When I was OTTB shopping, the vague horse info is a sales tactic that brokers will use to bait and switch you. It happened more than 3 times, I’d ask about a horse in an ad, and the video I got in a PM was very obviously a different vaguely bay TB. When pressed on why, I am told, “this horse is a better fit for your needs” which wow, a psychic horse broker because I haven’t even shared that info with you yet!
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Ok if it’s just once in a while, but if you’re actively selling horses quite often, just pay someone $25 to jump on for a 3 min video. Even a lunging or free movement at WTC or a jump chute video are better than nothing.
My 25 year old friend has legs like a giraffe, and she’s the one who will ride in my sales videos!
When you message people the video it’s still getting out there. Nothing prevents them from sharing it or thinking bad things about your riding.
I suspect you’re more sensitive than you need to be. Unless you’re scary no one cares about your riding except to the extent it shows what the horse will tolerate. Honestly I can remember one time I even had a thought about the riding in a video and I’m sure I’ve looked at hundreds.
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The absolute easiest and best was I know is to sell word of mouth. I sent a favorite home bred prospect to my trainer to put some time on him and get him sold. She thought he would work for several clients in her barn. A few months went by, she put one of the clients on him, she fell in love, we agreed to terms of the vetting, and they sent money. No FB, no dream horse, no stupid emails/texts/messages. Just a clean, easy transaction.
Prospect number 2, proven show horse in the flat, recently started over fences but coming along quickly and a NICE hunter. Client number 2 wants something taller, so I put the horse on FB. My god, the questions. And the people who comment that they want more info on multiple ads of the same horse, on multiple pages. So I PM info, and tell them on the page I PM’d them, and they continue to ask on various pages for more info 
Seeing less-than-stellar riding in an ad video is actually a plus for me! If the horse is still going nicely despite the rider not being perfect, that’s a sign that it can take a joke and likely has an amateur-friendly personality.
Maybe if the horse is being sold as an upper-level prospect for a professional they’d be more interested in seeing how it goes with a professional in the saddle, but even then I doubt if they’d be too concerned about the riding unless it’s so bad they can’t an idea of the horse’s potential.
I do kind of get what @Minxitbabe was saying though, because there is always “that person” on social media that likes to pick apart other people’s horse care and equipment choice, seemingly as a coping mechanism for their own insecurities.
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Exactly! That’s another one of my horse selling pet peeves. If you’re advertising a horse as a beginner safe crossrails-2 ft horse, then I want to see a video of a beginner bumbling around a crossrail course on a loose rein.
As I told a seller not too long ago while trying a horse: “Yes, that’s nice, but what I really want to know is what the horse is going to do when his rider has a moment half way round the course and drops her reins.”
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I understand but I promise I’m looking at the horse, not you. And if you make some sort of error and the horse is cheerful about it, that goes in the plus column.
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One of the best sales video I ever saw was for–as advertised–“the most patient partner you’ve been looking for” where the rider shoved the horse to a chip down to a single diagonal and also left long to the first jump of a three-to-three–yet somehow the horse manages to make up the rest of the distance to get down that combination. While the rider dropper her reins after the first fence. This is all over a 3’ ft course and still jumped pretty cute despite all the rider miscues.
For sure at that point was I convinced that horse was at least worth its weight in gold.
Honestly, I wish all sales videos would show those kinds of bloopers when they talk about a horse being a perfect amateur horse. It gives me some relief to know the horse can “take a joke” and won’t take the mickey to me if I have a screwup every 24 jumps or so.
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Oh, yes! Exactly
Buying a horse online or selling it is quite a task. Periodically I go to see offers and often it seems that it is difficult for people to write all details of the horse. It’s driving me crazy. And if the ads with the video - is a real find 
I want to buy this horse off the description alone.
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Believe me if I’d had the money, I would have probably bought off the video and not even bothered with a trial ride LOL.
Personally, I’d love to buy on word of mouth just to avoid the stress of the 50 other “please send info” comments and wondering how many of those are serious buyers as well, willing to buy before I can arrange travel across the country to try a horse.
Are people often willing to “hold” a horse for a pending sale?
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I’m gonna say this as nicely as I can.
Americans who sell their own horses DO NOT know how to shoot, edit, format, compile a nice sales video. Trainers with multiple ones for sale do a bit better, but overall the best sales videos I have seen were from abroad.
I, as a buyer and person always looking for friends who are buying, do not have more than 2 mins to watch each horse’s sale videos. Especially when it’s 3 mins of trot EACH WAY (WHY??) and then 2 mins of canter each way and then maybe we think about seeing a jump. 
The best recipe for a sales video (IMHO) is this.
Stand the horse in front of camera for a 5 second conformation view. Both sides, head on, and back, maybe legs but don’t dither.
Show horse at walk (10 seconds for both directions)
Show horse at Trot, down the longside and around the bend once each way. NOT the entire circuit of the ring. I personally don’t see the transition as important from the walk since it can easily be improved upon.
Ditto canter. Preferably show transition into canter. That I do think is good to see.
If it has it, briefly show lead changes across diagonal. Do not spend more than 15 seconds each.
Jump small vertical
Jump Small Oxer,
Jump line.
Insert contact info as a text frame.
You are meant to give the buyer enough info to want to reach out to see more or come ride the animal.
Think about it more like Match.com. You shouldn’t tell a prospective date your life story. That can come after you decide if you want to know more. But you should put your best foot forward in a genuine way. Don’t make a horse seem like something it isn’t. But also don’t suggest it can only be your way. What I mean is if you have competed in X discipline, but the horse can learn a new discipline, allow the video to show that the horse’s foundation is strong and let the prospective buyers decide if they want to see it for other disciplines.
Me, I would prefer to see sales videos of horses in a ring doing basic things like I mentioned above. If a buyer wants to see show footage, have a different video available that you can send if they like the first video.
And OMG do not send me 17 different videos of the horse loose in a mud/frozen field while you chase it around. (That happened last night) Couldn’t make it up. Videos ranged from 4 seconds to 1min.
Em
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This is really good information. Where do you suggest is the best place for the videographer to stand to get the best angle of the under saddle work? 20’ away? More? By the arena wall?
There are two kinds of horse sellers in the world. People who want to sell horses, and people who don’t.
People who don’t will post ads with missing info. They will be vague. They won’t call back. They will be curt.
Maybe their husband is nagging them to sell the horse. Maybe they’re in financial trouble and having a hard time admitting it. Maybe they get more from training and board than the commission they’d earn from selling. But believe me, trying to buy a horse from someone who doesn’t really want to sell it is a waste of time. Walk away and let someone else claw the info out of them, bit by miserable bit.
Work with someone who is actively engaged in the selling process and wants to make it happen.
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Watch the first 45 seconds of this video. Yes it’s a dressage horse, sure the guy should be wearing a helmet, BUT his videographer is a pro.
That horse and rider are well framed EVERY step of the way.
The answer is that the person videoing needs to be where ever the camera needs to be to show the horse in it’s best light. The camera person has legs…they need to use them. Also would be goo to be aware of light and shadows and avoid them.
Trick: Hold you hand up in front of you so you’re looking at your palm. Now slowly turn a circle and find where the sun is shining full on your hand. THAT is where you shoot from with the horse in front of you going from left to right. (Ie. not coming at you)
Conversely don’t do this:
That’s my own video and I didn’t have a helper I just turned my cell phone on and rode roughly where it could capture me. That’s fine for tracking my rides and progress, but if you are selling a horse make some actual choices to present your horse well.
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Clear the ring of all jumps for flat work video. DO not create ugly images and questions of soundness when there is clutter in the frame of the image.
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Add jumps back to the empty ring to show horse jumping.
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Do you warm up for the jumps not on camera.
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OMG… Dress nice, clean the horse and use clean tack and subtle pads. I knew a girl who could not sell her horse because it was plastered in neon colored polos and pads. It got sent to a pro who did a better video complete with no colors and VOILA…sold.
Em
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Thank you so much! 
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Totally. I know someone who breeds 1-2 foals a year and has maybe given away one or two to family members. Occasionally, when things get tight, she’ll post a sales photo of an awkwardly posed yearling or two-year-old in the mud, held by a halter, with the horse half-shed out, and maybe a video of the horse randomly trotting around the indoor arena. There’s also the occasional sales ads I see that’s more of a video of the jump standards, plus a cutesy Halloween pic. It’s pretty obvious the ads are more of a “let me shoot the moon and see if I can get someone to pay more than the horse is really worth but I really love this horse and don’t want to let him go.”
I also think some casual sellers just are still too emotionally close to the horse to understand that they have to show the horse as a “commodity” to a specific target market, while someone who is truly in the business of selling horses will know what the horse is worth, relative to the competition, and have an idea in the mind of the “ideal target buyer.”
That being said, I do know some people who have gotten incredible horses at incredible bargains from truly godawful sales ads. So you never know!
My personal favorite is a 5 second video taken by a rider with just the horse’s ears in sight. What the heck am I supposed to gain from that??
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That’s hysterical and horrific all at the same time!
Em
