Is the market for horses horrible right now?

Question

I've been trying to find a horse to lease for the past 6 months and can't find one. I've noticed the same with horses for sale, they have been on sale for a very long time. Does it get like this sometimes?

Answer 1

It is horrible!  The only horses that are bringing any money are ones that money is being made off of.  Such as high end roping horses e.t.c.  The averadge trail horse is under $500.00 now in the midwest.  Unless you have an extremely broke kids horse, the rich people are looking for them for their kids.  At least they understand paying a little more for a good kid broke horse is much cheaper then a visit to  the emergency room!

Answer 2

Look in Norco. There are a lot of barns & breeders there. Then Mira Loma, also. Put a ad in the "Horse Trader" that what you are looking for. There are a lot of sale!!

Answer 3

Kari,

What local area are you in?

I have to say that I feel the horse market isn't all that great right now. I foaled an awesome buckskin filly last year - triple registered and all.  I couldn't get out of her what I put in to get her on the ground, so I decided to keep her.  I'll probably never have such a chance at this nice a horse again, so I just decided I liked her too much to sell anyways.

Consider the economy - people all over are losing jobs.  The cost of gas is going up - the cost of feed has soared - I am now paying at least $3 more for a bag of grain than I did last year.

Drought, flooding and the weather last year made hay costs go up a lot as well.

Also consider what is being sold.  In the past 10-20 years, it's become easier for just anyone to foal a horse - and I know a lot of people 10 years ago who'd paid a high price for a good horse who went and bred their horse to turn around and sell it for a high price - but they didn't have a plan in mind for what they would sell the horse for.  One can't foal just any old horse and sell it for a high price - in order to sell one well, you must determine what market you'll sell the horse to - ranchers?  barrel racers?  show people?  hunters? jumpers? because breed and bloodline play into who buys the horse for what.

With the advent of Artificial insemination - I can breed a horse fairly cheaply to about any stud I find anywhere in the country.  However, a $500 stud fee will actually cost closer to $2000 when you consider all the ancillary fees like collection, shipping, vet bills and keeping the mare for 11 months and the costs of actual foaling.  They start out thinking a $500 foal, end up with a $3000 foal they can't sell for $3000 or more.

Add to this - when such a foal arrives, selling it as a weanling doesn't work - unless you've done your homework and can sell the thing on it's bloodlines alone.  Few people wish to purchase an unbroken horse much less a weanling considering the years it will take until the horse can be ridden or shown.  Only those people very adept at training can do this.

Now add to this a person un-experienced in training well has the horse for 2 years (add $2000 in costs to feed and maintain now), hasn't taught it much and maybe even some bad habits.  Now if someone did purchase it would they pay ya the $5000 you have into the horse?  Likely not.

I have seen and heard of many very well broke and started young horses from the ranches out west being sold for $3500 or $5000 - they are the product of their need for horses to do the ranchwork.  They sell off the stock they no longer need after it's had a good start - they've gotten their money out of the use of the animal as a tool, now they can afford to sell it at a reasonable price - these are typically good animals, and often geldings which aren't valuable as breeding stock, only for using.  One gets a very well broke and started horse for a reasonable price.

Keep looking though - the right one will come along - and if you're having this much trouble finding one, it's probably because you're discounting the bad ones, which means you're asking the right questions to find out.

Personally, I wouldn't ever lease one of my horses - I've got a lot of money into them and time training them just how I want.  I wouldn't take the chance of someone I didn't know (and even some I do) teaching my horse a bad habit or undoing training I've done.  Bad habits are tougher to break than building good ones in the first place - and this might be part of the problem you are encountering.  The most often time I hear of successful leasings is between competing people in a discipline - barrel racers, rodeoers, show people, who know the people doing the leasing will use the horse correctly and well.

So maybe you'll have to purchase one and board it - I suspect you'd find a better situation looking for that than leasing.  But maybe I'm wrong - with the economy I've also heard of people here looking to lease or share expenses and share a horse just to have access to one or keep ownership of one during tough times.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Where are you located?  There are tons of horses for lease or free lease in MA!

Answer 5

If you are looking to buy a horse at a lower price, the market is perfect.  Since the slaughter houses have been shut down, the price of horse flesh has gone down dramatically.  To compound the matter, the hay crops last year was sparse at best in many areas because of droughts.  That made the price of hay soar.  Many horse owners and traders found themselves unable to afford to buy hay for large herds and the market was flooded with horses that needed to be sold.  From there, you have seen countless stories about horses confiscated because of neglect and starvation.

As for leasing a horse, I don't know of many people who are interested in leasing their horse out...they would rather sell the horse and cut their bills.

Horses are very expensive to keep and it seems that consumers are getting wise to that fact which means it is getting more difficult to sell horses...especially if you want more than $2000 for it.  Mares and untrained horses are not so desirable and they have always been a bit harder to sell.  Since the economy is changing and gas prices are rising, I think a lot of people have put their hopes of horse ownership on hold until things settle down a bit.

Answer 6

I don't know much about California but in Arizona the market is horrible right now, i think its a combination of a lot of things but gas prices are big on it to, they use diesel for the harvesting, thats gone up so they spend more on the harvest, then they sell it for more, it costs more each time its transported, and the final price goes up.

Answer 7

The market is definetly bad right now.  The economy is down AND the price of feed and hay is up - making horse owners have a lot of problems.

Leasing is especially bad right now as many people who would have leased previously are now looking to sell.

Horses are available but many people aren't advertising properly due to financial and time constraints.  If you have a trainer ask them to put the word out for you to help you find something.

Depending on where you are located I may be able to help.  I currently have several horses available.  Most are on my website at www.BlueRibbonStable.com - but I have some that aren't up there.  Some are only for sale, but I would consider a lease on others.

Good Luck!

Answer 8

I have a horse for part lease :-)

It does sometimes happen that horses are for sale for a while, for a variety of reasons:

The horse is over-priced

It has big problems which people are not prepared to take on

It is very old :-(

It is very young

It is very much the same as others available (eg if there are 20 15hh TBs for sale, some of them are going to sit)

Good luck, check my questions for my horse for loan.

Answer 9

The horse market sucks right now!  Especially so in California (I live here too!)  

One of my kids is an Equine Placement Specialist (My new glorified term for "Horse Trader".) and at the price of hay it's really taking her money down because she's not finding any new customers (She lives in So. Cal also).

IF you were closer, I'd lease you one of mine just to get it off the feed bill at the moment.  Hay (Alfafa) is now $17.95 and I'm in a rural area!  

You may try and post adds up in some of the feedstores like Mary's and such and see if you get any responses.  Also check neighboring stables and post adds there for desiring to lease a horse.

Best of luck.

Answer 10

well right now with the price of hay and grain horses aren't being bought. it is too hard to keep them. since the price of all that stuff is alot too, people dont want to lease a horse, they just want to sell it to get it off of their hands. it sucks but sometimes it gets like that.

good luck on finding a horsey!

(it is always harder to find one for lease too. :( you should try www.dreamhorse.com. they have a good search thing)