Hippotherapy
Have you ever seen the price of horses so low . At sale barns , good show horses with points should bring?
high dollars are selling for a few hundred . I'm not breeding this year because foals that hit the ground are worth less then the breeding fee .
Public Comments
- As great as Horses are, now days people are loosing their houses, so they don't really have extra money for expensive pets.
- If you are in Australia, what did you expect?? I would say prices here won't pick up until mid next year.
- Good, there is not going to be much feed (Hay, etc) for the ones that are here.It's because of the droughts and the floods.That's what I've heard. I don't raise horses but I do love them. I don't want to see any going without.
- maybe he's broke
- Theres a reason for that and that is there used to be killer makets here in the USA and they always set the price by the pound so for example if a horse weighed 1000lbs and the price was 60 cents a pound it would bring $600.00 that would be for old horses they would use for rendering.Now that there are no killer markets theres no one to set the price,so horses are only worth what you can get for them.There used to be 3 killer plants in the Usa the last one closed January 2007
- Its called over supply. Unless they're from high income producing stock like say race horses most other horses are just considered to be hacks. They're not trained so its a value that people put on things that counts these days. Horses are easy to breed and many end up as blood and bone unfortunately. People also forget they live a very long age and the novelty wears off for many people. People tend to get greedy and think that just because they have some acres they'll breed horses and think they'll get rich. The same thing happened with angora goats, ostriches, Emus, Alpacas etc. Everyone tried to make a buck out of these common animals only to get their fingers burnt.
- There are too many horses already (sweet, short, simple and to the point)
- AWFUL>>>>>>> I gave up trying to sell mine, the weanlings are staying here until they're 3 and trained a little. We're in the northeast, by the way.
- there are enough horses to go around anyway...why breed when so many end up at the auction and the slaughter house?
- Have I ever seen the price of horses so low? Yes, I have. In the late 1960s and early 1970s horse prices in at least my part of Illinois were terribly low. Very well bred registered ponies could maybe bring $10 and foals would bring less than $1. An extremely well broke pony who could win in the show pen with beginning riders might bring as much as $50 but could usually be found for less than $35. An outstanding reg. gelding, well broke to ride might bring $300 but would probably be less than $200. I found a website that converts the worth of the dollar from different years. I usually use it for genealogy but it really helps with this question as well. In 1969 a dollar could buy the same amount of goods as about $5.50 could now. $300 would be about the same as $1600 now. A decent horse at our local auction has been bringing about $300 to $500. That would be the same as $57 dollars back then and that's what a decent horse was bringing then. Now the question is why. Fewer people were able to have horses because people were moving out of the country and into town. Fewer people understood how to handle and train horses. There was no real meat market because horses were slaughtered only for glue, dog food, mink food or zoos. When the slaughter plants started horse prices rose. I don't know exactly when this happened because I was pretty well out of the horse market from 1973 to 1980 but by 1980 a half broke pony was closer to $500 and a good horse was $800 or so. Going back to the website: http://measuringworth.com/calculators That's about $2,000 today. Thanks for the question. I had a lot of fun researching it.
- the reason champion and show horses are going so cheap is because of the new slaughter law, it caused the prices on horses to drop
- Horse's are like cows anymore, expensive to take thru the winter and not bringing much at the sale, the only difference is I haven't heard of horse meat being brought in from China and Australia to flood the market. Oh well just another business you have to get out of and find something new.
- the reason is there is a hay and grass shortage so everyone is selling and noone is buying
- There's a few reasons for that. The slaughter houses in the U.S. have been shut down because of the new kill law. Auctions were the place for the meat jockeys to go and they set the price of the horses. They would bid on every decent horse (up to their weight) and take what they got. Now that there isn't a meat jockey to compete against it means that the price is less. So if you look at it that way - good for them to go at a lesser price now - maybe they'll have a better future than they would have. Another reason is hay shortages. The big crop right now is corn followed by soy - farmers plant what they will make money on. I just bought 250 bales for the winter for 6 horses - that ain't gonna last and it's all I could get in my area. Yet another reason: the other markets. When the stock market is down, the gas market goes up. Let's couple that with a shitty housing market. When interest rates were low people bought up these houses that were far beyond their means should they refinance. Now that there has been so many foreclosures the mortgage companies are WAY picky about who they lend to. I just bought my place two weeks ago; with 10% down, good income, good credit, and solid job history I still had a bitch of a time getting financing. The short of it is that very few people can afford to breed or feed their horses and if they can they can't find the feed for them. We did not breed this year but we do plan to breed next year. The reality of it is there isn't much money in breeding anymore unless you have a proven stud/mare, solid bloodlines and specialized discipline. Still yet another thing that is killing the market is what my partner refers to as "backyard breeders." These people are breeding grade horses to say they have a herd and then they sell them or give them away. Can't beat the price of a free horse as far as most are concerned, however, people forget that you get what you pay for. Have I ever seen prices so low? Not in my lifetime and I hope that we come out of it and I never have to see it again. I understand the frustration though b/c I have a coming three year old cow bred 4h project mare that I can't get $600 for and another trail mare that hates me (but loves everyone else) and I can't give her away.
