How to price competition horse with medical history?

[PointyMcguire]

My dressage horse is currently out on lease due to pregnancy, but will likely be coming back home in a couple of months to sell and I have no idea what to price him at.

He’s flashy and fun, he has a decent competition record and has competed up to adv medium, but is happiest at ele/medium level. Always placed, but is a typical warmblood so can be sharp/spooky and takes his confidence from his rider, especially when out at a new venue but is never nasty with it, the worst he does is spin if he’s really spooked but if you keep him forward and in front of the leg this rarely happens. For this reason I’d say he’s definitely not a schoolmaster or first competition horse type, but for a confident amateur wanting to be competitive at that level they’d have a lot of fun.

There’s a huge part of me that would love to keep him, but he’s the sort that thrives in a routine and needs your undivided attention when ridden, not something I’ll be able to offer once baby arrives. Also if I’m truly honest with myself I’m at the point in life where I want to take a step back from competing, maybe play in the school a bit but mostly just happy hack with the odd clinic with something that doesn’t mind being picked up and put down when I have the time, basically the complete opposite of my current boy.

The trouble is he has some mild hind limb asymmetry caused by a suspensory sprain when he was younger. As such he is unlikely to pass a flexion test, and whilst I was super pragmatic about this when I bought him and he’s never had a days lameness with us, I appreciate a lot of buyers are more risk adverse than me. He also had a sarcoid removed as a youngster, this hasn’t returned and was in an area that would cause no bother, but is another thing that’ll likely put people off.

He was quite weak through his back end when I bought him, but over the years we’ve had him I’ve been able to massively improve this through hill work, regular water treadmill and pole work with an equicore on, and our vet has acknowledged it’s the best they’ve ever seen him (we use the same vet as his previous owner as they’re the best in the area) and that the asymmetry is barely noticeable these days. We also medicate hocks and SI annually to help ensure he’s comfortable and whilst this unfortunately tends to be par for the course for a horse of his age/level, again I know this might put folks off.

So be honest with me, are people going to be completely put off by his history, and if not what the heck do I price him at to ensure he finds the perfect home?

I‘ve only sold one horse previously when he was thoroughly outgrown so this is very much uncharted territory and I’m very conscious from the wanted ads I see that most people seem to be looking for perfection so I don’t really know what to expect. Help!

He sounds lovely but unfortunately I imagine in the market you are looking (competent amateurs) they will be risk averse and put off. Pros would be more relaxed.
I had a similar issue a good few years ago with a nice homebred WB. He had a heart murmur but it had been investigated and I had a report from the RVC saying he was all good. He was our at medium and had been placed at the nationals. He also jumped. At the time with no issue he was a £15k horse - I advertised him for £6k and got NO interest. I kept him as couldn’t bear to sell him for less. He was epic and did everything but appreciate your circumstances are different.
Why don’t you call a couple of decent dealers on the pretext of considering sending him for sales livery and see what they recommend - or even do it as they have such a wide audience. Good luck!

Thanks @Gurraun that’s my fear! It’s so hard as he’d be absolutely worth his weight in gold for someone who doesn’t have the budget to buy his type without the medical background but like you say, they tend to be more risk averse and I suspect a pro would want to push him up the levels which I just don’t want for him. I’ve wanted to avoid dealers if possible as I want to make sure he ends up in the right home, but it might be worth a chat once he’s home to see what they think.

Yes unfortunately I agree with PP you fall in an annoying gap - the RC/mother daughter share type market will accept something with 3 legs, one eye and a medical history that would terrify the most experienced Newmarket vet if it was safe for a nervy rider, pros/semi pros will generally accept issues if the horse does it’s job, you annoyingly are somewhere between!
However if he has a track record and his condition is managed there is no reason he wouldn’t sell, but likely needs to be priced accordingly

Yeah I think for most RC/mother daughter shares he’d be a bit too much, as whilst he doesn’t do anything awful I think he’d scare a more nervy rider and in turn probably scare himself! It’s annoying as if I didn’t know his history you’d honestly not know there was anything wrong with him, and he’s never caused us a moment’s bother, it’s just a case of finding another pragmatic buyer and working out the right price point to mitigate some of the perceived risks without attracting the wrong type who will try to sell him on for a profit.

It’s a difficult one. I bought a horse who failed the vet as a 4 year old with a slight heart murmur. At that point he had been sold for mega money as a SJ pending vet. I bought him a few years later and at this stage he also had a big knee. I bought him to event. He was spooky and could buck for fun but he won everything I asked of him including puissance. He hunted, evented and SJ. He retired with a bone spur on a fetlock joint. I probably paid a conservative 1/15 of his actual value. Best horse I ever owned and his portrait is in my kitchen. Horses like this are hard to price and hard to sell even though they may actually be someone’s perfect horse.