Feature To sell or not to sell?

Feature To sell or not to sell?
The amateurs’ dilemma
Bank the
money
or chase
the
dream?
Folds Cedar had a promising
career ahead of him until he
severed a hind tendon
made me a ridiculous offer for her, then yes of
course I would have to consider selling her, but
horses are my hobby and I want to do well.”
An optimum age to sell
W
HEN world-class horses
change hands for mega
bucks it is big news. Take
the best dressage horse
of all time, Moorlands
Totilas, for example. His
sale to Paul Schockemöhle last October was
hardly a bolt out of the blue, but it nevertheless
rocked the dressage world. After two years
fending off numerous mind-blowing offers for
the record-breaking stallion, eventually
economics won over emotion.
Totilas’s former owner, Cees Visser, said at
the time: “The past two years have been a
whirlwind of excitement, however after
Kentucky [where Totilas won three gold
medals] we could no longer ignore the interest
in the stallion.”
Great horses have — and always will — carry
huge price tags. Whether to sell or not is one of
the most difficult decisions for any horse
owner to make, but it is especially tough for
up-and-coming riders or amateurs, who,
through good fortune and good riding, have
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. 14 JULY 2011
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bred and/or produced a potential star.
Events manager Lindsay Morton has
received countless offers for her eventer
Unique III ever since she started clocking up
British Eventing (BE) wins.
But the thought of selling her beloved mare
makes Lindsay’s stomach churn.
“She’s the reason I get up in the morning — I
would hate the thought of not having a lovely
Pictures by www.photo-synergy.com, David Miller and www.trevor-meeks-photography.co.uk Illustration by Emma McCall
If you were offered a blank
cheque for your best horse,
would you pocket it and run, or
turn it down in the hope of
fulfilling a lifelong ambition?
Ellie Hughes talks to top
amateur riders who
have had to
make this
tough decision
The sale of
Moorlands Totilas,
for an undisclosed
sum, was not a
shock to the
horseworld
She’s the reason I
get up in the morning
— I would hate the thought
of not having a lovely
horse to ride at the end
of a long day
Lindsay Morton
on turning down offers
www.horseandhound.co.uk
horse to ride at the end of a long day in
the office,” she says.
Lindsay has produced the bay mare from a
five-year-old and she notched up four wins last
season — two in novice events.
“I’m not in it to make money — I want to see
how far I can go,” says Lindsay. “If someone
Kelsall Hill was a
happy hunting
ground for Lindsay
Morton with wins in a
BE100 and a Novice
class during 2010
IN several years’ time, if Unique were to go on
and prove her credentials at three- and even
four-star level, how would this affect her
value? Is a young horse with potential worth
more than a 12-year-old who has proved
himself at the highest level? When is the
optimum time to sell?
Andrew Graham of DHI Performance Horses
holds the philosophy that whatever its age, if
the profit margin is good enough, then a horse
ought to be sold. But, he advises, a horse’s value
at a certain age can depend on the discipline.
“Event horses tend to reach their prime
between 10 and 14 whereas you see a lot of
older showjumpers and dressage horses at the
top level. A grand prix dressage schoolmaster
still commands a decent price aged 15,” he says.
When it comes to deciding whether or not to
sell, assessing the risk of injury is important.
How many good horses actually reach the
top and stay there?
“Among all those quality youngsters you see
in young horse classes up and down the
country in the various disciplines, there are
very few that appear five years later at the top
level,” points out Andrew.
5
questionstoask
yourselftohelp
makethedecision
1 Take emotion out of the equation and
ask yourself if you can really afford to
turn down the money.
2 As far as you can tell, and barring
accidents, is the horse’s conformation
conducive to long-term soundness?
3 What are your aspirations in the sport —
will you be content producing another
horse or do you really want to go further up
the ladder with this one?
“I knew that I wanted to ride at four-star
level” says Matt Prior (see p.XX)
4 Can you afford to insure a horse that’s
now worth a lot of money? If your
horse’s value doubles in the space of a year,
chances are your insurance premium will too.
5 Would you be happy watching
somebody else reaping the rewards of
your hard work or kick yourself that it’s not
you in the saddle?
“I know, realistically, that Unique IX has a
better chance of getting to the London
Olympics with Tina [Fletcher] on his back. My
aim is 2016,” says Anna Edwards
Why? A combination of factors comes into
play. Soundness and poor training are the most
obvious causes of horses falling by the wayside.
“As a general rule, I believe if a sport horse
reaches the age of seven without soundness
issues, then it will probably stay sound until it
is 14,” says Andrew.
‘I wanted to share his limelight’
EVENTERS tend to be more prone to knocks
than other horses — that’s the nature of the
sport. Lindsay admits that the risk of Unique
injuring herself plays on her mind.
“I’ve become more precious about her in the
past year or so. I used to hunt her, but now I
won’t as I think it’s too risky. She’s my only
horse and I can’t afford to lose her.”
But however much you assess the risk and
wrap your horse in cotton wool, there is never
any guarantee that accidents won’t happen.
Young horse producer and mother Charlotte
Springall has turned down big offers for several
of her home-bred horses, but Folds Cedar, a
part-bred Cleveland bay bred by her mother,
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. HORSE & HOUND 67
12/07/2011 16:03
Feature To sell or not to sell?
Anna Edwards sold
Unique IX so she
could reinvest in
younger horses
is the one she will always remember.
Cedar won the Search for a Star riding horse
final at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) in 2005
and went on to win a novice class at Aldon.
“I was offered a lot of money for him from
prospective buyers in both disciplines, but he
was one in a million — my friend as well as my
horse — and as much as it galled me to turn
down lucrative money, I wanted to be the one
to share the limelight with him,” she says.
But at the beginning of 2008 disaster struck
and Cedar escaped from his field and severed a
hind tendon while galloping round the yard.
“I was inconsolable, completely gutted,” says
Charlotte, who had other young horses to work
on, but nothing to replace Cedar. “I had to start
from scratch with youngsters — all those years
of work went up in a puff of smoke.”
Charlotte now rides a five-year-old who
belongs to a friend.
“If he turns out to be special I wouldn’t
If he turns out to be
special I wouldn’t
dissuade his owner from
selling him — not after
what I’ve been through
Charlotte Springall
on the amateurs’ dilemma
dissuade his owner from selling him — not
after what I’ve been through,” she says.
Casting in your chips
FEARING that you’ve lost your chance to go for
glory — that you might never fulfil your dream
— is an understandable worry.
Anna Edwards wasn’t exactly a nobody
before her sensational Queen Elizabeth II Cup
win at Hickstead in 2010 — she had competed
internationally in ponies, finished fifth in the
Young Riders of Great Britain Championship
and won a top-flight grand prix class — but it
was her brilliant partner Unique IX who
catapulted her into the spotlight.
Anna bought Unique IX as a rising five-yearold and spent the next three years notching up
wins and turning down sizeable offers for him.
In 2010, she finally agreed to sell him to Lord
and Lady Harris for Tina Fletcher to ride.
Selling Unique IX set Anna up financially to
pursue a career in showjumping. It was a tough
decision, but she has no regrets.
“I had to look at the bigger picture,” she says.
“Nobody would throw away a winning lottery
ticket. I’m 26 years old; I could be a one-horse
rider who briefly made it to the top before
fading away, or I could use the money I made
by selling my top horse to reinvest in younger
horses to produce and keep me at the top.”
Anna has a stable full of exciting prospects,
including Diaghilev, with whom she won a
prestigious Rising Stars (PCA Futura) qualifier
for the Blue Chip Dynamic B&C finals, but she
admits that she did worry at one point that she
may never have another horse like Unique IX.
“As a rider you have to believe in yourself. If
you have the ability to produce one good horse
to top level, so long as you have the right
material to work with, you should be able to
produce others,” she reasons.
However much advice you take, deciding
whether or not to sell a good horse is a personal
choice governed by individual circumstances.
While realists will ask whether you can really
afford to turn down a life-changing sum of
money, idealists will argue that really good
horses are worth hanging on to at any cost.
Past experience is perhaps the biggest
motivating factor of all.
“If I’d have known then what I know now, I
may well have made a different decision,”
concludes Charlotte Springall. But then
hindsight is a wonderful thing. H&H
‘I would have been selling my best mate’
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but kept hold of Political Trump.
“I never considered selling him,
despite a few potentially very
profitable offers,” says Matt. “He
was bought relatively cheaply and
took me to the highest level in
eventing, so he owed me nothing. I
knew that I had to do the right
thing for him.”
Matt decided to stay involved
with his horse’s career as an owner.
“I asked Bill Levett if he would
ride him for me. Bill is a mate and a
brilliant rider,” he explains.
The new duo finished in the top
30 at Badminton in 2010 and were
long-listed for the Australian team
for the World Equestrian Games.
“I’ve never had any regrets about
my decision,” says Matt. “As much
as I would have benefited from the
extra finances, I would have felt like
I was selling my best mate. You
can’t put a price on what Political
Trump did for me.”
Matt (pictured) still
owns Political Trump
but now Bill Levett
takes the ride
Pictures by David Miller and www.trevor-meeks-photography.co.uk
THERE are few amateur riders who
can say that they have produced a
horse from a novice to top level, but
Matt Prior fulfilled a life’s dream
when he completed Badminton
and Burghley with Political Trump,
his partner from juniors and young
riders. He could have sold the
horse any number of times, but
chose to keep him even after his
four-star successes.
“I started getting offers for him
when he won Blair CCI** back in
2006,” recalls Matt, who had been
itching to ride at four-star level
from an early age. “It was probably
a case of the heart ruling the head,
but I never really entertained the
idea of selling him because I knew
that I wanted to go further.”
After Matt jumped clear around
Burghley in 2009, he decided to
hang up his boots and pursue a
career in the bloodstock and racing
industry. He sold his other horses,
www.horseandhound.co.uk
12/07/2011 16:03