I’m trying to find out if people still look at ad sites (dreamhorse,bigeq,warmbloods for sale) or buy off facebook groups. Where have you bought your horses/ponies from? Trying to figure how people market them especially if not a trainer. Do you find it ok to take a horse/pony that is for sale to area barns/trainers for lesson and let them know pony is for sale(marketing it to them)?
Thanks! Would love to hear any current favorite sites!
I used ad sites and that’s where I found my horse. I think he was on dreamhorse but it might’ve been equinenow. I don’t recall exactly. But I would say yes, buyers still use the ad sites.
Purchased recently (April), and found serious candidates on Facebook, BigEq and Warmblood-Sales. Ended up buying from a Facebook ad, just was the right horse. Most important to me was making sure wherever the ad was, that a good quality video was available.
ETA - I sold one on Facebook in March. Didn’t list him on other sites, because wasn’t interested in spending the money. If he had sat for awhile, I may have changed my tune, but he was sold in less than a month.
At shows. Just make it known you are looking, some are advertised on various websites, including the home barn/trainer, FB and website, some aren’t.
I recently purchased in July, and I bought off facebook. Based on my experience, I would probably sell on fb as well. I was constantly emailing about sale ads on dreamhorse and warmblood-sales and 4 out of 5 wouldn’t respond, or they would be already sold. I found it VERY frustrating as a serious buyer. People seem to communicate much better on facebook ads, and they are often kept better updated. I also liked knowing the identity of the seller ahead of time.
I really think it depends on the price range we’re talking about. Exchange HJ, Big Eq, and ProEquest are popular for mid-5s and up, dreamhorse seems to be more low-to-mid 5s and under, and Facebook is all over the place, depending on the group.
I do social media for my barn and we advertise our horses (mostly mid-5s, some low-5s and one low-4 school pony) on Facebook, but we usually end up selling through word of mouth and flyers at shows. I post images and video on our business page then share to various groups (state h/j forum, Thermal Classifieds, BC Sporthorses, neighboring state h/j groups). We sold the low-4 figure pony in 2 days via Facebook. Other times I’ll get bites from people on Thermal Classifieds but it hasn’t resulted in a sale yet (probably because we’re in an isolated area).
However, when we’re buying, we browse the sites listed in the first paragraph, as well as Thermal Classifieds and BC Sporthorses (i.e., fairly local to us). Trainer also puts out through word of mouth what we’re looking for, particularly at shows where we can try immediately. We’ve looked at horses listed on all of those places.
I’m looking now and I’m almost exclusively using my network/connections on FB to identify horses I’m considering. I just recently came across a great prospect that was suitable for a friend; it was so very easy to share the information with her and she bought him almost immediately.
Purchased in January after shopping for 6+ months, and my trainer and I definitely explored all options - her connections, ones my friends saw or heard of, FB groups, and the usual sales websites. Purchased from a barn that we went to because of one of their BigEq ads, but ended up with a different horse than the one in the ad! I agree that different sales websites have different target markets. But if I were selling I would definitely hedge my bets and use both the FB groups and the sales websites to reach as many people as possible.
There are tons of Facebook groups around here, plus I know people use Dreamhorse too. Honestly I think the most horses sell by word of mouth though! All of the trainers in this area know each other.
I just bought and didn’t touch the usual sales websites. I was looking fairly casually, but I literally never went to Dreamhorse or Equus Now or any of the other dedicated sites. I looked at local FB groups and word of mouth. Tried one lease (failure: he could not adapt to our home living situation) and was looking at another when the perfect horse fell into my lap through my trainer. I’d been thinking of looking at him and he wound up coming in for training. Serendipidty!
In the past 12 months, we have sold over $80,000 in pony hunters and pony youngsters on Facebook…so someone is definitely looking at Facebook ads. 
Haven’t bought anything in the last 5 years but occasionally browse. BigEq and facebook groups seem to be the only things worth looking at. Were I to start looking again I feel that I would likely find something by word of mouth as that IME has been the best way to find yound prospects. If I was looking for something older I’d be on facebook and BigEq.
Most of the sites that I used years ago are now obsolete. They only have a new ad every few days, a couple pictures, and no video.
I agree that it does matter was price youre looking.
Big Eq and Facebook are my go tos of late. I also really like exchange hunter/jumper and warmbloods for sale Asking people I know and trust if they’ve heard of anything that might work. I also hang near rings at shows to hear if anyoe is mentioning a horse for sale and I really them I will speak with them OR i they are friends with my trainer I will ask the info.
Most of my projects I have found on kijiji but I am looking for the “diamond in the rough type”.
My young jumper prospect that is a keeper I found on warmbloods-for-sale.com but purchased him 4 years ago when FB ads weren’t as common.
I have been looking for a long stirrup packer for the last 6 months in the low 4 figures. They are rare! I have been on Facebook and have relied on word of mouth through my trainers. Have done 3 vet checks so far, but nothing has panned out. Looking at one tomorrow from Dreamhorse. Fingers crossed!
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I bought both of mine off of Facebook but ‘knew’ both sellers via my trainers. I have looked at other ads and groups and would definitely try Facebook again if I were looking.
The convenience of ad websites like equine, dreamhorse, etc. is being able to truly use a search engine and find the ones that met your requirements. I’ve searched the search bar in Facebook groups but if you were looking for specifics, you can’t search for multiple things at one time. And while you may come across an un-updated ad of something that had already sold, I like that websites tend to have expiration dates. When I was young I definitely searched these on the daily and daydreamed :lol:
I am heading towards selling one of mine and we are definitely going to use Facebook. Depending on how that goes, I might aim for a website but probably not.
My suggestion is to look at sales horses in eventing barns/programs in your area. The horses tend to be cheaper, but are very talented jumpers and also have backgrounds in dressage, which makes them very adjustable and amazing to work with in the arena. It’s been my experience that many of the nicer eventing horses being sold didn’t make the cut for the cross country phase of upper level eventing, but they are amazing in the other disciplines and can still jump the moon. After my last experience I will never buy the same way again! I got my horse for a fraction of what I would have paid for him in the H/J world, and he kills it in the eq and jumper arenas. He’s also bombproof because of his experience in XC, which I do not partake in but I appreciate how this unflappable nature has crossed over in other ways. Just a thought!
For those of us that don’t “do” Facebook I have advertised and purchased nice horses through the Warmbloods for Sale site almost exclusively. My big expensive hunter was sold on BigEq though. Different sales markets.
Lots of people not interested in the Facebook social media thing so don’t count on that exclusively to find nice sale horses advertised. And don’t rule out the breeders websites too…
I look on Facebook as well as the websites but I find not many sellers post them on there or don’t update them. Both horses I am looking at I found on FB.
I used FB and word of mouth to look for my current horse, but I imported him, so it was mainly talking to my trainer’s contacts. To sell my old horse, I also used FB (both my personal and the sale ads). Because he was switching disciplines (dressage to hunters), I did contact most of the local trainers who I thought my have clients interested and sent them videos and information since my trainer didn’t know anyone interested. That’s actually how I sold him! No one minded being contacted–I FB messaged or emailed so it was less intrusive, but no one seemed to mind!
