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Things NOT to do when selling a horse.

7K views 31 replies 18 participants last post by  JustDressageIt 
#1 ·
So I went to see a pony today, and the owner was sooo unprofessional. So here is my list of things NOT to do when you are trying to sell a horse or pony.

1) Try to look nice, I dont care if its cold out; but dont wear mud stained track pants that are 5 sizes too big. (a little bit of dirt is fine, horses are dirty)
2) Dont dis the place you board at.
3) Don't dis the potential buyers coach or a horse the potential buyer has trained (mhm - she did)
4) Don't complain about how you werent allowed to buy that last horse because the owner didnt feel you were suited for each other.
5) Dont show off your swaybacked "old" (15years) mare as your 'amazing show horse'
6) Dont tell me your pregnant mare isnt broke to ride, and the only reason you bred her is because she throws palomino's with big bums.
and last...
7) Dont light up a smoke and stand there talking to me and blowing it my way.

What are some of things that sellers have done to you that screams 'unprofessional' to you?
 
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#2 ·
Wow, that's pretty bad!

So once I went to go look at what a lady claimed to be a kid broke short stirrup pony that turned out to be barely broke and jumped her first line with me on her.... (which I didn't find out until after I already did it!) I asked her how long it had been since the pony was ridden consistantly and she (in one long run on sentance) proceeded to tell me about how she was institutionalized for several months because of some mental issues she had, how she slipped and hurt her back, then was hospitalized again for the constipation resulting from her back pain! BLECH! I don't make these things up kids....


... I didn't buy the pony :)
 
#4 ·
When we went to look at our girls (yes we did buy them) we told the lady on the phone that we didn't want them caught because we wanted to see how easy they were to catch. A big plus to me.
Anyway, when we arrived she said she would go get the horse. Next thing we heard was a dirt bike taking off across the pasture with a couple of dogs behind. A short time later a herd of about 40 horses came running toward us. we opened a pen gate where they alll proceeded to run in. We almost left, but had driven over 100 miles trailer in tow so figured we would at least have a look. Surprisingly she kept all the horses on about 400 acres and this was the way she always brought them in. They were such great horses we went back the next day to ride them (note she lived 12 miles from the nearest paved road) long story short we brought 2 of them home and never regretted it a second.
I'm so glad I didn't leave the moment she took off on the dirt bike. But just for future reference never tell someone not to "catch" the horses.

Edit: I guess this is more what not to do when you look at a horse. Oh well :oops:
 
#5 ·
just over a year ago we bought a new horse for my sister, who was lacking confidence. Her previous horse had to be put down due to old age. We went to look at 'vodka' who was in a very poor state. The guy that was supposed to be 'training' her for a girl i knew said that my sister would be able to do everything with her herself.
we turned up and the guy had ridden her down to the showground, so we went down there. i rode her around and she was good. my sister had a little ride and decided she liked her. so we bought her!!!

well..when the owner dropped vodka off she was wet from head to toe 'been doing some cattle work this morning' he said. We soon found out that you couldn't get a drop of water on her! not even a sponge, she would rear!!! (now we can hose/bath her anywhere except her head) she would only walk behind you, again she would rear if we tried to get her to walk next to us. When saddling her she was ok except when i tried to do up the girth, she would squash me. mum rang them up and asked how they did anything with her and they said they just used a twitch all the time!

about a month ago mum sent me out to cut her mane with scissors(her clippers were not working) and it took me about an hour to get her to stand still, in the end she stood there with the leadrope just hanging over her neck. She just needs alot of patience.
 
#8 ·
#9 ·
Oh! I was looking for an english pleasure/show horse a few years ago, and we went to see this guy about a horse. He had about 10 horses on his property for sale, and they were all nightmares! this one mare actually kicked him when he walked behind her. I politlely refused to get on anything he had because he could just barely handle them himself! I felt so disgusted when we left, he was such a skeezy horse dealer :(
 
#10 ·
Oh man, so on Friday I told the girl I would email her by Sunday to let her know where we stood as far as either putting in an offer, or passing. So last night I emailed her and asked how firm she was on the price (the price is fair, but of course if I can get her cheaper I will) and she sent me an email back saying that she has raised the price because she took her to a show on Saturday and she placed top 3 in all her classes... (it was a small, in barn show - so not really a good judge if you ask me).
She did not mention her raising the price if she did well (she did say she was probably taking her to the show). Rediculous.
I just got another email... and she is now asking what my offer will be, that she likes what i am planning to do with her... now to decide how much I want to offer her :roll:
 
#11 ·
Haha I just say offer what you were going to in the first place. Raising the price because they placed well in an in-barn show doesn't count in my books... unless it was a matter of $50.
If someone was making an offer on my horse, I wouldn't up the price in the middle of a decision - I say if someone's thinking on a price for a horse, you leave it be. You can tell others about a new price, but you let it stay the same for the person considering the horse.
 
#13 ·
I went to look at a horse once and the owner offered to get on first so i could 'have a look at her undersaddle" I agreed wanting to see what she was like without me on her before I got on her.
Anyway, the owner got on and walked and trotted and in a circle then she stops the horse in front of us. at this point i thought she was going to get off and let me get on but nope she sat on the horse talking down to us about her dogs!! I didn't want to know about her dogs!! I wanted to know about the horse and I wanted to try it out!!! GRR!
We smiled and tried to politely hint that I wanted to get on myself but that didn't work so we had to finally ask her outright if she was ever going to get off the horse and let me on! At this point she had been on the horse for about half an hour!
 
#14 ·
That is when you start staring quizzically at something invisible on the horse and studying it with concern. The legs is a good place to start. When the owner sees that you are not paying attention, and studying the horse, the topic should go back to the horse. When she askes what is wrong, go forward and touch the place on her leg(given the safety of the situation) and if there really is nothing there, "Oh it was just a shadow" or "...A cowlick" or something.
 
#17 ·
-My main thing is lying about how broke a horse is in general. I think one of the most dangerous things that can be done.
-lying about the horse's health Hx
-lying about the age(a friend of mine learned that the hard way)
-not saying the horse i cold backed
-not mentioning any behavior problems(caused by that exact seller)

-Someone who knows nothing about horse but acts like they do.
-Someone rude
-Someone who does nothing but complain about other boarders, trainers, the facility.
-Someone who has very poor hygiene

Do you need more? :wink:
 
#21 ·
My2Geldings said:
-My main thing is lying about how broke a horse is in general. I think one of the most dangerous things that can be done.
-lying about the horse's health Hx
-lying about the age(a friend of mine learned that the hard way)
-not saying the horse i cold backed
-not mentioning any behavior problems(caused by that exact seller)

-Someone who knows nothing about horse but acts like they do.
-Someone rude
-Someone who does nothing but complain about other boarders, trainers, the facility.
-Someone who has very poor hygiene

Do you need more? :wink:


I totally agree. The other important factor is to remember that the equine community is a small community and reputation is everything! I'm not sure why seller forget this fact - a few bad experiences and word will travel fast. There are a few "dealers" in my area, which is saturated with horses ie Devon, Radnor, Fair Hill etc, and these sellers are all but banned from selling. They can't move a horse if they tried, they've lied, cheated, stolen and misrepresented so much that noone will by from them again.

Know how realtors have their sayings about selling a house - location, location, location. Well, when selling horses it's reputation, reputation, reputation!
 
#23 ·
My2Geldings said:
-My main thing is lying about how broke a horse is in general. I think one of the most dangerous things that can be done.
-lying about the horse's health Hx
-lying about the age(a friend of mine learned that the hard way)
-not mentioning any behavior problems(caused by that exact seller)

-Someone rude
Sounds like when I bought my old horse. They lied about her age on the bill of sale.
 
#24 ·
thats to bad. Hope they didnt lie about anything else. Thats why its always a good idea to go out and see the horse a few times before making a purchase. You might see things that you hadnt noticed or that were not visible the first time around.

AS it has been said tho. The horse industry, especially where I am is VERY close nit. Everyone knows someone who knows you or your horse and it's a lot more difficult to conceal things.

More and more people are going out of country to get their new mount to not have to deal with those strings attached.
 
#26 ·
my first horse was an egyptian arab. the 'owners' said he was 5 when he was 4. he was poor and when we took him home he was so tired he layed down for days. We got in contact with his breeders and the horse was only free leased to the people we bought him off. They said he was never supposed to be sold, to anyone. I was about 10 or 11 then and when the breeders found out that i was riding him, they kept saying 'be careful'. they couldn't say it enough. as it turns out, after about 6 months of owning him we found out that he had wobbler syndrome. i have always wondered if the previous owners and breeder knew. :?
then last year the people who used to lease him, found me on another site and told me that all our horses were poor (they were fat! we have photos to prove it) and there horses were not!!!
they basically called the horse a spastic and went on laying S*** on different members of my family - to do with horses. :x
 
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