I'm possibly selling my tb mare, because I can't afford to keep her anymore. I'd be selling her as a broodmare, because she's had a foal before and I heard was a very good Mummy. She trailers, clips, bathes, and is good for vet and farrier. Everyone who comes in contact with her loves her, she's a people horse! 15 years old, good conformation, and was being used as a hunter horse for the past 3 years. Here's the catch: she comes with a lameness issue. She's been lame for over a month, no heat or swelling, she just goes lame when I start working her. Had the vet out and she did hock injections, but they haven't seemed to help much. Now I can ride her, but she starts to limp after about 15-20 minutes, and has trouble making sharp turns the next day. I have to sell her because it's not fair to keep her like this, and I cannot afford another vet bill!
I'd like to ask $2000 for her, because she has so many good points, and could possibly be rideable again with time (and money). Is this a good price? We bought her 3 years ago for $2400, and she was being sold as a brood mare/riding horse. Her previous owners hardly rode her, except for some little kids who took her out on trail rides, so she's come a long way.

I'd say 2000 is way too much for a horse that I can't ride or one that I would have to spend money for vet bills to maybe get her ridable. JMO of course and it also depends on your local market.

I'm inclined to agree, though I don't know where you are or how nice a broodmare she'd be. If you have any info on what her previous foal is doing, or photos of it, that would help. She has had one foal but is also 15, so some breeders may be more inclined to buy a nice racetrack reject for $500. Then again if she's really special conformationally and/or someone wants to trail ride (if she does) and not deal with bringing a horse down from racing, they may be willing to pay more. I've seen TB broodmares of her age advertised for $2000-$2500 but the 2 mares I'm thinking of were advertised again by the same owner the following year... That owner did not show any evidence that previous foals did well, or even looked nice, and she didn't do all she could to advertise well either. So if you can put together a really nice package of info and photos of her and the foal she had you may be OK in the $2000 range, but in my area I'd think $1000-$1500 would be an easier sell. Really tough to say without seeing the mare. Good luck though! Sounds like a heartbreaking situation.

It might not be too high of a price if she is really pretty, good confo and has some decent breeding. She might be appealing to WB breeders and/or AQHA/APHA/Appy breeders looking for TB mares to breed for HUS.

I tend to agree with the others on this one; 2000$ is a lot of money for a horse who may have to live her days relaxing in the pasture. Carrying a foal would be comparible to carrying a rider, so she may not even fly as a brood mare! I would drop your price a lot further...I know you paid alot for her when she was a few years younger, however, people aren't going to snatch her up at that price simply because she has some good points. There are tons of horses out there with good points AND are sound!
If she were mine I wouldn't be asking more than 800$ for her. Actually from a personal experience like yours, I placed a gelding I had in a new home rather than selling him. For one, no price could sell him anyway, and who ever took him was getting a horse with permanent lameness issues(navicular). Of course the lady who took him, had to sign a contract saying she would give the horse back should she not want him anymore; however, they absolutely adore him, so he will live out his days there!

IF she has well known good bloodlines and a show record or her offspring have a show record she may well be worth 2k even lame as a broodmare.

However, just an average mare with decient conformation but no real great records behind them...they are less than a dime a dozen with a lameness issue.

You can get a nice sound riding horse with some decient training for 2k.

If she's not something special that you can really market to a high quality breeding facility you are going to have to drop her price drastically IMO; how drastically depends on how quickly you want her to sell. This is especially true since you can't/don't want to pinpoint her lameness issue and cannot guarentee any sort of soundness.

In my area young TB broodmares can be had for 400 to 800.
With a lameness issue she is worth kill price or whatever above someone may pay.
No one will want to invest a lot of money into a lame horse of her age........

I agree that TB broodmares are generally relatively cheap and easy to come by. Recently a local dressage trainer moved south, and sold several of her TB broodmares for $1000 apiece, and they'd passed inspections for approval with a couple of warmblood organizations (KWPN and RPSI, maybe? Can't recall for sure), and had all produced approved offspring. And they were all either sound enough for riding, or had sustained known injuries. Granted, since she was moving, they were priced for a quick sale, but having them already inspected was a big bonus from a buyer's standpoint.

That being said, your particular mare or her offspring may well be spectacular enough to warrant $2000 or more, or your local market might be hotter, and support that price. Hard to say for certain. Might be worth asking a local professional if you think that's the case.

I agree with QHAllAround!!

As a breeder, I would consider buying a riding-lame broodmare on certain conditions; she would need to registered or approved, acceptable bloodlines, I'd need to see proof of her past foal, and have an exceptional conformation and disposition.
Because she's lame, she'll need to make up for it in other aspects. However, because of the current market, I'd say $2000 is a bit steep for a mare who can't be ridden (and I take it, she isn't approved with a sport/breed registry- other than JC?)

I don't know if she's registered w/a sport/breed or anything. All I have is jockey club registry. I've checked her pedigree online and was able to look at photos of grandsires and dams and so on; they all have beautiful conformation, and there are some triple crown and derby winners in her lineage. She was finally retired from racing at age 9! Not due to any injury either.
I'm going to ask my trainer about pricing, because she knows me and she knows my mare.
IMO I think $2000 is ok because the only bad thing is having to have someone look at her to determine why she keeps going lame. She's not dead lame, just when you start to trot for a while or canter or jump, she'll start limping, even though she wants to keep going!


side note: don't know what price horses are in other parts of the country, but here it's tough to find a good horse for less than $5000. I was very blessed to find 2 great horses for well under that, so I honestly don't think I'm asking too much. I just wanted some different opinons.

As a broodmare, I am going to hope that her lameness isn't hereditary and just physical or age. I wouldn't pay that much. I might pay $1000, if her pedigree and conform. was good and she was already bred to a stallion I thought very highly of. But I wouldn't even pay $1000, if she was good looking and open.
There is something terribly wrong with buying a horse for $500 and having to put $5000 in vet bills and supplements. If the horse can only be used for VERY light riding - $500. If she can't be ridden at all - less or try to see if you can retire her somewhere.

The canadian market is kind of slow. I agree, it is difficult to find a great horse for under $5000... I never have. But I personally wouldn't pay $2000 for an unapproved, lame mare (can't trot/canter). Anyways, I'm sure your mare is absolutely lovely, I was just giving you my opinion as a breeder of sport horses.

Tip: look for these sires in your mare's pedigree, it could help you sell her as a sport broodmare if she has any-> Rantzau, Cardinal, Ladykiller, Furioso, Pik As, Cottage Son, Der Lowe, Sacramento Song, Marlon, John u to Berry, Courville, PPrecipitation, Abgar, Orange Peel, Fra Diavolo, Ultimate, Rittersporn and Papayer.

Have you tried a chiropractor on her? The problem could be in her stifle or her pelvis. A good chiropractor can find problems vets can't. Also, was she trimmed just before she went lame? If too much sole was taken off it could cause her to be lame. It don't sound like she has been off for very long. She could become sound again.