We all know that acquiring the perfect partner is fraught with difficulty – but there is a lot you can do to tip the odds in your favour.

Before you start, re-evaluate what you’ve already got

Your horse may be more capable than you think! Many partnerships Tracy helps are stuck in a rut, she can often get an extra 5% or even 10% through a few training sessions and an assessment of injury, tack etc. This can make the difference between losing and consistently being in the rosettes.

Some extra training can often propel horse and rider up a level, giving you both a year or two of extra “mileage”.

Breeding your own

Breeding is a complex subject, and we would recommend proper research before embarking on breeding yourself. Breeding is discussed a little in Thoughts on Breeding & Producing the Competition Horse or Pony and will be the focus of future articles.

If your budget is high enough, KWPN is a good place to start as they will help you match a stallion to your mare. We can also advise, and you might consider using a Llys Lew stallion!

A compromise often overlooked is “breed to order”, where you can have the fun of selecting the stallion and mare combination and the thrill of being an “expectant mum” without the stresses of ownership.

Buying

Most serious riders will, at some point, buy their own horse – and this can work out to be the cheapest way to compete on a quality competition horse.

Price

What do you expect to pay? It is worth considering factors that influence price. For a premium horse or pony, base costs will have included covering, a proportion of the purchase and upkeep of the mare, vets fees, registration, grading, micro-chipping and so on – these could easily have added up to £2500 or more for a foal from a registered mare using a decent stallion (some stallions are upwards of £1500 for covering alone, and don’t forget that if the mare has a competition history she will have less time to breed and therefore fewer foals), and you need to add £500-£1000 per annum for older youngsters. In short, an un-backed 3 year old may have cost the breeder upwards of £5000 before any profit.

Costs can of course be much lower if the breeder is using their own stallion, a mare that has already paid for itself or is on loan and is producing a foal that doesn’t need to be graded. Given the fact that handling and environment is at least as important as breeding (see Thoughts on Breeding & Producing the Competition Horse or Pony) this can be a good option, particularly if you like the breeding stock, can see previous progeny and respect the breeders judgement and training abilities.

For older, more accomplished horses costs include competitions and training, as well as higher living costs from living in, requiring shoes, rugs and tack etc. These can easily add up to £5000 a year.  Again, costs can be lower if the breeder is also able to train their own horses to a high level and can double-up to go to competitions etc.

So a premium bred horse should have a higher price tag because of the extra breeding and registration costs etc. If it doesn’t, there may be something wrong. You are also paying a ”base cost” for the bloodline. Such breeding should considerably increase the likelihood of the horse turning out well, but remember it doesn’t guarantee it. Early handling, diet and environment are equally important and taking that into account can result in a better outcome at a lower price.

Buying from breeders, dealers or at auction

If buying from a premium breeder, dealer or auction house beware the “cachet” factor – remember they have to pay for their swish premises, branding and advertising somehow! As discussed above, the production costs of a premium youngster can swiftly mount up. One of the top Dutch breeders recently told Tracy that she pays 10,000 Euros a year per horse for training – add that to the production costs and you can see that a premium 5 year old has to sell for upwards of 60,000 Euros to make any profit, it they comes as no surprise that top youngsters go for 6 figures.

If you have the money, perhaps the best way to buy is to use a professional buying agent, hooked into the European market. You give them your budget and specification and they use all their contacts to shortlist horses for you. Expect to stay locally for a few days while you ride and assess their horses.

Smaller, more specialised yards may not have the “brand”, but they can breed and train to a similar level of quality for a fraction of the price. It is interesting to note that European agents are increasingly shopping in the UK as they have recognised that UK breeders and trainers are now equalling or even exceeding their German and Dutch counterparts. There are more options open to the purchaser than the traditional route of hopping on a plane to Germany now that the UK is producing quality horses and ponies using top bloodlines!

Buying in the UK means more consumer rights, a vetting procedure that you know and it is easier to do your background checks to establish credibility of breeder.

Buying privately

For private sales, price may not have been arrived at so logically. The seller may simply be trying to get the best price they can get or be trying to recoup what they paid for a horse that may have gone backwards since they purchased it. Like everyone else, Tracy keeps an eye on the market through adverts and bulletin boards – be careful! It seems to be increasingly difficult to sort out the genuine, realistic sellers from back-street dealers posing as private sellers, sellers showing videos of horses they are not selling etc.

You also have to expect that private sale descriptions will not be accurate, either because the seller is putting a gloss on things, have “rose coloured spectacles” on or simply because they are not experts in conformation, paces etc and can’t objectively assess and describe their horse. Make sure you ask for videos and pictures before making a long trip and always take along a friend to video you on the horse. The paper trail of emails and video can form part of you contract with the seller.

Ready-made vs. DIY

One of the oldest questions in the book: Does it pay to spend less up front and buy a younger horse to bring on, or spend more and buy one ready-made?

In general, provided you know the provenance, it is cheaper in the long run to spend more up front and buy ready-made. Consider the costs in the Price section above – obviously individual circumstances vary, but if you were to buy a “green” 5 year old for, say, £4000 you would need to spend around £10,000 over the next two years, (assuming DIY livery, upwards of £15,000 if full livery), to get it to Elementary (Lessons/training £1000 pa, Living £2000 pa, Competitions £1000 pa, vet, tack, rugs, shoes, worming, passport, BD registration, insurance £500 pa). If you bought the same horse as a 7 year old with a track record at Elementary for £12,000 you would be saving between £2000 and £7000 – and that’s not taking the more intensive training it will have had into account, nor the added peace of mind that at least you know it can compete at Elementary and has a proven provenance

Bargain hunting (buyer beware!)

There are bargains out there (Tracy has even been known to pick up the odd one herself), BUT:

• You need to be very confident you know exactly what you are buying, or at least understand the extent of the risks you are taking
• You need to be willing to make a mistake
• You need to be willing to spend a lot of time looking (it can take a year or more to buy the right horse if your budget is tight)
• Consider why the price is low
• Drive a hard bargain
• Never skimp on vetting, background checks etc
• Always look a gift horse in the mouth!!!

Before you decide to go bargain hunting, think a few things through: What is your time worth? How much are you prepared to spend travelling? Is it worth spending another season out of competition while you look? What happens if it doesn’t work out (you may be stuck with a horse you can’t sell or ride for a long time)?

Remember that, like buying a second hand car, the up-front purchase cost is usually a fraction of the total cost of ownership – buying too cheaply can turn out to be a very expensive mistake in the long run, you may be better off spending a little more.

Provenance (aka Service History)

For all the reasons listed in “What makes a good competition horse or pony”, you need to know the provenance. It is one of life’s puzzles that people who wouldn’t dream of buying a second hand car without a full service history seem happy to spend a similar amount of money on a horse that has little or none – yet with a car at least you can have a full inspection, a vet’s report on a horse or pony only tells you a fraction of what you need to know.

You should at the very least speak to the previous owner (the one before the person selling it to you), and you should (of course) check competition history (can the owner explain any gaps?). We also want to see the horse loaded onto a lorry or box, left standing for a few minutes then unloaded. We also expect to ride (where appropriate) and to see the owner ride. We like to see it at home where it is normally kept (what’s the yard like? What turnout? What facilities? Is it a competition yard?), and how it behaves around other people and horses. Is the owner happy for the horse’s veterinary history to be disclosed?

Vetting forms a part of most horse purchase transactions partly due to insurance requirements but also so that you can understand what the potential health issues that your horse might have in the future. A vetting is a snapshot in time and only tells you what the horse was like on that day at that time. For more expensive horses xrays of all major joints will also be required, make sure you check with a couple of insurance companies to see what they need. If the vet feels that there is anything that would cause concern on the vetting they will notify you. A minor issue may not worry you, if something more significant comes up in the vetting then discuss with the vet and owner before walking away. For example a common cause of anxiety is a failed flexion test. It is always best to then check with the vet what other tests they have done during the vetting that may make them think the horse has a problem. Discussing with the owner the possibility of doing some xrays and sharing the cost could be another route to getting a more complete picture of the health of the horse rather than walking away from what could be your perfect partner.

Remember that this same horse could charge around the field the next day and get an injury, that is life with horses!

Terms

If buying from a business, consider negotiating terms. In these straightened times, businesses should be willing to discuss lease-purchase type agreements, packages that include discounted livery or lessons, marketing or sponsorship deals, selling your current horse for you first etc. Be creative, you might swing a deal for that £12,000 7 year old that involves £6,000 up front and £250 a month over 2 years with reduced livery thrown in!

Resale

This is where the economics can work in your favour, since if you bought the right horse in the first place and have competed successfully on it for a couple of years it should be worth more than you paid for it. Remember the 7 year old with the successful competition record at Elementary you bought for £12,000? You’ve spent another £10,000 on it over the last 2 years and had a lot of fun, it’s now a 9 year old competing at Advanced Medium – you’re not going to get all your money back if you sell it, but you could realise £18,000, which means you will have spent just £4000 for two years competitive riding – much less than even a “free” horse on loan would have cost you over the same period.

Of course we know it doesn’t really work like this (you wouldn’t sell your best mate would you?) but it might help to justify the purchase!!

Borrowing or leasing

This can be a good option, and may be an indication that the owner doesn’t want to part with the horse. At Llys Lew we have been at both ends of these arrangements, they tend to suit young riders looking for a short term arrangement, or riders seeking a schoolmaster. But good loans or leases can be very hard to come by, and they can be money down the drain. Consider that if you are an accomplished rider and confident in your abilities (i.e. the sort or rider that someone might be willing to lend or lease a competition horse or schoolmaster to in the first place) then you should be adding value to the horse. Some schoolmaster horses that are for loan/lease may have health issues or be at the end of their competitive career bear this in mind before entering into any financial transaction. The agreement has to work for both parties.

Above all, when it comes to buying horses, be sensible, do the maths, don’t let your heart rule your head!