How Much Will You Pay? Part Two
posted by citizen.K on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 / 
Print & Hang in the Barn
In the mid ’80s, one of my first jobs was at a very well known hunter/jumper barn. This was a show barn; big jumpers, fancy hunters, all going to the Indoors for winter. Remember when Madison Square Garden was bigger than Florida? Well, it was then.
They, of course, dabbled in horse sales. I was a groom, I also hacked sale horses, and I occasionally showed sale horses for interested parties. Though I was still young, I was an experienced rider already, and an experience horse handler. But the secrets of horse trainers were still foreign to me - above my head. I knew of nothing else than transparency.
Then, one of the more lively Thoroughbred jumpers was sold. I remember the horse, he was not REALLY all that broke, but he could jump around a 4′ course. It was just a bit scary. Tons of heart and totally honest. A little high though, at ALL times.
A few days after he left, the woman who bought the horse called. I answered the phone.
Question:
“What is wrong with this fu*%#@^ horse?! He is bouncing off the walls and totally unridable!”
My Answer:
“Oh, yeah, you just have to give him a shot before you ride him. Then he is really good!”
I was fired.
And I learned a very valuable lesson from that experience.
BUYER BEWARE.
This truth could never be more necessary than when dealing with a sale barn. I’m not talking about a trainer who has sale horses, competes, gives lessons, and has boarders. I’m talking about a full, sale only barn.
How many people have been to a true sale barn?
Not many. You’re not supposed to go. Sale barns function like the back lot at dealer-only car auctions; the general public isn’t supposed to see what the cars look like before detailing, or the original price (and subsequent inflation) of what is very likely to have been, a damaged good. Everyone from the horse owner, to the sale barn dealer, and even (and sometimes, especially) the trainer are in on the fix.
Which is precisely why they’re not public.
I’ve been to a few sale barns, and I always find a horse to buy, though not because they were cool - just simply because their fate was questionable. I’m not talking about slaughter. I’m talking about real prospects selling for more than they were worth and then getting pounded into the ground after being unable to perform at a level that justified the sell price.
A sale barn may have up to 100 horses on the property. Some nice, some average, and many dumpy and on their last chance for redemption. The horses come and go (I knew a sale barn that would fluctuate between 40 and 80 horses in a matter of weeks), and sale barn owners make money by cycling through horses as fast as possible.
Sale barns and trainers work together by figuring out “types” of horses a potential customer is looking for. Sometimes the horses will be sent to the trainer, other times, the trainer will go to the sale barn and try out the “types” and then take a few back. Horse prices are entirely dependent on spenders. Most horses are consignment. If there is a buyer with $80,000 to spend, you bet your ass the trainer is going to find a handful of $80,000-$90,000 horses for sale.
Once at a sale barn, I met a gorgeous warmblood - Hanovarian. He was chestnut, 18 hands, and big in every way. The barn was dark with no turnout. This guy looked like he hadn’t been out his stall in three weeks.
There was virtually no history on this horse. Oh, aside from the HUGE SCAR his back leg. And no details about that. Just full of proud flesh. But I believed it when I heard 4′9″ jumpers, injury, then layup. And no one knew how long he had been out of work.
When I showed interest (”Hey, he’s cool.”), immediately, an exercise rider hoped on and pointed him at a 4′9″ fence. No warmup.
He jumped it. And five others. It wasn’t pretty, and it didn’t look easy for him. And it was very sad.
I wanted to buy him. Though as much as I liked him, and felt bad for him, and thought he would be fun, I’m not in the business of buying a horse that I can’t afford to care for. Knowing he had a severe injury and NOT knowing details of ANYTHING, I didn’t want to set myself up for a horse with tens of thousands of dollars in vet bills over a few short years.
They wanted $65,000. By the time I walked out the door, it was $7,500.
Is the sale barn at fault for the business practices in which they partake? Not entirely. One section of the industry shouldn’t take blame for all the unethical dealings. That said, sale barns, are shady. I would question any transaction that happens with a sale barn. I’m not saying they always have bad horses or horses with issues, but most often every horse is sold under the guise of something it’s not.
And everyone wants a piece of the cut.
Going back to my experience in the 80’s, the eye opening part was the woman who purchased the crazy jumper also brought her own trainer with her - who was well aware of the horse’s drug habit.
But that’s just all part of the game. Everyone is looking out for #1, and the ones getting hurt are the horses and innocent buyers.
But even veteran buyers can get caught up in a purchasing game. The reality is, even long-time horse people may not be aware of all the dirty little secrets hiding behind every corner of every barn.
So if a bad deal goes down, is it the buyer’s fault?
At many points in my life, I thought it was. I assumed ignorance was not a defense for unwittingly getting screwed. But should all people assume they are getting screwed at all times?
In the horse world, realistically, yes, I think so.
In part three, we’ll talk about horse pricing issues and more predating trainers.
5 Responses to “How Much Will You Pay? Part Two”
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February 1st, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Oh man. Nice article! Sale barns are weird. The barn I’m at right now is technically a sale barn because everything in the barn is for sale–just not everything is ever going to get sold. Mainly because the trainer doesn’t believe in hiding anything and she’ll tell a person straight up “this horse is nice but he’s going to need hock injections every 6 months for the rest of his life” or “that one’s pretty but it’s not quite broke yet.” Usually she won’t sell a horse unless it’s going to stay in her barn where she can watch it.
A lot of beginners go to a sale barn to get a horse because it’s logical–want to buy a horse? go to the place where they are selling them. I honestly don’t think beginner riders should buy horses at all because they haven’t been around long enough to tell the difference between the bad horse people and the good horse people. Also, a lot of beginners don’t know how to ride. They know how to sit on a nice horse and have it pack them around, but they don’t know how to handle a buck or a rear or a spook–you know, the things that usually happen when you’re riding alone. I think beginners should start out on the nice horses and, once their seat and leg and hands are pretty solid, they should be put on a more challenging horse and taught how to ride for real. I think that, if you’re too scared to ride a horse that bucks or rears, you should just quit. Take up golf or tennis or some other sport where you’re probably not going to get hurt. Horses are big animals. They can’t be expected to act like machines. A lot of beginners will buy a horse and everything will be fine until one days it bucks them off and then they get hysterical and never ride again and the poor horse just rots in it’s stall.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
There is a sale barn in NJ, very popular amongst the lower level lesson barns in the area. Talk about a sad bunch of homely looking horses. Some had been drop off due to owners losing their jobs, going to school. Most had been dropped off due to injury, that of course was never discussed but only made apparent after the sale.
I begged a friend of mine to have a horse from this barn vetted before she and her mom went along with the purchase. He was a beautiful beast, stood close to 17 hands and jet black. Also so one sided I thought he might fall over asking to change bend. They purchase him without a vet check and he begins to show signs of intermittent lameness. Sometimes after lessons, sometimes out of the blue. All these months later she gets to a more reputable barn where the trainer insists the horse be vetted. The horse had navicular in every foot and was humanely euthanized. What a terrible way to have to remember your first horse. And what’s worse is there are MANY more barns out there like this in full operation making tons of bucks off of the misguided innocence of newbies…
To anyone in the SE pa/Nj area, if you would like to be warned of this barn email me for the name and I will give it to you. I’ll tell as many people as I can to STAY clear of this place.
February 17th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Good article…this type of information doesn’t get out to the newbies in our sport because it would scare them off and they’d never feel “safe” enough to take that next step and buy their own horse. I have worked for sale barns in the past…learned to keep my mouth shut, smile & just ride the horse. It’s ugly what even good horse people and quality stables do and say to make a buck. Buying a horse is an emotional purchase and it can be easy to take advantage of someone in that situation. Unfortunately, it seems like the status quo in the horse world to screw people over. You’re not gonna read an article about it in Horse & Rider or The Chronicle thats for sure…buyer beware!
February 20th, 2009 at 12:33 am
First time reader…. stumbled across the Arabian racism article from google.
I love your writing- keep up the good work. I love adding new pages to my Google Reader!
M
February 27th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Just stumbled across your site and subsequently these articles. My dream is to one day offer a small boarding/training business that is based upon Honesty. Why? Because it’s so hard to come by in the horse world. After a few less-than-honest experiences, I was fortunate enough when a teen/young adult to be able to board and train at a facility run by some of the straightest arrows the horse world has ever seen. I felt like a stranger in a strange land, but I loved it!
Regarding sales and honesty, I now find myself looking to buy a horse this year. I’ve not really searched too much, but the nicest horses I’ve located are not ones that I found on my own, but are ones that were presented to me by sellers who just want an honest buyer. Sure, there’s tons of dishonesty being generated on the seller’s end, but there’s also tons of dishonesty on the buyer’s end as well. I’ve been a victim of this sort of dishonesty in the past, and as a result have resigned myself to knowing that I likely lost two horses I sold to the most unhappy end. Anyhow, so at the moment I have some wonderful prospects to consider, way nicer than I would find on the open market, being offered to me. These sellers are just so burnt out by the negative side of the sale process that they are enthusiastic to sell to someone like myself.. probably less of a heavy hitter than they would otherwise would reel in with their youngstock. Buyer Beware AND Seller Beware.
I’m enjoying your site!