Sale of Andalusian Horses - Spanish PRE Horse Exports - since 2001

What Prices are Based On

Often clients are some what puzzled regarding the value of our PRE – Pura Raza Española  – Andalusian horses and therefore it is useful to explain by what factors prices are influenced.

  • CORRECT CONFORMATION
  • QUALITY OF MOVEMENT
  • TYPINESS

These are qualities that the PRE horse should show in the eyes of the Spanish judges at the “Concursos Morfológicos” – the Conformation Shows for Pure Breed Spanish horses. The traditional movement of the PRE horse is upward and forward, and this more pronounced knee action has become  more  in demand  in  International FEI dressage lately .

Mares, stallions and youngstock  with an important show record can be very high priced as will those animals that have passed the second phase  of the breeding approval revision called  “Reproductór Calificado”.

As for types, you will find the true baroque horse is getting more difficult to locate as breeders focus more on producing the more modern type of horse of lighter build with forward reaching movement .

 

BLOODLINES

Bloodlines are obviously of influence on the requested price. Horses that carry the brand of  well known  stud farms or descend from famous ancestors  will have these factors reflected in their prices.

 

TRAINING LEVEL

As the Spanish Pure Breed  horse becomes a  more familiar sight  in the FEI dressage show ring ,  amateur riders from all over the world come  to Spain looking for a PRE horse  with an advanced training level . The comfortable movement of these horses, together with their intelligence and their outstanding temperaments, make them ideal for the not so young dressage rider , or for those riders that have lots of  obligations in their lives and can not afford to risk a spill!  Experienced riders are also very interested in purchasing top quality young horses with international competition potential – these horses are rare – just as rare as they are in other breeds.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find quality horses with advanced training and hence their prices are high.  The demand is much larger than the production. Training a horse is costly and time consuming ,therefore only the best quality horses will receive further training.  Many dressage introduced horses will get  already sold when they are at a medium level and young horses with FEI dressage movement will  often leave the country before they are broken in to saddle even.

 

HEIGHT

The average height of the Spanish Pure Breed – Andalusian  horse has

increased over recent years. Nowadays 16/16.1 h.(1.63/1.65 m.  is a common size  to be found.  PRE horses have a wide girth, which implies that their bodies take up the length of the rider’s leg and therefore even if these horses do not reach the height of the  warmblood breeds, tall  adult riders  will feel comfortable on them. Horses measuring over 16.3 h. – 1.70 m.  are still an exception. Breeders will  always price the taller horses at a higher level,

 

COLOUR

The coat colour can  also  be of considerable  influence on the price. Although some  breeders have taken to produce black stock, top quality black mares and stallions are few available, and  thus they are higher priced. Over the past years  horses with diluted  colours  have become fashionable mainly for breeding purposes.  The few quality  Pure Bred Spanish adult  buckskins, cremellos and  the odd perlino , are often being sold at exclusive   prices although nowadays they are  more reasonably priced  than some time ago as there are more available . Chestnut coloured horses are rare and the demand  obviously pushes  their prices up too  specially of chestnut mares as they are being used to produce diluted offspring.

 

MARES

Besides a few exceptions mares are not ridden in Spain and are  being used almost exclusively for breeding.  Quality broodmares, or those with special bloodlines or colours, can be just as expensive as –  if not more expensive than –  their male counterparts,.  Fillies with exceptional characteristics – colour, conformation, movement or bloodlines – can fetch  extremely high prices.

The influence of the dam  on the foal is dominant in this breed.  Therefore a Stud farm in Spanish is called “ Yeguada “ which reflect the recognized importance of the mare on the offspring. Mares that do not have specific characteristics can be obtained at reasonable prices.

 

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

The recent complicated  situation of the Spanish economy, now fortunately succeding a recovery, obviously has had influence on the pricing. Modest quality horses have been sold for low prices  or even sent for slaughter. Due to their main businesses encountering problems as a result of the economic crisis, many  gentleman breeders, who represented  perhaps 95% of the total of Spanish breeders, have either stopped breeding or have  reduced their stock and production  and are not investing in the training of horses. The number of Spanish amateur riders that can afford keeping horses , has reduced considerably , hence  finding healthy well trained true to type general purpose riding horses at an age of 5 – 8 years is very complicated nowadays.

The search for quality horses, well bred, well raised, correctly started or with  advanced  training  is becoming a frustrating and time consuming task for  brokers and potential buyers.  Finding horses that fulfill clients’ expectations is more difficult than ever now. Prices are possibly more realistic nowadays than they used to be ten years ago, but like when you are buying clothes, a car, or a property , good  quality  always has a related price tag to it.

Keeping a horse in training costs approx. 6000 euros a year if the owner keeps the horse at his own facilities – even more if one sends it for training to a professional rider, which is often the case  nowadays as most breeders do not employ riders anymore.  Also competing is very expensive in Spain.  Remember that when even calculating the price of a new born foal, this should reflect the investments made in the purchase of the mare and stallion (or the purchase of semen ) , feeding the mare for  a full year, vet’s expenses , staff , facilities, electricity , water, insurance , loss of income from foals that do not get born healthy, etc

So, keeping this in mind, if you are looking to purchase a top quality Spanish horse, instead of believing that prices have dropped to their lowest level ever after the economic crisis, perhaps you should consider paying more than you were initially considering because you are going to buy a rare commodity!

 

×

Hello!

Click below to chat on WhatsApp

× How can I help you?