You and I are one in the same.
I’m back with today’s report (aka I just went through Facebook messenger):
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Politely declined on this lady’s stallion a while ago because she was asking way too much for him. Today she messages me saying that she really needs him gone because “his owner is very sick.” She took $10k off the asking price. Still too much. I said, “Sorry, my place is not set up for a stallion.”
“No problem!” she says. “He can be gelded!” Please just take the hint. I didn’t reply. -
The people who get mad when you tell them horsey isn’t the right fit? Or you’re not willing to buy sight unseen and they’re across the country? Or they accuse you of wasting their time after a few messages exchanged? Am I supposed to want to give you money for the horse I don’t want after you were rude to me?
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Omg yes. I can’t even count how many sellers would respond to an ISO ad with a very clear geographical preference from way outside it and be very insistent that shipping was no issue. And then wouldn’t even have good video! It’s like if I’m going to entertain the idea of either travelling to see your horse or buying off video I need a very good idea of what you have.
And ads with “no tire kickers” annoy me. Are you going to complain if I ask some questions and determine it’s not the right for me? Or if I come out and try your horse but it isn’t the right fit?
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I remember one ad that the guy said if you didn’t come with a horse trailer then he wouldn’t show you the horse! LOL.
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I’m not a buyer or a seller right now - I’ve got one whose only talent is to be a companion to my sister’s horse while getting $500 injections at OSU every 6 months and another who I wouldn’t sell for love or money as he is perfect for me. And I just barely mentioned buying another to my husband and got the stinkeye of the century. BUT I am in some FB marketing groups and I am just amazed that in this day and age people cannot or will not advertise their horses for sale with decent pictures. Is that not horse selling 101? Even on Warmblood Sales some of the pictures are just horrible.
I mean, this is so basic that I’m embarrassed to mention it here but that’s my gripe. 
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They always redflag the weirdest things
Ah yes, the ol’ “come prepared to buy” tactic. It’s like they imagine there’s a whole bunch of us wasting our time horse shopping with no intention of buying anything. Can you imagine dealing with someone like that? What if you got there and decided nope, this isn’t the horse for me. Do you get run off with a load of bird shot?
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Wasn’t there a thread some time back about a whacko establishment that wanted prospective buyers to pay some large sum of money just to be allowed on the premises to look at prospective purchases?
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I found one that was (unsuccessfully) fundraising for tieback surgery the previous summer. Horse was being shown in winter with “only a little roar”. (I’d have vetted him if he hadn’t also had a tripping problem.)
I tried another one of those “never a lame step” horses, and the farrier just happened to be around to shoe another horse, and… oh my that was an educational conversation.
I only wish the owner of the horse I vetted (based on a solid personal connection) had been so careless as to have left more evidence online! The kissing spine surgery wouldn’t have been a disqualifier for me but obvious scars from it on a horse with “no known veterinary history” was a bit of a red flag. (The undisclosed special-needs shoeing that was weird enough that a very good vet had never seen its like before was also a red flag. Also high-grade lameness in one leg. Also the “quiet” horse that needed tranquilizer before even being handled. Yes this was all the same horse!) All I can say about that is that the shipper filled my spot and was kind enough to not hold me to our agreement despite that I should have owed (and would have paid if asked) a $1k deposit.
For whoever commented about expensive horses on bigeq.com: a friend found me one there that wasn’t even far from home. Really fun ride, 17h Hanoverian/TB cross, nice changes, good show record in low hunters, a little more lightly built than I wanted (if there is such a thing as a “small 17h” it would be him) and only $11k. If there was a hidden gotcha I missed it.
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The infamous Churchill TB outfit near Lex Ky that operated for years and changed names and locations with the seasons. Might remember their photoshopped sales horses posing on tropical beaches, number of beware threads on here.
They did charge to see it at one point but eventually just didn’t allow anybody on whatever property they were operating off of at the time. All sight unseen, only their vet did PPE and they controlled the shipping process. They screwed at least one COTHer and had a bad rep for bouncing checks locally. IIRC at least the Mom here went to jail maybe 6-7 years ago.
GOGGLE whoever you are dealing with. Simple, non invasive and sometimes will save you time and money.
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My point was not about the site itself but that the horses these people were saying would be “perfect!!” for her were all in the mid five figures.
Too often in the horse world I see people complain that young riders don’t want to work and how they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and then we don’t reward the kids who do. I’m sure everyone just assumed “college student” meant “mom and dad still pay my bills,” though some of these people are the same people to say they walked uphill in the snow both ways to their job at 7-11 to afford their $500 horse. 
And I still don’t see how this amounts to having upwards of $50k to spend on a horse.
I can’t imagine how discouraging this is for the girl who posted this. I do admittedly have some long-held resentment because of this, or the notion that “working your way up” in the horse world is at all possible. The generous injuries, broken confidence, barn managers that treated myself and my friends like dog turds they stepped in on the sidewalk, watching other kids have fun on safe horses, etc., really truly could have been avoided had my parents just shelled out for an appropriate horse and some lessons.
“But the difficult horses are the ones who taught you to ride!” Not really. The horses that taught me to ride were the schooled horses I got to sit on once I had my own money, my then-trainer’s ancient GP horse, horses that were tricky but talented and safe. I STILL fall into the trap of thinking I can save the money by buying the project, when that doesn’t actually align with my goals.
I’m sorry if this is not at all relevant to what you were trying to say, but it’s not about the site the horses were posted on.
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I once did a Facebook search on a horse with “no known issues”. The same people had posted several years before the entire saga of it severing a tendon after running into a tractor. When questioned, they claimed the incident had slipped their minds.
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This is so true. I think any horse you ride is either adding to your confidence bank or withdrawing. If you are an ammy who can only have one horse, you better buy one that’s making regular deposits to your bank. The horses that withdraw are for riders who have 3 others they can ride that are depositing to make up for it.
And it is really hard not to fall into that project trap when shopping on a budget. I found there’s a fine line between a project and a prospect. The difference is subtle and sellers don’t always understand the difference. And when as a decent ammy you show up and ride their project nicely enough they love to tell you that the horse just needs a little more time/training/whatever and you are the right person to bring them along. But to me a project is a gamble. The horse needs an unknown amount of time and training, probably also some vet investigation for some minor discomfort of some kind, and might eventually do the job. And a project is definitely going to be making withdrawals.
A prospect on the other hand is happily doing its job but neon green. So yes it needs the time and training but odds are it will come along on a fairly normal schedule and you hopefully won’t be going down any crazy pre-existing health related rabbit holes. And there might be the odd ride that’s a withdrawal but on average they are deposits.
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On my local FB group, one perpetual chestnut is the local Standardbred rescue which posts “rescue a SB” on every ISO ad. Like, literally everything from a kid looking for a13h pony to a timid junior looking to be competitive showing and stepping up a division in the hunters.
On the flip side, I saw a ISO ad for a three figure “baby” to be a friend to a poster’s weanling.
Yikes!!!
It’s nice to read other’s stories about the horse market. Two years ago, I found a nice horse for sale at a barn that specialized in pleasure horses; QHs, Paints, etc. They had a little QH listed that was a super-nice dressage type, but with no dressage training. He was exactly what I wanted and I had cash in hand if I liked him.
I contacted the trainer and she told me I needed to make an appointment to see the horse. That was fine, but she wasn’t available for over three weeks and the only time I she would see me was a late afternoon in December. Her place over two hours away, so driving in the dark in bad weather wasn’t ideal. I made the appointment and before I could see the horse, it sold. She never contacted me to let me know. I was pissed to say the least.
I did contact her for an explanation and she was a bit snippy, telling me all of her horses sold off a video, so if I wanted him I should have just bought him sight unseen. Geez.
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Yeah, right.
If they were being truthful, really shudder to see horse accidents they do remember 
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I’m not actively shopping but I’m always looking to see what’s out there and see what prices horses are going for (or at least being advertised for). Pet peeves (prompted by one I just saw)- among many others already listed- people selling, listing all of their horse’s mid-upper level accolades only to bury at the bottom that horse is now only suitable for low level or light work. Like, who TF cares if your horse competed up to the upper levels if it’s now only capable of light work (and with maintenance at that!)?!
Prices in the northeast still seem out of control. A friend messaged someone about a 20-something yo pony, suitable for flat only and in need of extensive daily and additional periodic maintenance- available on a PAID lease! I feel like a pony like that was a giveaway 10 years ago (or at least a free/care lease).
I’m dreading getting into the shopping game in the next few years and seriously considering just getting a mustang for dirt cheap and putting in the money to train it because I don’t have $20k to spent on a mediocre alteady trained horse (and certainly can’t afford anything fancy with a competition record).
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Prices in the northeast ARE crazy. I’m not exactly sure what it is. I’ve heard speculation that it’s just COL and proximity to shows, but you’d be hard pressed to swing a cat and hit a horse that hasn’t been to HITS, Devon, Fieldstone Park, GMHA, the Coliseum in Springfield, or Tri-state. So making an appearance at one or all of them doesn’t really impress me. That’s not even the horse I’m trying to buy-- I’m fine with the scrappy youngster, but not for 45k…
I think I might have mentioned upthread the lady who told me she had to ask $X because she’d paid a lot for the horse last year. That’s just not how the market works. She sent videos from a year ago and recent and well… I wasn’t going to tell her that the horse’s value had depreciated regardless of the market, so I just made a vague excuse and left the conversation at that.
@sparkygrace You reminded me of something that happened to a friend almost 2 years ago… she made plans to see a horse in FL during the winter season and knew he might sell fast, so bought plane tickets to see him the following week. Very short notice. She was pretty sold on the horse and prepared to make an offer on site. She contacted the seller the day before to confirm a time. The response? “Oh he sold sorry”
So you weren’t going to tell the person flying out over a weekend to try your horse that he had been sold earlier in the week??
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While a lot of this is horse-specific craziness, some of this is also just lacking general good business practices and communication skills. It makes me think of that screenshot I saw on Twitter of a rider texting a trainer, “when are we leaving tomorrow for the show,” and getting the answer, “yes,” because I’ve had the exact same exchange several times in my life.
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