I am frequently asked if I do trades, or if I will buy horses. 

The answer is yes... and no. 

We are not horse "traders."  I have a clientele who are looking for quiet horses of good quality that are safe, well started and affordably priced. 

I find that when people ask me if I will take a trade, it is often on horses or ponies that they are trying to get rid of.  Now, by definition, ~ since they are trying to trade ~ they like my horse for their purposes, better than their horse!  Since they are probably the same as most of my customers, in the fact that they have come to find a specific type of horse, again, by definition, the horse they are swapping is NOT the same as what most of my clients are looking for!  I don't mind putting the time in and training their horse, but then I have my training time into it, just as I have training time into what you are buying!!! 

I find that most people have an unrealistically high value set on their horses.  Quite often, they want what they have paid for the horse.  It is sometimes necessary to take a good look at the horse and admit that you PAID TOO MUCH.  Every year I buy horses that I think will be good, only to get them home and find that they don't fit the needs of my clients ~ in short they aren't what I thought they were when I bought them.  Often I have purchased them from people I have a long term relationship with, and they can be exchanged.  If I can put TRAINING into them and make them good horses, fine, if not, I sell them at a loss.

My horses are very fairly priced, often below market for what they are. I can name ten farms within a an hour of me, that have lower quality horses for about twice the price. So, they may have paid more for the horse than I would have SOLD it for!! 

A horse is worth what someone is willing to pay, and you can get a higher price, but it may take you a while and you will probably have to show the horse frequently, handle a lot of phone calls and put some money into advertising.  It is like using your car as a trade in.  If your life and facilities aren't set up for this, you might think about putting the horse on CONSIGNMENT.

The advantage FOR A TRADE is that you drive in with one car and drive out with another, it is clean and doesn't take any time.  The disadvantage, the dealer is going to give you less for your car than you could get for it on your own, but then YOU have to keep it clean, advertise it, handle the phone calls and show it to people.  The marketing is time consuming.  You have to ride the horse regularly to keep it fit.  Sometimes the car dealer, who knows the market, will point out something about the car that you don't see, or don't care about, but he knows it will make your car harder to sell.  For example, I LIKE stick shift cars.  But dealers don't because they know MOST people want an automatic.  Same good car, but the stick shift is worth less because it appeals to a smaller number of potential customers.  Again, same thing with horses.  I know that certain types of horses are just harder to sell and will take more time.  So, I can less afford to tie up money in them.

I find that frequently in trades, all of this means that people either want to swap straight across, or they want to have me pay additional money for their horse. 

However, I have a horse that I already have training time into.  I have picked out that PARTICULAR horse because I know it will fit the bulk of my customers.  The horse that is being traded may be a great horse, but he may not fit the majority of my customers as well as the one I am taking in trade ~ therefore, he is worth less money to ME!  If I swap I have to find another buyer for the new horse, AND put training into it, so I have to price it higher.  I've lost time and I've lost money. 

I know this doesn't apply to any of you, but let me give you a typical example of what I meet when people want to swap.  I sold a mare as a kids hunter.  She had a lot of miles on her as a locally shown kid's hunter, she was brave to fences, framed up nice, and had been a lesson horse at a high end hunt barn in Florida for several years.  She was pretty, (registered), only 7 years old, and very much a packer.  I wanted $4,000 for her.  She would have been $7-10,000 in a hunt barn.  The father asked me about a trade. 

They had a TB mare, off the track, who scared the girl because she would spook and run off.  The mare was green at jumping, had been taught to jump by simply running her at a fence, so she stopped and ran out frequently.  She would kick up if you laid her off for a month or so.  They had purchased her off the track and had gotten her going one summer, but after she was laid off for the winter, they had never really gotten her back.  He said she was pretty and a good hunter prospect, and people had told him to price her at $6,000!!! 

Now he was BUYING a well trained, finished horse that would keep his kid safe for only $4,000!!!

So, the long and the short of it is this: 

Yes, I do take trade ins.  I don' t mind a horse that needs some training, or bringing on a prospect.  I will buy horses between 4-12 years old, BROKE, without vices.  They must NOT crib, buck, rear, bite or kick.  I don't care if they have brakes or steering, if they are a hunter prospect, I don't care if they jump, in fact I'd rather train them myself so they have no bad habits.  I don't care if they know anything as far as being finished, that's what I do.  But I will pay in the range of $1,000 - $1,500 AFTER I've seen your horse. 

The same is true for buying horses from private individuals.  If you read my free report on buying a horse, you will see that I think it is much safer to buy from a professional who truly knows what they have and who will stand behind the horse.  Private individuals often have one or two horses, and every person is a chance to sell.  They have to make their selection fit YOUR needs.  I don't.  I have horses AND customers on a regular basis.  If a horse doesn't fit you, I don't have to try to push you into buying him, or lie to you, because he WILL fit the next customer who comes out. 

I do pay much more for many of my horses, but I am usually buying them from trainers who will stand behind them, and ones that I do a lot of business with.  If I have a problem with them, if the horse don't fit what I need, or we can't get along with a particular horse, I can load them up and take them back because I do a lot of business with these guys.  Once I have your horse, whether I get along with it or not, I have to cope with it.  

BUT ~ on your side, you don't have to show the horse to a dozen people, you don't have to take the phone calls, do the advertising, and wait to be able to move onto the horse you want!!!  And your horse is off your feed bill!

So, knowing that all of this will insult most people, I usually say I don't take trades!!! 

If you are interested in doing a trade with this in mind, bring along, or send me a photo of your horse and where you are located.  If you like what you see here, we'll go look at yours.

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This site is updated several times a week, including whenever we add or sell a horse, or when we learn something new about a horse.  We are constantly riding, trying, testing, showing and trail riding our horses so we know what they really are before we sell them.