I agree with previous posts about his price. Grade, no papers, and due to age and time restriction, not very extensive training.
You are quite limited on this one, and there's very little you can do to pump up the price. Here's a few tips that (you might already know) that can help you immensely in selling him quicker for a good deal.
Prices are extensively subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you use this to your advantage you could probably break through the standard market value. If he has a nice sire, try getting good quality pictures and including them in your add. If the stallion has done anything outstanding make sure you mention it.
Back home we have good facilities, they are pretty, but not very large. We normally show our sales horses at a friends barn, simply because his facilities are bigger and nicer to the eye. They tend to "impress" the buyers when they walk in. Depending on the facilities we show our horses in, we are usually able to bump up the value of the horse. I can say this works about 80% of the time. Usually buyers will invest more on horses that have been seen in better, clean, facilities. A good looking facility is usually associated with seriousness and a professional breeding/training operation that shows commitment. If we were to show lets say, a grand prix jumper valued in 100,000$ USD in some poorly kept, ran down, cattle pens. I am sure that the potential buyers would not feel very comfortable with the price of the horse, or even considering completing the purchase.
If you do not have this option available to you, make sure that whenever you have potential buyers coming over, that all of your horses and yard/barn are very clean.
In the pictures try to make sure there's no items in the background, such as hoses, wheelbarrows, brooms, dogs, children etc. The more serious and plain the background is, the less distraction there will be from the horse.
Because his coat is bay, I think you could get some lovely pictures at around 8-10 am or 5:30-7:00 pm, when the sun is not directly on top of him, but rather you have some light hitting from the side. It will make his coat look very shinny and more appealing.
His ears must be up in every picture. Try to take the pictures from the bottom up. This will make your yearling look bigger. Keep in mind any major conformation flaws he may have and use his strong points to your advantage.
Also if you can, I'd advise to stay away from using halters and lead ropes of very distracting/bright colors. If you have a black halter and black lead rope that are clean use those instead. If the color has faded out due to the sun, use black shoe polish over it. This will make the pictures look more professional and distract less from your horse.
I also like doing some make up in some of my horses prior to pictures or shows. If he has scars or patches of light colored hair in black areas, you can use black shoe polish to fade them out. I sometimes have used it to go over the hooves and make them shinier without having to spend the money on a hoof polish. It also comes off easy.
I like to use petroleum jelly in the nose area to make them shinier. I only apply it right before I take the picture because the skin will reabsorb it quick.
Also have someone help you and hold the yearling for you. Refrain from using treats to make him perk up his ears or stand. It never works. Instead I like using a dressage whip to move from side to side behind me (in a non threatening way.) Plastic bags or rocks in a bottle will do the trick as well.
If he has a bad mane or a bad hair cut, try taking the pictures on the side his mane doesn't show.
The position of the neck is also important. You want a good long, clear neck with a slight degree of arch. Refrain from pictures where his neck is inverted. moving the whip by the ground near his front legs, or having the handler go down usually does the trick.
Following those rules I've been able to increase the sales price of many horses for clients and close deals far quicker. I don't deceive buyers, but I just add more to the reason this one specific horse is far better and more beautiful than all the others in the market (even if there's better ones than him out there.) It's all good marketing techniques. I'll show some examples of my work.
1 year old filly that had a higher hindquarters - notice what I did. I took the picture on an area with a slight downhill slope to make her flaw not so obvious. You can also mask/hide the slope with photoshop. :twisted:
An example of a good face/neck shot and proper use of petroleum jelly.
An example of how a long whip can be used to aid in lowering the neck.
Ths is getting into more detail. This is an example of a stallion with a very big neck that is slightly short. Andalusians are well known for having big necks, but when it's too much it does not look as pleasant to the eye. The fix is to cut a longer bridle path to try to thin out the area where the neck ties with the head, and to avoid using pictures where his hair shows or he is not braided. The hair makes the neck look even bigger and it can be quite distracting from the general structure of the horse that we are trying to show.
So compare and see how the optical effects improve the overall appearance of the horse.
And finally, this lat picture looks "pretty" but in my book it is not a good one. Can you guess why???? If you thought about the neck, you are correct. The neck is inverted, and it looks all bunched up together. I had the pleasure of working with this horse, and he had a better neck than the one in the picture. To an uneducated eye, the picture would of been fine. But it would of certainly affected the sale to someone who knew more about horses and the breed. A short, thick neck can become a hindrance for upper level dressage and breed shows.
Sorry for the book but I am passionate about this topic as you can se :lol:
