It is often more important to know what you don’t know.
In a summary post last week I estimated that I had already learned 20% of what I needed to know to buy a successful horse.
The first 20% I have learned comes from watching the 2-year old in trainings sales and thinking about valuation, and also observing how the various partnerships operate.
What else I need to learn:
- another 10% will come from watching the remaining sales (yearlings and then weanlings and breeding stock this fall/winter)
- another 10% will come from learning about the analytics used by people at the sales (heart measurements and stride analysis)
- another 10% will be learning more about the breeders and consigners of the sale horses
- another 10% will be actually meeting folks in person and asking them “tough” questions
- another 20% will be learning to judge a horse’s physical appearance/conformation (this may take some time, if it is possible at all)
- the last 20% are what Donald Rumsfeld described as the “unknown unknowns”, things about this business that I have yet to understand their importance
Buying A Race Horse 