I think my trainer’s heart probably stopped beating while she was waiting for me to answer the question “well, what do you want to do?” She was (accurately) sure this was my horse, but for a moment there she couldn’t be sure I was still going to agree as I was sitting in the grass next to the horse pondering that 
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I fell off my horse when I was trying him out at the seller’s barn. At first I couldn’t get him to go past the arena gate, this went on for about 15 minutes. Once I got him going, he was really good and in front of my leg. I jumped him around and heading toward the short side, he ignored my left turning aids and went to the wall and slammed on the brakes. I came off but got back on and jumped him again. After a trial, I did end up buying him. Now we are doing really well together.
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Just this morning, I inquired about a cute (cute, but not stunning or world-beater type) 6-year-old warmblood who had just been started. Like, literally, just been started. $30k. Seller couldn’t share any info about his breeding, but tried to tell me that he’d be “healthier” than a comparable 6-year-old since he was started later. 
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I was recently offered a 5 yo 14.3 hony of indeterminate breeding, 45 days under saddle, and distinctly average looks and movement for mid-high fours. I politely declined.
A friend of mine inquired about a large pony. Advertised as scoring 70%s in intro or training dressage (I forget which) at a schooling show. Upon watching the video from the show, the pony was head bobbing lame. Not drastic, but enough to notice it and consistent with each stride. $15,000. Needs special shoes and special diet. I’m guessing a history of laminitis. Oh, and did I mention the seller owned the pony less than a year and is flipping it from a horse rescue?
Now, I know that standards are little more lax at a schooling show but… So, I looked up the scores and, sure enough, they were in the 70s! BUT the other scores of all other competitors were in the 80s and 90s!!! I’ve seen some of those horses show, and they normally get 50s and maybe 60s (at every show last year and all the other shows this year.)
I really feel bad for all the other people showing in this dressage association, because they just got screwed for year-end awards. This barn is not exactly convenient to get to, so most of those showing were boarders or lesson people showing school horses. And their rides are always painful to watch. 50s and 60s were generous.
The seller might not be wrong. I’m down with a horse being started later, especially if someone fed it all those “extra” years of slackerdom AND they had sorted out any work ethic issues that might have come up when the horse discovers that he/she now has to have a job.
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I just saw this ad on FB and it immediately made me think of this thread… you know the horse market is crazy when you can rudely insult potential buyers and post zero info about the horse or even a price in your ad!!! “make me proud and wow me please” really WOWs me hahaha
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Uh… Where’s that posted so I can read the trainwreck comments?
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I saw that ad, too; it made me laugh. Obviously the seller has had a ton of tire kickers.
Just came across an ad from a barn that gets in a wide range of horses, many from Canada, and breeds a few, too. They seem to be importing from Europe now, as well. The bulk of them are draft-x types, honies, and good low-level types that seem priced about right for that market. Their handful of homebreds and imported horses are WBs, of varying levels of quality, that seem to be somewhat overpriced for what you get, but this market is all over the place so what do I know?
They have a cute 6 year old for 35k that seems like a really good egg but has no breeding listed (they usually provide lots of breed info on the WBs, so it’s weird that he has nothing but “Imported WB”). He sort of has wonky conformation (short, steep croup, maybe with a hunter’s bump?, mildly cresty neck), and movement that makes him look like he has carriage horse in him. He wings and has a lot of knee action and a naturally high head carriage. Cute but not wow jump, doesn’t appear to have changes, can be ridden by a child (good egg!), but seems very uneducated to the jumps and on the flat. If I saw him without any information I might guess he was a Morgan-x or draft-x. We will see; imports always have that extra cachet for Americans, but…
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OH MAN… I WAS WONDERING WHEN SOMEONE WOULD POST HER HERE. She’s got an… interesting… sales method.
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Or, in the alternative, perhaps the seller communicates in Pidgin rather than English, always omits key details from ads (age, height, experience, breed, location, price), buries videos on her FB in a way that you have to scroll through a bunch and try to figure out which is even of the right horse since each horse seems to have 5 different names regularly misspelled, and when you do finally get to the video it shows a trainwreck. And perhaps she acts like a teenager and regularly makes fun of people who don’t know any better and inquire on her sale horses.
And perhaps THAT’S why people aren’t super inclined to pick up the phone and call her?
I dunno… just a thought 
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I think most people are pretty used to her and just ignore it. People rarely point out to her that an actual English language ad with all the necessary info and direct links to videos would prevent people from offending her by asking basic questions in the comments. I think most people have learned to scroll right by her.
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omg, it’s the equestrian sale ad equivalent of the “Swipe left if [you like pina coladas but not getting caught in the rain]” angry and bitter online dating profile!
Eta: like @beowulf, I also want to know where this ad is. I have questions. Questions that are probably best left unasked & that is what I shall do. But I just wanna see the ad!
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LOL i’ll send y’all a PM
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Uh, well I don’t know her or her sales MO, but the entire ad does include relevant information about the horse, including a video, plus a link to their webpage. The little rant posted by sportyspice is the second part of the ad, and I still find it funny. If I was trying to buy a horse from her, given what you wrote, perhaps I would not be amused.
It’s missing price and location. It’s honestly one of her better ads. Whole sentences are in English. And at some point she acquired a stick, though she didn’t bother to get an actual firm measurement on this horse. This ad looks like the great American novel compared to most of hers.
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All of this. When I was considering sending my gelding out to be ridden/polished up and sold (I don’t have the time or facilities to really put 5-6 rides/week on a horse for profitable skills improvement), there IS a very good local-ish young woman just getting starting. She is at a barn not her own, so it’s board + her fees, and even if I think he can go for 15-25k easily, I couldn’t afford to shell out the board alone plus support my farm at home. The cost of horses is significant and in my part of the world, hay is going up too so I expect they will continue to rise; I got into my farm just in time, my farm mortgage (while high) equals that of some regular ole houses now. And she has amazing horses come through her barn, I noticed last fall and earlier this year that she’d have 20+ “PMing you!!!” messages in 15 minutes of posting a horse in the mid-5s and the horse would be posted in a congrats/sold post in three weeks or less, and she now has some that are…lingering… and I can’t imagine that the owners are loving forking out the cost.
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I have stolen this, off to post on FB
PM me too please! I need to see this for myself!
