What we've learned running an equestrian marketplace — on buying safely, breeding well, and the paperwork nobody explains.
13 articlesUpdated 21 Sept 2026
Buying6 min read
The monthly fee is only half of it. What full, part and self-care boarding include, the extras that turn up on the invoice, and what a boarding contract should say.
Transport & paperwork5 min read
The per-mile rate is the easy part. What a horse transport quote should include, what a transporter has to be licensed for, and who carries the risk if the horse arrives lame.
Buying5 min read
There is no average price for a horse, and anyone who gives you one is guessing. What actually sets the number, how to read an asking price, and how to answer an offer well under it.
Buying5 min read
Livery, feed, farrier, vet, insurance and the invoices that arrive on their own timetable. What a horse costs every month, and which of those numbers you can actually move.
Breeding4 min read
Licensing and performance testing measure two different things, and neither measures what most people assume. What each one proves, what it does not, and why winter is when it gets decided.
Breeding5 min read
The stud fee is the number everyone quotes and the smallest part of the bill. Here is the shape of a whole covering season — vet, transport, keep and the contract terms that decide what happens if your mare does not hold.
Buying6 min read
A holding deposit is the one payment people send before anything is checked or written down. The order the paperwork and the payment are supposed to happen in.
Breeding7 min read
A stud fee is the smallest number in a breeding transaction and the only one most adverts mention. What the fee has to cover before you publish it.
Selling7 min read
Most adverts that get views and no enquiries are not overpriced — they are under-informative. What buyers screen for, in the order they ask.
Buying6 min read
Loaning a horse is the most common arrangement in equestrian life and the least often written down. What the agreement has to settle before the horse moves.
Health & vetting5 min read
A vetting is an opinion about risk, not a certificate of soundness. The five stages, what is excluded unless you ask, and how to read the report.
Transport & paperwork5 min read
The passport proves identity but does not authorise a movement. What each document is, who issues it, and the order it has to happen in.
