I have come to the conclusion that I am never going to ride my boy again :(
When I bought him he was at the very limit of what I could comfortably ground-mount and he's grown another hand since then (he was sold to me as an 8yo, he turned out to be more like 4... grr...). I only had him for a year before I became pregnant and haven't ridden him since DD was 18 months, his sharers love him and have looked after him really well, they want to buy him... much as I love(d) him, he's not my boy anymore and has picked up a few bad habits from his stablemate (their other horse, who is a rescue and a bit vicious of a loon - he's lovely with them, but foul with strangers) such as snapping, kicking and nipping at people. So I don't want him anywhere near DD either.
But how much do I ask them for? He cost me £2,500 seven years ago (he's now 11ish), I have had a look on Horsemart and can't see anything comparable to get an idea of price.
He's an 11yo (ish) cob-x (? bought before passports, so that's what he's down as now, a "cob type") gelding, about 17'1, chestnut with a flaxen mane/tail, white feathers, huge feet. He looks like the result of a haflinger/clydesdale liaison (clydie face, big barrel belly, crimped haflinger mane/tail) but I have had people mistake him for a suffolk punch.
Good solid hack (doesn't like bin bags or groups of ramblers but otherwise relatively bombproof), loves x-country, was doing basic dressage with him before I got pregnant (but his sharers are all about the jumping), he has/had a lovely temperament and is(was) a big softie who likes(d) cuddles.
If I could afford it I'd gift him to them, they have looked after him really well and love him to bits, but if I ever want to get another horse (which now DD is 6 seems slightly more acheiveable), then I'd need at least a deposit and DH would freak if I just gave him away.
What would you expect to pay for him in these circumstances? Is £1000 too much to ask?
TIA :)
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How much to realistically ask for?
ImDaveandsoismywife · 20/09/2011 16:02
Interesting, older, my niece took up riding the same time as I did (she was 5, I was 32 - we had shared lessons 
) and she regularly rode 15hh horses rather than ponies (ponies are evil!). In fact she was exercising my boy for me while I was pregnant, when she was 12... never occured to me that she was overhorsed as she never took him hacking because she preferred schoolwork (weird child).
I would definitely ease back in with lessons before committing to buy again - not fit enough for anything else!
In fact, with the benefit of hindsight, I wouldn't buy a horse again without living very close to where they were stabled - it's lovely to be able to ride out directly from the yard into the forest, but a pain in the bum to have to drive for the best part of half an hour to get there, especially in winter .
CMOT - if they don't want him, would you like first refusal? 
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