10/03/2026
Stole this from another page and had to share.
Let’s talk about valuing your horse in today’s market, because apparently we need to have a little meeting about this.
“I had 8 months of training put on him, so add $1,000 a month. Plus shoes. Plus the vet came out twice. He had a colic scare. I bought him a custom blanket. I’ve owned him for five years. He’s really special to me.”
Okay.
So what you’re telling me is that you have successfully calculated how much money you have spent on this horse.
You have not, however, calculated what the horse is worth.
Those are two very different numbers.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your horse does not become more valuable because you have financially supported him like a small dependent child for the last eight years. You can spend $20,000 putting training into a horse and still have a $10,000 horse. You can spend $3,000 on a horse and, if you put the right training, miles and experience into him, potentially end up with something worth significantly more.
The market does not look at your bank account and say, “Oh wow, Linda spent $14,732.48 on this gelding. Better make him $22,000.”
The market looks at the horse.
What is he? How old is he? What is his breeding? What does he look like? Is he sound? What can he actually do? How broke is he? How useful is he? Is he safe? Is he handy? Does he have experience? Is he proven? Is he competitive? Is he desirable for breeding? Is his color desirable? Is he the kind of horse people are actively looking for right now?
Those things contribute to value.
Your emotional attachment does not.
And this is where people really get themselves into trouble. They confuse the horse they love with the horse the market is buying.
You may genuinely believe your 19 year old mare is the greatest creature to ever walk the earth because she raised your children, packed you through every trail ride known to mankind, survived a tornado, taught three generations of your family how to ride and once stood perfectly still while you put a Christmas tree on her back.
And honestly? She may be worth her weight in gold to you.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean someone else is going to hand you $18,000 for her.
Your horse’s sentimental value can be priceless.
Your horse’s market value cannot.
And breeding is another one that gets me.
“I paid $15,000 for her and bred her to a $25,000 stallion, so this foal needs to be at least $15,000.”
No.
You did not put money into a savings account and eleven months later receive a guaranteed return in the form of a horse.
You produced a baby.
A baby who currently has no show record, no training, no accomplishments, no proof of athletic ability and, depending on the day, may have a career trajectory that consists entirely of eating hay and trying to remove your fence posts.
Pedigree matters. Breeding matters. Conformation matters. Potential matters. But potential and proven value are not the same thing.
And training absolutely matters too. Good training can add tremendous value. But what matters is what that training produced. Eight months of training doesn’t automatically equal eight thousand dollars of added value. If the horse came out of those eight months safe, broke, useful, experienced and capable of doing the job buyers want, that’s value.
If he came out of those eight months knowing how to walk, trot, canter and dramatically overreact to a plastic bag from 400 yards away, I’m not sure we should be adding the trainer’s invoice to the asking price.
This is also why comparing your horse to the most expensive horse you found on Facebook isn’t exactly market research.
“Well, I saw a horse just like him advertised for $25,000.”
Advertised.
Not sold.
There is a very important difference between “someone is asking $25,000” and “someone handed them $25,000.”
You can put a $50,000 price tag on a $5,000 horse. Congratulations. You have not created a $50,000 horse. You have created a $50,000 advertisement.
At the end of the day, valuing a horse is about looking at the entire package objectively. Age, breed, pedigree, conformation, soundness, temperament, training, experience, ability, accomplishments, usefulness, color, market demand and what comparable horses are actually selling for all matter.
What you paid matters to your accountant.
What you love about the horse matters to you.
What you spent matters to your bank statement.
But what matters to the buyer is what they’re actually getting.
And sometimes the hardest part of selling a horse isn’t figuring out what the horse is worth.
It’s convincing the owner that the horse isn’t worth whatever number they emotionally arrived at while standing in the barn aisle at 10:47 p.m. staring lovingly into his eyes.
Because Linda, I promise you, your horse does not know he’s worth $27,500.
He thinks the feed bucket is late.
*pic for attention This ol’ girl is priceless to us and not for sale💜
