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Sporty project pony, name your price!

2K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  IslandWave 
#1 ·
M'kay, so I am jumping the gun a bit here, but I just couldn't resist any longer. I want your advice!

I'm located in the midwest US and have a lovely project pony. She sticks at 14.1hh and is a grade Morgan/QH. I do no know her actual age, but her teeth seem to say 8. I bought her in early February and have been training her fairly sporadically due to winter/riding other priority horses/her getting double barreled in the shoulder. Anywho, she was a backyard western pony and her main issue when I bought her was that she would invert her head and run her owner back to the barn. No buck, no rear. Just an inverted head.

Now she goes on the bit w/t and her only resistance is minor head tossing. She is a very smart pony and has been trying to outsmart me. Unfortunately for her, she has been failing at that. As for her canter, I really believe that she only knew whoa and GORUNAT FULL SPEED, so I'm trying to help her to figure out her balance. The canter needs work, but improves daily. It's still a bit rushy, but even so it is super smooth to sit to. She leg yields in the walk and trot, has a good whoa, turns on the forehand, rein back, and is learning counter flexion.

She loads and bathes and ties (solid or cross-ties). Lunges in a halter or in a bridle and also side reins (sliding side reins or ones with rubber doughnuts). Sweet personality, super people/kid-friendly, easy to catch (ten-year-old can catch her in a 30 acre field), gets along well in a herd of a dozen mares. Goes best in front shoes.

What would she be worth right now?

These are the things I plan to acomplish with her this summer:
Get her comfortable with clippers.
Go on a couple off-property trail rides.
Bareback rides.
Have some of the barn kids ride her.
Teach her to jump (trot poles at cross rails at the very least).
Get her going solidly w/t/c, working from back to front.
Take her to a schooling show and do some dressage and jumping classes.

What would she be worth after all of that?

I really do think that a kid or adult with short legs like me could have a blast with her and just do various activities or focus on one specific discipline and be competitive at it. My trainer thinks that she will excel as a child's dressage pony and my farrier thinks she could be a top notch hunter pony.

I hope to get some sale photos and video of her and put an ad up at the end of this month.

Here is the only confo shot I have of her which was taken the day after I brought her home. Ew. Don't worry, she has a sleek summer coat now and I pulled her mane. :-p
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/orca_princess22/horses/FHF/project6.jpg
 
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#5 ·
IW, if you start jumping, she's kid-friendly, and you put some shows under her belt I'd say you can look into $5K around here.
 
#6 ·
It's honestly all about location. Where I am now she would be worth about 6,000-8,000, where I lived before you'd be lucky to get 2K out of her. I'm not joking.

But she seems like a really nice horse, I would just compare her to similar horses in the area. The fact she's tiny might lower the price b/c you're mostly going to be advertising her for children or small adults.
 
#9 ·
I wouldn't pay more then 1,000 for her right now. Most Morgan's and Morgan crosses are going to have too much knee action to be a pony hunter. She may be unusual and not have much knee action but we would need to see a video to see that, and we would also need to see her jump as well.
Good luck with her, she needs a show record (in the hunters if that's what your aiming for) before she will be worth much.
 
#12 ·
I wouldn't pay more then 1,000 for her right now. Most Morgan's and Morgan crosses are going to have too much knee action to be a pony hunter. She may be unusual and not have much knee action but we would need to see a video to see that, and we would also need to see her jump as well.
Yeah, she really does not have much knee action at all.

I will definitely update this when I am able to get real conformation photos and an undersaddle video.

Keep the critiques coming! I appreciate them. :)
 
#11 ·
I have a similar project pony so I am really interested in what people have to say.

The market is so bad right now, it is hard to say. In better times I would say $5000 after her canter is solid, goes over small jumps calmly and has show exposure. Right now, probably less. Her conformation is not that stellar for what you are looking to do with her. Not to say her conformation is horrible it is not, but there is nothing about her that jumps out at me and says 'Wow look at that nice _____'.
 
#13 ·
I do not see her as a hunter pony; based on her shoulder and on her breeding I'm guessing she'll move with some knee action and also may have trouble getting the striding.

I think what you have here is a solid all around prospect - something a kid could do 4 -H, Pony Club, local schooling shows, etc. If she shows good form over fences, possibly an event prospect.

Don't know about your part of the country, in my area, you'd have trouble selling her at all without more finishing as the market is so poor. Once she is stable at all three gaits, trail riding reliably and can jump a small course safely, she's be between $2500 - 4500.
 
#15 ·
So Sadie's now jumping crossrails and small grids. Her canter is improving by leaps and bounds, I've hacked her out around the property bareback and she went on her first off property trail ride today and was perfect. I'm pleased as punch with her. :D

I wanted to add on a couple updated confo shots. I've really only been working with her sporadically since we've had a busy show season plus clinics and camps.


 
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