Import vs. Local: Which is Better When Buying a New Horse?

With the local warmblood horse auctions becoming a regular fixture on the South African calendar and plenty of stud farms to choose from, are imported horses still the best money can buy? A few years ago this may have been true but with access to top quality bloodlines and local breeders upping their standards, locals may be becoming just as good as any available import on the same budget. We spoke to Anne-Marie Esslinger, multiple SA Derby winner, top coach, course designer, and co-owner of Burlington Stables in Kyalami to ask about the benefits of one versus the other, as she has much experience competing locally bred and imported horses, and regularly shops here and abroad for her clients.

Budget, in a topic like this, will always be a focal point as those who don’t have millions to spend would simply be unable to purchase a quality, competitive horse in Europe and bring it back to SA. With a budget of roughly R800 000, you simply cannot purchase and pay shipping for a horse that is of better quality and ability than some of the locally available horses unless you have a good enough eye to pick up a 4-year-old with the right potential. With the numerous South African stud farms importing semen from world-class showjumping stallions such as Numero Uno, Emerald van’t Ruytershof, and Cornet Obolensky, our new crop of local horses have blood as good as any, and that ‘medium’ budget will stretch further as you don’t have import costs to add.

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However, finding a schooled and experienced horse on that budget is something else entirely, According to Anna, “If I have a client that wants a horse [that’s] 6/7/8 years old, jumping at least 1.20m, 16.2 to 17hh, they can have a budget of R800 000 and I can really battle, in South Africa, to find a couple of horses for them to go and sit on, especially, in Jo’Burg. I might have to travel the country, [with] not many that will be straightforward, have a good track record, and get a good vetting, whereas overseas there’d be dozens of those horses.”

If you’re dealing with a large budget, the ability to go and spend a week in Europe – Holland, Belgium, or Germany – visiting multiple top international dealing yards and breeders increases the chances of finding the perfect, already-competitive, correctly-schooled horse. The fact that the European circuit is so large and competitive means that there are more horses available to choose from and any budget can be accommodated.

A budget of 1-1.5 million Rand will provide the opportunity to find a quality 6 to 10-year-old horse that stands over 16.2 hh, with great blood, a proven track record, rideability, and plenty of exposure, and there is enough money left to cover the shipping costs and insurance. At the moment, however, the available pool of horses that fit those specific criteria in South Africa is incredibly limited. That same budget will buy you a spectacular horse locally, but very often, they don’t have the exposure or track record foreign horses have.

This somewhat dark cloud won’t remain over the local horses for long, however, with local breeders such as Callaho Stud, Capital Stud, and KP Warmblood Stud investing time, money, and research into the bloodlines they’re introducing into the country. With these and many others bringing in top blood, the future is looking very bright.

With South Africa being a small equestrian community, compared to Europe, our breeding and production of young horses had fallen a few years behind that of the international stage. In recent years, however, that gap has quickly narrowed and some of the young stock available today show the rising ability of top-quality competitive horses. In recent years, despite the parents or grand-parents having been imported, local-born horses like Jeanne Korber’s Callaho Lexington and Anne-Marie’s Alzu Oregon have proven the quality and capabilities to reach the top levels.

While it may currently be easier to shop overseas, those in the know still want to shop with local breeders. Anne-Marie adds, “I’d be thrilled to have a good, local horse and certainly, the top-priced horses at both the Capital and Callaho auctions were my first and second choices.” She continued by saying that “if you’re paying [for] the top-priced [lots] off our big studs’ auction sales, you could certainly be going overseas and buying a horse that’s a lot more advanced for the same money, [and] maybe you’re buying a little less of the dream and more of the reality.”

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What is the dream she speaks of? Well, “when you’re spending a million rand on a horse that hasn’t left home, it’s not really worth, in hard cash, our 1.5 million Rands today, but it may be worth that in 2/3 years time, and may be worth double that in 5 years time. You’re paying for that dream.” She continued by saying “When you go overseas and look with that same budget at going horses in that sort of range, 70,000 Euros, you’re unlikely to buy an Olympic prospect,” she says, whereas there’s always the potential a youngster bought at auction could turn out to be a great. For that money, though, “you can buy a very pleasant horse jumping 1.30m and you can probably buy [one] that’s a little greener or a late developer, or had a foal and [is] in the wrong age group that maybe does have the scope to jump our SA World Cups.”

The market for imports will always be necessary to continue improving our local bloodlines and horses brought in for competition purposes will continue to encourage the local market to improve but with the exciting young prospects available for purchase each year, perhaps in the coming years, the adage ‘local is lekker’ will be truer than ever.

-The JumpOff-

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