Posts Tagged ‘how to sell your horse’
And this is a brush!
It’s been a while since I’ve addressed how to sell and market your horse and step #1 of that topic:
PICK UP A DAMN BRUSH!
While I’ve been saying this for years, clearly not everyone is listening, as Dreamhorse and Craigslist are still plastered with filthy horses that someone is trying to sell or stand at stud.  As I’ve noted before, when you are trying to sell your house, it goes without saying that you clean and vacuum before a showing. When you are trying to sell a car, you wash it and vacuum it out. But when people are trying to sell horses, or breedings, it is amazing how many of them think a picture of the horse sniffing poop in the field with his mane in knots is sufficient. They wander out and take a cell phone picture at the worst possible angle and think somehow this is going to attract buyers — even buyers who have five figures to spend, who are looking for a serious show horse!
Look, it’s a yak!
No, believe it or not, it’s a two year old Swedish Warmblood that they are marketing as a stallion prospect and asking $10,000 for!
Honey, he may very well be a nice horse cleaned up. It is hard to tell from the picture. From the picture, he looks like a QH-mustang cross that someone dumped at the Woodburn auction. His head looks huge, you can’t tell a thing about his conformation from the picture and it’s obvious you did not even bother to pick up a brush before you took the picture, much less clip his goat whiskers or pull that out of control mane. C’mon, you want a not-so-insignificant price for him — let’s see a little effort here!
Let’s say that you have a horse like this, in pasture condition. You don’t have to bodyclip him, and I understand that a bath may not be possible in a cold climate. So here is what you can do:
1. Make sure his feet are freshly trimmed. Nothing says “I don’t really care” like ragged feed. That isn’t the case here, I’m just mentioning it because I see it a lot!
2. Clip him up. You don’t have to do the inside of the ears and do the whole show clip, but clip a bridle path, take off the long whiskers on the nose and underneath the face (that alone cleans up a horse’s appearance a lot!) and the fetlocks unless he’s a breed where they stay long (Clydesdale, Friesian, etc.).
3. Comb out his mane and shorten it if that’s appropriate to his breed. Comb out his tail. You don’t need water to do this – anything from baby oil to Show Sheen to WD-40 will help you take out knots and burrs. A nicely combed-out tail makes all the difference to a horse’s appearance. And a shaggy mane on a breed that is shown with a neatly pulled one really detracts from your horse’s appearance.
4. You may not be able to wash the whole horse, but you can wash the socks even if it’s pretty cold out. Just drag out some hot water from the house. White socks make the whole horse look better!
5. A great grooms’ trick is to go over the entire horse with a damp towel after brushing. The brushing raises up the dust out of the coat and the damp towel removes it so that you have the illusion of a horse who has been bathed, even when he hasn’t! Again, this is something you can do in the winter that won’t chill the horse – you’re not getting him wet at the skin level, just passing a damp cloth over the top of his coat to remove the dust and grime you’ve curried and brushed to the surface.
6. Another good winter trick is baby powder on white areas to make them look whiter when you can’t thoroughly wash them.
7. If you don’t have a quality leather show halter, then pose the horse with a bridle instead. If you use riding pictures, make sure your tack looks clean and well cared-for.
8. Clothes! As we have observed many times before, no one wants to see your bare chest, if you’re a man, and if your butt is hanging out of your hot pants, if you’re a woman, the horse will not be what they are focusing on! You don’t have to wear show clothes, but breeches/boots on your english horse and nice looking jeans/boots on your western horse make a difference. Wear something on top that does not resemble a tent. No rude slogan t-shirts — it’s nice that you want to save a horse and ride a cowboy, but again, this really does distract from what the viewer should be looking at – the horse.
Especially if you are trying to get a good price for your horse, put in a little effort. Heck, we clip up the rescue horses and they’re rescue horses that we are typically asking under $2000 for. Please make the same effort with your $10K horse!
However, while I am a fan of grooming, you don’t need to prove it in your sale ad by posting a picture of it! This picture is spectacularly unflattering to the horse, particularly given that they have her priced at $11,500. Way to show off those cow hocks, downhill build and a short neck!  You know, once you get into the five-figure range, you really need pictures that show the horse performing – ideally show/competition pictures. I’m sorry, looking at this picture, I don’t see anything that defines her as any different from a $1000 Craigslist mare. Apparently she has had some professional training but there is no mention made of any show record, and she is seven years old. She is supposed to be a reiner/cutter, so let’s see her actually do something. Here, I will give you an example: Here are pics that make me think the horse is worth every penny. Those pics make me want to ride that horse – he looks like a BLAST!
Now, you do not necessarily have to spend money on professional pics, or not include any “field” pics to make a good impression. While you know I am not a huge fan of the foundation QH’s, I will say that this particular one has good amateur pictures. They know how to shoot their horse, they have a nice variety of pictures, and they are showing him off to his best advantage. It can be done.
More examples of what not to do here:Â Bad Ways To Sell Your Horse
Oh, and just another note:Â Please don’t name your black mare Oprah, among other things.
Cremellos in the kill pen, check it out!
My apologies to those of you who have nightmares every time I post these reports, but PLEASE forward this one to your ignorant friends who STILL think color will keep their foals selling well and safe.
IT’S A LIE. A BIG, FAT LIE. THEY ARE NO SAFER THAN SORRELS!
Please, please, please, do not breed your stallion this year if he does not have a solid record of accomplishment in a competitive discipline. I don’t care what color he is. I don’t care if he’s a fuschia and chartreuse zebra-striped sabino. Don’t do it!
Think of your young stallion like you’d think of your teenage son. Sure, he wants to breed! They all do. But I’m guessing most of you would advise your sons to delay marriage and children until after finishing school and getting a good job. That way, the kids will have a much better life, right? You don’t want your grandchildren living in a studio apartment in a crappy part of town, do you? That’s all I’m asking you to do with your stallions – develop the stallion and his accomplishments first. See if he really has what it takes, compared to others. I swear, if I see one more horse pimp rubbing their hands together, gleeful at the fact that 2 year old colts can breed, I’m gonna throw up. Your stallion has his whole life to breed mares – get that competition record on him FIRST!
Oh, and to the people who brought the adult, unbroke broodmares to the auction – congratulations. The fact that you were too damn lazy to put 30 days of training on them sentenced them to death. Good job, asshats! None of us can predict the future, so please, if you own unbroke broodmares, make this the year you get them started under saddle. You do not have to be trainer of the year to get them to walk-trot on trails and that is enough level of accomplishment to save many of them from the slaughterhouse if things go bad for you. There is no excuse for anything, stallion or mare, to only be a breeding machine and given that fertility is not endless, it’s not safe for them to only be a breeding machine. If they are sound get ‘em broke – just in case and before you are in money trouble and have no choice but the auction.
February 27, 2010 Auction Report, Tofield, Alberta Canada
Buckskin five yr old green broke pregnant to draft 430…meat buyer
Ten year old Quarter Horse bay mare nice but a little scared. Ridden. ..400  Private buyer
Shetland geldings driven and broke. Cute with light manes tails. Four and six yrs. 125 each. Private
Shetland gelding ran in 25 meat buyer
Mini sorrel cute ridden mare 180 private
Welsh team driven geldings seven and ten yrs grey and b/w pinto. 325 each private
Shetland black and white pinto broke ridden and going well. Four yrs. 200 private sale
Bay mare six thoroughbred broke with paperwork ahanahan. Ridden and went well. 370 meat buyer
Bay gelding well broke ridden jockey club reg thoroughbred. Seven yrs 700 didn’t sell him
Belgian team driven geldings 14 and 15. Going well and handsome. 950 ea picked up their feet. Private sale
Grey gelding qh registered ridden roped and cattle went well not for beginner 750 private
Black ridden gelding qh cross ten well broke anyone can ride. Calm brand on left hip XS (x on top, s below) 1050 private
Grey gelding morgan arabian gelding. Warned Will pull when tied, thirteen yrs. Went well. 550 lady rode him. Owner kept
Quarter horse seven sorrel mare. Broke but fast. Riddden responsive went well 500 owner kept
Buckskin gelding. Ridden and going well. Three yrs or so they dint say. Pretty head nice horse. Picked up hooves. 1100 owner kept
That was it for saddle horses…now saddles sold
Mexican saddles. 300 picks one..300 picks two. 300 all the junky Mexicans were gone 250 for the last one
Then unbroke horses
Black Quarter Horse two year old no white, registered. Run in scared but pretty,  good weight 250 meat buyer
Chestnut Quarter Horse 2 Â year filly run in star marking good weight pretty 260 meat buyer
Standardbred four year old no papers not fast enough to race but broke. Let around 9DN3E brand on neck 300 meat buyer
Sorrel grade stud with halter chased around 350 meat buyer Walter – straight to slaughter
Cremello tobiano yearling filly application there yearling ok weight 90 meat buyer
Palomino mare Quarter Horse papers promised Nice looking, run around yelling for foal selling as grade pretty good weight 385 meat buyer
Cremello yearling same as earlier one a little heavier meat buyer Les
Cremello tobiano mare registered seven bred. Chased around with rope halter ok weight 300 meat buyer Walter…straight
Cremello mare reg papers good weight 285 meat buyer
Palomino six year old paint mare registered run around friendly and petted led a bit 270 meat buyer straight to slaughter again
Black paint filly year old 180 registered meat buyer
Paint mare palomino pretty four year old Quarter Horse cut on knee not bad registered a little thin 270 meat buyer straight to slaughter
Pretty palomino yearling filly. Run through 140 meat buyer
Obviously I’m … pooping?
Happy Friday! I’m super busy but I had to share this one! Here is the ad.
#1 – Really, you couldn’t have waited two minutes to take the picture?
#2 – That’s not a halter horse butt, but I see he did get the halter horse post legs.
#3 – I know his neck is set on low, but a fat “nest” does not make for a pretty western pleasure horse. You might want to pick up a QH Journal and compare those pictures to your horse. One of these things is not like the other!
#4 – Whoever crossed the Obvious Conclusion son on a Hancock bred mare…I hope you learned from your mistake. This could be described as the worst of both worlds. Except that he does have a cute face – I’ll give you that.
#5 – Again, people, if you’re standing it at stud, you can’t spend a little time actually grooming it, and maybe pose it somewhere with less livestock in the background?
I suspect he’s a nice boy. He just has that “I’m a nice boy” look on his face, and nothing about his stance or expression leads me to believe his handler’s in any danger of being eaten for lunch. But this is yet another one that needs to be a much-loved open show gelding, not a breeding stallion!
Oh, and folks? It is just tacky to have a Free Dogs Page on your web site and claim you don’t have time for them when you apparently DO have time to breed horses willy-nilly. C’mon. Lame.
Look, it’s an African scammer with a good web designer!
Um, dear Mr. Emmanuel Ndinayi in Cameroon? Â Who the heck sells horses online with Paypal? Who sells Oldenburgs and puts that they are 15.5 hands? Who writes something like this for Heaven’s sake?
“Purchasing a new horse would sum up to great deal of responsibilities to be taken up by you. No matter where you keep your horse, whether in your backyard or in a boarding stable, you are required to take great care for your new horse. So, for a new horse owner some effective horse care tips can be quite useful for keeping their pet strong and active. Horses are by nature quite inquisitive and they are often prone to getting themselves hurt. Being his master, you are required to be quite careful in keeping your horse away from any kind of wounds as if left untreated the wound can turn to be fatal for the horse.”
The testimonials are a hoot. Testimonials written by people who also do not speak English, or know anything about horses.
By the way, Emmanuel? Â When you are committing criminal activity, it is best not to put your name and location on the web site under payment information. Â That just winds up with you on some “Dumbest Criminals” reality show with the dude who asked the woman he was robbing to write him a check and gave her his name to do it with. Â Of course I guess that would be your 15 minutes, which might be almost as good as getting some dumb American to pay $3000 for a pretend horse!
Anyway, if anybody is bored today, I recommend e-mailing Tina Emmanuel and asking detailed questions about the horses. 
There’s a “contact me” link. You might want to use a “throwaway” email – I’m sure any submission will put you on a spam list forever! Â Please post any answers you receive!
For those of you who think you are going to make money breeding horses!
Truer words have never been spoken than this hilarious but ACCURATE article on the Chronicle of the Horse site:
Read it and get a good laugh – and then I want to ask a serious question:
Who here has actually made money on the sale of a horse they bred, after HONESTLY subtracting the care of the mare throughout the pregnancy, vet and farrier for mare and foal, and then all of the expenses you put into the foal from birth through the day someone actually put a check in your hand for it? This includes feed, deworming, vet, farrier, training, showing, etc. Usually people say “well, I enjoyed doing those things/was going to pay for them anyway, so it’s ok.” I know, but if you were really looking at breeding as a business with a goal of actually turning a profit – who here has done it?
We all know that nobody makes money breeding foals that sell for $1000, $1500 or less. But how many even make money on the ones that sell for good money?
I think most horse businesses survive thanks to offering training and associated services – not breeding. What do you think? Here’s a good opportunity to send a wake up call to the young and enthusiastic about the myth of “making money breeding horses” — share your stories!
On a SUPER happy note, we finally (competely) identified Hercules! Here is his USEF listing:Horse Name: GET SHORTY (4082241)Breed: THOROUGHBRED
Sire Name: SLEW THE BRIDE
Dam Name: FLOATING ALONG
WENDY JONES
WA
Owner Point States:
State Start Date End Date
WA 08/09/06 11/30/06
Date Range: 12/1/2005 – 11/30/2010
NO RESULTS FOR THIS HORSE
There isn’t any “Get Shorty” with JC so I wonder if he has a different name? Anybody got time to do some research about Floating Along’s foals today?  I believe he is a 1991.
