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How Much Do Ponys Cost
 By Saferaphus
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16th May 2016 •
967 views
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1 comments
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When I was little I wanted a palomino pony. I asked my mom how much that would be and she told me $200. That seemed like a huge amount, but I was determined to save all my birthday money, check under the sofa cushions frequently and even return soft drink bottles I had found. A kid in the country has a limited opportunity for raising funds, so I did what I could. Eventually, I did get a palomino pony, and although I don’t remember exactly how, I suspect the purchase was heavily subsidized by my parents. Oddly, there being some decades between that time and now, ponies can still be bought for $200 or even less. It just might not be the type of pony you would want to let your kid loose with.
So just how much do horses or ponies cost? Most of the time, the answer will start with ‘it depends’. There are a lot of variables when it comes to buying kid's ponies. And, I’ve said this before, as many of you have: the purchase price of a horse is only the tip of the iceberg. One of the most popular horse-related keyword searches are variations of ‘how to get a free horse’ or ‘how to buy a cheap horse’. Getting your kid a free horse or pony is great. But, are you prepared should that animal need $1500 worth of veterinary care shortly after you get it? It probably won’t happen, but you need to think longer term when it comes to horse expenses, and not just about the initial purchase price.
Just because a pony is smaller than a horse, doesn’t mean that it will have a correspondingly lower price tag. The price will be affected by the breeding, age, size, training and behaviour of the pony. A plodding old saint for a rider not much more than a toddler might be found for around $500. These ponies are actually worth their weight in gold, but not a lot of people have that much gold lying around and we all know it. It’s also possible to find an untrained menace of a pony for about that much (or less) too. There are kids that love untrained menaces and these are probably future event and endurance riders. But less bold young riders that may be put off a pony like this. So it’s worth buying these young riders something they can be more confident on and that may require a few more dollars.
For around $1000 or $1500 you’ll probably find a reasonably well trained, well behaved pony. It might not have auto-changes in the hunter ring, or be perfectly honest out on a small cross country course, but you’re not going to feel scared putting your kid on it either. Ponies in this price range probably aren't going to be flawlessly beautiful, or be exquisite movers either. But in this range you will probably find something sane and reasonably sound.
Ponies in the $5000 range probably have more show ring experience and those auto-changes are in place. These ponies are likely to come with all of their paperwork, including passports, breed registrations and other records in order. They may be doing things like prelim dressage or recognized shows. These ponies are usually in the upper end of pony height, and probably jumping around 3 ft or more.
There are lots of ponies $10,000 and up. These are not going to the local fair, but are probably being shown in FEI competition and their riders are moving up, either because they’ve outgrown the pony, or the level of competition, especially over jumps that may be over the pony’s physical capabilities. It certainly isn’t necessary to buy a pony this expensive, but if you can afford it, they are out there. I wouldn’t close my mind to less expensive ponies, even if my bank account could recover quickly after such a purchase.
Of course, there are lots of exceptions. There are ponies that are over-priced and ones that are undiscovered gems that sell for a song that are worth far more than anyone could afford. So there’s no such thing as an average pony price. It really all depends. What do you think? |
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Valkyrie
 MOD
I think it all depends on location and time of year really. Here in NZ it's going into winter so loads of people are trying to get rid of perfectly good horses for cheap because they can't afford to feed a large amount of equines over the winter months.
I think it all depends on location and time of year really. Here in NZ it's going into winter so loads of people are trying to get rid of perfectly good horses for cheap because they can't afford to feed a large amount of equines over the winter months.
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May 16, 2016
• 1,012 views
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