]

I know someone who paid £7,000 for a pony who was lightly backed and unshown but had good breeding. There are people out there who will still pay a lot of money for a horse or pony.

If people think someone will pay top money for a pony then they will price it as such, yes it might be beyond the budget of most people but there are still bankers getting 2 million pound bonuses and there are also others who will take out loans, remortgage their house etc in order to fund a pony for a child or themselves.

I don't think the financial climate has affected the really rich who have inherited lots of money or who are high earners such as bankers, lawyers, doctors, they probably still have plenty of money. It is the middle income people that are more likely to be made redundant and effected by pay freezes, if your salary is £100,000 then you can probably cope with not getting a pay rise even if there is inflation!

Top quality ponies will find buyers even if expensive, probably more easily than the middle or lower range priced ones which might have been bought by those on the lower salaries who now may have less money to spend.

Sellers do not need the whole horse buying population to be able to afford to buy their horse, that would be unrealistic!

Yes some people have got bargains but they have probably been more willing to take a risk.

[hatman]

My very well bred show pony was a bargain was just in the right place at the right time.

[leeann]

I know it's crazy!

There is someone up the road from me and they want £1500. for a colt and it's a real ugly duckling been on the market for over a year and she cant sell it.

Does it not tell you some thing!!!

[crazyshetlandlady]

On the other hand. My friend has a really nice 4 year old Coloured, 14hh, Shes broken him herself and hes now quietly popping Fences. £1600, Very realistic price for him, and he wont budge. She hasnt even had much (if any) interest in him.
She also has a three year old section D mare cheap that she cant sell.
Maybe if she slaps an £8000 price tag on him.... LOL.

[iluvmyponies]

It is beyond belief sometimes. It isn't just good ponies going for big money, just been mooching on HQ & I saw a little SHP. Read results etc & guessed the pricing around 2000, nope, 5000! I really want to know what my 12hander is worth, looking at prices of other ponies, I would say atleast 10,000! But then again, my 14hander was only 1000 & her results as a 4yo speak for themselves.

[amumwithapony]

I think a lot of what is for sale for 'big' money only sells if it has both the bloodlines, results, is correct and is being sold by the right person.

We have had some sec a's up for sale for about a year now. A proven L/R pony with excellent bloodlines (90% coed coch) who has been a broodie for 4 years and we dont intend to cover anymore and 2 homebred 100% coed coch geldings with wins for them both at county level. All 3 are 1000% in every way. We would like £500 for the boys, both ready to break and £800 for the mare.

No serious offers (apart from off a dealer) on any of them,loads of photos and emails and descriptions and only 4 viewers in a year. And yet I regurarly see ponies similar to these going for a lot of money. And there is nothing worng with any of these ponies and we just want someone to give them good homes.

But I know if we sent the geldings to a producer to break and bring out under saddle for a few shows and put that they were for sale from their yard then we could probably ask 2k each and get it. I understand that buying from producers is a little less risky as it were as they have their reputation to protect and you would hope that they have been broken properly. However my sister is an AI, we have about 40 years of experiance between us and I know that anything we did ourselves would be the right way.

And yet the ponies are still here? 3 years ago you would pay an obscene amount of money for ponies with their bloodlines IF you were lucky enough to find genuine 100% coed stock.

Well ours will stay where they are until someone genuine with a sensible amount of money comes along.We're currently on a diet so we can get on them all so if anyone passes 2 very nearly middle aged women hacking out on a matching pair of grey geldings with a bay mare on the leadrein its only us so smile and wave! ;D ;D ;D

[nightwish]

hi it does my head in when people sell horses for silly prices, and the way this country is going dont think anyone will be able to afford anything, i was just saying to mum id only buy 3 year old or under as half the time when you buy one that is broken, you will want to change it to how you like the horse to go etc... hope that makes sense x

[smudge99]

I aso hate the adverts saying no silly prices. My silly price might be different to other peoples prices!! Why dont they just say what they can afford!!.
I also hate the wanted pony adverts, people who want the earth out of a pony but want it for virtually nothing, must do PC, SJ eventing etc and be under 10 but want to pay £1000 I dont think so.
Good ponies do command good prices I'm afraid.

[bobbyjim]

I so agree smudge, and dont forget the people who want to loan a top HOYs quality pony, ready to go out and win, not too old, not too young, with no problems.
Get real how many people with a pony like that, could afford to loan it out. Most would need to sell to replace with another of similar quality.

[sarahp]

I have a couple of As out on loan - one who could well be a HOYS pony and another who jumps like a stag and will be doing workers, neither with any problems. I'm a breeder with no riders and want to breed from both these eventually but thrilled for them to be having a ridden career first proving they can, otherwise they would be sitting in my field doing nothing - I'm only breeding the odd foal in this financial climate. There may be good reasons for good ponies to be lent out rather than sold! I do have a broken 4yo I would loan out to be ridden - but only to top class experienced home and good refs required, half sister to the hopefully HOYS pony, last in a line of great ridden ponies.

[Deleted]

I have a had a homebred mare for sale on and off for 2 years. She is 10 years old been in a ponyclub home done everything and is a poppet but I think the problem is, in this financial climate that those with lots of money are still buying and those who are looking for a bargain are still buying. It is the average price of between £1,500 and £3,000 that aren't selling. Either need to let them go for cheap as chips or price em high!

[shwmaeCP]

In my eyes a pony is worth what someone will pay for it

Example:
We have a very striking section B only worth around £500 on the market at present but really worth so much more!

and a SHP pony who people are offering £15,000 for done nothing only been shown in hand and newly broken

So yeh they might be asking stupid money but they will only get what people are willing to pay and what we see as a horse worth £100 could be worth £1,000 to someone else all depends how much they want it and what the buyer thinks it's worth

[sarahp]

Or as my father used to put it - the worth of anything is what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller!

[paddywak]

In many cases i would argue the very good ones arnt for sale as studs often want to breed from them in the future? x

[amumwithapony]

I agree with you to a certain extent Paddywak, Sarahp's a good example of that.

However a lot of smaller studs are now selling up or having a change of direction, particularly with the A's I think. Also a good stud rather than churn out colt after colt either through the sales or for a couple of hundred pounds will run them on and have them gelded before offering them for sale at a later date when they are ready for a career.

The little bay mare we are about to advertise was originally bought as a wife for the 5 year old gelding we have. However as he hit 3 it became clear that he would only ever be miserable as an entire so was cut and chucked on the field to mature a bit and as we had no small jockey spare we covered her with our senior stallion, Nerwyn Telor. 2 stunning foals later we think she would be happier being a little persons friend again. Now we are only covering 2 mares, still don't have a spare small jockey so she will be sold to a family home, not as a broodmare.

So there are lots of reasons why a stud may sell a mare or filly or even a colt, especially in the current climate

[sarahp]

My post was an answer to bobbyjim's saying no one would loan out a top class pony but would need to sell it - well if you are the one with a small rider outgrowing a pony I can see her point but I was putting it from a breeder's point of view, who might very well be happy to loan it out for a ridden career. I wasn't saying a breeder wouldn't sell one, of course they do. And my colts normally are run on and gelded, especially the As, unless someone comes along beforehand for one.

[sageandonion]

I don't think it is a moaning issue really, if people think their pony is worth a certain amount, then it is up to them what price they ask. Afterall, a seller isn't forced to pay or even view.

I recently rang and asked the price of a pony, £50K! I am not in a position or prepared to pay that kind of money for any pony, but if I won the lottery or if I had nothing else to spend my money on I dare say I would so I am sure someone else will.

I also think that there are a lot of people not prepared to pay or appreciate the cost of training a well schooled pony/horse. I am often surprised to realise how low on priorities lessons and professionally schooling are. Often you read someone saying 'oh I can't afford that' but in the same breath are planning to buy their next expensive showing jacket.

[shwmaeCP]

Paddywak you have it in one I think