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How do amateurs sell horses...Want to rip my hair out...

Eventing
#21

Thank you so much everyone!! It’s nice to know i’m not the only one. He is a hot headed, very sensitive OTTB but also very cute and pretty athletic. Probably not going to be a pro’s horse so difficult to find the right rider who enjoys forward but doesn’t have super big dreams.

This is a horse I bought off the track without riding and obviously it’s just the risk you take. No fault of his own, just not a super easy horse to sell. After consideration I think i’m going to try sending him to a pro that specializes in sales and pray to the sweet lord he sells within a few months so i don’t spend $4k on consignment board just to bring him home!

#22

I handed mine to my dressage trainer and said, here you do it :slight_smile:
If there is a next time, I will again hand them to either my dressage or event trainer and say, here you do it :). Life is too short

#23

[QUOTE=bambam;8917590]
I handed mine to my dressage trainer and said, here you do it :slight_smile:
If there is a next time, I will again hand them to either my dressage or event trainer and say, here you do it :). Life is too short[/QUOTE]

Mine is getting handed off to the dressage trainer because I just don’t want to deal with the people. For me to take time off from work to show him to people is to much. I would rather pay her the commission and be done with it.

#24

Interesting. I just bought a horse and had to wade through a bunch of ads that were not accurate and sellers that did not respond.
I did finally find a horse despite that.
I do wonder if anyone cares about the future of the horses being sold? I found a horse I had sold in a kill pen 10 years after I sold her and I thought it was a good home.
I see lovely horses in auctions all the time and it is heartbreaking to see how they are just thrown away.

#25

I sell horses somewhat regularly and I’m an amateur.

I find that <$5k horses somehow almost always require the most amount of angst and haggling and somehow overall duration of the sales process (with the rare exception where it happens in a grand total of one phone call and 30 minutes of your time).

$5k-$25k seem very difficult to find an audience for as a lone amateur. These are the ones that seem to often go trainer to trainer and sell the quickest “in network” so to speak.

>$25k (and maybe even >$50k) seem to sell okay and have the least amount of hassle. For sure the most extensive vet checks, but most of the hemming and hawing and angst is removed from the picture. Also, you don’t get very many people overestimating their skill set, and these folks are almost always already working closely with a trainer. Of course in this price range you’re also usually pretty set on what the horse is good at and capable of, so less need to hem and haw.

I agree with others who say that a “pro ride” but not a “pro amount of ability” is probably the toughest sell. I’ve been lucky that my more difficult horses have been talented, but even so they were tougher to sell than the ones with the really nice brains and less talent. In your shoes I would probably aim for the teenage step-down-from-the-A-shows market and work to get flyers up at any schooling shows, on any FB pages related to horse sales in your area, etc. Also, I find that a lot of horse people (including professionals who sell a fair amount) don’t understand the really basic tenant of sales - it’s all about finding the right person at the right time. Making phone calls (which a lot of people don’t want to do) can unearth a lot of interest surprisingly quickly. Make a phone list of all of the trainers in your area and call every single one. I have a friend who did full time horse sales for a while and she was AMAZING at moving horses regardless of type or size or any other factor. Her “secret” was that she started making phone calls the minute she got a horse and she would revolve through the list every single week. She said it was shocking how many times a trainer would dismiss her first call and 1 week later be looking for exactly that horse (but wouldn’t have thought to call her back).

StarstruckEventing has some great points too. I am in the process of selling a horse to a kid right now. The kid has taken a few rides to really figure out this horse and it’s been a fun process to watch. But if she’d hopped on the first time expecting him to go like he does at his best, she would have been disappointed (as would have I).

Chouteau - I don’t think the post-season market is as bad as many people say. In fact, I’ve sold almost all of my horses in the last few years in the Oct/Nov/Dec timeframe (show season wraps up in September up here). In regard to websites - I’ve had fantastic luck with ExchangeHunterJumper.com and also with Warmblood-sales.com. But obviously how you market that ad is probably more important than the ad itself. I loved Exchange because she did the social marketing piece for me. With Warmblood-sales I’ve taken the ad and shared it on FB and via e-mail, etc., and had a good amount of interest as a result.

#26

[QUOTE=asterix;8916447]
I’ve only sold one, and next time, I’m totally having a pro do it. It was a horrible experience …[/QUOTE]

This is my reaction as well. I swore after I had one for sale a couple years back that I would either send the next one out or just keep the bugger, as I’m not going through it again! I was a nervous wreck with potential buyers trying the horse as I feared the worst (not because the horse was bad, but he was green and cheap and that attracted the less experienced riders). Then the actual buyer chose the very worst vet in our area and that was such a fiasco…the horse did sell, but it was despite the findings of the fruitloop vet.

10% or whatever a pro charges to sell is worth it. I won’t do it again.

#27

I’ve only sold one horse. He was in this price range and was a rare exception. I did spend about 15 hours getting video and building a supplemental website for him that was linked in the ad. He was also quite pretty, so I think that helped with people wanting to look at his ad. He sold in two weeks for asking price. His new owner is perfect for him and still sends me updates 5 years later.

#28

Interesting to see this thread because I (finally) sold Petey today.

I was a pro but am an ammy again now. I still have lots of contacts and tons of people know Petey.

It wasn’t a bad experience but that is likely because the 3rd person to try him bought him. Leaving 5 others who wanted to try him, out in the cold.

I have no clue what it’ll be like when I try to sell my next horse. The saddest part of all this though has been my sad acknowledgement that a person really cannot buy a horse under 16 hands to solely resell. I know there are people who love that catty size but the scorn and derision that Petey faced over an arbitrary number just sucked. I have had great success and I’m not short but I had a woman a good 4" shorter than me insist she ‘needed’ 16.2 plus. Scary.

I think there are ways to improve your selling experiences but I don’t know. Maybe everyone is all a bit extra cray cray now.

Em

#29

[QUOTE=Xctrygirl;8918277]

The saddest part of all this though has been my sad acknowledgement that a person really cannot buy a horse under 16 hands to solely resell. I know there are people who love that catty size but the scorn and derision that Petey faced over an arbitrary number just sucked. I have had great success and I’m not short but I had a woman a good 4" shorter than me insist she ‘needed’ 16.2 plus. Scary.

Em[/QUOTE]

True enough, Wally stayed at at 15.3+ well into his 5 YO year, and I claimed he doubled in value when he finally sticked above 16 h (not that he would ever be for sale).

Congratulations on the sale!

#30

There will be a day when she realizes falling off of 15hh is so much nicer than falling off of 16.2. And then getting back on.

#31

[QUOTE=Xctrygirl;8918277]
I have had great success and I’m not short but I had a woman a good 4" shorter than me insist she ‘needed’ 16.2 plus. Scary.

Em[/QUOTE]
lol
I had someone hesitate to show me their 16.1 horse because I am 6 feet tall and they thought he would be too small. Horse is not a slight build and fit me so well, I bought him :slight_smile:

#32

I think part of the “needing” a 16.2 hand horse has to do with so many people misrepresenting their horse’s height. So many people are just clueless as to how big a 16+ horse really is.

I sold a stick measured 17.3 hand sport horse gelding a couple years ago and his new owner is now selling him as 18.2 :no:. I’ve also sold a 16.2 gelding that people were absolutely shocked at how big he was when they saw him in person.

#33

[QUOTE=StarstruckEventing;8918625]
I think part of the “needing” a 16.2 hand horse has to do with so many people misrepresenting their horse’s height. So many people are just clueless as to how big a 16+ horse really is.

I sold a stick measured 17.3 hand sport horse gelding a couple years ago and his new owner is now selling him as 18.2 :no:. I’ve also sold a 16.2 gelding that people were absolutely shocked at how big he was when they saw him in person.[/QUOTE]

THIS. I haven’t sticked my guy lately, but he is about 16.2 1/2. Maybe edging toward 16.3 now. Maybe. Out in public, people consistently approach him and comment on how big he is. They ask how tall he is, and are always surprised by my answer. Now, some of that is that he is also broader than many so he may look a bit more imposing. But some of those same people will also talk about their own 16.2 horses - horses that have to be 2-3 inches smaller than MY ACTUAL 16.2ish horse.

Its baffling given that we have ways to measure these things!

#34

[QUOTE=Backstage;8918647]
THIS. I haven’t sticked my guy lately, but he is about 16.2 1/2. Maybe edging toward 16.3 now. Maybe. Out in public, people consistently approach him and comment on how big he is. They ask how tall he is, and are always surprised by my answer. Now, some of that is that he is also broader than many so he may look a bit more imposing. But some of those same people will also talk about their own 16.2 horses - horses that have to be 2-3 inches smaller than MY ACTUAL 16.2ish horse.

Its baffling given that we have ways to measure these things![/QUOTE]

When my guy came off the track there is NO way he was 16 hands which his jockey club papers showed him at. He was maybe 15.3 on a good day. Now that he is 8…he grew. He is closer to 16 hands and a beefy guy. His sire is War front.

#35

[QUOTE=AppendixQHLover;8918656]
When my guy came off the track there is NO way he was 16 hands which his jockey club papers showed him at. He was maybe 15.3 on a good day. Now that he is 8…he grew. He is closer to 16 hands and a beefy guy. His sire is War front.[/QUOTE]

“NO way he was 16 hands which his jockey club papers showed him at.”

Unless the JC has changed the information on a TB registration papers in the last year the horse’s size in not included. Only information given is, color at the time of registration, name, (if it was named at the same time as registration) foaling date, “by” (sire’s name) out of mare’s name. Markings at the time of registration.
Name of who the papers were issued to
Name of breeder
State of foaling.

The the vast majority of TBs are registered as foals and or short yearlings. So there is no reason to “list” size. After they turn 3 the cost of registering goes up to something like $2,000.

Maybe they list size on the papers with horses that were registered much older?

Maybe someone wrote/typed on the registration papers his size?

#36

to get back to the topic :slight_smile: I just sold a car (the same way I tried to sell my horses) and was pleasantly surprised. I put the 2000 model on Ebay, 30 min later I had the first person contacting me. We talked about the car, 1 hour later he got into his car, drove down to me 8 hours, stayed over night in a hotel, came the next morning to me, looked at the car, drove it, we agreed on the price, and he drove it 8 hours back to his place :slight_smile: :slight_smile: Since then he has called me twice how much he loved the car how well I cared for it and how much he liked this experience. He even told me that there are not many people like me :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

I so wish that horse buyers would be like car buyers…

Somebody from this board told me that its all my fault because me standard of care is too high. After reading this thread I felt a little better already because obviously I am not the only person having problems selling a horse.
I treat my cars like my horses and other animals. I try to keep them well and fix whatever is going wrong. Obviously car buyers appreciate that, horse buyers don’t…

I tried to sell a weanling (imported premium oldenburg filly with great dressage performance bloodlines) for 6.500. Except for 2 persons who were interested in a horse which would do dressage, eventing and jumping and who never showed up there was never any interest in her. 1 Year later I raised the price, then somebody offered the foal price for if, if I would keep her until she turned 3 basically for for free. :frowning: :frowning: :frowning:

Ok I took her off the market and tried to sell her mom because I figured its easier to sell a horse which was ridden :frowning: She was a saint, I qualified for regionals with her, went to clinics and lessons with her and it took me about one year to sell her. Finally after she got more and more show miles some pros offered to buy her for their clients… Finally I sold her but it took me a lot of nerves. And I am not sure why its all the fault of the seller. I tried to sell a healthy beautiful well ridden horse. Her faults were that she was too old (11), not long enough under saddle (only 2 years) and maybe too small (16 hands) not possible to sell a horse like that which was very reasonably priced. And during this year she was put up for sale, she moved up from training level to close to 2nd level.

Really not sure what I did wrong :frowning: :frowning: :frowning: A friend who sent her horse to a pro sold it in a week.

#37

Some people pay ‘the price’ because they want to be able to say that they bought a horse from so & so. They will pay the premium for that. Not at all the same thing in ‘your backyard.’

Never let a horse go for less than they are worth because it’s the right buyer, a good home, blah, blah, blah because then the buyer will try to lowball you even lower. I had an experience back in my 20’s where someone questioned my work and I had a businessman friend tell me that I wasn’t charging enough and that was why they doubted my ability. Same goes for horses.

#38

OP, I could have been one of your potential buyers. When I was horse shopping, I mostly looked at appropriate but not right for me horses. One of the horses that I looked at was very not right for me because the seller and I were just speaking different languages and had different definitions of forward and sensitive. I understand now because I’ve taken time to educate myself and learn more. But at the time I just didn’t understand, having only ridden lesson horses and a dead-head, bomb-proof QH lease. The potential horse was just too much for me. And to the seller’s credit, she did not pull me off but talked me through my panic and convinced me not to bail off the horse who did nothing more than what I was asking him to do.

I don’t know what the magic question is to ensure that you are on the same page as your potential buyers. But maybe you could ask to see some video of them riding as well to get some idea of where they are coming from. Ask detailed questions about their riding experience. The fit should go both ways. Best of luck to you!

#39

[QUOTE=gumtree;8918699]

“NO way he was 16 hands which his jockey club papers showed him at.”

Unless the JC has changed the information on a TB registration papers in the last year the horse’s size in not included. Only information given is, color at the time of registration, name, (if it was named at the same time as registration) foaling date, “by” (sire’s name) out of mare’s name. Markings at the time of registration.
Name of who the papers were issued to
Name of breeder
State of foaling.

The the vast majority of TBs are registered as foals and or short yearlings. So there is no reason to “list” size. After they turn 3 the cost of registering goes up to something like $2,000.

Maybe they list size on the papers with horses that were registered much older?

Maybe someone wrote/typed on the registration papers his size?[/QUOTE]

I was thinking maybe she was thinking of the TIP paperwork/ online registration. Since tbs are lately registered before age 2 so they wouldn’t know their adult height.

Emily

#40

[QUOTE=Foxglove6;8918805]
OP, I could have been one of your potential buyers. When I was horse shopping, I mostly looked at appropriate but not right for me horses. One of the horses that I looked at was very not right for me because the seller and I were just speaking different languages and had different definitions of forward and sensitive. I understand now because I’ve taken time to educate myself and learn more. But at the time I just didn’t understand, having only ridden lesson horses and a dead-head, bomb-proof QH lease. The potential horse was just too much for me. And to the seller’s credit, she did not pull me off but talked me through my panic and convinced me not to bail off the horse who did nothing more than what I was asking him to do.

I don’t know what the magic question is to ensure that you are on the same page as your potential buyers. But maybe you could ask to see some video of them riding as well to get some idea of where they are coming from. Ask detailed questions about their riding experience. The fit should go both ways. Best of luck to you![/QUOTE]

This can definitely be a huge component and can leave both seller and potential buyer walking away unsatisfied. The potential buyer who may not have as much experience walks away feeling that the seller misrepresented the horse, while the seller is confused and feels that their time has been wasted. A classic example - sensitive/forward to a greener rider who has ridden lots of “forward” schoolies is often considerably difference from a “true” sensitive/forward ride.

I don’t think there is a solution - though asking questions and being as upfront as possible can definitely help on both ends. At the end of the day, both seller and buyer should assume that some appointments will feel like a waste of time.

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