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Yeah, they are, except for the price. I've been told the two that I have seen were $150,000 each.

Yesterday, when Heather and I were done riding and I was taking her home we stopped at the local burger place for lunch. Some lady was listening to us talk horses and stopped and asked if we did English. I said Heather did. Well this lady started telling us she raises throughbreds for racing and had a mare that just wasn't going to make it as a race horse and she was looking for a good home for her. Said the horse was very sweet, 17 hands tall, blood bay color, would make a good English/Jumper. At first she said when her horses didn't make it as a race horse she just almost just gives them away to get them a good home, and that was what she was wanting to do with this one. Well, Heather had stars in her eyes. The kid wants a horse so bad. The lady said (and I don't think Heather caught this), that anyone could take the horse and try it as long as they want and if they decided they wanted to buy it well she'd just...oh....just $1000. Now I don't know about you but $1000 is NOT a give away.Especially for a horse who is barely broke, the lady said it doesn't know anything but to run around the track.

Heather just called me to ask about all the expenses it takes to keep a horse. sigh. I bet she's told her parents it was a give away. I'm afraid she is getting her hopes up.

Yeah, actually, I do think it's a giveaway... $1000 is a pretty baseline price for a saddle horse, at least in this area. You can't find them young and sound for less.... meat packers will pay $800 for a horse that weight I think :~\.

A well-bred well-built horse with the potential to be a jumper or dressage horse would sell for ten times that with better marketing, these racing people usually don't take the time, which is why many find such bargains off the track they can finish and sell.

I've long believed that there is nothing more random and artificial than horse pricing. The same horse can have a lot of different prices depending on who you are marketing ~to~ and how much they think that skill or talent costs, rather than any firm and definable value in the horse.

My pony is a good example. as an green-broke back yard kid pony, I'd not get $400 for her with an ad in the newspaper. As a pony club prospect with no more training, but talking to the right set with a video on the web, she'd be worth $10,000. Same horse, just as untrained, different economy.

Show people pay many thousands for a horse that a trail rider isn't going to think is worth anything. Good trail horses max out at about $2000 here, that's the ceiling on what people will pay for that skill, no matter how excellent the horse.

I don't know Heather or her skill or how much money she has, but if its a first horse and the thousand dollars is an issue, she'll not afford the other startup costs, like tack, boarding, and the other gear she'll need. And if it is a first horse, does she have the skill to take on a two year old?