5 Tips to Maximize Your Horse Sales Ads

Another guest from April Lee from Helpful Horse Tips.

The decision to sell a horse is usually not an easy task. We spend so much time with our horses that it comes naturally when we grow up together.

However, we know sometimes we’re not the perfect place for a horse.

Whether it is our finances that dictate the sale of the horse, or simply incompatibility for whatever reason, the result is that the horse is up for sale until it can find a new owner.

When you’re finally ready to put your horses up for sale, these five tips will help you maximize your horse sales ad.

Set a realistic price point

Be objective when looking at other ads. Look at the pros and cons of each horse. Also, note how long they’ve been on sale. If the horse is priced at $5,000 and it’s still for sale after three or four months, it probably isn’t a $5,000 horse.

Take a look at the horses in the immediate vicinity to see what horses of similar origins and training are being sold for. Of course, when you sell a horse that you have owned, loved, and trained for any length of time, you feel that the horse is worth more than the market will actually pay for it.

Depending on how long you’ve owned it, it may not be worth what you paid for it or it could be much more than that. The goal is to find a few horses that are as similar as possible to yours and use their asking price as a pricing guideline.

Remember that with the simple marketing steps below, you can easily charge your horse more when you’re ready to entice buyers to look your way.

Take good pictures

Once you have made the decision to sell your horse and set a reasonable price, your photos are arguably the most important thing in attracting buyers. To maximize your horse sales advertisement, it is essential to have good pictures of your horse.

Professional photos are great, but they are not necessary for this step. It seems like everyone has at least one smartphone with a reasonably decent camera these days. The great thing about digital storage is that you can take 200 photos and get rid of all but the top five photos.

When all you have to do is select an image of your horse to display in a horse sale show, in most cases you will want to select an external image taken from the horse’s side. Usually this photo is only captured in the clipboard.

Before you start taking pictures, here are some things to keep in mind:

Start with a clean horse. It really makes a difference.

Use the best camera you can get.

Take the time to make sure that the horse’s legs are in the correct position and that the horse is not stretching or twisting into an improper position.

Ask at least one friend to help you hold the horse and point its ears forward.

If your camera has a Rapid Fire or Sports mode, use this mode for every photo you take. It helps in getting the right shot at the right time.

Apart from the outside shot, you can also take other pictures that you think show the horse’s exterior and performance better.

Here are some ideas for other photos you might like:

Your horse in competition, performance.

Pictures of course preparation.

Head injuries.

Close-ups of the legs (people will ask about them)

Your horse will be riding (if advertised as rideable).

Write a good ad, but be honest

When writing an advertisement for your horse, be upfront about all of its good qualities, but also be open about all of its major flaws. There is no point in hiding things in advertising only to reveal them in the query process, or worse, before the horse is sold.

If your horse is a great walker, be sure to talk about his experience. Can he walk the road alone or in groups? Let the buyer know. Likewise, if he is strong in the show ring and in the warm-up arena, these are also big advantages.

Everything your horse does should be well mentioned and likely to make life in the stable easier and trouble-free for its new owner in the sales ad. It’s okay to make your horse sound like the dream boat every horse owner is looking for. However, in this context, be sure to mention any disadvantages your horse may have.

If you uncover issues with your ad, the information you provide will help buyers decide whether or not to contact you.

Some of the things I think should always be disclosed in a horse sales advertisement are:

Vices such as cribs, weaving, and barn walking.

Horses that need any supplements to stay healthy, whether they are supplements, special horseshoes or injections.

Horses who have had a colicky episode that led to hospitalization or surgery.

The truth is that the more you reveal, the less people will waste your time disproportionately to your horse. At the end of the day, you want to see your horses in a home they are happy with and the new owner is happy and your announcement is the first step toward that goal.

The video can help distinguish the horse from others

I remember fifteen years ago, when I was new to horse sales, video was one of the things that set us apart from our competition. It wasn’t as popular then as it is now, but there are still some steps you can take with video to help you stand out.

Do you remember all the wonderful things your horse does well that you wrote about in your ad? Videos are the perfect place to view them. Take the potential buyer during a day with your horse.

Does your horse greet you with a nod every time you go into his crate? Get it on video! Is he great at communication and easy to hold and bridle? Show these skills! Perhaps he has excellent verbal commands while lunging or stands completely still when composing. Anything you take for granted in everyday life is a potential plus for the buyer.

The great thing about videos is that you can make more than one video. Once you have your shots, use one of the free video editing software available online to mix it all up. Ask a friend to help you if you’re not sure how to do this.

Negotiate like a boss

Negotiating during the horse sale process is one of the steps that I personally don’t like very much. You can’t blame the buyer for wanting a big deal, but you don’t have to accept the loss to make them happy either.

My biggest recommendation is to never negotiate via email, Facebook, PM, etc. Unless the potential buyer is serious enough to see the horse in person, there is no need to negotiate with them.

Negotiating is part of the selling process, even if you’re FIRM in advertising you expect people to want to negotiate. Most will ask out loud, “How deep are you going?” When I sell horses, the answer to any of these questions is that I look at all cash offers in person.

If you are serious enough to go out and actually see my horse, I will seriously consider your immediate cash offer. Most people will stop calling you, but serious people will.

The easiest thing on your part is to have a fixed and fast number that you don’t fall short of at the selling price. You should know this number before showing your horse.

This number represents the lowest amount of cash anyone could take home if they showed up with a horse trailer and thought they would fit in well.

One factor to consider when making this decision is the cost of keeping your horse. These are all fees like farrier, hay, grain, food, and training which will continue to cost you money as long as you own the horse. You also need to think about how prepared you are to move forward.

If you still enjoy riding and riding regularly, it makes sense to keep an eye out for the best possible deal. If it’s just a grasshopper and isn’t really needed, you might want to be more negotiable. In the end, you should never feel pressured by a buyer to go below what you are comfortable with.

At the end of the day, remember that selling a horse means selling the dream of owning a horse.

Anything you do to promote your horse should aim to make the person on the other side of the ad fall in love with the idea of ​​owning it. Going out to meet him or take a test drive should seal the deal.

If you set up the sale correctly and are honest, you don’t have to show your horse multiple times before it sells.