Of course, it also has to be said that the horse itself, the animal itself, has absolutely nothing to do with any of this. The horse does not care at all how much humans imagined it is worth. In exactly the same way it does not care how much petrol costs, how much food costs, what your taxes are, or about money in general, which today functions as the equivalent of everything.
The horse does not care about any of it. It is what it is born. But this is how the market reflects reality. And of course, this also affects what the animal looks like and what it is capable of doing. And this is where we arrive at a very interesting situation. Because on one hand, the horse should theoretically cost a lot. First, because it’s production costs were high. Second, because it does interesting things that make humans happy — for example, jumping high, or being willing to ride and work with a person.
But at the same time, it cannot actually hold that market value. Because… well. It just doesn’t work out. So in the end, what exactly do you want? You see a horse that you like. You are watching the horse jump. You want to unite yourself with it somehow. You are absolutely convinced that you can do it better. Fine.
But what are you actually offering to the person who currently has this horse? Mostly, you are simply offering whatever you personally have available. And that has absolutely nothing to do with what it cost for all the previous people to achieve the thing you are now staring at, wanting to become part of. And then people invent all sorts of excuses for themselves.
Like: “Well, she has to pass x-rays, i only want to jump 1 meter occasionally, but x-rays must be perfect, I don’t want any risks.” “Well, I need to be sure about certain things.” “But how do I know she will go well with me?” “And what if she doesn’t?” “These are such huge risks for me.”
Well yes. If the risks are too huge for you — then simply do not get involved. Because the question people ask is usually not based on what something objectively costs. It is based entirely on their own personal situation, which has nothing to do with the actual reality behind the horse.
You have €30,000 — so you say: “I want to spend €30,000.”
You have €3,000 — so you say: “I want to spend €3,000.”
You have €300,000? Well of course, people still meet the corresponding horses at every level.
The person who can spend €300,000 ends up with the horse that somehow carries them around and makes them happy occasionally.
The person spending €30,000 usually ends up buying a six-year-old horse that already made all previous people unhappy by losing half of its market value along the way.
And the one spending €3,000? Well, obviously that one starts biting knees off immediately, throwing people off, collapsing into various disasters — and still the buyer is surprised.
Because they also “carefully selected.” Did a hundred x-rays. Ten vettings.
Checked everything. And still the horse is €3,000. Why? Because all the previous people already concluded that the situation was hopeless, accepted endless financial losses on it, and finally agreed to get rid of it for that price. That is why it is €3,000.
And none of this passes without consequences. If ten different people were involved with this horse — the original breeders, the second breeders, the first resellers, the next resellers, the riders who tried to make it work, the people who tried to build a relationship with it and live happily with it for life…
Then another layer of dealers who already squeezed the previous owners, the ones who failed to live happily with the horse because it simply was not good enough, forcing them to step into someone else’s financial situation and hand the horse over while signing themselves into a massive loss…
But now let’s look from the other side. Imagine you are exactly that person who was the breeder, the rider, the whole story behind this horse. And this is what grew out of it. This is what the market currently reflects it as. Partly because the market itself is like this.
Some people have one thing, some have another, some have nothing at all — but everybody still wants everything. And at some point, there is almost no difference anymore whether you sell this thing for €25,000 or give it away for free. Actually, giving it away for free might even be more fun.
At least the process becomes interesting. At least you reverse the situation. Because otherwise what happens? You take a massive loss — after feeding the horse, caring for it, riding it, transporting it everywhere, investing years into it — and then on top of that, people still eat your brain over your own loss.
It becomes worse than crypto or any stock market disaster. Like: by the age of seven, your costs on this horse are €70,000, but you sell it for €15,000 because otherwise the market simply will not absorb it. Because this is the animal. Because this is the market. So you have to officially accept a €55,000 loss for yourself.
And on top of that, you are also expected to smile and explain to everybody how wonderful everything is and how happy you are to have “the deal done”. You see, it is often easier just forget about this horse rather than to go through all this selling process quest with try outs, hundreds of pointless questions and no results for months.
At least then nobody destroys your brain. At least then you get some enjoyment out of the process. You reverse the situation.
If by the age of seven or eight the horse did not manage to grow into something beautiful enough, talented enough, and tolerant enough toward any kind of humans for the market of wonderful people with money to value it above €10,000 per year of its life, then this is already a loss.
A financial loss. A mental loss. And in general, a complete loss for those who were with this horse through all these years. And the loss is such that selling an eight-year-old horse for €20,000–30,000 or giving to someone is almost the same outcome. As minus €80,000 or minus €60,000 is not such a big difference.
But emotionally, the difference is huge.
It looks like it is better to make your own rules of the game.