Wise to take out a loan for a horse?

[midnight star stables]

I have. My mother has a Dutch Warmblood and I a miniature that were bought on loans. We have some very nice horses in our barn and are very thankful that we can call them ours!

Have you seen the prices of some of the horses out there? I had a friend that sold a large horse for $75,000. I don't think I'll ever be able to save up that much money to buy a horse like that right out, nor do I think the people who bought the horse did.

Yes, there are some "great deals" but great horses bring high prices. I can think of 6 or 7 miniature horse farms that regularly demand well over $5000 for their stock. Other farms do not do payments. If a horse that you have to have comes from one of those farms, sometimes a loan is a good or only option.

JMO and we have done.

 

[MountainMeadows]

We run our farm as a business and I have been fortunate to have sellers allow me to make payments - had they not, I probably would never have been able to get into this industry.

I do have to question Dr Taylor's comment about "the biggest mistake that people make in the businee is that they make decisions that are more like a hobby".

As a breeder, I guess I am just not heartless enough to "off" my older,&/or injured stock in the name of expense vs return. My mares have laid down their lives for me over and over again to produce a foal and I feel that it is my responsibility to take care of them as they age -- sure I "could" give them away, but having done that a couple of times in the past and then found out that the horse did not get a respectable quality of life was enough to torture me about the morales and ethics of being a breeder - so, I will continue to make "hobbyist decisions" to take care of my elderly and injured horses in order to ensure that they will receive the kind of life that they deserve.

Does that mean that I am a hobbyist?

 

[Riverrose28]

I would not take out a loan to buy a horse, but then again I'm one of those rare people that don't even have a credit card, just debit. I hate paying interest. I would suggest that you contact the seller and see if they will take payments, interest free. On my farm I do and don't charge board unless it's over 60 days, reason why is most people put down a deposit before the foal in weaned or finished in its training. I feel it is my responsibility to have that horse trained to lead, bathe, clip, cross tie, etc. So if the buyer needs to leave said foal here until I am finished training all the better for me. I don't mind payments and I'm sure other farms don't either. After all your desposit is non-refundable, so you figure it out who wins if you can't pay.

When I bought my first mini, I saved the money out of my paycheck, this was before I retired, it was hard, but the foal was mine and I didn't have any debt.