Nope, not over-protective at all. Like you say, if you can just see if happening, prevention & sensible management are loads better than cure (imo, anyway!) :)
Yup! Sold my mare within a week, she's off to her new home this weekend :D
Once she's gone, I'll be looking to buy something else.
I think it does depend a lot on what you're selling though - especially in a tougher market, it's maybe easier to sell a 15.2-16.2hh 6-10yo allrounder(which is...
Just a thought, might be worth giving them a call to see if they'll reduce the p&p for you if you only want a lead rope?
Did this recently, can't remember which website it was but I only wanted a hay net, they kindly reduced p&p to £3.95 for me :)