Selling my daughter's lovely 14.2 pony - how much would you expect to pay?

[XelaM]

We're selling one of my daughter's ponies as she's too tall for her and wants to start competing on horses.

She's a 14.2 mare (15 years old) no medical issues at all - would pass vetting.

Very safe great all-rounder. We bought her as a Pony Club pony but my daughter has been doing affiliated SJ on her and they've done really well - qualified for Nationals in British Novice and Disco, regularly placed at shows including POYS. She's done everything on her - XC, SJ, hacking everywhere etc.

She's very safe to hack alone and in company, bomb-proof in traffic, with dogs etc. Would make a great mother-daughter share.

How much would you price her at? I'm surprised we had few enquiries for her so far, as she's a genuinely brilliant pony who is very loved by anyone who has ridden her and I'm starting to think maybe we've priced her too high.

Forgot to add - she's also great on the ground, to catch, travels well alone and with others. Genuinely no bad habits or issues aside from my daughter being too tall for her and as we don't have our own land, we can't afford to keep her as a field ornament.

Somewhere between £10-15k, if she was younger a lot more but you’re starting to get to the twilight years. Only top track ponies get really good money at that age, I’d assume she’s still a JD, and there will be lots of 7/8 year old ponies jumping disc/BN who have, in the eyes of the market; more potential.

The issue with going for the mother daughter share/PC allrounder market is for a 15 yo pony they will probably be looking around £7k if not less I would imagine. If you plug the super reliable and safe 90cm/1m pony angle you might have a bit more luck looking for a bit more.

Where is she advertised? I find Facebook best for the all rounder market but wouldn’t put a more quality horse on there as everyone wants a brain dead horse that you could put your 98 nanna on and send her off down the M1 on. (And for this horse to cost £750… with tack and transport).
Horsequest is a bit better for more quality animals and I think the standard of enquiry is better especially if you have phone call only.

Hmm, it's a tricky time of year to be selling and I'm not sure how the market's doing, my instinct was to say £10k + but I have heard of some apparent bargains going around right now although you can never tell what's not been disclosed or the veterinary history.

How are you marketing her? I slightly wonder, if you're not getting the interest you'd expect, if you're marketing her as both the perfect, novice-friendly, mother-daughter share type and a serious BSJA pony you might be falling her between two camps, as most aren't able to do both jobs (maybe yours is the unicorn that can, but the amateur types looking for a safe first pony may be actively put off by the comp record and the BSJA camp may think she doesn't actually have that much ability if that's not front and centre of the ad). Proper BSJA ponies do tend to hold their value well into their teens, might it be worth getting her on sales livery with a good SJ dealer who will know of a good competitive home if that's where you think her future lies?

If you were thinking more towards the all-round teenager/mother daughter share market, what breed is she, is she definitely full up 14.2 and big enough to comfortably take an adult, if your DD has already outgrown her? If I was looking for such a pony and it was being marketed as only for sale because outgrown, I would be worried it's not actually 14.2 and/or very fine, so I couldn't ride it regularly and/or my own teen would also outgrow quickly, they're all so darn tall these days. If it's just that your DD is unusually tall for her age can you get some pics of the mare with an adult up just to make the point she's plenty big enough, and maybe just say DD is moving onto horses rather than saying outgrown?

Thank you both! My daughter is nearly 5'8 so quite tall. She still rides her but it's not ideal and she wants to go onto horses. We initially priced her at £15K as she really has no issues and has done a lot, but I'm starting to realise it's probably too much and I would be happy to go much lower for a good home if anyone was actually coming to view 😀 so far I have only had general enquiries over the phone and then people disappear. No one has actually come and tried her and said they didn't want her so I didn't even have a chance to enter into any price discussions. I've put her on Facebook and Horsequest. Our old pony sold within a few days so I thought this one would sell super quickly (but she was a much cheaper child's first pony cob). Our current pony is a ISH.

I’d change her ad to say the actual price you want - POA will put off a lot of people from even asking and it generally means if you have to ask you can’t afford it … She sounds absolutely lovely but if you’re emphasising the safety and ease of looking after her I think
you’re aiming more at the PC/allrounder market and £15k for a 15 year old is probably too much. I’d also say your daughter’s moving into horses rather than having outgrown a 14.2 - my daughter’s 5’9 and had a lovely 14.2 Connemara in to sell last year and looked absolutely fine on him - like a pp said it might make people think she’s very fine and not really a mother/daughter share. She sold the Connie for £14k to a PC family but he was 7 so buyers feel they’re getting potential.

I’d say £10k. 15 gives five more years before your mare becomes harder to sell. I where is she advertised?

On Hosequest. I also put add on Facebook in a few groups like "ponies for sale". I've just amended the price to £10K from POA to hopefully get her viewed, as we haven't had any viewings yet - only general enquiries. I think if people came to actually try her they would like her as she's really nice to ride. She's not a huge 14.2 like some are (really horses 😂) but she's not too small or fine for an adult. Also now that they have changed the measuring rules in BS - she would definitely measure 148 and not over, which I would have thought is a plus for anyone who wants to do BS on her.

The other thing I’d do (and I’m amazed how many people don’t do this) is put together a sales video showing conformation, trot up, walk, trot, canter on both reins including transitions, a full round of SJ, some dressage if she does that and a series of XC jumps joined together. It doesn’t take long to do and will increase the chances of getting a viewing from serious buyers.

@XelaM I’d put her up for 12k and then there is haggle room to the 10k .

Thank you but I already put £10K on the advert 😂 so probably too late. Honestly we need a quick sale (to a good home obviously) because it's costing me a lot to keep her in full livery and as we also have another horse - it's both very expensive and very stressful for my teen to ride both horses whilst also doing her GCSEs and she also plays tennis after school several times per week. So I'm willing to compromise on price but I would have thought we'd get much more interested as the previous pony we sold wasn't nearly as great as this one and we had a lot of interest. 🤷‍♀️

We have videos of full rounds etc, but they are not edited into one which I guess we could try.

What area are you in?

It may be worth putting her on sales livery , likely won’t be much more expensive than full livery and will give your daughter a break .

In Enfield/North London

OP could you PM me the link? I’m on the look out for something similar.

Done 😊

I was thinking of a sales livery, but I would feel bad moving her somewhere only to move her again. She's quite happy at our current yard and has loads of horsey friends. It feels cruel to move her to a different yard for a short period of time only to move her on again.

We sold a pony at this time last year and through sales livery it took one month and we were pleased with the price.
This year we are selling a better pony and we've had zero enquiries. A friend of ours, who is famous in the horse world, has not sold two ponies since February. So my impression is the market has slowed significantly if not stopped..
There's alot of uncertainty at the moment and everyone is waiting for the budget. I think we will keep our pony til spring.

I'd send the advert to all of the local Pony Club DC's, the area rep, the area SJ committee, eventing, tetrathlon etc, most of the best ponies get sold by word of mouth / personal recommendation.
I recently sold one of my pony club all-rounders that way, had lots of interest, as people knew or knew of the pony, so weren't worried I was dodgy!

Thank you. I have spoken to two Pony Club branches around here so hopefully she's on their radar. I will try to fond details for area reps. Thank you 🙏

If you are on FB, joining the area and individual discipline PC Facebook groups is worth it, as lots of people looking post on there, too.

Just saw a wanted ad on FB, I will try adding the link, is that allowed?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/581902152478394/permalink/1473280120007255/?app=fbl

Thank you very much 😊

Just to update (and bump this thread on the off chance anyone is interested) - we had loads of enquiries but only 1 viewing since I posted. The people who viewed her were looking for a mother/daughter share and came through an instructor we know. They loved her (as I knew people would if they actually came to see her!) but they are looking to loan before they buy and they are complete beginners, so I'm worried to give her on loan to complete beginners who might ruin her. We have a little girl on the yard who absolutely loves her, but they have horses of their own and would only be in a position to loan her, which I think is the preferable option for now, as the little girl is a decent rider and we can monitor what she does with her at least.

Very surprised people don't just come for a try out after making extensive enquiries 🤷‍♀️ Anyone who rides her really likes her but it's a matter of getting people to actually come.

Loaning her to someone you know for the winter and sell her in the spring sounds a good plan. The market is pretty dead right now...