I don't even think the amount of money was really the issue - it was that he paid a good amount for a horse, and will probably nearly double that amount shipping her to Australia, and of course there are risks when you ship over such large distances. If he's planning to use her in a breeding program, that's a somewhat different story.

Ity's like when someone imports an expensive dressage horse from Germany, and they're only planning to do second level, or whatever. There are 38374638739374 warmbloods in the US that fit the bill for that. If they're planning to breed, and that's the only place they could find a horse with the bloodlines they want, along with all the other qualities they want, then that's different.

Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference