Should I do this?

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HOSS

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The owner of the company that I work for is a mega-millionaire. He owns about 70 racehorses and is a big player on the New Orleans and Kentucky race and polo scene. He found out that I have a couple of horses and asked me if I wanted some thorobreds(sp?). I told him that I could not afford to buy race horses and he said that they were free to his employees. Most are mares and geldings about 5 to 6 years old and have papers. They are or have been active racers that have went down in class. He said that they are 100k plus winners but he does not keep anything that does not earn 500k by a certain time. He said that he has trucks transporting horses back and forth between his farm near New Orleans to his training facility in Kentucky and whatever horses I wanted he would have his driver drop them off to me as he has to drive right by my place of employment to get to Kentucky. All the mares have potential as brood stock. He has offered to A.I. them in Kentucky if I want to come up there and pick them up. They are supposed to be gentle and broke but the ones that are actively racing should be pastured for a month prior to riding to get the "race" out of them (according to his trainer). Since I could't beat the price of free I figured I could take them, pasture them for a month and then sell them as brood mares to folks in this area that like to cross them with Quarter Horses or Walking / Gaited stock. I might be able to turn a few bucks. I think he has 5 or 6 I can have now.

He said that the expense of keeping a racehorse for him is very high so he culls the bottom earners. He didn't tell me what it costs him per horse to train, feed and keep but I imagine it is pretty high. Much higher than it would cost me to pasture them.

I know that race horses bring their own challenges. Has anybody out there had experience handling these types of horses and how do they differ from walkers or QH's in handling them? Do ya'll think I could make a few bucks or will I find that folks will shy away from the fact that they are former racers? None of these horses are lame or have medical issues.
 
There's no such thing as a free horse. Run.

(My wife just drug home another worthless pos today.)
 
Since it's gard to even give away horses right now I would sure steer clear of this super deal. They do make good pit cook barbeque though
 
I agree with what's been posted and I wouldn't want them personally but if I can get something for nothing I'm pretty sure I can sell it for something. Better yet, I'm pretty sure I know someone who would board and sell the animals for a fair cut of the pie. Your investment would be limited only to freight and deliveries could be made each October as the stable is only a mile from camp.
 
MistyMorning":54j34xui said:
cfpinz":54j34xui said:
(My wife just drug home another worthless pos today.)

I imagine she says the same thing every time you pull into the yard from an auction.
More like "I wonder what the worthless pos drug home from the auction!"
 
There's probably a very good reason that he is willing to give them away instead of selling them. And, the reason probably is that horses coming off racetracks are a dime a dozen (or less). Horse rescue places are overrun with them.

Might try taking ONE and try to sell it just to test the market........
 
Jim62":27ly7f51 said:
There's probably a very good reason that he is willing to give them away instead of selling them. And, the reason probably is that horses coming off racetracks are a dime a dozen (or less). Horse rescue places are overrun with them.

Might try taking ONE and try to sell it just to test the market........
Pretty good advise here. What is worthless to this megabucks guy may just be worth a fair price to someone else...find your market, go from there.
 
When they closed that horse kill plant in Texas a couple of years ago, the price of horses dropped like a rock here. A vet recently told me that he sees sound, young, good registered horses going through the horse sale for less than $100. There are horses all over the place with no where to go. Several times this year there have been local news stories about abandoned starving horses. Just be sure you have some place to go with them before you take them. I like horses, but you couldn't give me one right now.
 
MAN! :shock: Don't take on some one else's problems. This country is full of unwanted horses.
 
If you have the skills of a good horse trainer, you are a good salesman, and have a lot of patience, you might be able to turn a buck off this deal fixing them and selling them as hunter/jumpers or trail horse; but then again reg. foals can be had all over the place for less than $130 right now, and with the foals you won't have to deal with racing injuries and bad attitudes that racing encourages but is a sale killer in every other discipline. And don't buy mares to breed. Foals are worth less than goats right now. You won't get the stud fee money back.....much less the cost of keeping a brood mare up.
 
I read this as the guy wants to give an interested employee a leg up in getting established in TB breeding.

If I am right, would the boss man not be a little peeved if you just turned them over?

Might be some knolwdgeable folks give their left one to have a chance at certain bloodlines and free AI like you are being offered. But, it depends on your situation/interest/knowledge.

Being offered a 100,000 earner for free, I'd be lookin a lot deeper into it.

My cousin retired wealthy in his 40's, he trained trotters.
 
I thought you couldn't register/run AI TBred...All in all,it'd depend on the horse..I'd take one--------------or two-----or--------------
well,anyhow you can't get a better price than free,but a lot would depend on bloodlines and the individual horse..
 
The boss man is very, very wealthy.....I'm saying that he charters a helicopter for personal shuttle service when he visits his vacation homes in Brazil and Peru. When we discussed the horses he clearly understood that my interest would be in selling them as brood mares. My flipping them would not upset him. He says that he can sell them for 3,500 apiece in some kind of buyers pool at the track and does sell some that way but gives his employees first crack at ownership as sort of a cashless bonus. 3500.00 bucks to him is like .35 to me. I know my company makes in excess of 70 million annually for him and his business partner and that is just one company that he owns. He also owns a medical products company that manufacturers lead shielding to hospitals for x-ray rooms. He owns a company in Minnisota that sources product from Asia and another company in Bentonville, Arkansas that works as a sales unit for Wal-Mart.

A 100k winner in the racing business is small potatoes from what I hear. It proves that the horses are quality animals and not hacks but interest starts to happen at 500k.

My input costs will be minimal if I can find buyers within a month or so. It might make a good summer project but I do not want to winter any more animals. I've got enough cattle and horses to winter already. He is supposed to send pics. I will post them when I get them.
 
I'd have to give it a try. You got nothing to lose but time. If the horse turns out to be bad you can always duct tape some antlers on its head and go deer hunting. (I believe this is recommended in the book 1001 Uses for Duct Tape)
 
dun":jj9mw9ao said:
MistyMorning":jj9mw9ao said:
cfpinz":jj9mw9ao said:
(My wife just drug home another worthless pos today.)

I imagine she says the same thing every time you pull into the yard from an auction.
More like "I wonder what the worthless pos drug home from the auction!"

So true, my feathered friends. But my worthless finds don't consume hay!
 
That "free" horse is going to be one of the most expensive "gifts" that you ever receive. Do you know how much $$$$$ it takes to properly take care of a horse for a year?

Around my parts, granny wants one too. I told here when she gets another job, has several more thousand dollars a year, and another 20 hours of free time a week, she can go for it. Till then... no.
 
grannysoo":2ur4buzl said:
That "free" horse is going to be one of the most expensive "gifts" that you ever receive. Do you know how much $$$$$ it takes to properly take care of a horse for a year?

Around my parts, granny wants one too. I told here when she gets another job, has several more thousand dollars a year, and another 20 hours of free time a week, she can go for it. Till then... no.

Yes I do. I currently own two and have owned a few more in the past.
 
Granted horses are dirt cheap right now, but these aren't run of the mill, amateur, backyard bred horses either. It would sure be tempting to take one or two of those mares and breed them. Cross with Fresian or some kind of warmblood for a dressage/jumper/3-day eventer prospect. Or breed 'em to a mammoth jack and make some high-performance mules. Or even just to keep them long enough to settle them in and re-train them a little and see what it feels like to gallop at 40 miles an hour.
 
If I was a hundred years younger,and back home,I'd be begging to get in on this,just for the reasons you listed...
Friend here has a TB/Fresian--Big beautiful 3 year old...
 

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