There’s a saying in the Boating World – The two happiest days of a boaters life is the day he buys it and the day he sells it.
I think that can go for a lot of things in this life if you really think about it.
Sometimes it even applies to acquiring horses. I’ve had horses that have come off the truck and the anticipation of what’s to come is so exciting. That is until the horse drop kicks you into the next county. Then the day comes when you hand over the lead line to someone else and breathe a sigh of relief.
I’ve talked in previous posts about when it is time to let go, but it’s not always that easy, especially with big expensive show horses. When you drop $60,000.00 on a horse you really don’t want to sell him for a dollar three eighty. (Just an expression left over from the 60’s.) But seriously no one wants to lose that kind of money on a horse.
The expression of “Let the buyer beware” had to come from the horse trading industry.
When you have a pre-purchase exam done by your vet, he is supposed to tell you what his findings are. It is not his job to tell you to buy the horse or not. Of course you must tell him in advanced what you are planning to use the horse for. There are a lot of issues that will cause problems with certain disciplines but not others. If you have a horse with side bones you wouldn’t want to barrel race him, but trail riding or going in a straight line in flat work won’t bother him a bit. That being said not all vets disclose the whole truth. Then it becomes an oops, it should have been in my report. However, it never fails to show up in the next vets report when you are trying to sell him. Funny how that works.
Sometimes you need to drop your price just to send him on his way. If you hold on to him trying to get your money back, you must remember that you are going to continue putting money into him until he is sold.
The only way for someone to make money on a horse is to find it for a person and sell it before it even hits your property. Once that horse touches down on you land, you’ve already lost money.
Remember, a horse is only worth what someone is willing to pay for him.
First time horse buyers often ask me how much they should spend on a horse. The answer really depends upon what you want to achieve with that horse.
Yes you are right, but there are a lot of other factors to be considered. Your age, horses age, location, vet check, what you are willing to work with, etc.