Having trouble selling your horse? Maybe its for one of the following reasons:
1. Overpriced due to:
- Poor conformation
- Old or Injured
- Unbroke, green, or has a dangerous habit
2. Title and Basic Information
3. Picture Problems
- No pictures
- Bad pictures
4. Targeting your horse to a specific (wrong) buyer
5. Stallions
Here are some of my personal observations about common mistakes sellers make when writing their ads and some suggestions to aid you in selling your horse more effectively. Ideally, every horse should be sold to an owner who can use and care for the horse. Done right, your horse will sell quickly if not immediately. I’ve bought and sold many horses over the years and these are some of the major reasons I’ll skip an ad for a horse. My goal is to help you market your horse more successfully whatever your reasons for selling: finances, time, horse/rider conflict, etc.
Why don’t I buy your horse?
1. Your horse is overpriced. Pricing a horse above his current market value sends a signal to me as the buyer that you don’t know your horse’s true value. High prices (in todays market $2500 and above, generally) are reserved for horses which are registered, which have outstanding training and conformation, and/or have obvious potential. If your horse does not meet at least one of these criteria and you insist on pricing him at 4, 5, or 6 thousand dollars your horse will remain unsold. This costs you more in feed and care for the horse as you struggle to find a buyer. Below are some of the most common reasons horses are passed over as overpriced by the buyer.
Horses with poor conformation. Poor conformation is generally defined as flaws that lead to soundness or health issues, or that may severely limit a horse’s usability. Incorrect conformation, while it sounds the same, is a different story. This is the conformation that makes the horse suited or not to a particular discipline and what makes that conformation incorrect varies among breeds. What may be considered incorrect (read: less desirable) in the roping arena may be desirable in the gaited horse show world. Poor conformation is a different story. These flaws will significantly lower a horses usability as well has his value and it includes flaws such as severe sway backs, severe toe in/out, club foot, overstrides, etc. The best pedigree in the world cannot make up for very poor conformation. Your horse must stand on its own merits of conformation and training, regardless of breeding. Conformation cannot be corrected and serious flaws must be disclosed as they are generally obvious to the buyer. Lower the price of the horse until it accurately reflects the horse’s true usability. You will be more successful in finding an appropriate buyer.
The old or injured horse. These horses just aren’t worth the same as a sound, younger horse. They have a fairly limited market and you will receive fewer responses to your ad. As a buyer I will have to put time and money into the injured horse and my options of use on an older horse are limited. Costs on top of your asking price (medications, vet care, extra feed) will be considered by the buyer so be sure to adjust your price accordingly. Many of us are willing to rehabilitate an injured horse with potential and have uses for older horses in our lives. Do price these horses appropriately and don’t gloss over major problems for quick sales.
Unbroke, green, or has a potentially dangerous habit. Many sellers assume that these horses are undesirable to buyers like me. The good news is that there are buyers who look for these types of horses. If I’m an experienced trainer (and I am) an unbroke or green horse just means that someone else hasn’t had much of a chance to screw them up yet. That dangerous habit may be something that I can fix with a little bit of hard work or it may not be as bad as it appears to be. What you may consider something you cannot live with I may see as normal behaviors that I have the knowledge to safely work with. This having been said, these horses represent an investment on the part of the buyer in training and carry a risk. We are taking a leap of faith with your unknown prospect and could be putting ourselves and our property in danger working with these horses. Your price may be too high considering the extra investment of time and money these horses need. Consider lowering your price to interest more buyers. This is also the time to play up your horse’s plus points and give us all the things these horses can do. Stress the investment of time and money you have already put into this animal (trailers well, easy keeper, stands for the farrier) and to point out his own good merits (conformation, breeding).
So how do you price your horse? Take a look at the market. Look at other ads for horses of similar age, breeding, conformation, and training in your area. Try to place your horse in the category where he belongs. If other 15 year old, kid safe, grade quarter horse geldings with ok conformation are priced at around 1100 dollars, don’t expect to get 2000 out of yours. On the other hand, if you see that the market is supporting your high ticket price, have patience and use the rest of these guidelines to improve your ad and your draw to buyers.
OK, you’ve made it this far and determined that your horse is priced appropriately, or you’ve lowered your price to more accurately reflect your horse’s value. The following sections will help put that professional shine on your ad.
2. Title and Information. The first thing a potential buyer is going to read in your ad is the title. This isn’t as important in one page flyer-type ads, but could be vital in getting hits when your ad is posted on websites such as craigslist. Your title should be short, but needs to contain some basic information. Simply saying “horse for sale” or “we are selling Flicka” is frustrating to buyers who click on it only to discover its a 2 year old unbroke filly when they are looking for a 15 year old kid safe gelding. Having a title that contains the age, breed, and sex of the horse you are selling is a good place to start, it gives buyers the basic information they need to decide if they are interested in your ad. Trying to “trick” buyers into clicking on your ad isn’t going to get you more calls., it may just get your ad overlooked.
The basic information included in the body of your ad is also important to getting you calls. Include again the age, breed, and sex of the horse (most buyers won’t re-look at the title for this information) and add things like color, height, bloodlines, registration, temperament, training, and experience. Its important to be honest, at best you’ll have an irritated buyer who shows up to look at the horse advertised as 15.2 hands but is really 14.2, but at the worst you could get somebody hurt by advertising the horse as having more training that it actually does.
A quick note on measuring the height of your horse. Height is measured from the withers (the bony part where the neck joins the back). Horses are usually measured in hands. One hand equals 4 inches. When writing the height, put full hands first then a decimal point followed by the number of extra inches. For example, a 14 and 1/2 hand horse is written as 14.2 (read: fourteen point two OR fourteen hands, two inches). It is NOT written as 14.5 as there are only four inches in a hand.
3. Pictures. There are two main problems the buyer encounters in ads with regards to pictures. The first is no pictures, the second is bad pictures. Most readers click an ad, glance at the pictures first and from there are either drawn in to read more or move on to the next one.
No Pictures. One of the number one reasons an ad is skipped over initially is a lack of pictures. I know that there are some of you who do not have access to a camera. That’s ok, most buyers do understand. State that. It’s all the more important that when I go back to your ad after the initial skip you have included as much information about the horse’s looks as possible. Some information to include in place of a conformation picture would be naming his conformation information. Tell us he’s a 14.3 hand, short coupled straight legged with an attractive head bay gelding that has a nice slope to his shoulder. It gives us a quick mental image that is more helpful than “I have this horse, please come look at him”. This is especially for those who don’t know a lot about horses even though they are selling one. You may not know what I’m looking for, but I do. The more information I have the more excited I will get about your ad even without those perfect pictures. A long legged thoroughbred may not be my ideal rope horse, but may be perfect if I’m looking for a ground covering trail horse.
All that said, I cannot stress enough the importance of pictures. If you have to borrow a camera, use a camera phone, or run them through a red light camera (you’ll have to wait about 2 weeks for the photos back, j/k) you should make every effort to place at least one picture of your horse in your ad.
Bad pictures. Just as some people won’t look at ads that have no pictures, they pass judgement on an ad with bad pictures without reading the information. A bad picture is one that does not give the buyer enough information about the horse and his conformation or makes us look unfavorably on him. That picture of your horse’s face close up may be cute, but it tells me nothing about his conformation. I’ve never bought a horse based on “cute factor”. The same goes for that far off shot of him working cattle, running, etc. From the size of the pictures, I can’t even tell that is your horse much less tell anything about his conformation. Also, take the time to clean your horse up. Brush him down; give him a bath if weather permits. You don’t have to get him “show-ring ready” but give me a chance to see the shiny horse underneath instead of the matted and muddy horse that’s spent the last 2 weeks rolling in mud. Unfortunate as it may be, this lack of attention to grooming gives the impression that the horse receives less than standard care. It’s not hard to clean him up for a quick photo session and may boost your buyer interest.
A helpful picture is one with no saddle or rider, standing with his feet square and taken from the side. One from the back/front with him standing square is also a helpful shot. This gives me the opportunity to assess his conformation and determine immediately if it’s a horse I’m interested in pursuing further. While a cute picture won’t sell me on a horse, a well done picture of a reasonably clean horse makes me grab the phone faster; sometimes while I’m still reading the text of the ad!
4. Targeting your horse to a specific (wrong) buyer. If your horse has already been trained in a particular discipline (roping, barrels, dressage, etc) that’s great! This section is not for you. Just tell us his level of training in that sport and ensure your horse is priced appropriately for his discipline and training level. However, if you just think your horse may be good at something it’s better to let me as the buyer decide on my own rather than limiting the number of people who may be interested in him. Your assessment may also be incorrect preventing his sale. Don’t tell me he’s a barrel horse unless he’s actually trained to race barrels. That quick, easy on the mouth and eager to run horse may make me a wonderful endurance horse but I’ll pass him over as soon as I see “barrel horse”. You may think you have told me he’s athletic, but all you’ve done is limit his possibilities in my mind. If your horse is quick, easy on the mouth, and eager to run tell me exactly that and you will have my attention.
Now that you have that perfect shine on your ad, I have one more topic I’d like to discuss.
5. Stallions. There is nothing wrong with selling a stallion at a high price but it needs to be the right stallion at the right price. The stallion market is a limited one as most people are not equipped to deal with a stud. Stallions require knowledge and skill on the part of the handler or they quickly become a danger to themselves and others.
A well trained, well bred stud can be a joy to work with for those who are experienced horse owners. You may be able to price a worthy stallion a little bit higher than if he were gelded due to his potential as a sire, but if he lacks outstanding breeding, great conformation, and a good disposition you will do better to sell him as a gelding. Please don’t think I’m telling you to snip that young, well mannered, well bred, gorgeous stud colt just to sell him faster, just understand that your market is going to be a little more select. Sell a worthy stallion at an appropriate price, geld the rest as any responsible horse owner should. They’ll be easier to handle and quicker to sell.
On a personal note, as a horse owner and trainer I prefer training stallions to training geldings. I like the challenge and spirit of these animals; however I have the knowledge, skill, and facilities to safely handle these potentially dangerous animals. While these suggestions have been focusing on selling your horse quickly, this is one animal that requires special consideration. While all sellers should evaluate buyers for potential problems, part of being a responsible stallion seller is taking extra steps to ensure that the buyer of your stallion is knowledgable and prepared to deal with a stud.
