How much for this friesian?

I have a boarder who bought this Friesian mare a year ago for $8000. She is 18 and has had a few baby's.

When I got the mare in, I lunged her and she was dead lame in her right stifle. We had her x-rayed and she has bone spurs and obviously can't be ridden anymore.

From what I understand she has good breeding... Perhaps she could have another baby.

Anyway.. this lady would like to get a horse she could ride and was thinking about donating her to a light therapy program but there is a lady and my husband's work that is obsessed with friesians and has a place for a horse but doesn't ride at all.

What do you think would be a fair asking price?

If the lady your husband works with is offering a "forever" home being nothing more then a pasture pet, that would be my choice if I was giving her away. With no more use then being a pet, I can't see that she has any real value. A therapeutic horse needs a certain temperament and even then, will be put to work which will cause some pain.

No matter who gets the horse, I would not give up the papers or ownership just in case there is a problem with the facility. I would do it as a free lease so if I ever decided to breed her (assuming it will not cause her any discomfort), I still can.

Her owner is hoping to sell her as a breeding animal. If this lady buys her she would breed her to get another freisian for herself.

If she is breed sound and has good lines she could still fetch a few thousand. She still has a few foal bearing years on her.

Well she isn't going to get her 8k back but depending on her bloodlines and quality she could still get quite a bit for her.

I would sell her, if possible, depending on your local market. She could even earn someone else a profit (if she becomes a broodmare.) If the woman who wants her is willing to pay, then great.

Yeah... she knows she won't get $8k back out of her. I feel really bad for her! So is $2500 a fair asking price?

I think a fair price would be anything above $0, especially for the buyer because it's either 1.) give her away, or 2.) sell her.

I would see what the buyer could afford, or is willing to pay. I would probably price her around $5k, IF she has supreme bloodlines, and IF the buyer could afford it.

I know many people would be comfortable breeding a mare at her age, but myself, I stop at 15, 16 if there's a buyer request, just because our broodmares are horses we ride and work, and are at their prime for working on the ranch here.

We have 2 stallions and 14 broodmares. We breed 5-7 a year, hoping to get 4 colts.

It sucks that she's lame, but it'd be awesome to get her a forever home. That alone would lower her price to that lady because I would know she wasn't going to push her through some kind of intense pressure to train for something and sell her for a profit. And especially so if she's wanting a baby for herself and not to make a dime.

I took to long to edit that last post.

I wanted to add that if the seller doesn't care if the new owner breeds her, to ask her price, and sell her for what ever she wanted. But again, if she were mine, and I was taking such a loss on her, I would make stipulations the other lady had to follow.

I would ask, say, 5k. If the lady couldn't afford it, I would drop the price to what she could agree on, but not sell her with papers. If the buyer wants to breed a colt to keep for herself, fine, she can have an unregistered colt, and if she wanted him registered, to contact me, I would give her information to the stallion owner, and registration could be arranged, but for a fee. But based on the fact you said that the buyer doesn't ride, she probably wouldn't care if the horse had papers or not.

This is the way we do our border collie pups, to prevent irresponsible breeding and to preserve the quality of our bloodlines. Such care should be taken with a breed such as the Friesian.

Breeding an 18 year old Friesian mare can be risky. I know a lot of times they'll have problems. Just be sure she hasn't in the past had problems foaling. I have seen it all too often. People putting thousands of dollars into stud fees to older mares only to have the mare lose the foal two or three years in a row. Each time making it hard for the next round.

Also, what are her lines? Is she a ster mare? Model mare? Anything? Do you have her papers? Can you look at her papers?

I think her price is going to depend on her lines and her previous foals. How did her previous foals do at keurings? Any of them make ster? Any of them do well?

Also would you want to breed a dead lame mare who is old and sore? I know I wouldn't. That's just me though. If you want a Friesian save your money, wait till next fall. Grab a colt or a filly from the Friesian Connections for 5k when they do their Open House. I wish I had, but just didn't have the money at the time.