My friend is considering selling her mare. She is NOT SOUND, 15 yo, 14.2, AQHA.
She is super well bred, like WP royalty. She has minor arthritis, super small feet, contracted heels (hasn't worn shoes in years), and some sort of on-off lameness in her right front (there some days but not all). Xrayed pre-purchase, vet has no specific reason for unsoundness, not visible injury or rotation etc.
Mare has had 3 nice babies, all futurity and all showing national level and congress.
The thing she does have going for her is endless sweetness and level of training.. She is an awesome kids horse, you can put any beginner on her and she will just loaf along. You can really trust her around little ones. We put our 5 and 6 year olds on her and let them jog around.
My friend is considering selling her, but wonders about price. In my area she is worth $500 at this time. But as high end breeding stock, is she worth more in your area?
Amazing Grace2015-02-21T12:15:40Z
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In the Houston area a horse that is a stone broke babysitter is worth a good bit and one that might produce a good foal is worth more. The mare's soundness issues will be a problem as it most surely means vet visits but if someone wanted one good foal from her they would be taking her to the vet anyway.
When people come to me asking what a good kid horse goes for I always ask them what their children's lives are worth. $1200 seems to be the magic number. Many of these horses are older and not real sound.
East of Houston the economy is not so good as West Houston, but a true child packer is a pearl of great price.
Sell too cheep and you may not get her a home where she will be well cared for, too high and you will feed her till she dies.
I would get some pictures of this horse packing the kids and advertise her as a beginner's first horse and admit right up front that she can't pack any real weight.
By the time the "kids" are bold enough to want to go fast she will need a new baby to sit :))
I would provide the new owners with a folder with her vet history in it.
Small feet, premature arthritis, contracted heels, and nonspecific lameness? All potentially heritable problems. I wouldn't breed her, no matter the bloodlines. No one responsible would. There's a good chance her offspring may suffer from some of the same issues down the road. It's one thing if the horse is unsound to ride due to injury, but still sound enough to carry a foal. This is something else entirely.
In my area, she would be difficult to give away. This is a ranching area, people have no use for a horse that isn't sound, and there's no shortage of affordable sound and sane horses on the market here.
She's a bit old to breed, you might get one or two more foals although I would if she isn't sound.
While some of these conditions could be enviromental, I wouldn't breed her in case she passes it along. She's still on the young side to have so many problems.
As a kids horse... Well, most people would buy a pony for someone light enough to ride this horse (anyone heavy at all could screw over her legs and joints even more).
She would probably sell best as a companion horse, or a paddock ordamen, especially to someone with kids. If shes friendly with everyone and thing, she should sell.
Here in Aus, she'd go somewhere between free and $500.
She wouldn't be worth anything - as it is there's already so many younger, sound and healthy homes that go for little to nothing. For breeding having had other foals she's definitely not too old but a concern is that the poor feet and soundness issues could be passed on despite her breeding. There is also a question of whether with bad feet putting her in foal would really be fair and causing her more strain on bad feet. Really if your friend is able to keep her, then she should allow her to retire comfortably because otherwise this poor mare will only end up in one place.
Not to old to breed but with those problems I wouldn't breed her and with age breeding has even more risks. She could make a companion pony but at some point those problems she has may need medical attention. And who would pay out lots on vet bills for a horse that stands in a field? How sound is she to ride/how long would it last?