05/19/2026
Ok I have a little dilemma I want to run by you and get your opinion on. Bear with me, I promise you it’s horse related.
2 years ago I bought a brand new truck, loaded with option, the top of the top as far as duallies are concerned. It was quite expensive and I had to pay $105,000 but I needed it and I really wanted to buy something nice.
Since then I have driven it 80,000 miles, I did scrape it in a few places (oops… my bad) so it’s not quite as nice than when I got it.
I’m ready to list it, and here is what I was thinking. I would like to price it around $155,000.
Why $155,000? It’s simple, so like I said I paid $105,000 for it, then I put diesel, DEF (why do we have to use DEF now, fr), I replaced the tires (all 6 of them a few times), fuel filter, air filter, brake pads), insurance. Also the price of the trucks has gone up and in the show room similar vehicles are going for $125,000 nowadays. So yeah between the purchase price, the expenses and the inflation I think It’s worth 155,000.
Do you think I’m being reasonable and do you think I will find a buyer?
If I came up with this logic you would all tell me that I’m crazy. And that I should sell it for $75,000 and go on with my life. Right?
So why is it that every single person who buys a horse wants to make a profit on it when they have to sell it. And expect to get their expenses back and feel cheated when you tell them that they will actually have to sell their horse for less than what they originally paid for it?
You see if you imported a 1m30 horse and you are now campaigning in the 2’6 adults with questionable results because after all you are there to have fun and you are still learning so you chip here and there , then don’t expect to make a dime and don’t be sad if you get less than what you paid for your horse.
Unless your horse is dramatically better (you got your horse as a 5YO tripping over crossrails and it’s now winning the 3’3 greens) or if you bought your horse as a 1m40 horse in Europe and you put a decent 1m40 show record on him in the US) then you need to accept that it’s ok to not make money or to even get less than you paid for it in the first place.
Everybody treats horses like real estate, buy horse, keep horse, expect value to go up, sell for a profit.
But horses are closer to the car market, you buy said horse, you use it, you get value out of said use, you pay for maintenance you sell and upgrade, or you lease or whatnot and the value depreciate in the meantime.
Again I’m not saying that everybody should lose their shirt while owning horses, I’m just saying that the new expectation is that owning a horse is a profitable venture. IT IS NOT… so when it’s time to put a price on your horses, be realistic about what your horse is worth compared to horses with similar traits who recently sold. If your neighbor prices his 21YO trail riding QH for $85,000 that doesn’t mean that you should price your own 23YO QH for $75k. It just means that your neighbor is delulu and will keep his horse forever.
The difference between horses and cars is that you can’t park your horse in a garage. So month after month your expenses go up and you have a risk of injuries. When selling horses, try to be realistic and don’t chase the market.
