Are horses selling at the moment?

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GreyBadger

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Hi all,

Just wondering what peoples' experiences of selling competition horses are at the moment. I've had a very nice (broken in, riding nicely) 3 y/o for sale, but no buyer. I'm considering selling my 5 y/o. First eventing season this year - placed first Intro, double clear first PN - so he should be fairly sellable. He's got a hell of a lot of scope, so I'd be looking around the £10k mark - are things shifting anywhere like that at the moment?

Cheers,
GB.
 
I put an ad up last friday and have been totally inundated with responses. I cant even keep up with all the people that are calling and emailing me - I thought it would be a really slow and drawn out process but couldnt be more different - I put his price down as he is 13 I knew he wouldnt be the age everyone was after but honestly I put 1 ad on horsequest with 1 pic and I would say over the last 4 days I have easily had over 20 people enquire.
 
I think quality ones are, it is still a buyers market but there are buyers out there like myself who are looking, but we can afford to be picky as there is quite a bit for sale, but good quality, sane horses with honest adverts can be hard to find.

I am off on an 8 hour journey this weekend to see one and the seller a HHO'er couldn't have been more helpful, pics, videos and updates galore - he sounds perfect so I have high hopes. Before that I rang a couple of people who had not been very honest in their adverts, it's a false economy as long as you advertise the horse for what it is (warts and all) at a fair price then I think it should sell.

Good luck with selling yours, I agree with above poster Horsequest has always been really good when I have been selling in the past.:)
 
nickirhia99 said:
... good quality, sane horses with honest adverts can be hard to find.
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I think that Nickirhia hits the nail on the head in many ways. We hand pick a very small number of really quality horses and produce them correctly and never have a problem selling with most going through word of mouth or through contacts. When selling I will put multiple videos on youtube and describe the horse to the very best of my ability so that potential purchasers have a genuine view of the horse, its strengths and weaknesses and abilities.

However, I am always astounded at how unhelpful very many vendors are with bad quality photos (or even none at all when they have owned the horse for years!), 7 second video clips or they don't get back to you at all.

I think that in the selling process those who have really invested in the horse - and I mean in caring about its education and future - show through and these are the people who sell.

OP - I've only ever had to advertise outgrown ponies and have found Horsequest to be the best by far, although even those have gone to fellow HHO'ers!
 
Measles, sounds similar to me. This is a horse I've owned from a yearling, and now's the time to sell. Well bought on, lightly competed, not a quick turnaround and out of the door job! I've put an advert on HorseQuest, so I'll see how that goes...
 
Farma said:
I put an ad up last friday and have been totally inundated with responses. I cant even keep up with all the people that are calling and emailing me - I thought it would be a really slow and drawn out process but couldnt be more different - I put his price down as he is 13 I knew he wouldnt be the age everyone was after but honestly I put 1 ad on horsequest with 1 pic and I would say over the last 4 days I have easily had over 20 people enquire.
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Hi what sort of horse was you selling, just out of interest. I am trying to sell a 16.3hh 11 year old all rounder and have had no phone call's was wondering if he is overpriced?
 
I advertised a 6YO riding club all rounder last month on PC and H&H. I had quite a big ad with a lot of info in and was inundated with calls and emails the first week. But only had a handful of viewings still haven't managed to sell him. :o(
 
As another poster said, quality horses are selling but not necessarily at the prices advertised so would be prepared for people to make offers. Your lad looks a decent type (saw Trish's link to his ad) so I wouldn't imagine you'd have a problem. Only issue I would forsee is that we are rapidly approaching Xmas so people may want to wait until Jan but serious buyers buy whatever time of year it is!

Good luck!
 
Leg_end said:
As another poster said, quality horses are selling but not necessarily at the prices advertised so would be prepared for people to make offers.

...but serious buyers buy whatever time of year it is!
Good luck!
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I agree that serious buyers are always out there but think it is a misconception that the current market means that everyone expects to be bargained down. Only those people who have overpriced to start with or who are desperate to get rid of their horse will bite in these circumstances. Any horse I have is priced realistically and if someone won't pay what I've asked them I'm happy to keep the horse.
 
measles said:
I agree that serious buyers are always out there but think it is a misconception that the current market means that everyone expects to be bargained down. Only those people who have overpriced to start with or who are desperate to get rid of their horse will bite in these circumstances. Any horse I have is priced realistically and if someone won't pay what I've asked them I'm happy to keep the horse.
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I agree with Measles, I think it is important to decide if you think a horse is correctly priced before going to see it, I would only be renegotiating if there was a problem shown at the vetting and it was a problem I could live with.

That said I do know some people who have advertised their horse at a higher price than it is worth as they think people expect to come and bash the price down, people do like a 'bargain'. But if a horse or pony is good and ticks all your boxes that should be more important than feeling like you have managed to knock down a seller. If you only go and view within your set price range you're not setting yourself up for disappointment, what if you look at one above budget, feel it's perfect but then owner says no reduction in price?:(

To those selling at the moment, what I really appreciate as a buyer as well as an honest detailed description are some quality photos, it's amazing how many that are put up are dark, blurred and out of focus - Good luck :)
 
Leg_end, aha, it's a small world really! I'm in no rush to sell, so if he doesn't shift before Christmas, it's no biggie. Although saving on the livery costs for a month would help ;-)
 
GreyBadger said:
Leg_end, aha, it's a small world really! I'm in no rush to sell, so if he doesn't shift before Christmas, it's no biggie. Although saving on the livery costs for a month would help ;-)
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It is indeed! I remember when you bought him so to hear he's 5 and been BE'ing is a scary thought! He does look nice though so sure someone will snap him up.
 
Leg_end said:
It is indeed! I remember when you bought him so to hear he's 5 and been BE'ing is a scary thought! He does look nice though so sure someone will snap him up.
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Yes, he's come on a bit from the scraggly muddy yearling I bought four years ago! He still had the same character though, that hasn't changed.
 
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