If I told you that this gelding was for sale for $40,000, what would you say? I am not making any attempt to stray into Fugly's territory here but when I saw this ad yesterday I was astounded that such a homely looking animal could be worth so much stinkin' money. He has some redeeming qualities, to be sure but the overall picture is not that of quality. This is a 1D finished and seasoned barrel horse that is arguably worth the $40,000 they are asking. I posted this today as I thought it was the perfect example of Brown Eyed Cowgirls discussion on conformation and how it relates to "form to function". If I didn't know that this horse was wickedly fast, you couldn't have paid me to take him.What about this one?
Or this one?
Both are over $35,000! Both are 1D barrel horses.To my untrained eye, none of the above look like anything more than you average back yard horse. The pictures could have something to do with that. Here is a pick of a horse that looks like a $40,000 barrel horse to me (and is) but is at least presented as such.
Hope you don't mind me hijacking your discussion BECG!
Very interesting...no, I would have never believed those were 5-figure horses...but I guess that goes to show what I know! Like my grandpa always said, "Pretty is as pretty does."
ReplyDeleteBECG's does have a good discussion over there, doesn't she?
ReplyDeleteI agree that the pics may be unflattering, but the horses on your post do not look like what you would consider as conformationally correct...ewed necks, short necks, long necks, short backs, long backs, no back....
The one thing that they do all appear to have is nice, straight, and strong front legs, and powerful hindquarters. Well...maybe not the first horse so much, but again, I think it may be the angle of the picture :)
The last horse attests to the power of good photograpghy, AND breeding. If you are going to sell a horse, shouldn't you take as good of a picture as you can?
Its amazing how many ads are out there with a bad photo. Most of the time I think its just that, the photo. I also think that, just like with people, some horses are not very photogenic.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think if you were trying to sell a horse for that much coin, you would invest in a photographer! I mean take them to Glamour shots for petes sake!! Learn how to use your camera people!
ReplyDeleteCDN and TW-
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% about the unphotogenic thing...both my horse and myself suffer from that very annoying problem, but if I was selling a horse for a lot of money, I would probably invest some money in a photographer who knows how to overcome that.
Thank goodness my wedding photographer did...lol!!!!
That top horse... looks like a lot of the competitive barrel horses out there right now, just not shot very well.
ReplyDeleteI think that if they're priced that high and you may be interested ask for more photos and take a test ride. When you're competing at the higher levels its the performance not the looks that matter.
How's this for crazy? I gal that lives in my area is trying to go pro. She races SBRA sometimes and late this winter she bought a horse from the states. I don't know exactly what she paid but I saw the website and he was listed at $137,000 so I don't think she got him for much less.
Chick has parents that are LOADED and support her, she's educated but never "worked" a day in her life (other than her horses). So yeah, they bought the horse. I found out about a month ago she took him back b/c he wasn't working out for her. They gave her $40,000 for him. :O
Turns out they had strongly suggested she test ride him when she went to see him and she didn't want to. She finally toodled around a few minutes in the arena. What can you do? Not a ton of buyers out there for a horse like that. They tried to help her. She was just stubborn, kinda an 'I have the money and I want him' attitude.
Can't really talk about this on my blog but it seemed to kinda fit todays discussion.
Melanie said:
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that they do all appear to have is nice, straight, and strong front legs, and powerful hindquarters. Well...maybe not the first horse so much, but again, I think it may be the angle of the picture :)
YES and LOW LOW HOCKS
I bet all those horse get right up under themselves...
But you know some million dollar racehorses look rather fugly to me. Remember Seabiscuit?? Fugly with bad legs to boot! Didn't he show them all!
reminds me of the story of "Seabisquit", an awesome racehorse in anybody's book; and a fairly plain-janer to most and downright homely to some. He had such crooked front legs that he was known to stumble a lot at the walk, not to mention how short those legs were too. Someone once commented on that fact to his trainer, who responded, "nope, he's not much for walkin'; but he sure can run".
ReplyDeleteGrin