# The sad but true struggles of selling a horse



## Jerseyfarm (Jun 6, 2016)

So I have had some horses that I have needed to sell for a while now and everytime I get motivated to sell them I soon realize exactly what it was stopping me…….Talking to the people. If it was only the horses I had to, deal with it would be smooth sailing but the social interaction required with the humans not so much. I thought perhaps I could beat the system and avoid all the monotonous detailed questions that take up so much of my precious time that 89.3% of the time are followed up by “would you consider a trade for my blind cat and a donut. (it’s Dunkins free donut day by the way) by placing a OVERLY DETAILED description of the horses. I figured ok if I can bypass the height, age, sex, discipline, show experience, turn out routine, hoof care, medical history, breeding, color, etc ALLin my ad then maybe by the time the potential buyer contacts me we will be a step ahead of the game right? WRONGO! They ask again as if they did not find my contact by READING the description of the horse. Yes he is still a gelding he has NOT grown back his balls since I made the add. No, he still doesn’t have shoes the farrier has not come to slap some on in the past 15 minutes. His birthday has not passed he is still 12 and no 7,500 negotiable does not in any way shape or form mean FREE LEASE, although I kind of have to give these people credit because by the time I am done dealing with them I am actually contemplating giving away the very valuable horse just to avoid ever having to go through it again. As the grueling process goes on inquiry by inquiry question by question I start to think that maybe feeding them for the rest of their long life may be worth it. I start pricing out my feed bills and comparing it to my sanitys worth. Now if I am able to stay strong and answer each and every one of the questions that were written clearly in the description and then send them 106 videos of the horse performing miracles for their trainer to see after having to delete sacred memories to free up more storage for their request then I get to move on to the next round of them actually coming out to try the horse.

Chapter Two

Appointment day has come, I have made it through the emails,texts, phone calls, and given my best directions for finding the farm. I see an unfamiliar car driving slowly down the road and as I wave my arms like a parking attendant I see them pull into the neighbors driveway…..like clockwork my phone rings and I kindly do the awkward laugh and tell them on look to your left and they giggle and hang up and pull back in the proper driveway where out comes more people then I knew could fit in whatever make and model of vehicle they have taken. They start unloading saddles that likely won’t even fit the horse they are trying along with fancy boot bags, helmet cases, and anything else they could find to exemplify their extensive horse knowledge via material items such a the tailored sportsman full sets britches, with the tucked in polo shirt, straightening their belts to ensure they have signaled to me their top equestrian knowledge. I of course have passed that stage in my life and my customers and I have gotten over ourselves over the years and realized that I do in fact teach the same quality of riding lesson in my (now famous) tractor supply shorts shorts and a tank top that will make a much more appealing tan line then their frumpy polo. I send Macee out to the field to fetch whatever noble steed they have come to try because heavan forbid we already had the horse inside that would be grounds for the whispers about how the horse must be hard to catch. (Little do they know all my sale horses share one rusty halter and if they didn’t come willingly we would probably never see them again.) As the grooming process begins the audience watches every move and there is always one designated photographer who starts taking all the conformation shots and then there is the good cop bad cop routine where someone (generally the trainer unless they are not coming first time around and saving their criticism for the next appointment.) rips apart everything they can about the horse. Thinking that each snide remark will get them a better deal when really they are inching closer to having wasted their time coming because patience is not my speciality. After finding some different pads to make their saddle fit either myself or my assistant hop on and replicate what I sent them in the videos. (Camera rolling at all times of course) Next step is each of them all trying the horse as well one by one each member of the sale horse board hops on and take the horse for a spin. Now of course regardless of how easily my student was able to round the horses head, or pick up a lead, anything that does not go smoothly must be due to the horses lack of training and bad behavior and have nothing to do with rider error. No matter how smoothly it goes everyone try’s to stay as blank as possible as if they forget my father is a car dealer and I know all these tactics. Before dismounting everyone has one other signature horse trying habit thst I for the life of me still have not figured out why it is a thing ……. But without fail 85% of customers drop the stirrups snd start waving their arms and legs around and flopping around like a dead fish to ensure the horse has next to no pulse.

THIS BLOG WILL BE TO BE CONTINUED AS I DO NOT WISH TO LEAVE ANYONE IN SUSPENSE BUT I MUST TAKE MACEE TO GET HER NAILS DONE FOR PROM


----------



## jgnmoose (May 27, 2015)

I read your article on your blog.

On the one hand, I understand what you are saying. On the other, if the horse is anything but dirt cheap I am going to have a long checklist. Good luck selling your horse.


----------



## Emoore (Sep 14, 2015)

jgnmoose said:


> I read your article on your blog.
> 
> On the one hand, I understand what you are saying. On the other, if the horse is anything but dirt cheap I am going to have a long checklist. Good luck selling your horse.



Hopefully you won't ask if he's still a gelding. inkunicorn::blueunicorn:


----------



## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

I'm feeling you - my boy is heartbreakingly up for sale at the moment. I'm asking AU$25,000.00 so he's not a cheap horse, and subsequently I expect a lot of questions, videoing etc. 
However, it certainly does get tiring after a while, answering the same questions that is all detailed on the initial advertisement anyway, people riding the poor thing for over an hour saying how much they adore him... Then telling me that he's a bit too green, they want something ready to compete elementary/medium NOW.... As I said in the ad, he's 5... He's been brought in very slowly as he's quite physically immature...and he's ready to go out at prelim/novice. 

It's frustrating, especially when you don't want to sell in the first place.


----------



## kiltsrhott (Mar 11, 2012)

LOL. I would have to agree with much of what you wrote there. The last and only time I sold a horse, it was a string of bad phone calls. I was selling a 5-year-old that was green broke because I was in college and hadn't had the time necessary to finish her properly. I stated this plainly in my ad, and said that she was an intelligent, strong-willed, green horse suitable for an advanced rider only. I ranked her high on the temperament scale. I had so many people call me looking for a first horse for their young daughter, or a good horse to get back into riding after a back injury. A few were looking for seasoned show horses. Someone even called asking if this appaloosa filly was approved with any warmblood registries because they wanted a warmblood brood mare...? Because I would leave valuable information like that out of her ad after I included all her ApHC registration information.

My honesty didn't stop people that clearly weren't experienced enough to handle her from trying to schedule a trial. I refused to let anyone I didn't see fit try her out. Some people got mad and swore at me over the phone.. as if that would change my mind. "Thank you for calling me a *****. I see the light now. This horse would be perfect for the 6 year old daughter you always wanted to get rid of. When would you like to schedule her next trip to the ER? Come on a cold, windy morning for the greatest chance of fatality!"

If it makes you feel any better, I did finally get a call from a reputable trainer looking for a project. I let her come for a trial ride, and she rode very well. She decided to buy the horse, and I was happy to close the deal.

You can find the right buyer for your horse, but you definitely have to deal with a lot of garbage until you do!


----------



## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I know there are a lot of complaints about sellers, but having sold livestock for many years, I have a lot of sympathy for them. A guy called me up only a couple days ago because he got my name off a breeders list (I should really take it off). He wanted to start a goat butter dairy. He was really quite passionate about his fantasy and wasted at least thirty minutes of my time before he admitted he had never owned a goat and didn't even know if he liked them. He said, and I quote, "I like dogs, goats are like dogs, aren't they?" 

Also, no such thing as a goat butter dairy. But that's a minor point.

He is by no means the nuttiest person who has ever tried to buy livestock from me. It is sobering to think that many people who own horses and other animals are just this clueless.


----------



## jgnmoose (May 27, 2015)

You won't want me as a buyer lol. I'm very courteous and I will not waste your time, and will treat you with respect. At the same time I will want to know everything about the horse, look at conformation, look at head structure, swirls you name it. I will also want to ride the horse, fresh, with my tack. If I show up and the horse is saddled, and sweating, I turn the truck around, and head on to the next one (pow pow?). 

I've seen "kid safe horses" that should be sold to a Rodeo contractor and "unridable horses" that just need a good home. I'm not looking for projects, I'm looking for prospects.

I don't think you should tolerate "kick the tires" sort of buyers though.


----------



## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

You guys are scaring me as I'm contemplating on selling a little mare that I have and don't have time to ride.

I have three adult horses. The first and oldest one was given to me, the other two I bought. My first mare that I bought was after I had seen her for sale for quite a long time. I was a little nervous because she was out of state and I hate wasting money or time. And then, if I wanted her, I would have to figure out how to get her to me. The price for her, as she was described, was extremely reasonable coupled with the fact that she had been for sale for a while made me wonder if there was something wrong. I finally bit the bullet after looking at a few horses locally. I called the owner/breeder and we had about an hour and a half conversation. Come to find out, she had pretty much gone through the same thing as KILTSRHOT. "Is your four year old green mare good for my 10 yr old just starting out?" "I just had back surgery, do you think she would be ok for me?"

Anyway, I really liked this lady and I guess she felt like me and her girl could be a possible match. I put a down payment on her pending a PPE, called a local vet to do the PPE, and when all was clear I went up to meet her and her sire. Her dam was already sold but I saw pictures. I payed the rest of the money and boarded her there for a month until I could have her shipped. The seller helped me with that by introducing me to a shipper that she used and trusted. It went smooth as silk and there hasn't been a day of regret.

The second horse that I bought was when I was looking for a horse for my nieces to ride with me. I actually went to see a gelding and bought a different horse altogether that she had for sale. That is the one that I am thinking of selling. My nieces don't ride too much so she's just hanging out except for the occasional trail ride.

I suppose if I were spending 50 grand, things might get a little more complicated, but not all buyers are a pain in the butt.


----------



## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

I'm a buyer who asks questions about things that are in the ad. 

Not stuff like gelding but if the ad says "good on trails" I'm might ask how they are trails, see what the response is, because often it's different. Sometimes good on trails means good on a trail as long as they're following another experienced horse and are not asked to do anything. Sometimes good under saddle is downgraded to good at walk and trot and it comes out that they Buck at the canter. 

Ads are understood to be what they are - a way to get initial interest and sell the best points of the horse. People who go in assuming all information is included in an ad often get burned.

If I'm spending thousands on a horse I expect the seller to dedicate time to discussing the horse as well as showing it to me. I expect them to ask questions about my abilities as I think every owner should responsible for trying to find a safe and suitable home. I'm put off if there are no questions.

As a seller it's tricky, the amount of emails from 13 year old kids wanting their first horse, especially in the cheaper price range, well it's crazy. I was selling a horse for $400, just above meat prices. 90% of people I called were completely inexperienced thinking that because they just wanted to walk around on trails that they didn't need a fancy horse, any horse would do. 

So I'd ask questions about if they'd had horses before, what sort of riding they did, where they would keep her and then rule out people before they wasted my time.

Like you, my ad was very obvious about issues but people don't read.


----------



## Shenandoah (Aug 9, 2010)

I just have to say, when I was a horse buyer, I saw all sorts of things.
Some horses DID change gender, age, abilities, etc between when their ad was written and when I showed up at the barn (not sure why, perhaps they confused two horses, or perhaps a different person wrote the ad and didn't really know the horse, or maybe they just put what they thought would get the most people's attention and hoped to get them interested in something else once at the farm, or perhaps some other reason altogether?).
There are many clueless buyers, but there are also many clueless sellers. You just have to be careful, and I found it was actually a good idea to ask a few questions about things that were stated in the ad, rather than assume the ad was correct.


----------



## tinaev (Dec 2, 2012)

Avna said:


> It is sobering to think that many people who own horses and other animals are just this clueless.


A lady came into my office on Monday and started telling all about the alpacas she'd bought over the weekend. 

She got one black one and two white ones but the black one died. It must mean the black ones are harder to take care of. You can't sell their wool so their genes probably aren't good and they aren't healthy. She was on her way to pick up a replacement alpaca from the seller. Do you know anything about alpacas? She'd never been around them before but they seem cute.

I was seriously about ready to pound my head on my desk. I feel really bad for this lady's alpacas.


----------



## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

Sometimes it's better to sell your horse through an agent.


----------



## kiltsrhott (Mar 11, 2012)

Shenandoah said:


> I just have to say, when I was a horse buyer, I saw all sorts of things.
> Some horses DID change gender, age, abilities, etc between when their ad was written and when I showed up at the barn (not sure why, perhaps they confused two horses, or perhaps a different person wrote the ad and didn't really know the horse, or maybe they just put what they thought would get the most people's attention and hoped to get them interested in something else once at the farm, or perhaps some other reason altogether?).
> There are many clueless buyers, but there are also many clueless sellers. You just have to be careful, and I found it was actually a good idea to ask a few questions about things that were stated in the ad, rather than assume the ad was correct.


Oh yes. I went horse shopping with a friend of mine and we went to see a horse that was advertised as a Swedish Warmblood trained though second level dressage. It turned out to be a somewhat green thoroughbred gelding. He had never met a dressage trainer in his life. The woman who was selling him claimed he looked a little like a Swedish Warmblood she once knew, so decided to call him that in the ad. The 14 year old that was riding him was supposedly training him in a dressage style, and if so, it was a rookie interpretation. He wasn't a bad horse, but he certainly was misrepresented in the ad, and he was not worth nearly the money they were asking for him. We were just lucky he wasn't that far away so we didn't waste too much time driving to see him. It was a valuable lesson learned.

I can totally get asking for details about a horse's training and accomplishments to make sure they're accurate, true, or measure up to your expectations. But as a buyer, I would never see an ad for a strong-willed, green horse and ask whether the horse was better trained or tempered than advertised.


----------



## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Jerseyfarm said:


> So I have had some horses that I have needed to sell for a while now and everytime I get motivated to sell them I soon realize exactly what it was stopping me…….Talking to the people. If it was only the horses I had to, deal with it would be smooth sailing but the social interaction required with the humans not so much. I thought perhaps I could beat the system and avoid all the monotonous detailed questions that take up so much of my precious time that 89.3% of the time are followed up by “would you consider a trade for my blind cat and a donut. (it’s Dunkins free donut day by the way) by placing a OVERLY DETAILED description of the horses. I figured ok if I can bypass the height, age, sex, discipline, show experience, turn out routine, hoof care, medical history, breeding, color, etc ALLin my ad then maybe by the time the potential buyer contacts me we will be a step ahead of the game right? WRONGO! They ask again as if they did not find my contact by READING the description of the horse. Yes he is still a gelding he has NOT grown back his balls since I made the add. No, he still doesn’t have shoes the farrier has not come to slap some on in the past 15 minutes. His birthday has not passed he is still 12 and no 7,500 negotiable does not in any way shape or form mean FREE LEASE, although I kind of have to give these people credit because by the time I am done dealing with them I am actually contemplating giving away the very valuable horse just to avoid ever having to go through it again. As the grueling process goes on inquiry by inquiry question by question I start to think that maybe feeding them for the rest of their long life may be worth it. I start pricing out my feed bills and comparing it to my sanitys worth. Now if I am able to stay strong and answer each and every one of the questions that were written clearly in the description and then send them 106 videos of the horse performing miracles for their trainer to see after having to delete sacred memories to free up more storage for their request then I get to move on to the next round of them actually coming out to try the horse.
> 
> Chapter Two
> 
> ...


Weed them out from the get go, if someone asks something stupid that you already answered don't respond!

I sell my sheep and any sort of "you have sheeps?" "how many shheps" type responses just go to the trash.

Now when I get "Hi, my name is _. Your sheep look great and I would love to talk more." etc. They will get a very prompt response.


----------



## ShirtHotTeez (Sep 23, 2014)

kiltsrhott said:


> . . . But as a buyer, I would never see an ad for a strong-willed, green horse and ask whether the horse was better trained or tempered than advertised.


And yet EVERY WEEK I see an ad for a thoroughbred, where it is stated not suitable for beginners, and some idiot asks 'is it suitable for a six year old' :confused_color:  :beatup:
@natisha 


> Sometimes it's better to sell your horse through an agent.


I'm not sure I'd trust the agent any better, I've heard some horror stories...

We need a smilie for bashing our head!


----------



## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

ShirtHotTeez said:


> And yet EVERY WEEK I see an ad for a thoroughbred, where it is stated not suitable for beginners, and some idiot asks 'is it suitable for a six year old' :confused_color:  :beatup:
> @natisha
> 
> I'm not sure I'd trust the agent any better, I've heard some horror stories...
> ...


True on all counts but an agent could be a friend willing to weed out the nonsense.


----------



## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

You might not like me as a buyer, either.

I only believe half of what I see and nothing the seller says.

Once a seller said "You surprised me. I couldn't tell you were interested." Probably because I am incapable of 'gushing.'


----------



## Emeraldsprings (Mar 1, 2015)

Once had a horde, sorry family, of small shrieking children insist on walking/sitting underneath a horse. I asked the parents to stop them and received the reply "why, is she dangerous??". Said mare was not for sale as a beginner horse but a show jumper. Thankfully she happened to be very quiet anyway. Imagine if she'd stepped back and accidentally stood on them... 

Another came to try the horse and immediately exclaimed she was too big. I had told her on the phone she was a good 16.3h but they thought she looked more like 15.2 and came anyway. Apparently i didnt seem like I knew how to measure. Was I supposed to put her in a hot wash and hope she shrank?

It can be very hard to weed out the genuine from the clinically insane over the phone/email as many people "talk the talk" and when they come to ride can't post a trot let alone compete at intermediate level eventing like they said.

That being said, buying is as much of a hassle. My dad once went to view a horse whose owner claimed could jump 5feet. When he went to look she put 2 trotting poles 5 feet apart on the ground and lunged the horse over them...


----------

