$300 horse?

Question

ok we found a 14 month old stud colt for $300. he is half arabian half morgan. he cant be registered. should we still buy him?

i have pictures of him and he loos great. there doesent LOOK like there is anything wrong with him. they say he is gentle. Yes i have trained babys nad my husband trains big horses. im just worried about the whole stud thing.

we are getting him and we will geld him.

Answer 1

There are several reasons why he is cheap:
1. He is young. Yearling horses are a dime a dozen because you have to wait a long time before you can really start to work with him, especially part Arabians because they mature late. I don't start riding Arabs until they are 3, unless they are part stock horse.
2. He's unregistered, which greatly decreases his value.
3. He's still a stud, which needs to be rectified. Gelding doesn't cost that much.
4. Market value is horrible due to the decreasing amount of horse slaughter in the US.

If you are okay with these things, and he has correct conformation, the right personality, no major problems and is what you're looking for, then go get him. There's nothing wrong with unregistered horses, especially geldings because all you can do is ride them anyway. I have an unregistered filly out of a 3/4 Arabian 1/4 Pony mare and by a Paint stallion, and I wouldn't trade her for the world. She has an excellent personality and has the best of the both worlds as far as Arabs and Paints go. I don't know if I'll ever breed her, if I do it will be to Arabian stallions (partially so that the foals are registerable, and partially because I think she'd make a great mate with an Arabian and Arabians are what I plan on dealing with the most anyway). If the only thing holding you back is registration papers, then just go for it. As they say, "you don't ride the papers".

Answer 2

First right now it is winter and the prices for unregistered cross breed horses is dropping because the owners don't want to feed them through out the winter. Second the best horse we have is not registered and we got him for $350 at a sale worked with him for a few months and now he is great. Third as far as the stud thing goes most studs don't have the urges until they are around 2 so you still have plenty of time to get him gelded before it would cause any problems if this is what you choose to do. Right now we have a 2 yo stud colt and a 15 month old stud colt they are together in the same pasture with no problems but the one is scheduled to be cut next week just to prevent any problems in the future. As far as the papers go they don't matter. Unless you are going to use it for breeding because it isn't like you can ride a set of papers.

Answer 3

The first thing you need to ask is WHY he is only $300. The horse market is flooded so they may not be able to sell him...or he could have been for sale for a long time and has a huge fault that no one else would want to deal with (whether conformation or personality). 14 months and still not gelded...iffy to me, whether they were planning on keeping him as a stud or otherwise they may have forgot about him. Have they worked with him at all?How is his conformation?
Yearling stud colts can be very unmanageable- just like a teenage boy- they think they are all that and need a lot of discipline- are you ok to handle that? It may or may not go away after he is gelded.
As for not being registered, that is no problem. If you do like his personality, and think his conformation faults are ok for what you are doing, I would go for it. We have a horse we got cheap because he toes in pretty bad on one of his back legs- it does not affect his movement at all, and all my sister shows is riding classes.
One other thing- have you trained babies before and know how to work with them? Don't just buy him because he is cheap. Training a baby with or without background training is a LOT different than training a socialized 2 yr old or just riding a horse around.
If you do get him, get him gelded ASAP.

Answer 4

So, he can't be registered (he COULD if his Arab parent was registered - he could be registered as a Morab if both parents were registered) but why does this matter if you are not breeding him? And if you are not breeding him, why don't you geld him? The only reason to have a stallion is if you plan to breed.
What do you want this horse for? In Georgia, sale prices are so low you can get a broke adult horse for that price. Unregistered colts go for about $100. If you want him and you think he's worth it, get him. But you could get a better deal at a livestock sale. And if the stud thing bothers you - like I said - have him gelded.

Answer 5

Well he is still pretty young. You could geld him. Before you buy him vet check him. It is well worth the money. You want a sound horse- not a vet bill (considering he is only $300 there very well might be something wrong with him). If he passes the vet check sometimes owners will let you take their horse on a week trial. Don't keep him a stud if you buy him. Studs are a HUGE handful.

Answer 6

In my area the horse market is down severely so alot of higher quality horses are being sold at rock bottom prices just to move them along. If you are comfortable with his conformation, personality and looks, I would say why not. Studs are what you make them. If you handle him and expect him to behave and respect you, he will be calmer. I have ridden a Friesian stud in the arena with mares. That same stallion was used in a therapy program (for specific very riders, but was a perfect gentleman the whole time). I have ridden with many studs that have acted the consummate gentleman the whole time, because they were handled like horses, not like ticking time bombs. I have however seen many unruly, unmanagable, out of control studs who may have been hard to handle, but who's fearful owners did nothing to help them. Ideally, though, he should be gelded as he is (as you said) not registerable and unless you know what lineage he came from, he should not be bred. If you are uncomfortable with his stud status, you should definately have him gelded. Best of luck with him, or which ever horse you end up getting...

Answer 7

Go look him over once or twice get a vet to look him overteeth feet everything. Insist on leading him alone, by this i mean away fron sight n sound of owners cause horses act differently with various ppl. You can still breed him to your own mares for pleasure, to registered mares whose registries allow 1/2 registration when the sire is of unknown pedigree. If breeding isn't in the plans have him gelded or if you like studs as i do keep him a stud. I have a 2 1/2 yr old saddlebred/paint stallion unregistered whom i am leaving a stud. I have a 13yr old arab mare unregistered due to being sold to all the wrong ppl thru her life. I will breed the 2 of them just for me then will breed her to sumthin registered so i can register the foal as half. No big deal to me. They are both rescues but have great lines, confirmation, personality. Sumtyms the best horses are the one with unknown parentage or the heinz-57 type(muts). Its all about what you want.

Answer 8

If you are worried about the stud thing horses are generally gelded at 18 months (I think?) , and they can be afterwards, so that is fine and I highly highly recommend you geld him. Stallions are pains... and 99% impossible to make $ off of. I believe you have to have a stud fee of $1000 to start making any sort of business out of it. Anyway, I would go visit him and start looking at his personality. At 14 months it can still be molded, but someone should have done his ground manners and begun preparing him to be started at two or three. If you don't care about registering, that's a plus too. And if you can train him (be careful with this!) $300 is a pretty good deal, or you could send him to a professional for a month to get him started. (That would cost $500 - 800 most likely) And his looks are nice... well, buying him is up to you but unless he has a miserable attitude it sounds like a pretty good deal.

Answer 9

DO NOT do it unless you know what you are looking for, if you are buying a stud then you better be sure you can handle a sexually challenged teegager who will weigh more then you and your husband put together. I love working with studs alone, but they are NOT easy.
and if he is 300 then he obviously is no super star, and the only reason to breed a horse is if he IS a superstar
if you buy this horse you better geld him

Answer 10

If you have experience with training babies get him and have him gleded.
Since he is not papered geld him if you want to make a riding horse out of him.
Arab and morgan would be an interesting combination.