Hi All,

It was requested that we put this at the top of the For Sale section - and I think its a worthy thread.

Please put your comments in here that you think others might find helpful when looking to buy or sell a horse

Anything we can do to help people end up with the right horse for them or the right home for their dear steed is a step in the right direction

Cheers,

Admin.

if you are going to use a photo ~ put a good one in...
location is also handy..
as much info as you can put in so i dont have to ask so many stupid questions please

Photo, Photo, Photo!

You might have the most stunning horse on the planet, but the slightest bad angle can make him look poorly conformed, short in the neck or just plain ugly

Get a friend to help you stand the horse up, make sure all 4 legs are visible and take the photo from the side.

Be honest! Know the horse you are selling, it's strengths and weaknesses, and ask about the home it will be going to. If the gut feeling isn't right, it probably isn't!

Edited to add: a pet peeve of mine is just about every horse advertised is 'stunning', so it stuns you like an electric eel?. I see 'stunning' now and I don't read the ad (mind you, I'm not looking either)

Buying
-Ask LOTS of questions, even write yourself a list of questions to ask about your future equine.
-Make sure you ride the horse and put some pressure on the him/her, to see how it will react.
-Take it for a ride out of the arena, unless that is where you will be spending your riding time.
-Take a CLOSE look at the horses feet, legs and general stance, for anything that seems odd.
-Vet check.
-Take another horsey person (or 2).. They might pick up on something that you dont...

Selling
-Be completely honest with the people that are looking at your gg.
-Great, clear photo (take heaps and choose the best couple to post with add).
-Put alot of information in your add, and read over to make sure that it reads correctly.

Put the size of the horse & the age, I've seen quite a few adds lately without even these basics & it's very frustrating.

Buyers BE HONEST

be carefull when you organise to go and ride your hopefully new GG that you have organised a suitable time with the owner, and always turn up at least half and hour early. I know there are many honest sellers out there but unfortunately there are the few unhonest ones that do catch people out. The reason to turn up early is to hopefully avoid the chance of the owner sedating the horse prior to you riding/viewing. You can use the excuse "sorry we are early but i allowed plenty of time as i really wasn't sure where i was going". If they are genuine they won't mind anyway.

"Why is this horse for sale?" is always the first question I ask. You can usually tell if they're trying to hide something when they answer
Sellers, don't LIE on your ads. Saying a horse won "champion at xxxxxxx show" when it's not true isn't going to fly, eventually the buyer will talk to someone who'll tell them the truth.

When people arrive I hand them the halter.

If you are going to advertise a horse as "stunning", your photo needs to show a stunning horse, not a fluffy thing in a paddock. Also be aware that your ad heading will most likely be lost amongst the other "stunning" horses for sale on the same page.

If you advertise a horse as a jumper, DON'T use a photo that shows the horse catleaping, lurching, or variations of the may-not-end-prettily technique.

Now I'm not a mini person, but if you are going to put a photo of your mini for sale, put a photo of it in summer coat/show condition even if the photo is 6 months old. DON'T show it in a 3" long winter coat with its head, neck, legs, whatever clipped. You are only making what could perhaps be a nice horse look like a poodle or sheep.

If the ad says 16.2h bay, and the seller brings out a 15.2h chestnut...chances are that the lies won't stop there. (This did actually happen recently)

If you're worried about sedating, run your hand down the jugular. You will usually feel some indication of a recent jab. If you're still worried, check that the horse's manure is firm as horses on Rakelin will scour.

Ask to see the horse on the lunge first. This will give you an indication of how freely it moves without a rider and can be handy to compare the difference when the seller gets on. It can help make allowances for bridle lameness, saddle fit, etc instead of discounting a perfectly sound horse just because it was uneven when the owner rode it.

"Oh, he's never done that before". It's not always a lie, and sometimes it's no-one's fault. I have a great example of this too. I was looking at buying a WB who had not been ridden in a few weeks. Father of the owner raved about how good this horse was. Went to try him out and every time I'd try and take a contact, he would throw his head around. We left...owner thinking I couldn't ride, and me thinking the horse had been badly schooled. They came back to me a while later and apologised. The horse had been found to have a tooth abcess at the time.

If you intend to buy the horse, ask to come out and ride it/get to know it a couple of times while still at the seller's place. I am SO SICK of buyers accusing sellers of drugging horses because the horse's temperament changed when it was taken home. HORSES ARE NOT ROBOTS. When a horse is sold, EVERYTHING it finds familiar is suddenly gone. Some of them will have a little trouble coping in the first few weeks and may temporarily show a different side. That does not mean that the horse is bad and certainly DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN that the horse was drugged when you tried it out!!!

I see the reasoning behind turning up early, but if you do, be prepared to sit in an empty driveway for that half hour while the seller's big dog watches you until the seller arrives home. People make times for a reason, and life still has to go on.

Further to Fox's advice about calling on the day...after the initial enquiry, I generally ask people to phone back on the morning or the evening before to confirm, and that I will give them directions then. It weeds out a lot of timewasters, and also means that you are not giving out your address to people who have just established when you will and won't be home.

Sellers, do take the time to have your horse in some form of sale condition. Pull, or at least brush the mane. Trim the bridlepath and tail. Have feet in good nick. Personally, I will wash the horse the day before and have it in a cotton set, tail brushed, and mane tidy. You are tying to show the horse at its best after all.

Sellers, if the potential buyer is still keen on the horse after the ride, be prepared to offer them coffee and have all relevant paperwork ready for viewing including papers, pedigree, photos of parents, siblings, video footage, etc and if applicable, information for the relevant breed society.

sounds like you've had a bit of experience in this area, some very good tips.

I own Chapel Lodge,
We now sell re educated horses,

We get sus on people who do not ask questions about the horse they are interested in buying.

Once you have decided that a horse is for you....

Ask to arrange for your Vet to come out and check the horse.
Ask for as much medical history as you can. i.e. colic, founder, hematoma's, lumps, bumps and kicks (if been in a shared paddock) etc.
Gaits - what gaits does the horse have, and is it difficult to get a particular gait?
Does the horse Jump (if you want to jump)
Do you need to lunge before riding (can you just grab them out the paddock and go for a ride)
Which Farrier is used.
What type of wormer is being using.
What is currently being fed to the horse.
Where the horse was before the seller got it... is it a rescue case, straight off the track or being sold on behalf of someone.
Brands


AND

Always take your own saddlery to ride with, and ride the horse more than once.

CLES