You know I did own a horse at one point in time who pooped and peed only in one select corner of his stall. His stall was always done in like under 60 seconds. Made my life so easy I thought I should have put that on the sales ad. Wonder how much extra someone would have paid LOL.
My mare is like that, and so is her filly. It was a selling point to my mom when the mare had to come home a few years ago “She keeps her stall so neat!”.
I know someone that even though she’s not in the market for a horse will request video and price for any that catch her eye.
That is ridiculous. What a selfish thing to do!
I know, I have to grit my teeth not to say anything. She’s got 4 or 5 horses and is the only one in her family that rides and she’s paying a fortune on boarding, I don’t know why her husband doesn’t put his foot down.
As a seller, I don’t mind this — I have a copy-paste spiel written that I can fire off in two seconds. You never know if someone’s trainer, friend, cousin, husband’s nephew’s spouse twice-removed might be shopping and word-of-mouth goes a long way.
Yeah seriously. That info should be in the original ad to begin with. I know the internet has spoiled us all in some ways, but long term relationship building and reputation still counts for something. I am not a “tire kicker” who would ask to trial a horse I had no intention of buying, but since everyone is paranoid putting prices up on Facebook, and for some reason putting videos in the original message is either super difficult or some horse salesmanship taboo, yes I will PM out of curiosity about a horse that I find interesting, if not for myself than for a friend or boarder I know is looking. And whatever, if for no other reason than to keep tabs on the market for when I am buying/selling. I don’t think a cut/paste is asking for the moon.
For the record, it doesn’t seem like anyone gets in trouble for horse ads on Facebook anymore, especially using the “carrot pricing”. ,
If you have plans on buying/selling, knock yourself out. If you have someone you are acting as their agent looking for a horse, be my guest.
If you don’t, you are 100% a tire kicker. Don’t candy coat it.
Sorry, but as a frequent seller (four sold in 2021, which isn’t an insane number but impressive for an amateur with a full-time day job), I see it differently—if someone has even a modicum of interest in my horse (even if, at this time, that interest is “I think he’s pretty”), I don’t mind them reaching out to me. It’s good business.
Also, a tire-kicker today might be a buyer six months from now and they will certainly remember the sellers who took the time to answer their questions politely and accurately. I get Facebook messages almost every day asking me if I have X for sale, largely from people who maybe were “tire-kickers” for past sale horses but might be ready to buy now.
It took you more time to write your insulting message to me than it takes for a seller to cut and paste a price/video link.
You’re assuming all sellers are the same, but for en-masse sellers touche. Kick away!
That’s pretty annoying.
Agreed. Plus, I have bought several horses when I wasn’t “actively looking”…oops!
Yes, if you are looking at ads and have the space/resources for another horse, you are looking…even if your conscious, rational self says you are not. Ask me how I know…
BTDT. In fact I can’t recall the last time I was actively looking. Somehow there’s a cute horse on the Internet, and suddenly money changes hands and it’s mine, then I have to start figuring out how to break the news to my husband in a way that seems like it was on purpose….lololol
Another one I see a lot is that sellers will write in their ad something along the lines of “jumps around 3’6” courses” … but the video and photos only show the horse jumping a 2’3” vertical in the schooling ring. If you’re selling the horse as capable of jumping a 3’6” course, surely you could at least show him over one or two fences at that height, even if it’s the off season and he’s a little out of shape/your ring is small/[insert other excuse here].
If the horse is not, in fact, prepared to jump a 3’6” course and has actually only jumped a single vertical at that height once, then maybe leave that part out of the ad.
I sent a PM to a seller yesterday asking about a couple of specific characteristics that were not mentioned in the ad and then said that if she thought the horse would meet my needs, I would like to hear more about the horse.
The seller replied by simply sending me the ad. The ad that I had obviously already seen because I had PMed her about the horse. I mean, I guess I’m supposed to interpret that as meaning that yes, she does think the horse meets my needs and she thinks that everything I need to know is already in the ad, but really? Would it have been so hard for her to just say something like, “Yes, the horse does have these qualities and I think she would be great for you?”
A response that at least directly acknowledged my questions would have left me feeling a lot more positive about following up than the response I got, which felt a bit like a brush off. And this is a horse that has been on the market for a while, too, so it’s not like she’s being inundated by eager buyers.
I sent basically the same PM to a different seller at the same time and got an enthusiastic response affirming that she thought her horse would be a great fit for me. Guess which one of these sellers I’m going to follow up with first?
I bought one off dreamhorse 6 months ago. It was a pretty straightforward buying experience. I’d looked at a lot on FB and warmbloods for sale, as well. On the whole I found sellers pretty helpful and informative.
But no, its not as easy and consolidated as it used to be to search for available horses, I dont think.
My assumption is most of the folks who won’t post video either don’t have it yet or don’t want it widely seen, because the horse isn’t as great as advertised. Both are unfortunate.
We just finished a somewhat arduous search for a schoolmaster type, and my latest pet peeve is people who won’t tell you the horse’s name. Sometimes its breeding and the year, but not the name. It drives me bonkers. Yes, apparently I’m an annoying weirdo who wants to do things like look up the horse’s show record and/or any records available from Europe because I want to know if the horse has done what you say it’s done, but apparently that’s a totally unreasonable question…