Can anyone share their experience buying from Madison penfound I am thinking of reaching out to go try some horses. She takes great pictures and always seems to have a nice group of warmbloods but I just want to get some input before risking the drive.
The photos often look a little strange and photoshopped to me. Look carefully at the legs/hooves in the photos. Sometimes they look kind of edited to my eye. Stuff like that weirds me out about sellers in general.
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Like doesn’t the tail and hind leg look kind of strange here?
[edit to remove image of sales horse]
And the story seems a little off too.
I dunno. It’s all vibes but something seems off to me.
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I don’t know this gal AT ALL but I don’t see anything weird about the pic or the story. People back out of horse sales for the goofiest reasons all the time
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I wonder, sincerely, why they feel the need to never show a lead/reins in any photo? Seems like a strange thing to spend that much time editing on every single photo.
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I don’t know the seller but the pic does look phony. The horse is a beauty until you get to the front fetlocks and the hooves.
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I dunno whether it’s photoshopped, but I’ve seen that type of crap hoof situation IRL enough to believe the horse is really built like that. The fronts would give me pause, but the sock on the RF isn’t helping with the illusion either.
Beautiful horse, if you don’t look at the lower legs!
(Also cutting out the reins/lead is SO easy to do these days on your phone. It takes like 3 minutes and cleans up the pics so why not? I wouldn’t bother, personally, because once you start “touching up” a pic I find people start to assume other things are also touched up. But I don’t think it’s nefarious in and of itself.)
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I was not saying it is nefarious, I was asking why one would bother.
It just seems weird to me because we all know that there is a human there for most of those photos and it does not change anything about the horse if there is a lead attached.
I have no idea how to do it in 3 minutes on my phone, did not know that was a thing, so maybe that truly is the answer, that these people do a quick thing like you mentioned.
(I win the over use of commas award.)
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Oh, I didn’t mean to imply that you were! It’s quick so I guess people think it’s worth it.
I’m so jaded from social media - mainly “beauty influencers” pushing products while they’ve got a beauty filter and editing on - that I’d rather see a “real” photo of a well-presented but not perfect horse if I’m shopping. If I’m hanging a picture on the wall, I don’t care 
Sorry for the derail. Just a PSA to sellers - a nice pic on good lighting is essential, but if you start touching up your pics (even just a lead rope or the background), SOME shoppers may see yellow flags. Lots of pics and video will counteract this, IMO.
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Is there video?
I used to obsess over analyzing conformation pictures when I was a silly preteen while relentlessly window shopping every horse ad that came across my computer screen…Actually, I used to make collages in MS Paint of all my dream horses to save as our family’s computer wallpaper 
(and photoshopped pics with no reins or lead rope would certainly have had a higher aesthetic cachet!).
But, anyway, as an adult, honestly, I couldn’t care less if an ad neglected to include a conformation pic or even any pics at all. It’s all about the video. Some gorgeous horses are just awful movers, or possibly lame, or very green, or just a scary-looking ride… and some shabby-looking horses with conformation quirks can be amazing movers!
Whenever anyone makes a ton of reaching inferences over a single conformation pic, I can’t help wondering if they are 12 years old 
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I also think the hind legs look…odd. Like the left hind looks closer than the right.
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Some of us care about straight legs, good feet and conformation. I won’t bother with a sales ad that does not show those things. It’s super easy to hide things in video- so many that cut out when the horse moves directly towards you so you can’t see how much it toes out or in or how horribly it paddles or how close it moves behind.
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When someone alters something about a sale horse in its ad, I can’t help but wonder if they’re DISHONEST.
If they would try to cover up something about the horse’s conformation in a photo, what else would or are they trying to hide? What else would they “fudge”?
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Seems to me if one were going to alter the photo they would not start with an awkward pose of a horse with less then ideal conformation in poor lighting from an unflattering angle then do nothing to smooth over those issues.
Since sellers name is on here, not willing to make public statements about their honesty or lack thereof based on a single photo. Need way more information to form any opinion.
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It is not a zombie thread. It was started on July 23rd, 2025 at 10:21PM. A couple of days ago.
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Madi has horses showing on the Silver circuit in Ontario. I don’t know her, but the horses that come to the show from her barn are lovely looking.
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FWIW I was responding directly to a statement in the original post which is why I brought up the pictures specifically.
I never said anything about her honesty specifically.
I commented on some of the photos being strange and explained why that matters to me-- because weird, possibly edited photos (along with strange copy in the ad) make me concerned that the seller might be less-than-honest. I was explaining WHY photos matter to me. Photos are a representation of the horse for sale, and if a seller would alter things in that representation I grow concerned about whether that seller would make other misrepresentations.
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I’ve never bought from Madi but I do like her marketing skills. Her ads ALWAYS catch my eye.
Take it for what it’s worth (which might not be much!) but I consistently see her tagged in Facebook posts searching for horse consigners and have never come across any negative posts about her… and I’m in ALOT of Ontario horse groups haha.
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Thx…removed, going for more coffee…
A friend went to try one of her horses. She said it was nice, as advertised, and just not the right fit. Another friend inquired about one, and Madi was honest that it was not going to be the right horse for her. We’re not far, but still a four hour drive and a border crossing, so she appreciated the honesty.
I also always find it weird when this forum starts offering unsolicited critiques of sales ads based on some anonymous third party poster unconnected to the seller.
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