What price is a decent hunter?

The hunter market is sky-high and good ones are hunter? hard to find. Abi Butcher tries to discover why

- Abi Butcher

IN the same way that prices for houses, cars and dogs shot up during the Covid pandemic, so too rose the value of horses – and none more so than hunters. This winter, if you’re looking to buy a decent horse for the hunting field (and some fun in the summer, too), you are unlikely to get little change from £15,000.

A hunter must be brave and bold, never sick or sorry. They must have manners to stand patiently and keep their head, not kick hounds or horses, yet jump all manner of fences and ditches when asked and cross country at speed, carrying their rider for a full day. They must be tough – after a hard day, they must pull out sound the following morning.

It’s a big ask and producing a quality hunter takes time, money and a lot of work, so it’s no small wonder that dealers across the UK say that prices are finally fair.

“I was always told that a good hunter should be the same price as an acre of land and if you’ve got a good horse, you’ll get your price, ” says Northumberland-based JackThomas Watson, a field master with the Tynedale and who buys horses from Ireland to produce as hunters, competition horses and “general sports horses” from his yard in Belsay.

“Horses were too cheap for too long. A lot of good broodmares went offto factories in Ireland [for slaughter], as there was no real worth to breeding a horse. Now two- and three-year-olds are making great numbers and people are breeding again.”

SUPPLY AND DEMAND