Beware venting.... I guess buying a horse right now is kinda like buying a house. You have $$ to spend but have to get in line to buy/out bid others. What's the deal? I'm am so tired of missing out on horses and some I'm finding out are over priced for what they are. Guess I'll save my money till the economy crashes.

Your post made me chuckle. I have been watching truck prices keep going up, horse trailers, etc.  They are saying it's not looking any better for 2022 either.  Horse prices - all over the place.  If your shopping, you look.  Think the horse is over priced, make an offer or ask of the seller is negotiable.  And then continue to be frustrated.  I think shopping for anything can be frustrating.  The current market for just about anything seems to be out of control right now.  

I think there's still some deals out there, just hard to find. My friend just picked up a nice granddaughter of FDD, 1/2D that has been hotrodded in every class at fun shows by a kid the last year. She was $6k and already doing a ton better just going back to basics & decompressing for a month. Cruised through really nice the other day at probably a 4D speed. She was never advertised, just found her from a random "kicking around the idea of selling...." fb post a friend of a friend shared. A couple had looked and liked her, but walked away the minute they saw she had paint papers, she by Awesome Chrome out of a daughter of Judys Lineage. Not a bad bred horse, had she been running properly still in the 1/2D her price would be severalx that, but these people also didn't know what they had.

I've seen a few others pick up nice prospects for what I call "normal" prices, I've seen Epic Leader babies runnign the pattern get no interest at $20k and yearlings get $20k no problem. It's all over the map still for whats selling for what, no consistency in anything. And I've seen babies lately bred nice, where theyre by the same stud and the mares are fairly equal as far as bloodlines go, who one is half the price of the other. I also think that prices were low for awhile, and we got used to that. Generally a 1D horse where I'm at has always been within $15-25K, depending on maintenance needs. And now it's $20-30K, which I still don't think is unreasonable. But when we get used to low prices, and they go up like they have, it seems like they've gone up more. And I think a lot of that has to do with incentives, if you've got a foal that is eligible for a bunch of them you've gotta charge more to pay for those. And studs have to charge more bc they have to pay thousands extra each year, per incentive. So the value is going to go up anyway just from that, I think a lot of the market is being driven up to cover incentive costs. Even if the economy took a downturn, which it really is right now anyway, I'm not sure the horse market would calm down a ton. It's great if you're selling though, I'm sure they don't want it to change 

I've been eyeing a couple "dream trucks" at the lot I drive by going to work. Just drooling, I could never afford a vehichle payment anytime soon. BUT, I did notice today that the 2 I've been drooling over most were $8,000 cheaper today on the tag. So maybe things are changing. The Ford lot still has a HArley Davidson edition with a tage of $109,000 on it though, idk who in their right mind would pay that for a truck 

I am always keeping an eye on the market.  Horses, trucks, trailers, whatever. I am just a data person and like to watch the market.  I am looking at used trucks going for what the trucks cost new or even more than what the truck cost new. . absolutely NUTS! So, I continue to monitor the market.

I agree with your pricing aspect regarding incentives on the horses.  That does factor into things.  Of course, once you are competing and getting those incentive checks, those fees can pay for themself.  I don't see where stallion owners ever really recover their expenses they put into all of those incentives though. 

It's wild. We had to purchase a new (to us) truck in December. Not a few months later my husband was driving it through a dealership looking for a work truck for his business. They came out and offered him $5,000 more than we paid for it, which we thought we paid plenty because prices were sky high back in December too. He turned them down because it was hard enough to find a truck the way it was. Didn't want to go shopping again lol!

It will be interesting what happens. . . it just doesn't feel like this can all sustain. Especially in the horse market with the drought we have had in the north. 

My hay guy just cut his 3rd cutting already. My area got an early start this year, hell even our corn is detasseled already, and may be able to even get 5 cuttings this year here in central IL. We're usually lucky for 4 cuts, usually just get 3. No cutting has been weedy or rough either, its a freakishly great year for hay so far. So I'm hoping other areas are having similar luck that can help out those areas in need. Hay prices here are still at the normal $4-6 for a 70lb square bale. It's about the only item that hasn't gone up, my particular brand of grain hasn't either so far unlike some others. At least the good is if the drought forces people to sell horses, they may end up fairly well off. I'd hate for that to force people to sell, but thank god the market is high and they'll get something rather than bottom dollar prices which I think would hurt worse. Hopefully everyone can recover from the drought and find a way

In February, on icey roads, we were hit head on by a youngster who couldn't handle his car.  Completely totaled our 2015 Ford F250 that was beautiful and paid for.  We struggled to find a truck for weeks and finally found one.  It was a 2021 F250 and priced at $61,000.  We had to bite the bullet and buy it, but ironically felt extremely lucky.  The trucks just aren't out there.  Even used ones are hard to find and very expensive.  

Everything is expensive........I dread to think what propane will be this winter.

I would do alot to pay for those hay prices! I am paying $18.5 a bale here in OR for gorgeous orchard grass. Grass and alfalfa is practically the same price around here now ??

5 years ago I was paying half of what I am now 

We just paid $6/bale for fabulous - and I mean fabulous - bermuda hay, big, tight and heavy bales. Picked up in the field. Price included producer loading it on our trailer and tying it down. 

I bought a colt off this site last month. I really was in the market for a 7-10 year old and didn't want a 3 year old but thats what I got. LOL This colt I would say is worth about 5k, he was advertised for 10K and bought for 8K. Just the market I guess. 

I've been a frustrated seller -- it's both sides that is frustrating! 

I had a filly for sale on this site, top lines, big correct girl ready to go on with. Priced her half of what one (same sire, similar mare lines) the same age that was 60 days under saddle and still only had tire kickers or lowball offers. Said filly is now 60 days under saddle and going to go back on the market as soon as I can get a video for much higher than she was priced at. Probably get the same response! 

I've had better luck purchasing through word of mouth than anything.  I bought a new head horse a couple of months ago.  Shopped until I was cross-eyed online, and everything was rediculously high and did NOT have the videos to back it up.  No, I will not give you $25K for your non-scoring, non-rating, running off POS just because he is "pretty".  

We called several friends to let them know we were in the market, and I wound up buying a very nice horse, under budget, from a friend of a friend.  The horse was never advertised for sale.

Be patient and put the word out that you are looking.

Our favorite banker, was telling me, he had a guy come in to get a loan to buy a used truck at $45k two years ago, the guy decided here a couple months ago that he wanted to refinance to lower the payment, the truck when he first bought it used blue booked at $48k and had set on the lot for about six months before he bought it and now it is blue booking over $65k. Our banker told us if we were going to buy anything right now for a vehicle that we need to buy new. Thank god we are not in the market for a truck, but I have been looking at trailers, since I am trying to get back in horses again after a year of no horses. 

Thanks to Biden policies. Including those 19 Rep. who joined hip with Biden/Democrats to vote yes on his pork wasteful spending 1 T Bill. Helping Pelosi to pass her out rageous 3.5 T. bill running all prices and taxes up more. Don't believe the not taxing anyone making less than $400,000. that is  a lie.

Thanks to Biden policies. Including those 19 Rep. who joined hip with Biden/Democrats to vote yes on his pork wasteful spending 1 T Bill. Helping Pelosi to pass her out rageous 3.5 T. bill running all prices and taxes up more. Don't believe the not taxing anyone making less than $400,000. that is  a lie. Saddle up for higher prices and more shortages.

Everything is higher under Biden. It is going to get worse the longer he is in office. Demcorts in Congress are passing  bills right and left transforming America. They will create even higher prices with all their COVID hype. Now we find the COVID vaccines we took don't work. Can't believe a word they tell us on COVID. Covid helped them take our voting rights away in 2020 and their going to continue to use COVID to keep taking our votng rights away. Why do you think they are pushing COVID so bad, MAIL IN Ballots due to Covid. Covid is really costing us a lot of money in looking at the shortages and prices on all things. I did get my 2 Covid vaccines and I do wear a mask. But I'm not buying their hype on Covid. 4 family members caught Covid and was like a bad cold. They did not take the vaccine. The recovered with no problems or side affects.

I have been searching for a gentle family safe horse for six months. I can't find anything in my area. With winter on its way it looks like I am sol until next year!