The world we live in today as far as pricing horses is interesting....

I just want to give an example and hear your thoughts please. Are these horses priced appropriatly, why or why not.

Gelding between 7-10 years old

Flashy, by a very name brand stud OO a name brand mare

clocks bottom of 2D/top of 3D at larger shows

no issues/maintenance

Price $30,000

Gelding between 7 and 10 years old

cowbred

finished roper on both ends with a resume

competitive in the barrel pen, 1D local, in the 2D money at larger shows against tough 1D horses

no issues/maintenance

consistently out runs horse 1 when entered at the same events

price $20,000

Both are way beyond my price range. But only thing my extremely inexperienced eye sees is paying 10k more for a designer pedigree. If I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase, I'd probably go with #2,  I like cowbred horses myself. 

I'll nibble . . 

I have never considered buying a gelding since I am a breeder (on very limited acreage). However, I know what you're asking and my answer would be:

1.  Dream on. I don't care the names on papers with a gelding. The only thing that might make this gelding worth even half of the asking price would be if you could pack any kid on it and it would still be consistent.

2.  Probably a good deal. This horse has two skills and if it got stale on one can go do the other for a bit. Or it can be a husband/wife combo horse? Marketability would also favor the multi-skilled horse. Again, names on papers don't matter with a gelding so nbd if he doesn't have the same set and #1 horse. 

My answer could change with the addition of other information. 

Just remember when you buy a horse.  They are all going to die someday.  Someone is going to eat the value of that horse.

I think it really depends on the area you live in.  In my area:

Horse 1 is worth about $8-10K.  The fact he's a gelding with designer names is not helpful.  He's already running and is running 2D/3D.  The designer names would have only been beneficial as a prospect before he started having stats. If he was a mare you may be able to tack on an extra $5000 for a total price of between $13-15K but at 30K the ad would be ignored by most.   

Horse 2 would sell at that price.  Being able to rope and run barrels is huge. There would be a lot of interest in it and it would probably sell rather quickly.  

IMO.... horse #1 is over-priced for what he is.  The pedigree doesn't IMO add that much value since he is a gelding.  A pretty horse does get some value added, but better have skills/performance to back up the pretty. 

Horse #2 is priced reasonably -- has two desired skills.  Could probably get him bought for a little less than $20,000. 

Cool, so now that I have some of your answers in..and I think you all are on the same page as I..

Shouldn't a horse's performance (especially in the case of geldings) mean more than who their daddy is?

I understand people want to ride something that they are proud of (paper's wise) but does that justify $10,000 more?

I think sometimes we forget to evaluate individuals for what they are. 

At a race...if you knew nothing about either horse you'd only see that horse 2 was the more talented individual. You'd assume he was worth more than horse 1 based strictly off of performance. Prices often say otherwise.

This type of scenario is just one example of something I have begun to see more and more of. I just thought it would be interesting to dig a little deeper and get your opinions.  

I agree with you about a gelding’s performance being more important than his pedigree when placing a value on him. Unfortunately most potential buyers will be attracted to him and will tend to pay more.

It doesn’t make sense but I very rarely see a horse that can be roped on and run barrels bring a premium.

A horse is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. 

If you list a 2/3D horse for 30,000 and get your asking price then all the power to you 

I agree to that. Get what you can, I just was curious about potential buyers mentalitites on the subject.

Some people buy nice papered horses because they want to brag that they own a son of so and so and not so much because they want to win. Sometimes they want the slower horse too because they can ride it better than a 1D horse. So sometimes people aren't paying for the performance and all but for the ability to have bragging rights. It's kind of like wine honestly. There are a lot of really good wines for fairly affordable that people skip over because they would rather say they have such and such a vintage that's expensive. It's all about leaving a certain impression about their ability to keep up with the Joneses or even be the Joneses. Performance should trump pedigree on a gelding (again different situation if we are talking mare here since many mid performing mares actually make really nice broodies, just check out track records) but it doesn't mean it will.

To be honest, I haven't found that having a barrel horse that is also a handy rope horse increases one's value very much, if any, unless they're a handy breakaway horse, and that is just a recent thing with the recent attention breakaway has gotten.  Heck a good top notch breakaway horse these days will bring as much as a really nice barrel horse.  There are very few barrel racers who also rope competitively and vice versa.  Now their husbands may rope, but sharing a horse, especially one that is a really nice barrel horse, typically doesn't go well for most couples.  So IMO horse two, while I agree he should be worth more being a multi event horse, will be evaluated by most barrel racers strictly on his barrel racing statistics, and yes still worth more, since he is stronger.  

Now if horse 1 is able to be jockeyed by a kid or amateur, wheras horse 2 is not, that could add some value to him even if he doesn't clock as strong.  

I also agree with the post above in that there are alot of people who just want to be able to say they have an own son of so and so, so while papers/pedigree shouldn't matter on a gelding, they almost always do in our industry.  

I’m one of the idiots who buys based on color and papers. I admit it. It’s just what I like!