My experiences with horse sales is only as a buyer. I’ve never sold a horse. And as a buyer i’ve always understood that when i go to visit a horse, i am being interviewed as much as the horse. I know at the Morgan barn that i purchased from a few times, the initial first call there was pretty intense. Before even seeing the horses we sat on a porch and i got a pretty thorough grilling. That i am autistic and ‘strange’ probably had a lot to do with that though. Once over that hurdle though things went pretty smoothly.
This is such a pain. I think about 2/3 of all the videos I am sent i cannot really evaluate much from due to the low frame rate, bad compression, bad angles and lighting. If you want me to drive hundreds of miles and pay you 5 or 6 figures for a horse I expect you to spent an hour online learning how to shoot action sports and buy a proper camera and lens. This is especially laughable as a lot of young trainers in an area that rhymes with Sno-cala now think they are european breeders and just expect you to buy from video. Which they shot on their iphone, with the stabilization turned off, at sunset. Or even worse one of those robotic tracking things so the horse is the size of your thumbnail in the video even at full screen. Don’t even get my started on the conformation shots with all the tack and boots on. Or the jumper prospect that trots over one crossrail in a field or is scrambling over a small jump in a small round pen, Again for $50k per horse, find a good long jumping chute where the horse can relax and go straight. Or hire a good rider and take the horse through a gymnastic with one larger fence at the end. So I can see how it jumps.
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FWIW: something that I just ran across in a sale ad that I think set the tone well without being overly hostile (and made me think of this thread):
“Tons of pics & videos are available to serious inquiries ONLY! Please discuss it with whoever you need to before messaging us.”
Especially at the lower end of the market I suspect the aspirational inquiries from those who can’t realistically follow through are a big issue. Basically, “Ask your parents first!” (FWIW this ad is for a fun-sounding mid-fours draft mare I’d go look at if she were closer, and I might anyway, but she’s in northern Maryland and I’m in New England and I’m not even going to call anybody unless I get serious about seeing several in the area. Maybe this weekend!)
It’s way better than the person with a couple of much fancier (low-mid-fives) horses I could look at who, when I replied to the “PM for video” ad with a couple of sentences of polite but enthusiastic interest and a request for video, sent 15 seconds of what’s probably a horse cantering in a dark indoor. I’d still go check them out if I was local, but I’m not making an overnight trip just on that!
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Yeah - I get it’s a balance between wasting my time or wasting the trainer’s time - there’s a lot of information that is just too much to include in an ad (like his turnout situation or a full medical history) and there could be something that I didn’t include that could be a deal breaker for them… but also I’d save a lot of time if people spoke to their trainers before me 
would I buy only from a video? Only if I knew the person who was selling the thing.
Two of my children are professional photographers who can make anything look wonderful either at the time the photographs/video are done or with one of their editing programs
Have we bought from videos? Yes, twice but both purchases were from the same breeder who we have know for twenty five years…those purchases were just what the video had shown and more as the horse’s personality was better than expected.
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Frankly unless it’s maintained to a very high level as well as being blessed with minimal wear and good genetic luck, pretty much everything feels iffy in some way.
The vast majority of horses are serviceably sound. Actually sound, totally sound requires a ton of maintenance and money and proper riding all the time and high level care and therapy, as well as a baseline of minimal inherent issues. 90% of horses aren’t going to meet it, people can’t do it, and for most jobs they don’t need it. So yes, sound enough is a thing.
This is not an excuse for people who can’t distinguish head bobbing or hitching acute lame, but the reality is riding through or around physical limitations is a key point in being a professional, or we would ride almost nothing at all.
Even at the very top level, you get on and think, eh this or that is stiff today and that right hind is going to need injecting again soon or the front feet feel stingy and is he falling out a bit to the left is that me or something to keep watch on… so your professional may be feeling a ton of things, but unless you are in a program where you can spend tens of thousands of dollars a year on maintenance and it makes a difference to your results? You are going to hear “he feels fine”. You might get “pack the feet, he’s a bit short I think”, or “his left hind isn’t as strong, keep your leg on that side”. Maybe “we might need to spend some money on those hocks in the future, let’s try to save up the cash”. But your average professional isn’t going to go around telling everyone their horse feels like crap. Again, the vast majority don’t feel right if you know what really right is. But they are still useful, serviceably sound animals that deserve homes and jobs, and there wouldn’t be a mid level or recreational horse industry without them.
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I have come to believe that this is just what happens when you have something to sell. I have learned that the interested people actually make it out and others are just wishing/ hoping to, or are the pain we just have to endure until the buyer actually finds us.
What I do is try and carry on as best I can and not change my way of life/ schedule in hopes that they may call and want to come out.
Doesn’t help you I know but you are not alone.
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