Thinking of buying? Please shop around! I think you'll find that the best deals come
from small, U.S. breeders.  Same bloodlines-much lower cost. GET MORE HORSE FOR
YOUR DOLLAR.   

Please buy from honest breeders!  Some breeders/importers are fine and others are
downright greedy. Do not assume that buying from one of the big breeders/importers
is better than buying from a small breeder.  Think about how it is the big guys got to
be so big - by making huge profits! BUYER BEWARE! PAYING MORE IS NOT GETTING
MORE.  Paying $60,000 for a $12,000 horse is not a good deal! Please do your
homework!

Do not confuse price with value. Sellers are free to ask whatever price they want for
their horses.  This does not mean the horse is actually worth the price being asked.  I
have seen huge price tags on horses that are no better than other horses selling for a
fraction of the cost.  Remember, the horse is the same whether you pay $1,000,000 or
$1.  Think of it this way - let's say you buy 2 identical Dodge trucks for $45,000 each.  
You sell one truck to a millionaire for $500,000. You sell the other truck to a homeless
person for $1. The trucks are still worth $45,000 each.  Paying more for something
does not make it worth more. Frankly, I would rather pay $1 for a $45,000 truck than
$500,000.  And if you are SMART, you would do the same.  Of course, chances are you
are not going to be lucky enough to buy that truck for $1!  Please try to buy a horse
that is priced at or below its value - there are a lot of them out there!

The sad fact is that many people have been burned by hugely overpaying for horses
only to turn around and find that they cannot sell the horse or its offspring for anything
close to what they themselves paid.  I repeat - DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!  

Please do not support pony-mill type operations.  Pony mills mass produce, sell high
to some people, sell low or give away to others, and in general cause a rapid
devaluation of everyone's horses by flooding the market.  They overproduce then
have big sales - and they repeat this cycle year in and year out.

Please do not support color breeders,  and by 'color breeders' I mean people who
breed for specific colors first and quality second.   I like the unusually colored horses
as well as the next person - as long as it is on a quality horse.  You can tell whether a
person is breeding for color over quality by the sire and dam pairings they make as
well as the way they advertise their horses - if the emphasis is on color, then chances
are they are a color breeder.  Color breeding has gotten completely out of control.
There is now an alarming trend where people try to outdo each other by trying to
produce foals with as many different color genes as they can. Time and time again I
have seen sky-high prices placed on horses simply because they carry this or that
color gene. Often these colors are characterized as 'rare' while the breeder tries like
crazy to produce or buy as many of these same colors as they can get their hands on.
Color is the one of the easiest attributes  to breed for - especially now that DNA color
testing is available. In general, a specific color gene has a 50% chance of being
passed to offspring. I wish I had those kinds of odds with the lottery. I'd be a
millionaire after buying 2 tickets. Furthermore, these people are killing the black and
white market. Black and white is the traditional color of the gypsy horse.

When the gypsy horses were first introduced in mass here about 10 years ago, sellers
had buyers over a barrel. Some people took advantage of this situation - you either
paid their high prices or you did not get a gypsy.  Those days of being gouged are
OVER. Sure, you can still get gouged if you want to, but why the heck would you want
to? Please buy SMART.

An additional factor to consider is that prices are dropping. Regardless of whether the
superhigh prices were justified when the gypsy horse was first introduced in the
States a decade ago, there are now 100's of gypsy horses currently for sale here in
the States. It is no longer necessary to sell your house (or your soul!)  in order to buy  
a top quality  gypsy horse.  Do not pay more for a horse than you, yourself, could turn
around and sell the horse for.  When making that decision, look at all the various
horse-selling websites - agdirect, draftsforsale, equine, dreamhorse, horsetopia, etc.
Look at American Gypsy Horses (which lists only a fraction of the horses for sale in
this country).  There are a lot of horses for sale, and a lot of them have been for sale
for a long time. Look to see if any of these horses have the same or similar bloodlines
as the horse you are thinking of buying or breeding to. Look at its price and how long
its been on the market. Buy and breed smart !!

UK breeders - please be aware that there are many fantastic horses overseas - after
all, that is where the breed came from. Importing is easy, however it is costly (may
cost $7500 or so for transportation/quarantine alone). Because of the high cost of
import, an imported horse may be overpriced when compared to its U.S./Canadian
born equivalent. Should you need to sell your imported horse, you may take a loss.

On the subject of registration, imported horses do not arrive with registration papers.  
All 4 registries (GVHS, GHRA, GHA, GCDHA) will consider registration applications for
imported horses (as well as non-imported horses), but there is no guarantee that the
horse will be accepted. Most usually are, but be aware that some are not.  Thus you
may want to factor in whether the horse is registered or not when you make your
buying decision.

Invest in type not hype - I can not emphasize this enough. Please do not get burned.
Greed has destroyed our economy and greedy gypsy breeders are doing the same to
our beloved breed.   As mentioned above, the most expensive horse is not always the
best horse. Beware of excessive hype, unsubstantiated claims - example - 'my horse
is the best xx color in the world!' Really?? Is there some kind of world-wide evaluation
that takes place where every single gypsy horse is inspected and rated according to
color or any other criteria?, and/or  mischaracterization (IMHO) of show results  such
as 'My horse is the 2010 World Champion!' - yes there is a show called the 'World'
show, but it is not a 'finals' type show yet where entrants must earn points or
otherwise qualify in order to participate. Its merely an annual show open to the first xx
number of entrants who apply - the winner of this show is simply the winner of this
show - just like winners of other shows are winners of those particular shows. The
Feathered Horse Classic show series has added qualifying/finals show effective in
2014 - that is the only qualifying/Finals show I am aware of.   

Please buy from people who are honest, love the breed and not their bank account, or
even worse, your bank account. Do your pocketbook a favor and help stamp out greed
in this breed at the same time. Your best bet is to look and price all available horses
before making a buying decision.  Compare horses, not prices. Take a very close look
at some of the small, U.S. breeders - you will find some top-notch horses at some
very reasonable prices.