Horse with halo, how much?

[nelsonsmum]

I am looking for a first horse in the next few months. I will need a steady plod to hack and do some schooling. I have no interest in jumping but would like to do endurance and fun rides one day. He/she would also need to be a weightcarrier but not too big as I am only 5ft1. How much would you expect to pay?

[SO1]

One of the larger natives might suit you as then you could do some M&M classes Highlands and Dales are weight carriers and lookers with it :D If you didn't mind a slightly older horse then you should be able to get something around the £2,000-2,500 price.

[nelsonsmum]

Ok thats a bit of saving up to do but nearly half way there. Thanks:)

[Tatooed Lady]

you want a plod, but want to do endurance someday? On the same horse, or just working up to it by starting slow?

[sharpsky]

you want a plod, but want to do endurance someday?

just because a horse is safe and isnt fast doesnt mean it wont have stamina:confused:

[Pink's lady]

Lots and lots and lots!

There is a huge premium on quiet gentle horses who are good and kind to nervous or novice riders. And if you need a weight carried you're looking at even more money.

You can get 'potential' saints as young horses for a reasonable amount but you need to put work into them. (You can also pay stupid money for youngsters through dealers who sell 4yr olds as confindence giving school masters:mad: ). But if you need something that someone else has put all the work and schooling into, you're going to need to pay for it.

I'd expect to pay £3000+ for a smaller weigth carrying saint, and £4000+ for a bigger weight carrying saint (who are like gold dust)

[sancho]

I agee with PL Im afraid. The type you want has a high premium these days - just take a look at the sites offering lazy/bombproof etc - you wont get much change from £5k! **Not suggesting you buy from there btw!!!!**

You might be lucky if you can find one in a private sale or a trekking/rs pony.

Hope you find him/her.

[NZdressage]

Well i have nearly sold my schoolmaster dressage gelding (subject to vet), who is totally bombproof and is working open med dressage for $12k, hes 12 y/o tb gelding who is ultra safe and reliable, has jumped but not for 2 yrs. The lady who is buying him hasnt ridden for 15 yrs and when she tried him lost her balance and he was such a gentleman he stopped and caught her! But in saying that he can be hot too when you work him to his potential. Its so hard to find a genuine horse these days that when you do they are worth their weight in gold!

[jaydevon]

i sold a cob for 3500 he was cheap as was a bugger on the ground, but once on him was a lamb, had he of been well behaved on the ground id of asked 5k for him.

[Zingy]

Careful if you look at the larger natives with the aim of finding a steady plod. Some are, but as very often they can be opinionated, strong willed and not for the faint hearted ;) They are weight carriers, but often people make the mistake of thinking that makes them quiet, which very often isn't the case :D

[SO1]

Careful if you look at the larger natives with the aim of finding a steady plod. Some are, but as very often they can be opinionated, strong willed and not for the faint hearted ;) They are weight carriers, but often people make the mistake of thinking that makes them quiet, which very often isn't the case :D

New Forests are reknown for their quietness. I have a 14h one and he is 5 cost £3150 and is a little saint to ride - great in traffic and generally lovely little chap. He's a bit green but not naughty. However he can be dominant on the ground and a little impatient at time but that is more his age than breed and can panic a bit when handled by others but lovely with me again age related.

Fells and Dales are also meant to be real sweeties too.

The larger welshes do have a reputation for being opionated though!

My advice is work out what you want to do and see ponies that ridden by people of a similar standard to you and doing what you want to do. A really good confident rider can make nearly anything look easy!

[xloopylozzax]

all i have ever ridden is welshies (im 16) and i started on a section A gelding who sounds like what you want, just too small and too old now :)- safe but not ploddy if you could cope with living in the fast lane type of pony, if i fell off (not very often) he would race to the end of the field turn round come back and wait for me to get back on :rolleyes: 1 in a million type of boy :D

and my second pony was a section D mare 6 year old, home bred, broken just over a year before i started riding.
i now ride a section C who was a stallion when i started riding him (first year or so) then was gelded.

I have hacked out on my own since i was 11 (busy main roads, bridges, sides of motorways and railway lines etc) but never ever regretted riding any of them. they have taught me so much (riding and horsemanship) and are so clever that i will probably never have another breed.
when i was really young (before i got raffles) we only had section D stallions and i would go in the box and brush and tickle and stuff. even walking under their bellys :o when i was 2/3 my mum told me that she was looking everywhere for me and found me laid asleep next to ernie she was soo mad but i didnt really understand :rolleyes: its one of them storys that comes out at christmas, i only found out about it recently.


its like saying all labrador dogs will be nice because of the breed- some of them will some of them wont.
dont be put off from buying a horse because of its breed or its sex- not all stallions are man eaters, infact some mares are worse!.

[Arowana]

Maybe to satart with you could look at older horses as some of them have been there n worn the t-shirt and are cheaper the older they get, although do have a vetting on it. then save up for something with more go and keep the older one as a companion...just my thoughts. :)

[nelsonsmum]

I will probably loan to start but haven't found anything suitable yet. I know the right horse will turn up eventually. I am honestly not very competitive but feel quite embarrassed to admit that all i want to do is pootle around the coutryside and have a trot and canter occasionally.

[atd87]

Don't be embarrased - im nearly 21 (1 month) and thats all im interested in, i've never been interesed in jumping etc. In fact when I was younger and went to the riding stables (i basicly worked/lived there from 7-14) and they had gymkana's i actually didn't want to take part, just help the younger/less experienced ones!

[Stella2]

I'm with those who say that you can't get a saintly horse cheap. They don't really come onto the market privately because if someone actually wants to sell one (rare), they are quickly sold by word of mouth. I know that if I ever wanted to sell my mare (never), a queue would quickly form! You can sometimes get them from dealers who buy in Ireland. Its said that virtually every horse can be bought there, but they do know the value of these horses, so they are no longer bought cheap by dealers (although there are dealers that buy cheap and declare horses to be saints when they are not!).

Expect to pay £4000 to £5500 for a horse with all of the attributes you want. They are thin on the ground and worth every penny. My mare cost me £4000 4 years ago. I can put a beginner on her, she will watch me and plod with them. She steadily go up the gears according to what is asked of her and will also go up several gears when ridden correctly (including beyond the gear I am at when my instructor rides her). She is patient, willing and always tries to please. She ignores tension and nervousness in the rider (except me now, because I'm mum and she reckons if I'm worried she should be worried). I would expect to pay £5500 for her now! Of course these figures are high, but it tends to work out more expensive to buy the wrong horse, re-sell (usually at a loss) and then go through it all again. Unfortunately, I speak from experience :rolleyes:

[colleen&val]

I will probably loan to start but haven't found anything suitable yet. I know the right horse will turn up eventually. I am honestly not very competitive but feel quite embarrassed to admit that all i want to do is pootle around the coutryside and have a trot and canter occasionally.

thats all i do , nowt wrong with that at all ;)

the right horse will come when your least expecting it , :)

good luck in the hunt, if you ever fancy a nutty 17.3hh on loan let me know :D

[Pink's lady]

I will probably loan to start but haven't found anything suitable yet. I know the right horse will turn up eventually. I am honestly not very competitive but feel quite embarrassed to admit that all i want to do is pootle around the coutryside and have a trot and canter occasionally.
If gentle hacking is all you want to do then have a look at older horses. Horses 16yrs plus are cheap. Very cheap. They often have a very well polished halo but few people are interested because of their age. Generally they have few 'hard riding' years left in them (although many do keep going in full work for another 10yrs or so) and people aren't willing to pay for the potential hazards (arthritis). But an older horse has many many years of gentle hacking left in them, as long as they've not been hammered about as a young horse. Most well cared for horses can keep working until they're 30yrs+. But some do need retiring at 25, or even 20yrs, which is the risk many people aren't willing to take.

[NoviceNic]

You may be quite surprised that even the most expensive bombproof horse is not going to be a complete saint. ;)

My saint cost me £1000k with leather tack 3 yrs ago. I fell upon him by sheer luck. :cool: You have to be in the right place and at the right time imho to find a complete saint. :o

[Pink's lady]

My saint cost me £1000k with leather tack 3 yrs ago.

What, 1 million pound?! :eek:;)

The prices of horses have really gone up in the last coulpe of years. Pink (the ultimate saint) cost £1800 5years ago. She was thought to be 'fairly expensive':eek:. She's now worth £4000, despite being 14yrs this year. Still the same horse (with admittedly a lot more schooling in her) but the markets changed.

[NoviceNic]

Now Captain is priceless but not that priceless.....:o

My coblet cost me £1k inc leather tack. :o

[old_woman]

I am honestly not very competitive but feel quite embarrassed to admit that all i want to do is pootle around the coutryside and have a trot and canter occasionally.

If you go to the local swimming pool, do you feel embarrassed that you are not in training for the Olympic swimming team, but instead prefer to have a splash around with a few friends then go out for a nice lunch?

If you have a kick-about at the park with your kids or your brothers and sisters, do you feel embarrassed that you are not in full Man United strip with refs and coaches?

No of course not!

Please DON'T let anyone put the derisive and belittling "happy hacker" label on you and don't use it on yourself. The number of highly competitive riders I have known and still know, who would not and do not dare to hack out, either alone or in company, is beyond belief.

The sort of life YOU are offering to a horse is one much more suited to the natural requirements of equines AND what they have been bred to do for literally millennia than many people offer, so go for it!

[eventerbabe]

i remember reading a piece in H&H i think, about how hacking was actually one of the more 'adventurous' things to do with your horse and certainly not the domane of timid horses and riders. You'd be suprised by how many people won't hack ;)

You can pay big bucks for a saintly horse, but you don't have to ;) i've seen a few nice, older (10/11 year old) welsh D's and connermaras for sale round about the £2-3000 mark. A 13 year old, weight carrying 14.2hh coloured mare, sounds like a complete saint and she's on for £2700. So there ARE bargains out there.

[Libbyo]

Have a look out for an older been there and done it fjord. If treated well in their lives, they are very solid, trustworthy steeds. Will try their hearts out to please. My two are fantastic. Pricewise expect to pay between £1500- £2500 for an inported one and up to £3000 for a purebred well broken superstar.

My youngster was unbroken so not expensive, my mare was 11 and £2600. shes an absolute angel

This was yesterday when the other half sat on for the first time ever.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o236/libbyo_photos/31032008204.jpg
Can you see her halo?

[Denbenj]

You may be quite surprised that even the most expensive bombproof horse is not going to be a complete saint. ;)

My saint cost me £1000k with leather tack 3 yrs ago. I fell upon him by sheer luck. :cool: You have to be in the right place and at the right time imho to find a complete saint. :o

ohhh thats a good price!!! :)

Keep an eye in your local papers etc, local private sales sometimes churn out some real gems. My local ' free rag' called BuyNSell has some right gems in it sometimes.

If you go to the Veteren society website there you will find veternens looking for loan homes which may be suitable for what you are doing.

My old lad lived till he was 34, I still rode him until he was 32 He was fit as a fiddle and more than happy to tootle around exploring on horseback... still had a good blast in him to!! ( sometimes unasked for lol !)

[Soot]

My friend got a retired gypsy broodmare for £500 last year. 14.3hh, 14 years old (9 foals, poor gal) -- she gave her a year on lush grass and the mare is good as new, doing great in coloured classes and a bit of jumping + the quietest and most tolerant mare I've ever met - will hack anywhere and adores a bit of poking by the kids.

[BlackBess]

I have a thing about cobs. My best RS lessons ever were on a 15.3h cob who was an absolute gentlemen, real confidence giver, never had a bad lesson on him. Once, we were in a jumping lesson (I don't like jumping but the others in the lesson were jumping and I felt like I had no choice) and I got nervous and as we were approaching the jump, I lost my stirrups. We'd gone past the point of no return and I was preparing for a fall. To this day I don't know what he did, but he realised I was in trouble, changed his stride and kept me on. I did enquire about buying him but would have had to join a mile long queue and probably had to buy over £5000. The RS closed down shortly afterwards and I never found out what happened to him. I've never forgotten him though and he is the benchmark of what I'm now looking for. However, I've realised that horses like him don't come along that often and when they do they're worth their weight in platinum and diamonds.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with "just" pootling round the countryside, sounds idyllic. I have no interest in jumping either, just need a confidence giver to enjoy hacks with, odd endurance ride and quadrilles - one lesson, we did a kind of quadrille and I was on him - I've been hooked ever since but have never had the opportunity to do it again. Good luck with your search, you will find your perfect horse, or more likely perfect horse will find you:)

[Twigletz7]

Why don't you look for an older horse whose been there got the T shirt, I ride an 18 yr old saint of a horse, she probs wouldn't be worth more than £2000 because of her age but she's great fun and still has plenty of get up and go:)

[JustJas]

My, hubby and the horses are happy hackers and proud of it! We enjoy sponsered rides when I can find transport but that is our limit.

Could you trying to loaning a horse first? I did that 11 years ago when I decided to take the owning plunge. Sadly Trixie was not a bombproof- more a timebomb! Going the full circle now I loan out the brilliant pony I bought when Trixie was reclaimed.

[oldpunk]

I am honestly not very competitive but feel quite embarrassed to admit that all i want to do is pootle around the coutryside and have a trot and canter occasionally.

Why be embarrassed?? You might be able to find a like-minded horse...one that's getting a bit 'past it' may well have many more years of 'pootling' left and after a few months of walking, horse might well be keen to have the odd canter too! Why spend competition money when all you really want to do it pootle?

[Ruskii]

No shame in being a happy hacker :D

Like someone said you wont believe the amount of people out there who WONT hack and like the security of the school, I know I was one of them !!

I brought my 'saint' 15.3 8 year old (didnt want a horse that would be going through the kevin phase!) gypsy cob last year and paid just over £3k for him, he came with tack, but out riding he has never put a foot wrong, there's never been a kick or a bite or even a THREAT ( if he did he'd come off second best anyway I dont do bad manners !) of nastiness in him. I think in all honesty dont expect to pay under £3000 for a weight carrying youngish cob.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/Ruskii/Levi/Levi.jpg2.jpg

In the summer last year :D

[MadMumInKent]

I bought Pumpkin 2 and a half years ago for 2k. I wandered into a riding school and asked if they had anything for sale. Pumpkin was used in the school and for hacks for novices, and I'd call him bombproof, he's never done anything dangerous in the whole time I've had him. I do wonder why they sold him as I think he's a real gem, but I'm not complaining :D Granted, he's not schooled really well, he used to be dead to the leg, and wasn't (isn't) keen on hacking alone, but that doesn't matter to me, it's the safeness I'm interested in ;)

There are some riding schools local to me who do actually put some of their horses on part loan. You could try that angle... Best of luck :)

[shikras mum]

i travelled all over the country to see so called bombproof horses only to get there to find out they were nothing of the kind

i drove 3 hours to see one who before my bum was even in the saddle it took off and only stopped because i rode into the haybarn!

finally i put an ad in the local paper saying exactly what i wanted, promised a loving permanent home for the right horse and stated above all i was looking for a 4 legged friend for life

a lady saw my who was having to make the heartbreaking decision to sell him through lack of funds and time and had started to write an advert for him saying he would be anyones best friend, she spotted my ad and thankfully called

i bought him for just £1500 and that included all of his tack and rugs

he's a 7 year old 14.2 welsh cob x, he is definately the boss in the field but he is an angel in every other way

at first he was a little faster than i liked, he had a habit of power walking everywhere, but as my confidence has improved with him he's slowed down to my pace

he has never spooked at anything yet, including diggers, busses and speeding lunatics and i know i got an absolute bargain. most people were asking between £3000 to £5000 and i would have happily paid it for the right horse and would have willingly paid it for him

my friend found her saint the same way, by placing an ad. there are a few people out there who's only real concern is the right home, not the price


http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm185/traceyb598/horses022.jpg

[SO1]

Shikras mum - your pony has a lovely gentle face.

[RobaDob]

finally i put an ad in the local paper saying exactly what i wanted, promised a loving permanent home for the right horse and stated above all i was looking for a 4 legged friend for life

a lady saw my who was having to make the heartbreaking decision to sell him through lack of funds and time and had started to write an advert for him saying he would be anyones best friend, she spotted my ad and thankfully called

i bought him for just £1500 and that included all of his tack and rugs

he's a 7 year old 14.2 welsh cob x, he is definately the boss in the field but he is an angel in every other way

at first he was a little faster than i liked, he had a habit of power walking everywhere, but as my confidence has improved with him he's slowed down to my pace

Same here!
I had also written out a advert for exactly what i wanted, and got exactly what i wanted :D (my 'first horse'. coming off ponies)

Mr Dobb;
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r206/GoldenGurl246/Photo-0316-1.jpg

[clarabella_78]

Good luck in your search -writing a wanted ad is a good idea. I didn't think of taht, and it took me months of driving up and down the country to find my boy. If I'm honest, he's not what I had in mind! I had seen has ad a while before I went to look at him, but was put off because he's a TB. I thought he'd be too much for me to handle, but in the end I went for a look and fel in love with him. He's nearly 15 and still loves to hack out and run like the wind. He is super-safe, never spooks or bolts. Very brave alone or in company. The only thing I don't like is he gets prancy when other horses are with us and they get excited. I challenge anyone to find a horse that won't get wound up by other hyper horses in company though! He can be a bit strong when running in fields, but never out of control and I ride him in a snaffle. He cost me £2100, and was worth every penny. :o

[Ruskii]

Same here!
I had also written out a advert for exactly what i wanted, and got exactly what i wanted :D (my 'first horse'. coming off ponies)



It was through a wanted advert I got my boy :D

[shikras mum]

thanks SO1, he is a good lad and i regret the fact my lack of confidence doesn't do him justice, but we will get there i'm sure (gonna post a thread about this as soon as i can work out how):D

His previous owner finds it hard to let go, even 14 months later. he has a huge character and i can only imagine the hole he has left in her life. in fact she's coming to see him again on sunday (must bring him in and scrub him up). for the first 6 months she called every few days, then she cut it down to once a month, we are now down to 1 text a month

i don't hold this against her in anyway, i know how difficult her decision must have been to sell him in the first place, but for the first 6 months it felt as though i had him on loan, i was afraid to do anything with him incase she didnt approve, but i suppose if that is the price to pay for a 1 in a million it's definately worth it



heres the pics of our first ever ride, which by the way was 100 meters down our farm track

the second pic is a couple of months later, thanks to my boy and a very good friend

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm185/traceyb598/meandmak002.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm185/traceyb598/horses002.jpg


he deserves every inch of his halo

[shikras mum]

forgot to say, don't look at the saddle in the first pic, it came with him and it was far too small for my bum :D

[nelsonsmum]

he's a beauty and i lurve his pink accessories:D