Why is it???

[crosscreeksh]

When people post links and pictures from "Canter Cuties" and other TB rescue groups, everyone gets so fired up about small - 15.1 or so TB mares with racing related soundness issues, but when there is a sound, 16.3 hand TB mare offered by a private person (able to provide a history on the horse) on the horse sale sites there is so little response?? The OTTB rescues are often way higher priced than the private horses. Just wondering why there is so much more interest in the rescues than privately owned horses.

[sidepasser]

Perhaps because people realize that a Canter cutie only has so much time before it must be placed or the horse may be sent to a sale. I am not speaking of those horses owned by Canter themselves, but of the trainer's horses listed.

Also perhaps because most people (myself included) that can afford to take on a OTTB don't really want one that requires a ladder to mount..none of mine are over 16 hands tall and I won't consider one over 16.1 hands because I simply cannot get up there anymore and my horses must be mountable from the ground (trail riding besides arena work).

Another reason is that perhaps the privately owned horse's owner may have unsuitable "demands" that a buyer doesn't want to deal with, such as "may not be resold" or "may not be bred" or whatever the seller wants to include.

Perhaps too the private seller's horse is just plain conformationally not worth what the price is asked for? Or it has no training or very little?

Lots and lots of reasons..but I think the number one reason is that ANY adoptive type horse (Canter Cutie, New Vocations, etc.) really, really needs it's own person. It has likely worked hard, may have an injury that makes it unsuitable for regular sales and quite likely may face a trip to the Mexican or Canadian border so people open their hearts and their pocketbooks and take that horse over the private owner's horse. After all, I would hope the private owner wouldn't send his/her horse off to the sale barn..(one never knows!) but the probablity is less with a privately owned horse.

[Daydream Believer]

For the same reason people rush to save PMU babies instead of buying locally bred and well raised babies...then they pay a fortune to have them hauled in from the other side of the continent to boot. Some people just have to have a cause.

I agree that smaller size can be an attraction also and think that maybe the thinking is turning a bit to smaller horses than large ones.

[buschkn]

I won't buy a 15.1h OTTB mare with issues. BUT, I would buy a 16.3h OTTB mare or gelding without major issues before I'd buy a 16.3h TB from a private owner. WHY?? B/C the private owner is going to charge me 5-50X more than what I can get the horse for if I buy straight OT. I'll deal with a bit of retraining before paying a ton of money for what amounts to an equivalent type.

And I DO think it feels good to take a horse out of that environment and give it a new chance for success and life. I have bought many this way and if anyone has been to a small town track and DOESN'T think some of those horses need a new life, then that person must not be much of a horse person. It's pretty sad sometimes.

[crosscreeksh]

I'm talking here about a horse priced the same or below what the rescue horses are priced at. I've been involved with the race horse industry for over 35 years and have gotten too many OTTB's to count...but for free or a couple hundred dollars...for sound ones! The TB groups I see offering OTTB's seem to price them at retrained prices - still on the track!!! I've never heard of a private seller dictating what the "sold" horse is to be used for. But I have heard of rescues that retain "strings" of assorted degrees. I was just wondering...and I've gotten some good answers. As far as size goes...I thought EVERYONE wanted big horses!!! I've never been able to sell small TB's - no matter how great they were!

[Ladybug Hill]

I think the prices on CANTER have gone way up since that organization started. I don't always think the trainers know the qualities that are essential to a nice show or breeding animal. I see many that are way over priced. I don't think many sell for the prices that you see listed. I think the webpages are well viewed. TBs can get buried on the dreamhorse.com type of sites, but many people go looking on the CANTER sites because they are easy to view and a quick efficient way to look through a bunch of horses.

It is shame that the market for TBs isn't stronger. I think there is a lot of value in the good TB (which is why I still breed them)!

[crosscreeksh]

Lady Bug Hill...I'm hearing you!!! The TB's I've seen out here in the mid west...well I wouldn't want to admit owning some of them!!! We've been breeding running and sport TB's for 30 years, but the market is changing dramatically - away from folks who can or want to ride a TB (the best mount I know of) to a more user friendly, less sensitive horse. We continue to breed TB's, but we are diversifying to include the Irish Sport Horses into our program. Still having strong TB blood, but with a touch of "brouge" to appeal to the masses!!!

[buschkn]

Bigger TBs definitely sell better, IME. If they were priced the same I would certainly be interested in a private horse. HOWEVER, just b/c a horse is listed on CANTER at $3499, doesn't mean you won't be able to buy it for $1000-1500 under the right circumstances. The prices have def gone WAY up since I started buying OTTBs a couple years ago, but if you look you can still get good deals. And often the higher priced ones are the better runners, and don't necessarily make the best sporthorses.

Sometimes the trainers list them just in case someone comes along with the money, but keep running them b/c they are still earning their keep. I won't buy one for $3500. You never know what it turns out like when you get it home and start working with it. The $500 kill buy might jump out of its skin and the $3500 gorgeous money winner might be a useless POS. ;) :lol:

[MistyBlue]

I know around where I am we see the ads often for OTTB's for sale by private owners. Most are ones that were recently or semi-recently taken off the track...probably purchased through Canter. No matter the size...they don't always get a lot of attention even with low prices. Most likely because many people assume that whoever is now selling it bought it from the track and there's either soundness issues (despite what the ads say, few people believe ads) or a personality/training issue. That it's probably a flighty/spooky/too hard keeper/mediocre movement, etc and the person who bought it off the track is now trying to dump an undesirable horse.
Now I'm not saying this is actually the case...but talking to others in my area that's what most assume when they see OTTB ads by private sellers if the horse is priced low. "What's wrong with it?" And then there are many OTTB"s with ads for sale with prices 2-4x over the Canter type prices and they still haven't really done anything other than not race around with the seller. Many try flipping them for too much money before they've put anything into them.

[pwynnnorman]

I know from one trainer I spoke to that, indeed, the $3499 priced ones in her barn were the ones that were big, somewhat breedy and could still run. She wasn't interested in selling them unless she got the price--they were running in (I think) $5000 claimers, that sort of thing.

The little mares are posted for pony breeders, I think--and other breeders looking for sabinos, perhaps? I have been surprised by the sometimes-popularity (in getting posted) of the plain-small-ugly-bay mare, though. But thank God for those who buy them because they care about their futures. I'd love to buy a big spread out west somewhere and just turn them out in some safe, comfortable way.

I also think that free listings anywhere are the ones more likely to have prices that are higher than the market accepts. The seller have nothing to lose. (I'd love to do a study on that and find out if the average price for x-type of horse is lower on paid sites than on free ones.)

[ThirdCharm]

I think another reason CANTER etc horses have so much appeal is you can go to the track and look at 20 very honestly represented (in my experience) horses in one morning, instead of hiking halfway across the state to look at one horse who is probably not "exactly as advertised" and wasting a whole day.

Jennifer

[pinecone]

Just wondering why there is so much more interest in the rescues than privately owned horses.

With a privately owned horse I would assume there is some profit built into the price, whereas a rescue would seem like more of a deal. Plus, the 'rescue' part can tear at the heartstrings.

I'd rather have a 16.3 horse than a 15.1 horse. It is a tough market to try to sell anything under 16h, or mayyyybe 15.3.

[tri]

Shoot, I think it is hard to sell something that is "only' 16hands. I got in a super nice reg/branded hanoverian mare that was exactly 16h on the dot. She was beautiful, kind, quiet, no spook, great gaits, sound, auto lead change, lots of scope to do the 3'6, competitive "A" circuit hunter type and we campaigned her at a few shows getting the ribbons to prove it. But, again and again, we hear from prospective buyers, she is great, but she is only 16hands. She finally sold to a young teenager who fell in love with her and who was very timid but it took almost a year.