It is very grindy and it's extremely grindy in the beginnning. But once you get yourself in a place where you can start winning competitions, its gets way less. I've made 26k in the last 24 hours. 

Also join the discords. There an unofficial one and the official one. Sometimes (especially later, like 10pm+ hofa time) players will put horses up for sale for cheaper. That's because all the dutch players for the OG game are buying up cheap horses and trying to flip them for double the price. They don't realize this is a new economy and are charging prices for things that are going on a well established server. 

Yes, keep an eye on the sales. I would focus on the horse you have for now until you can get at least 20k. It's definitely grindy, but if you keep an eye on the sales, and are on later in the evening, depending on timezone, when many players are not online, you can sometimes get some horses for cheaper. 

I see most of you guys added my as a friend, feel free to message me there to with questions and I will help out as much as I can

i cant seem to find the discord link