What price to sell pony?

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Could you help me deciding on a price.
We have a 13.2 chestnut mare connemara x.
Shes 18 and she's been brilliant for us. She's forward going, will jump a course if 65/70 but starts to stop any bigger.
Shes hacks out alone and in company, not spooky at all, shes done cross country, loads of farm rides, goes through water etc. Done pony club rallieshad a go at dressage.
Shes forward going and can get strong when jumping but safe never bucked reared.
Easy to keep up to date with everything.

I'm struggling as obviously I'd like as much as I can get towards our next horse but don't want to put people off.

Does 4000 including good professionally fitted tack and all rugs and accessories sound too much?? X

I really struggle we love this pony and owe her nothing but I just can't keep two again 😭

Does she have any veterinary issues? Are you selling her because of her age or you need something bigger?

Easy, free on loan to a good home, find a knowledgeable person who wants a horse free to look after. Ask around the horsey set, in this area there is a Facebook group that all the horse owners use.

You will be very lucky to get any takers for an 18yo that want to pay cash, sorry.

I think it’s really wrong to sell late teens ponies I’m afraid. It’s one thing selling on in their prime but not at that age.
We keep ours, loaning to trusted people until retirement.

At 18 even in this silly market, you’ll struggle to get much for a pony that isn’t suitable for someone very novice.

Most people will only consider older ponies if they are absolutely idiot proof which yours doesn’t sound.

loaning may be the way to go

My perfect situation would be to loan her out but unfortunately its not an option as I already have one out on loan that will enviably come back to me for retirement - I'm just not in a position to keep every pony my two daughters have grown out of - must be amazing to be able to do this!!
I didn't want to sell for next to nothing as this could potentially put her in the wrong hands. But will rethink my price x

I totally disagree with the previous posts. Ponies are not past it at 18 years old at all!! I would say the very best ponies at our pony club are the older ones and I have just bought a 20 year old that is still fit and out competing -I won't sell her on once we are ready to move on but I don't see the issue with selling an 18 year old and 4K with good quality tack is a bargain in the current climate.

a 13.1hh 18 year old that’s not suitable for a novice child is not a bargain, even in the current climate!
if it was suitable for a beginner I’d imagine you’d get £4k quite easily but as no one learns to ride properly anymore I think you’d struggle

The problem with selling an 18 year old is that even if she’s sound right now and potentially could have many years of active life ahead of her, it’s just as likely that medical issues will start to appear over the next couple of years. Essentially by selling a pony in their late teens you’re passing on your problem to another family.

If you can only buy another pony by selling her then in my mind the solution is you don’t buy another pony… Having a pony isn’t a right but you do have a responsibility to look after the one you have now. I’m not against selling horses - if they’re younger and have no medical issues but there’s no way I’d sell an 18 year old who isn’t suitable for novice riders

Children wouldn’t be able to learn to ride if no one sold their ponies. The average time I think a pony is the perfect partner for a child is 18 months. After that they need something bigger or more challenging to progress.
18 is not old for that size pony either. The problem you have is she is not a novice ride nor capable of jumping the heights a more advanced child will want from that size pony. You could try advertising at 4K but 3k might be more realistic.

I don’t think a pony is past it at 18, I have had many in their late 20’s still happily working. But it is irresponsible to sell on at that age. There’s a difference between selling at 10 and selling at 20.
I’d pts if I couldn’t loan or keep rather than sell. They deserve a secure future. My current one is 24, I could never sell her.

Around here though there’s a steady stream of ponies out on loan locally through pony club, our yard has a few. The pony stays put and different families take over every few years. We’ve got one at 31 still doing lead rein although he probably won’t compete after this season.

Those that can’t afford to buy another without selling loan for themselves. My DD is going to have loan ponies only until we can share as I don’t want the heartbreak or a field full. Once she can ride 14.2+ we can buy.

I would say around 4k is about right in the current market tbh. She sounds the perfect size and type for a second pony, plus the tack has a decent value, it can cost hundreds to find a saddle that fits so if hers does she's ready to go.

At 18 for a native pony she will have a lot of years left to give a child and work will keep her going longer. The market is very buoyant still, and although small ponies are 10 a penny, the second pony market is still strong. Plus her pony club experience is a strong positive for any family looking.

You can always sell with the proviso you have first refusal if she goes back up for sale, obviously you pay the market value at the time and it will depend on your circumstances.

Advertise somewhere decent like horsequest and write an honest ad and I am sure she will be snappped up, at 13.2 there are also small adults that canride her so not just a child's pony.

Personally I'd say you're pricing her too high. As said above, 13.2's are usually needed to either be pretty sensible, or very scopey. Anyone who can handle the sharpness is likely to want to be out competing, and really at 80 as a minimum. 18 isn't old, but not is it young, and I'd not want an adult rider on a 13.2 veteran, unless that adult is tiny (so as 13.2 she'd have an ideal bodyweight somewhere around 350kg. That, with the 15% rule, means a rider of no more than 52.5kg including tack, and that's aimed at a fitter, younger pony).

We have a 13.2 who sounds similar, jumps a bit bigger but is still 14. We'd not sell her, as quirky 13.2's tend to be passed around, as they don't quite fit many people, and she's an awesome mare who deserves the best. We'd possibly loan her to someone we knew, but wouldn't sell.

Seems a reasonable price for a second pony with a good track record. Is there no one in your pony club who would be right for her? Maybe speak with one of the PC instructors.

Not an expert, but £4000 with saddle, tack and rugs sounds cheap to me! Saddle alone costs at least £500

Interested by your comment about people not learning to ride properly anymore Lastqueenofscotland2?

I’ve gone into a few dive on this on another thread, but essentially the rate riding schools have closed, add the general dodgy/inconsistent standard of instructing at them, and the cost of insurance and fear of being sued if someone hurts themselves makes it hard for people to learn to ride on nice, or even normal horses. Therefore understandably people get fed up of shitty and expensive instruction and just buy sooner than they would have 20 years ago but need something very quiet.
i sold my 148 pony around a similar time to the start of the stone age and she was straight as a die and honest ad the day is long, but she was a bit forward going and bucked If cantered in open spaces, back then she was a competent novices pony and was sold to a teenager straight from a riding school who kept her until the pony died about 20 years after. Now because most people haven’t had the chance to ride something that pops excited bucks or gets a bit strong over fences that pony would be quirky.
Its more a dig on the state of British riding schools than anything else: I live in a rural town where 10 years ago there were three riding schools, now there is one, and it’s really for children to potter about at, I think they have one horse over 15hh? And all of theirs are proper plods. Reports from friends looking for lessons alongside a green/injured horse elsewhere in the country all feedback similar

As another example where I used to live there were two schools.
One had on paper nice horses, but would have up to 12 riders in a group in a 20x40 and didn’t offer private. The instructing was very much “hit them till they do it” and not much else. You ain’t learning shit in a a group of 12.

The other surprisingly instructors were really good but their horses were all proper plods, and I suspect some welfare issues too and it’s hard to really teach someone on something 50kg (at least) overweight that is fed up as it’s one of only ten horses that gets hammered into the ground at weekends and not touched in the week

OK.... so I have put pony on a trial with a lovely very small lady. The pony is 13.2 passported more 13.3/14.
Shes happy to pay 4000, she wants to do dressage and hacking alone and has intentions of keeping her till the end of her days as she has her own land. Shes only half an hour away from me too so is the perfect situation for the pony.

I feel that there's alot of opinionated people on here. It actually upset me a bit because I care deeply for the welfare of our horses.

Yes shes 18 but she is absolutely not ready to be a field ornament.
I'm sure I'm not the only owner who needs the money out of one horse to buy another.....should my daughter give riding completely and just keep the pony???.......does selling her make me a terrible horse owner.

How lovely for those who find a selection of horses to loan - here they are like gold dust!

If I had the land and money i would absolutely be keeping the pony!!. It would be our dream.

Any home I sell to would be vetted and on the agreement that if she was ever sold I would have refusals.

First refusal is completely unenforceable, lets hope the pony isn’t sold in 2 years to end up in a sorry state at the sales.

www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/no-horse-should-have-to-end-its-life-like-that-vet-urges-owners-to-stop-giving-away-older-and-unrideable-horses-781667

This was written by my old vet. You aren’t giving yours away but you have absolutely no idea what the future holds for that horse and what you are sending them in to.

I think this sounds perfect and people on this thread are being unduly harsh. I see many kids' ponies changing hands in our pony club. If no one sold their childrens' ponies, how would any child be able to get a pony? A small adult is even better. We have adults on our yard that are skinnier and smaller than teenagers.

People are being cunts on this thread. The pony is 18, not 25! And 18 is probably middle aged for a sort like that, have known similar sounding ponies still be out hacking at 32.

People sell kids ponies on. A kids pony is quiet often 10/11 before it is even considered as a school master type. It's not like the OP is sticking her through a sale is it?

The home sounds perfect OP, I hope it all works out for you and then you can buy dd the next size up.

I would agree with @Lastqueenofscotland2 observations tho. I'm on a livery yard, about 30 horses I think? Some very, very novice owners who would have still been trundling around at the riding school in years gone by. And also no horsey kids (other than mine which aren't bothered about riding but will do other stuff). DIY livery at a decent yard with facilities is probably the cost of 2 lessons week at a riding school which is why I think people decide to buy so early. Even the push button, perfect horses/ponies are a bit much for some of them. There's a lot of lunging goes off 😁.

I disagree - I don’t think people are being too harsh, just realistic and recognising that owning a pony isn’t a right but it does confer responsibility for the future wellbeing of another living creature.

No one’s said it’s wrong to sell ponies per se, just that by selling an 18 year old pony you are giving up all control over her future and I personally couldn’t do that. Selling a 10 year old is a very different proposition.

Buy back clauses are completely unenforceable and you’re passing on the problem of what to do with her when she can no longer be ridden (which could be many years to come, but equally could be in the next couple of years - you just can’t predict) to her next owner. Great if they can keep her for the rest of her days but what if they too decide that they want another pony and decide that after all they will sell her on?

You ask does that mean that your daughter has to give up riding if you can’t afford to buy another pony - not at all, she could loan, share, have riding lessons - do what the vast majority of people who can’t afford multiple horses do and cut their cloth accordingly.

You ask does that mean that your daughter has to give up riding if you can’t afford to buy another pony - not at all, she could loan, share, have riding lessons - do what the vast majority of people who can’t afford multiple horses do and cut their cloth accordingly.

But that's unrealistic isn't it? It's not possible to compete on a school horse and shares/loans are so rare nowadays. Plus, it's usually only for particular days that may or may not suit (usually not on a weekend for example). And who can afford to keep numerous horses?

It’s not unrealistic at all - it’s what the vast majority of people have to do 🤷‍♀️

Owning a pony is NOT A RIGHT … but it does confer responsibility, especially when that pony is at the older end of the spectrum.

the OP could very easily loan the pony out and then take her back when she needed to retire. Most of the older ponies at our pony club are on loan - they’ve not been sold so their families can have control over what happens to them when they need to stop working. The OP is making a choice to sell and in those circumstances that’s not a choice I’d feel comfortable making - she obviously does ..

Wow...this article has absolutely nothing to do with the situation I'm in. The horse turned 18 two weeks ago and is fit and healthy ...

You are making complete assumptions here. What about the fact that this new owner could probably give her a better home than I could if we kept her. Just because I'm selling her it doesn't mean she's going to suffer and has an horrific fate.
Your comparing me to somebody thats just washed there hands of there horse because it got old and dumped it on anybody. That is absolutely not the case!!!. I have a horse thats out as a companion on loan for that exact reason. This is totally different!!.

What about when you sell a young horse, you have absolutely no control of where they will end up...but thsts ok is it...just because its years down the line..

Just to be clear...I am not just abandoning an old horse thats full of health problems. I'm selling a fit and healthy just turned 18 yr old that is outgrown.