There are several factors that come into play when putting a price on a horse, such as coming from the most expensive horse breeds in the world, parentage, any special characteristics, and yes, there are ballpark figures for equines that buyers can expect. Much like artwork, there’s still a lot of guesswork that comes into play because, let’s face it—if the market expects a certain horse to be expensive, the sellers will make it so.
It’s not only equines who have a proven track record for winning in shows or races, or have other earning capabilities like for breeding, that fetch sky high prices. Oftentimes, yearlings with excellent pedigree are purchased with the blind hope that they will be as successful as their parents.
What these expensive equines have in common, besides the hefty price tags they fetched, are the reasons behind it. Some say that buying a horse is a long-term investment that you can ride and, while it may be lucrative, it’s also very risky. Your investment is an injury away from being unusable or it can underperform. The ten equines in this article are the most expensive horses ever sold. Let's also peek into what happened to them afterwards—did they rise to the occasion or did they turn up to be a disappointment?